Dear Sir,
We had taken a holiday package from Club Mahindra (Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd., (Membership No.404799) under which we were promised that the holidays would be inflation free for 25 years. However, later through internet we discovered that the holidays were not really inflation free and the maintenance fee payable was liable to be changed based on Price Index. We also came to know that Club Mahindra had taken / sold holidays much in excess of its installed capacity. In addition they have been providing free holiday coupons in a bid to lure more customers. This is being done at a frantic pace now and their representatives can be seen at petrol pumps, malls, etc. Also they rent out their rooms directly to non-members. Considering all this we requested confirmation on mainly on two aspects (1) that there would be no change in maintenance charges and (2) that we would be assured of holidays of one week as promised each year. We failed to get a confirmation from them and hence we requested them to refund the amount of Rs.18649/- paid by us as advance amount. They have written to us (again a letter on Club Mahindra letterhead without any reference number and purportedly signed by Ms Prity Pant Member Relations of their Lucknow Office and received yesterday, i.e., 18 December by courier at our residence) that the advance amount was non-refundable clause 6.1 of their terms and conditions. We wish to state that this set of terms and conditions were not circulated at the time of signing of the agreement. They were sent by Club Mahindra about one month later by which time we had also expressed our desire to exit / cancel the membership. Club Mahindra has also not provided any confirmation on the promises made by the Sales Representatives at Lucknow. Under the circumstances we request your intervention inensuring that Club Mahindra makes the necessary refund at the earliest. Also it is pertinent to note that Club Mahindra is not an investor friendly company which is apparent from the numerous emails that have been dispatched over the past more than one and half months to the company to get a proper response. This even when they sent an automated response stating that our issue would be attended to within 48 hours.
We understand that they are coming out with an IPO. It would be in the best interests of investors that SEBI checks out their installed capacity and the capacity already committed / sold which as per popular estimations is in excess to installed capacity. Further, they are on a signing spree with many new members being added with lure of free gifts with an eye on a good response to the IPO. We really do not understand how a company with excess capacity sold can add on new members even considering that they will be adding on new destinations / capacity which would take anywhere between 2-3 years to complete.
Thanking you
Yours faithfully,
Kartha Satheesan
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