Dear sir.
On 5th April in response to Club Mahindra's representative's telephonic invitation, wherein they told us that they will explain about their Club Mahindra Holiday membership and we will get gift voucher (certificate) which will give us free stay at on of their hotels for 2 nights/3 dyas, we (me and my wife Sheela) went to their Baner Office and met Mr. Kunal Kelkar (Takeover Manager). After their presentation Club Mahindra gave us free hotel stay voucher no. 73972960. THE DATE WRITTEN IN PEN was 05/04/09. Also they had communiacted in writing that we will get free shopping vouchers worth Rs. 8000.
Complaint No. 1:
On 21st April I wrote them the following, for booking against my free stay certificate.
"I would like to book for stay at Mahabaleshwar or Panchgani for 2 nights.
We will Reach the hotel at 11 am or 12 noon on the 1st May.
We will Stay on the 1st night and 2nd night".
They did not give the booking and replied that:
"While we would have loved to confirm your special offer, the same is valid only in White and blue seasons, while the dates you have requested fall in Red season".
This Red Season excuse was not told in advance nor is it written anywhere on the certificate. Thus this amounts to misguiding.
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Complaint No. 2:
I had not received the promised free shopping vouchers of Rs. 8000. Also we had not been allowed to book in, busy season (Red Season according to them), a stay at Panchgani against our free stay certificate. So On 2nd September I e-mailed to them:
"Hi Ajay.
I still cudnt utilize my free stay coupons.
I need to extend the date beyond 30/9/09.
I also hvnt recd some shopping vouchers.
Pl advise."
I still haven't received the promised free shopping vouchers of Rs. 8000.
This is tantamount to cheating!
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Complaint No. 3:
On abround 10th Septemebr we called their Ms. Divya to give us a booking. They did not give telephonic booking. They told us to send an e-mail with request with the dates and destination. On 15th Septenebr I sent the request as follows:
"I am Deepak Phadnis.
our gift cert no. is 739752960. 2 nights and 3 days.
we want to redeem the gft cert.
we want to book panchgani on the 19th, 20th and 21st.
we'll reach on 19th sept at 11 am and chk out at 4 pm on 21st sept.
pl confirm our booking.
also pl note that we havent recd gift vouchers worth rsrs 8000. pl send. enquiry no. for this is 1694044 dtd 15/9/09. ms phadnis has talked to divya.
also inform your phone no. so that we can talk."
They replied something which was totally untrue, shocking and unfair.
They wrote:
"While we would have loved to confirm your reservation, at the moment we are unable to do so as the validity of the Gift Certificate has expired as the same is valid for 6 months from the date of issue.
Kindly note that the revalidation of the Gift Certificate is not possible."
In reality the date of issue was the 5th April and the certificate was indeed vaild.
This shows that they delayed the booking by giving wrong replies and gave us a tremendous amount of trouble. Also we have been spending so much time to take u the cause and get justice because they should learn a lesson, improve and NOT TREAT ANY CUSTOMERS LIKE THIS IN FUTURE.
They did not even believe that the coupon date of issue was 5th April and asked us to send a scanned pdf file of the certificate. This amounts to "Adding insult to injury".
I sent them a scanned pdf and wrote:
"HELLO BINDU.
BY ASKING FOR A PDF ARE YOU NOT ADDING INSULT TO INJURY?
WE HAVE GIVEN THE COUPON NO, ON PHONE DAY EOFRE YESTERDAY. IT IS 73972960. THE DATE WRITTEN IN PEN IS 05/04/09.
DO YOU NOT BELIVE IN YOUR CUSTOMERS?
THE RIGHT THING FOR YOU TO DO RIGHT AWAY IS TO CONFIRM MY BOOKING BY MAKING A TELEPHONE CALL AND TALK TO ME TO PREVENT FURTHER DAMAGE.
IF YOU WISH I CAN TALK TO THE PRESIDENT OF CLUB MAHINDRA. BUT PLEASE PLEASE LET IT NOT COME TO THAT!
THIS MY EARNEST REQUEST.
REGARDS.
DEEPAK."
They simply ignored my complaint and gave a further treatment by saying that the certificate could not be renewed.
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Complaint No. 4:
Their Chief of Pune Office at Dhole Patil Road had once called me (his name was Shrikant, as far I remember) and told me that he will be giving me service in case I had any requests or problems. I had told him that I could not get booking against the free certificates. He had told me that the certificates will be renewed if we are not able to utilize and get the benefit before the last date.
My later experience shows that they are not honoring their own commitment. Eve after telling them about this telephonic talk, they kept on avoiding calling and simply wrote a mail stating that renewal cannot be done.
This shows that they "Go back on their words".
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Complaint No. 5:
When we tried to get reservation in May they said stay against the free stay certficates cannot be converted into a different season whereas such a provision exists for stay against their normal membership. This was not told earlier. Also it has prevented us from using this "free stay" for 2 -3 months out of the total vailidity of 6 months.
This amounts to promising a benefit aaawithout telling the consitions at the time of the promise and denying the benefit under some pretext/rule later.
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Complaint No. 6:
We had telephone repeatedly to complain that the free shopping vouchers had not been sent. They told on phone that we should write an e-mail. We wrote the mail and then called them. They told that the vouchers are being sent by courier.
We did not receive any vouchers. Now they are saying that the vouchers will ne given becuase they are linked to "Availing the free stay"!
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Complaint No. 7:
I wrote to them "May I suggest that you call me up on my tel no. 39806334 or 99229 09009 immediately and confirm my booking as there is no time left and I have to do my part of the planning? " They did not call and went on sending irelevant automated mails instdea of admitting their mistake which resulted in my missing the trip during that weekend.
This proves "Complete ignorance of customer requests resulting in losses and inconvenience to customers".
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Complaint No. 8:
I had sent the following request to them to take a quick action because we were running out on time to organize for our trip.
"I need a quick response because I have to prepare for my weekend trip.
Pl confirm reservation immeditely."
However they used their Compuetrised automated responses system and every time a new person was simply advising to do something else but not giving us the hotal reservation. This happened even after they were satisfied that the free stay certficafcte was indeed valid. It had not expired. This shows total Callousness.
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Complaint No. 9:
I had asked them to clarify the following points. They did not even reply to any of these. Every reminder was simply ignored and on top of it they went on sending "illogical "Computerised Automated Mail" saying that you must be happy!
"1.When you say first come first served basis, subject to yourn season avaialability, what does this mean? Pl. clarify.
2. Holidays in one higher season can be confirmed only 1 5 days prior to the date of travel. Pl clarify. How are we to make bookings if we dont get confirmation 2 months in advance? We were not told this condition at the time of joining. The booking confirmation for even higher season should be immediate. I hope you appreciate and agree.
3. you may defer rci enrolment till as late as yr holiday start date. What is the advantage?
Bonus Exch.: What is this? It says "... an additional week for which your inventory is not utilized". Pl explain."
And no effort was taken to resolve them. This exhibits a complete ignorance of customer complaints. Consumer Guidance Society should make them implement a proper Complaints Redressal Facility.
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Sir. We are taking up the cause so that they cannot do such injustice to other customers. Also to spread awareness that this company is misleading people, luring them into coming for such explanatory sessions and giving them false promises.
If required I can send all earlier e-correspondence on this complaint to you. Pl advise your e-mail address.
Sir, they have wasted so much of my time that I request you to re4commene to them that they pay a compenstaion by
1. Renewing the certificates without attaching strings which were not informed at the time of the original issue and
2. Paying me a compensation of Rs. 50, 000 as damages and compenasation for the agony caused to our family.
In addition you should take effective steps to stop them from such cheating.
Regards.
Deepak Phadnis.
Tel no. 020 39806334.
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