August 26
To,
Indian Consumer Complaints Forum
Dear Sir/Madam,
Sub: - Misleading advertisement and false Business promotion scheme run by Ezeego1.com travel portal.
Ezeego1.com portal has been fooling the flying customers through false and misleading well published advertisements in media and through their websites.
Ezeego1.com portal stated “Ticket pe Ticket free” offer on booking the first ticket on full fare on Spicejet Airline, using ICICI Bank credit or debit card. Based on this promotional scheme I booked the first ticket on 31/5/09, for CCU - BOM sector with departure date of 3/6/09, paying full fare of Rs.6034/70. Before booking the ticket I had carefully gone through the terms and conditions of the promotion scheme, which stated that promotion code would be provided through e-mail after booking the first ticket, and it stated the other terms and conditions of promotion, but nowhere there was mention about tax or surcharges to be paid while redeeming the FREE ticket.
After booking the first ticket through ICICI credit card a e-mail was sent to my registered Yahoo id with promotion code and terms and condition link, copy of the detailed terms and conditions of the promotion are enclosed. I do understand the need to pay Passenger Service Fee in all kind of airline promotion free ticket schemes, as this money is legitimate tax paid to the Government.
In order to redeem the free ticket I logged into Ezeego1 website on 11.8.09 and tried booking ticket for CCU – BOM sector with travel date of 25.8.09. To my shock the website demanded Rs.2445.00 charge to get the booking done and ticket issued. On calling up Ezeego1 contact centre immediately, I was informed by a call agent, Mr. Prathamesh, the said payment is towards taxes. When I argued with him that as per DCGA notice only Passenger Service Fee is the correct tax, which is actually paid to the Government rest all amount are collected by the airline or the portal. Since the call agent could not resolve the issue I demanded to speak to his manager. Thereafter, on- duty floor supervisor by the name Mr. Pratod Amrute came on the line and tried to convince me.By then they had already realized their mistake, the supervisor asked me to refer to FAQ on their website which states taxes and surcharges needs to be paid extra for redeeming the so called FREE ticket. My argument was that this FAQ was no where advertised or linked and or stated in the explicit terms & conditions which was available on their website or detailed terms and condition link while I had booked the first ticket. In fact the FAQ was linked and published at much later date with the deliberate intention of misleading and fooling gullible customers who have already fallen for the trap.
When this fact was brought forth the supervisor he immediately said that they will talk to their senior managers and try to address the issue. Thereafter on 12th Aug., 13th Aug. there were repeated calls from Ezeego employee, Ms. Pallavi Garud, trying to convince me that taxes means PSF & surcharges. Finally, I had to inform her that surcharges are not tax and this has been very clearly notified by DGCA to all airlines, then she changed the stance and sent an e-mail to me on 13th Aug. evening 18:00 hours, stating that under this offer ticket can be availed by paying the applicable Taxes and Surcharges. Taxes include applicable Passenger Fee and Fuel Surcharges levied by the airline. My question here is, why was the term & condition of the promotion did not state that applicable taxes, passenger fee and fuel surcharges right from the day the promotion has been launched? This was an deliberate attempt to mislead the customers, as giving the fact would have not lead to so many customer buying tickets under false premise.
This clearly shows the unscrupulous intention of Ezeego1 to promote false scheme by enticing and fooling the customer by publishing a different terms & condition at the time of booking and, when confronted introduce another set of terms and condition to save their skin.
Request your kind intervention to stop this malpractices with immediate effect, also penalize the errant Travel portal and the airlines who indulge in unethical trade practice. Your assistance in this regard will save frequent air travellers like me falling bait to these kinds of malpractices.
Thanking you,
Ajit Nayak
PS. All the copies of the relevant documents pertaining to this transaction are available with me, which are listed below.
1) First ticket bearing airline PNR # A5T7LS
2) Detailed Terms & Conditions of the promotion scheme
3) Terms & Conditions continued
4) E-mail sent by Ezeego1 after booking first ticket with promotion Code
5) E-mail sent by the employee of Ezeego1
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