Bangalore
15/01/09
My Name is Raja resident of Bangalore. We are regular subscriber of Times of India. We believed in news and advertisements. Like many others we also saw the Advertisement given by the Orange Holidays regarding the holiday package to Singapore, Thailand, Bangkok and Pataya for just Rs9, 999 airport tax visa insurance charges extra.
We visited Le Meridian on the 12/10/08 and booked the holiday package for Singapore for two nights three days. We also paid cheque for Rs.19, 998 for me and my wife. The remaining amount of Rs.27, 898.00 (47, 896 – 19998) was to be paid at the time of travel. The package includes air ticket (to and fro), food, and accommodation; sight seeing, airport tax, visa and insurance. Cheque was honoured and we never received any phone calls or email from Orange Holidays acknowledging the payment. Also at the time of booking we have not confirmed any date to travel. After making initial payment we called the executive Mr Ramachandra Nayari who booked our package and informed him about the date i.e., 22/11/08. But nobody confirmed the date of travel by calling us nor was the booking arrangements made. So went ourselves yesterday (08/11/08).
When we went to Orange office at 9 am to pay the balance amount and also to submit the passport and photographs for obtaining the visa. The executive who attended said that they do not arrange visa and we have to arrange for the visa and they do not know the date we wanted to travel. So they have not made any arrangements for our trip. We were frustrated that Orange could not keep up their words and decided to cancel the package. We requested them to return the money we paid initially. Another lady executive called Bhavana met us and said as there are very limited booking to Singapore so please change your package to Bangkok and pataya. You will be paying extra and the package costs Rs65, 000 for five nights and six days.
We did not agree and requested them to pay back our money. They made us to wait for more than five hours and all the executives who spoke to us were rude and impolite. Their behaviour was very casual and irresponsible. They do not treat customers like humans. They do not have timesense.
As they could not convince us to take the package to Bangkok and pataya, we were told by Bhavana that the authorized signatory to sign the cheque is not available. So they will courier the cheque. But we found out that both managing directors are present in the office. We did not agree and insisted to pay us immediately as we had lost confidence. After two hours another executive Mr Roshan spoke to us and said we will deduct 10% from the amount we have paid and then will be paying the rest. We were not ready to agree because they have not made any arrangements for our trip with the money we gave them. Mr. Roshan went back and again we waited for 45 minutes. In the meantime we have been seeing lot of customers coming and shouting at the executives with frustration for not giving respect and for poor customer service. We asked the receptionist to meet the MD so that we could speak to him directly as the situation is going bad to worse. We were not allowed to meet him. People started shouting and making noise and inspite of that both managing directors did not dare to come out and speak to anyone of us.
Again Bhavana spoke to us and said that they are going to deduct 10% from the entire package amount and only pay the remaining. According to the terms and conditions mentioned in their paper work, it clearly says that there will be a cancellation fee of 10% within 30 days from travel date. As per their records our travel date is mentioned 28/01/09. We do not know how they themselves have decided this date as we were not told by anyone. So there is no need for us to pay the cancellation fee. They did not agree and Bhavana started shouting at us. Both me and my wife could not tolerate the torcher and we wrote a letter to the managing director mentioning that if they do not pay the money in full we will need to go legally and that we will definitely inform the media about the atrocities that is happening in Orange Holidays/properties. The person who was ready to give the cheque saw the letter but failed to read and stamped it with their office seal and gave the cheque for Rs.15259 after deducting Rs.4639 for no reason.
Later took the copy of the letter from us and read the letter and then tore the sealed part of the letter. This clearly shows that this Orange holidays and properties are not trustworthy. We have never been duped like this before. As one of the reputed organization, we request take necessary action so that more public should not be fooled and moreover your paper reputation should not get spoiled.
Thanks
Raja.
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