I got scammed for about 350 dollars. :-(
I can't believe I let that happen! You can read several instances of this if you google India Information & Reservation Center.
In a panic when we realized that our connections in JFK were messed up because of the Air India strike, We were going to the Air India office to see what we could do when some "nice guy" told us that the offices were closed, and we should go to the government tourist office and they would help us.
He "helpfully" put us in a cab and instructed the driver where to take us. We had no idea!
When we got there they said that of course they could help with our tickets, but it would take a while so have a seat. That's when they started their sales pitch. We got sucked in... they are really slick!
Of course they never fixed the tickets... just sent us to the Air India office (which of course was NOT closed) with a driver, and we fixed them ourselves.
They also didn't get a refund on our already purchased train tickets, but instead sent us, again with a driver, to do it ourselves.
We were already tired, angry, and suspicious, but they wouldn't give us a refund so we found ourselves again with a driver (never the same one) puttering along in a motorcycle rickshaw to the train station with no ticket. They said the guy going with us would meet someone there who had them.
No one was there, and the train left without us. THANK GOD! Now I've read other reports about people who got scammed by them and who got stranded places and had to pay their own way out.
They took us back to the office and started pressuring us to get on an all night bus or go in a taxi to Srinigar! They just really wanted us out of Delhi! They were so condescending and argumentative that I just got to the point where all I would say is "I will NOT get on a bus! "
We're back safely in the hotel in New Delhi that we had already paid the evening for. They kept arguing to put us up in a hotel of their chosing. I think they really don't want us free here in New Delhi causing problems.
Which is what we intend to dedicate our morning to. Let's see if we can cause enough of a rucus to get our money back!
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