DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM-II
Udyog Sadan, C-22 & 23, Qutub Institutional Area
(Behind Qutub Hotel), New Delhi-110016.
Case No.30/2014
Mrs. Seema Kharbanda
W/o Sh. Harish Kharbanda
R/o 302, Nagin Lake Apartment,
Outer Ring Road, Paschim Vihar,
New Delhi-110037 ……Complainant
Versus
Awesome Holidays Pvt. Ltd.
Through its Director/Managing Director
1st Floor, 22, Community Centre,
East of Kailash, New Delhi-110065
Also at: LG-19, Mega Mall, DLF Phase-II,
Golf Course Road, Near Sikandarpur Metro Station
Gurgaon-122002 ……Opposite Party
Date of Institution : 24.01.14 Date of Order : 19 .01.16
Coram:
Sh. N.K. Goel, President
Ms. Naina Bakshi, Member
O R D E R
Briefly stated the case of the Complainant, in brief, is that in the month of July, 2011 the OP firm contacted her husband on telephone and told him about few vacation plans and OP succeeded to attract them with lots of lucrative promises and plans and invited them to visit their office at West Gate Mall, Rajouri Garden, Delhi. OP also stated that if the couple signs the agreement on the spot and if the membership was got done in the name of a female then they will provide 5% discount on the membership subscription also. She alongwith her husband were very happy to see the package tour and signed the agreement and she made a payment of Rs.23,800/- on 31.07.11. Thereafter she received a welcome letter dated 03.08.11 alongwith Membership Card bearing No.AH-0428 alongwith Resort Brochure. She also changed her package from ‘White Season’ to ‘Red Season’ i.e. from lower package to upper package in the month of December, 2011 and a sum of Rs.21,868/- was paid through cheque dated 03.12.11. She also issued ten post dated cheques for an amount Rs.9134/- each for each month starting from January, 2012 onwards. But the OP did not change their record for a period of seven months and thereafter sent Complainant’s new membership details etc. (with the same membership number). She alongwith her two younger daughters and husband planned to visit Shimla in the first week of January, 2012 with family. The OP booked a hotel in ‘Kwality Inn Himdev’ but the OP changed the booked hotel on the very last day when the vouchers were sent to her. The new hotel ‘ The Dawn Hotel’ which was booked on the very last day was 5 kms. far away from the main Shimla and the amenities in the Hotel were so poor and substandard that no normal standard family could stay over there. She sent an email to the OP informing the lapses on their part. The OP gave excuse of “rush season” and apologized and promised/assured to provide good hotels and better service in future. She again planned to visit Manali in the month of June, 2012. After arriving in Manali, she stayed with her above stated family in Sterling Resort only for two days but after two days they were shifted to Sarthak Resort which actually was not a resort but it was a very simple hotel which was ten kms. away from the main Manali Bus Stand. The room situated on the third floor with no facility of elevator was in shabby condition and she found few cockroaches and insects near the mattresses, floor corners and on window behind the curtains. They informed the Manager of the hotel and they had to wait for 3 hours in a separate room for cleaning the room. She again sent an email to the OP. The OP admitted the lapse on telephone as well as through emails also and made a lame excuse that due to “rush season” they could not book the proper accommodation. It was second time that the OP had not provided the facilities as per the terms and conditions of the agreement. She had to cancel further stay in Manali and returned back to Delhi. The OP also replied the email admitting lapse on their part and promised not to repeat the same in future but she was forced to discontinue her membership and stopped the payment of post dated cheques. She sent several emails to the OP for refund of the hard earned money but no reply was received from OP. She sent a legal notice dated 08.03.13 through speed post asking for refund of the amount of Rs.1,00,472/- alongwith 10% interest and Rs.2 lakhs as compensation/damages for harassment and mental agony. The OP after receiving the legal notice played a tactic by sending a fresh notice dated 12.03.13 thereby informing her about the termination of her membership. Hence, pleading deficiency in service on the part of OP, the Complainant has prayed as under:-
- Direct the OP to refund Rs.100472/- alognwith interest @ 18% compoundable per month to the Complainant.
- Direct the OP to pay Rs.5 lakhs alongwith compoundable interest @ 18% per month to the Complainant as compensation for causing mental harassment.
- Direct the OP to pay to the Complainant Rs.2 lakhs alongwith interest @ 18% compoundable interest per month towards damages for not providing promised services.
- Direct the OP to pay to the Complainant a sum of Rs.25,000/- as cost and other misc. expenses of Rs.3,000/-.
No one has appeared on behalf of the OP to contest the claim of the Complainant and, hence, OP has been proceeded exparte vide order dated 22.12.14 passed by our Predecessors.
Complainant has filed her affidavit in exparte evidence and written arguments. We have heard the arguments on behalf of the Complainant and have also gone through the file very carefully.
According to the complainant, Annex. G (colly) is the photographs of the Sarthak Hotel. From a bare perusal of these photographs it stands clearly established that though the same seemed to be under construction but it was certainly not an ordinary hotel. It was in fact a resort known as Sarthak Resort. The outer photographs of the rooms go a long way to prove that the rooms were not ordinary rooms. It appears that the complainant had more than the required expectations from the OP. She was actually expected a Five Star Hotel/Resort which is clear from Annex. H (colly). Therefore, we are unable to hold that the services provided by the OP to the complainant during her stay in Manali were suffering from any deficiency.
It appears from the record filed by the Complainant that the OP sent notice for termination and cancellation dated 12.03.13 and stated that the Complainant had deposited the EMI upto June 2012 and failed to pay the outstanding dues despite several reminders and the outstanding amount comes to Rs.57304/- till February, 2013. The OP cancelled the membership No. AH-0428 of the Complainant. The Complainant filed the case on 24.01.14 i.e. after the termination of the membership. It is not clear as how much amount has been deposited by the Complainant for the membership, as no receipt has been filed on the record by the Complainant. The Complainant availed the services of the OP two times i.e. one for Shimla and for Manali holiday but the Complainant failed to pay the full amount to the OP, OP cancelled/terminated her membership. The Complainant has failed to provide any deficiency in service on the part of OP. Accordingly, we dismiss the complaint with no order as costs.
Let a copy of this order be sent to the parties as per regulation 21 of the Consumer Protection Regulations. Thereafter file be consigned to record room.
Announced on 19.01.16.
(NAINA BAKSHI) (N.K. GOEL) MEMBER PRESIDENT
Case No. 30/14
19.1.2016
Present – None.
Vide our separate order of even date pronounced, the complaint is dismissed. Let the file be consigned to record room.
(NAINA BAKSHI) (N.K. GOEL) MEMBER PRESIDENT
By D K Yadav
