DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION-II
Udyog Sadan, C-22 & 23, Qutub Institutional Area
(Behind Qutub Hotel), New Delhi- 110016
Case No.407/2016
Mr. Deepak Mathur
R/o E-78, Road-17, Saket
New Delhi-110017
….Complainant
Versus
- M/s Carnation Travels Services Pvt. Ltd.
Through its Managing Director
B-63 Lajpat Nagar-I
New Delhi-110024
- Mr. Rajesh Sethi
Managing Director
M/s Carnation Travels Services Pvt Ltd.
B-63 Lajpat Nagar-I
New Delhi-110024
….Opposite Parties
Date of Institution : 06.12.2016
Date of Order : 02.01.2023
Coram:
Ms. Monika A Srivastava, President
Ms. Kiran Kaushal, Member
Sh. U.K. Tyagi, Member
ORDER
President: Ms. Monika A Srivastava
The Complainant has filed the present complaint seeking directions for refund of Rs. 3,00,000/- with appropriate interest, compensation for mental physical and financial harassment cost to the Complainant amounting to Rs. 5,00,000/- and further the amount of Rs. 1,00,000/- as cost of legal proceedings. OP is Carnation Travels and OP 2 is the Managing Director of OP 1.
- The Complainant has stated that he had booked Europe trip for his family for a period of 10 days and 11 nights which commenced on 10.06.2015 and the claim of the OP that it provided the best tours of Europe and high class prompt services fell flat on its face as the tour progressed.
- It is stated by the Complainant that OP one had booked the Complainant on FINAIR flight from New Delhi to Paris with changeover at Helsinki where flight change over time was shockingly only 45 minutes and the Complainant and his family had to literally run a long distance to get to the flight gate and that too after going through the immigration and security check which reasonably takes at least 2 hours but the OP in order to earn more profits booked cheap flights was totally ignorant of the said discomfort of the complainant. It stated by the complainant that one Mr Ohri and his family missed the said flight due to such short time for changeover.
- It is stated by the Complainant that when the Complainant reached Paris airport they could not find the tour manager who was supposed to meet and receive them on behalf of OP. It is further stated that the Complainant was made to board a bus which was in a dilapidated condition which had narrow seats and was uncomfortable and whose air ducts were broken throwing gust of air from them and the ducts at the back were not functional at all.
- It is further stated that the poor condition of the bus was immediately brought to the notice of the tour manager as well as the representatives of the OP in Delhi and several requests were made to change the bus to which no heed was paid and the same bus was used for inter country travel from France to Switzerland where the bus broke down around 5:30 PM, 80 kilometres from Geneva at a secluded place on highway.
- It is further stated that no alternative vehicle was arranged by the OPs to take out the Complainant and his family accompanied with other fellow travellers from the secluded place when even the night was around the corner. It was only when the complainant called emergency number that the police coordinated with the emergency team and arranged for taxis from the hotel and the Complainant along with other co- passengers after over 6 hours of trauma and harassment reached the hotel around 11:45 PM.
- It is further stated by the Complainant that he was not provided by with the orientation tour of Geneva as stated in the itinerary and many other promises in the itinerary were also never fulfilled. The tour operator did not accompany them and had told the passengers that she would be meeting them after 2 hours as the bus had gone for repairs. The Complainant and the other passengers had to explore Geneva town on their own without any tour guide and had no option but to wait for the tour manager who later came and told them that it would take more time to have the bus repaired.
- It is further stated by the Complainant that the bus again broke down in Florence on 18.06.2015 when it took 45 minutes to repair the bus. They had to undergo lot of trouble when the bus stopped working and they were made to walk to the railway station and later they were told to board the bus as it was repaired and that the OP is not going to spend money on their railway travel. It is further stated by the Complainant that he asked for cancelling the tour and returning money which was rejected by the tour operator as well as the OP. It is further stated by the Complainant that the tour guide was rude, arrogant, high handed, unworthy of a tour manager and had an absolutely rude tongue.
- When the bus again broke down on 20.06.2015, the tour operator, without informing the Complainant and the other co passengers left the place knowing fully well that the bus had broken down. The Complainant and the co passengers were told to offload their luggage and again reload them in the bus. In all this hustle bustle, one of the co passenger lost his laptop and iPad and as there was no time, no action could be taken. The hotel manager also was not allowing the bus to go as he had already called for the taxis, when the bus broke down and it was only after much hue and cry that the bus was allowed to proceed.
- It is further stated by the Complainant that the tour’s itinerary was changed without any prior approval or intimation from the complainant and other co-passengers and they had to go through a very tight schedule causing both inconvenience and disappointment. Some destinations were curtailed to just 2 hours that there was hardly any time to explore those places.
- It is on these accounts that the Complainant has filed the case and have stated that the OP1 and 2 have miserably failed to provide the services as promised and have also cheated the complainant. The Complainant states that the trip was a complete disaster and the Complainant had the most harrowing and traumatic experience during the entire tour due to the faulty and deficient arrangement, services and mismanagement of the OP. It is stated that the Complainant has lost his hard earned money.
- The Complainant has also placed his reliance on the judgment of the Hon’ble NCDRC in Cox and King (I) Pvt Ltd. vs Joseph A Fernandes & Anr in Revision Petition no. 366 of 2005 and SOTC Travel Services Pvt Ltd & anr vs Om Prakash Gulia (dead) through LRs & Anr in Revision Petition no. 341/2017 passed by the Hon’ble NCDRC.
- Per Contra the OP, in its reply have stated that the complaint is vague ambiguous, devoid of merits and that the complainant has filed the present complaint with distorted facts. It is stated by the OP that they organised the tour to Europe according to the requirements put forward by the Complainant and that the Complainant along with his fellow travel companions harassed and used abusive filthy language against the OPs tour operator.
- It is further stated by the OP that as per the terms and conditions of the itinerary provided by the OP to the Complainant, the OP had provided the services to the Complainant without any deficiency on its part. It is stated by the OP that the same flights were booked for many other passengers and none of them had missed their flight. It is stated by them that the tours operator’s flight was cancelled and therefore she was forced to take another flight to Paris and that is she was delayed by 30 minutes and that the drivers were available at the airport and received the Complainant and his travel group.
- It has further been stated by the OP that in earlier tours, same vehicle was used but the breakdown of the vehicle is beyond the control of the OP and cannot be said to be deficiency in service on the part of the OP. It is further stated by the OP that the Complainant along with this travel group were safely transported to the hotel by taxis which were arranged and paid for by their tour manager.
- It is further stated by the OP that orientation tour of Geneva on 13.06.2015 was rescheduled and changed to 14.06.2015 as the complainant insisted on shopping and did not want to take a tour of the city that is why the tour operator left and gave the complaint and other passengers time to shop in Geneva. It is further stated by the OP that vide email dated 17.06.2015, the MD of the OP1 had duly replied to all the queries raised by the Complainant. It is stated that the program, as per the itinerary was not followed by the complainant and the complainant formed a united group against the OPs tour guide who, then had little say in the program and schedule of all the passengers.
The Complainant has filed the rejoinder and both the parties have filed their respective evidence affidavits and written submissions. This Commission has gone through the entire material on record and have also seen the photographs filed by the complainant of the broken down bus and the passengers being stranded on the road. It is also seen from the record that the OP has nowhere contradicted that the bus did not break down on more than one occasion. Though it is correct to say on OP’s part that the break down is unpredictable yet when that happens on more than one occasion then the OP should have taken care to avoid such instance and ought to have taken care of its passengers by providing them alternate, safe and convenient bus/travel. OP should have taken care to see whether the bus is trip worthy or not, the matter becomes worse when parents are travelling with small children. To this extent, this Commission holds OP deficient in providing service and directs the OP to compensate the complainant for an amount of Rs. 50,000/- on account of mental and physical harassment which the Complainant along with his family had to undergo.
The other allegations of the Complainant that the itinerary was changed and that the tour guide was rude have been denied by the OP and counter allegations have been made by the OP however, none of them have placed any document for proving the allegations. This amount of Rs. 50,000/- is to be paid by the OP within 2 months from the date of receipt of the said order failing which the OP would be liable to pay an interest at the rate of 5% per annum from the date of order till realization.
File be consigned to the record room and order be uploaded on the website.
