Versus
Country Holidays Inn and Suites, 3rd Floor, A-Bock, A-37, Sec-63, Gautam Budh Nagar, Noida-201301 (U.P.) (Through its CEO Vishal Rai) …..Opposite party
Complaint Under section 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
QUORUM:
SH. SANJEEV BATRA, PRESIDENT
SH. JASWINDER SINGH, MEMBER
MS. MONIKA BHAGAT, MEMBER
COUNSEL FOR THE PARTIES:
For complainant : Sh. Harshit Sachar, Advocate.
For OP : Exparte.
ORDER
PER JASWINDER SINGH MEMBER
1. Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that the opposite party is a travel company who had given a public offer that they are selling membership of their travel company and whosoever purchases the membership becomes a customer of their company and the members will be provided services of staying in luxurious resorts/hotels at exotic places for 6 nights and 7 days every year for 10 years free of cost, at a one-time membership fee of Rs.1,25,000/- and annual subscription fee of Rs.8,500/- per annum. The complainant stated that after consideration, he had purchased membership on 14.12.2017 and was issued membership No.CHISLD772871 through email by paying Rs.1,25,000/- and was also paying annual subscription charges of Rs.8,500/- to the opposite parties. On 12th June 2018, the complainant requested the opposite party for booking at a hotel in Manali for 21 to 23rd June 2018 through E-mail. The opposite party replied by saying that the booking cannot be confirmed due to sold out reasons. Then the complainant approached the Hotel Rock, Manali and Hotel Quality Inn River Side, Manali and asked them whether any room was available for the captioned dates and the above mentioned Hotels told the complainant that the rooms for the captioned dates are available. The Complainant then told the opposite party about the same but the opposite party had no intention to continue with the bookings. Therefore, the opposite party kept on denying the complainant to the point that the complainant had no other option but to cancel his trip to Manali. The complainant further stated that he had again approached the opposite party through E-mail on 27.09.2019 to make a reservation for 2 rooms from 3rd to 5th December 2019 in Hotel The Maharana Bagh, Udaipur to which the opposite party had replied by saying that their booking window is not activated yet and asked the complainant to make a fresh request in the first week of November. As the complainant was not satisfied with this reply and as such he asked the opposite party to provide proper services to him as he wanted to book his flight to the destination which would have become very expensive in the month of November, the opposite party then reverted with an option of hotel 'Golden Tulip', Udaipur as per their own convenience which was unacceptable to the complainant as the same was an inferior property located in the hilly areas and was not as per the preferences and standards of the complainant. Due to the above said deficient services of the opposite party, the complainant was left with no other option but to cancel his trip to Udaipur. After this incident, the complainant again approached the opposite party on 23.11.2019 through E-mail to make a reservation for four nights from 20th to 23rd December 2019 near Vudu Park Skating Rink, Vishakhapatnam to which the opposite party replied by stating that the said location i.e. Vishakhapatnam is not listed with the company, leaving the complainant with no other option but to change his plan. Thereafter, the Complainant made another request to the opposite party on the same day i.e. 23.11.2019 for one room in Goa for 31st December 2019 and 1st January 2020, but the opposite party again declined the request by stating that the opposite party will not be able to proceed with the request on the captioned dates due to blackout date and sold out reason, leaving the complainant in utter shock and dissatisfied with the services of the opposite party as they failed to keep their promises and hence, the complainant was left with no other option but to cancel all his plans for another vacation trip.
The complainant further stated that on 02.02.2020, he made another request for reservation to the opposite party through E-mail for his son Manpreet Singh who had to go to Chandigarh for his coaching classes in sector 15 for one night on 08.02.2020, in reply to which the opposite party gave an option of booking Regenta Central Cassia in Zirakpur, knowing very well that it takes about an hour to travel from Zirakpur to Chandigarh, the complainant again requested the opposite party to find a better option within the territory of Chandigarh and not outside Chandigarh so that his son could attend his coaching classes, but the opposite party refused to do so and told the complainant that they did not have any option available within Chandigarh, this came out as utter shock to the complainant as the opposite party had listed and advertised 'Chandigarh' on their website yet the opposite party had no Hotel available in Chandigarh. Due to the above-mentioned misleading advertisement of the opposite party, the complainant had to suffer mental agony and harassment and the complainant was left with no other option but to book a Hotel in Chandigarh from some other travel company and had to pay for the same out of his own pocket. The opposite party failed to fulfill the promises made to the complainant and the complainant had made another request to the opposite party on 05.10.2020 for reservation of 3 rooms on 10th and 11th October 2020 in Shimla, after which the complainant was shocked that the opposite party in reply had given an option of Hotel Honeymoon Inn, Shimla for only one room and had mentioned that the second room will be charged at Rs. 3,800/- which was against the terms agreed upon when the opposite party was selling their membership. At the time of sale of membership, it was agreed by the opposite party that 2 rooms would be provided to the complainant free of cost and as such the cost of membership was also shared amongst the two families. But in the reply to the mentioning of the oral agreement between the complainant and the opposite party through E-mail, the opposite party simply said that the request for two rooms cannot be processed at the moment without making any comment on the said agreed terms, and the request of the complainant was again declined by the opposite party. Thereafter, on 02.07.2021, the complainant again approached the opposite party through e-mail for making a reservation for 27th and 28th of August, 2021 for 2 rooms in Shimla, on which they had replied that their booking window is not yet activated and to make a request in the last week of July, after which the complainant decided to change the dates to 6th and 7th of August, 2021 so that they may get the reservation, as the new dates falls within the active booking window. Rather the opposite party without even considering the request made by the complainant simply declined it by asking to put a request again in the last week of July. Shocked and unsatisfied by the behaviour of the opposite party, the complainant inquired from the opposite party about the Rules for domestic booking to which they replied that in peak seasons the requests are to be made prior to 15 days and in normal season the requests are to be made prior to 72 hours., The request made by the complainant was prior to 15 day time frame and thus, satisfied the above said rules still the opposite party had declined the request of the complainant which proves that the opposite party never had any intention of fulfilling their promises and had artfully lured innocent customers like the complainant to buy their membership without expecting any services in return which clearly amounts unfair trade practices.
The complainant further stated that on 20.07.2021, he and his family decided to visit The Golden Temple in Amritsar so the complainant again approached the opposite party for making reservation of 2 rooms in Amritsar for 24.07.2021 but as usual the opposite party came up with another excuse for declining the complainant's request, this time the opposite party replied by stating that only two locations are available for reservation i.e. Mukteshwar and Jim Corbett which was clearly a dishonest tact, as large number of locations are advertised by the opposite party on their website to lure in innocent customers and Amritsar was part of the above said list along with other destinations. Thus, after getting refusal each and every time from the opposite party, the complainant started becoming suspicious about the unfair trade practices run by the opposite party. On 18.10.2021, the complainant decided to give the opposite party a final chance by making a request for reservation for Shimla for 2 rooms i.e. 23rd and 24th of October 2021, to which the opposite party replied by saying that the request cannot be entertained as it is not made prior to 15 day time frame and had also mentioned in the same E-mail that the requested location is not yet active due to some internal issues. As such, the complainant decided to change the dates to fulfill the 15 day criteria and asked the opposite party to make a reservation for 13th and 14th of November 2021 for either Shimla or Palampur. Again the opposite party declined the complainant's request by giving a different excuse, that you cannot make a reservation for 2 rooms on the Complainant's membership. This reply was simply a tactic by the opposite party to evade the obligation of making reservation as the opposite party had themselves mentioned in the previous E-mails that the location is not yet active due to some internal issues and to cover up their unfair trade practices the opposite party came up with this baseless excuse. The complainant further stated that from the day one the opposite party had been refusing his requests for making reservations on one pretext or another. The complainant has been an active member of their company and has been paying the annual subscription charges every year for the past 5 years but the opposite party had not made even a single reservation for the complainant which raises suspicion in the mind of the complainant that the opposite party had cheated the complainant by alluring him by giving attractive offers and by publishing misleading advertisement of which the opposite party had no intention to fulfill and he has been financially looted, mentally harassed and exploited by the opposite party which amounts to unfair trade practices on their part and the complainant does not want to continue his membership with the opposite party. The opposite party had adopted unfair trade practice by taking the hard-earned money of the complainant and not providing any services to them and has published misleading advertisement on their website which has mislead the complainant to buy their membership, therefore, the opposite party is liable refund the membership fee of Rs.1,25,000/- and all the annual subscriptions of Rs.8,500/- paid to it along with interest and Rs. 50,000/- as compensation for mental agony and harassment caused the complainant in the span of 5 years and Rs. 33,000/- as cost of legal expenses. The complainant also sent a legal notice to the opposite party through his counsel Sh. Harshit Sachar, Advocate, but to no avail. Hence this complaint whereby the complainant has prayed for issuing direction to the opposite party to refund the membership fee of Rs.1,25,000/- and the annual subscriptions of Rs.8,500/- paid to the opposite party along with interest @20% per annum and also to pay compensation of Rs.50,000/- and litigation expenses of Rs.33,000/-.
2. Notice of the complaint was given to the opposite party through registered post dated 13.10.2022 but none turned up for the opposite partydespite service and as such, the opposite party was proceeded against exparte vide order dated 20.12.2022.
3. In support of his claim, the complainant tendered his affidavit Ex. CA in which he reiterated the allegations and the claim of compensation as stated in the complaint. The complainant also tendered documents Ex. C1 is the copy of email dated 14.12.2017, Ex. C2 are the copies of emails from 12.06.208 to 16.06.2018, Ex. C3 are the copies of emails from 27.09.2019 to 27.11.2019, Ex. C4 are the copies of emails from 02.02.2020 to 06.02.2020, Ex.C5 are the copies of emails from 05.10.2020 to 04.07.2020, Ex. C6 are the copies of emails dated 20.07.2021 to 22.07.2021, Ex. C7 are the copies of emails from 17.10.2021 to 19.10.2021, Ex. C8 is the legal notice, Ex. C9 is the postal receipt and closed the evidence.
4. We have heard the arguments of the counsel for the parties and also gone through the complaint, affidavit and annexed documents produced on record by the complainant.
5. It has been stated by the complainant in the complaint as well as in the affidavit Ex.CA that he obtained membership from the opposite party on onetime membership fee of Rs.1,25,000/- and annual subscription fee of Rs.8,500/- per annum. As per email Ex. C1, the complainant was issued membership No.CHISLD772871 (10 years 6N/7D) having validity of entitlement up to 01.12.2027 against total purchase price of Rs.1,25,000/- along with annual subscription fee of Rs.8,500/-. It is further mentioned in the email Ex.C1 that as per membership, the complainant is entitled to holiday of 6N/7D every year for the next 10 years at any of the Country Holidays Inn & Suites owned and affiliated properties. The complainant submitted his requests made to the opposite partyand reason of decline in tabular form, which is reproduced as under:-
