Date of filing:       24.06.2019

                                                                                                                                 Date of disposal : 25.01.2023

 

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION

THIRUVALLUR

 

 BEFORE  TMT. Dr.S.M. LATHA MAHESWARI, M.A.,M.L, Ph.D (Law)                 .….     PRESIDENT

                 THIRU.J.JAYASHANKAR B.A., B.L.,                                                            .....     MEMBER-I

                

RBT/CC. No.112/2022

THIS WEDNESDAY, THE 25th DAY OF JANUARY 2023

(CC.No.106/2019 sent from DCDRC, Chennai North)

 

Dr.W.Lawrence Prabhakar,

B-40, No.19, 6th Street,

Anna Nagar East, Chennai 600 102.                                                   .........Complainant. 

                                                                          //Vs//

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC),

Rep. by its Chairman & Managing Director,

B-148, 11th Floor,

Stateman House, 

Barakambha Road, New Delhi 110 001.                                             ...Opposite party.

 

Counsel for the complainant                              :   M/s.Waraon &Sai Rams, Advocate.

Counsel for the opposite party                          :   M/s.V.G.Suresh Kumar, Advocate.

                         

This complaint has been filed before DCDRC, Chennai (North) as CC.No.106/2019 and transferred to this commission by the order of the Hon’ble State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chennai and taken on file as CC.No.112/2022 and this complaint coming before us on various dates and finally on 05.12.2022 in the presence of  M/s.Waraon &Sai Rams, Advocate counsel for the complainant and  upon perusing the documents and evidences of both sides, this Commission delivered the following: 

 

ORDER

PRONOUNCED BY THIRU.J.JAYASHANKAR, MEMBER - I

 

This complaint has been filed by the complainant U/S 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 alleging deficiency in service against the opposite party to refund a sum of Rs.20,720/- in respect of the cancellation of the Air Tickets booked through the opposite party together with interest at the rate of 18% p.a. from 23.6.2018 till date of payment and compensation of Rs.2,00,000/- towards damages for financial loss and mental agony and the cost of the complaint.

Summary of facts culminating into complaint:-

 

The case of the complainant is that the complainant has booked air tickets through the opposite party on 23.6.2018 at 9.22 hrs for a sum of Rs.26,852/- through credit card for which the complainant has received SMS from the opposite party that the tickets have been booked. Thereafter complainant verified with opposite party's website which displayed "Transaction failure" so the complainant tried contacting customer care number were there was no response from the customer care executives. Therefore around 9.40hrs on 23.6.2018 complainant sent email to care@irctc.co.in requesting copies of tickets since there was no response from the opposite party the complainant attempted to contact opposite party customer care on the same day at 22.57 hrs as the next day was Sunday as he had to travel to Delhi on 25.6.2018 at 17.00 hrs by Air India flight AI 539. After repeated attempts the customer care representative of opposite party spoke to the complainant and stated that the system reflects "no records for transactions" of the tickets booked and there was no booking in the complainant's name. Hence the complainant had no choice to book tickets on 24.6.2018 through Air India website for the same sector and had to pay Rs.30,169/- which is charged full, as the booking was made 1 day before departure on 24.6.2018-and-suddenly on 25.6.2018 10.35 hrs the tickets which were booked through the opposite party website was delivered. The telephone calls made on 23.6.2018 to the opposite party and email for delivery of tickets was categorically informed that no booking exists and the transaction made by the complainant had been failed. It was under these circumstances the complainant was compelled to book fresh tickets at a higher rate on Air India website and it was only on 25.6.2018 around 10.35 hrs the opposite party had mailed the e-tickets to the complainant. Further as the opposite party had not communicated the booking transaction made by the complainant within an appropriate time and the delivery of e-tickets after the second booking was made by the complainant just a few hours prior to the departure of the flight clearly shows that there has been a glitch in the system of the opposite party and hence the complainant cannot be held responsible for the same. Since the complainant had already booked alternative tickets through Air India web site on 24.6.2018 the complainant cancelled the tickets issued by the opposite party after undue delay and to the shock and surprise of complainant, the opposite party had refunded only a sum of Rs.6,132/- as against the payment of Rs.26,852/- made by the complainant. Thereafter the complainant contacted one Mr. Deepchand, Mr.Brasanth, Mr.Amarpreeth and Mr. Umesh, the officers of the opposite party through several mails requesting for refund of entire amount paid as he has not utilized the ticket for which no proper response from the opposite party for the refund of balance amount Rs. 20,720/-. And e-mail dated 3.7.208 was addressed to Chairman & Managing Director of the opposite party and various officials by way of emails. The complainant has been made to suffer a financial loss of Rs.20,720/-. This amounts to clear deficiency in service and hence the present complaint. 

Crux of the defence put forth by the opposite party:-

Crux of the defence put forth by the Opposite party: The opposite party in its written version stated that the complainant is to restrict documentary proof to each and every allegation not so admitted. Further the complainant has received the PNR of the tickets booked and there is no status like transaction failure for any stage in Air ticket booking and the customer care is 24x 7 service to serve the customers and the ticketing care mail id is flights@irctc.co.in not care@irctc.co.in wherein all call records have been checked but there is no such call record during the time mentioned and the booking was created properly and SMS sent to complainant is the proof of the same. The complainant can check the booking and ticket details from the My Account section also and the first mail received from the complainant was on 25.6.2018 and before that no mail communication was received. And there was no deficiency in service by the opposite party to the complainant as the booking was properly communicated over SMS and no communication was received from the complainant till 25.6.2018. Further since the complainant did not travel in the specified ticket, fare was forfeited by the airline and remaining taxes was refunded to the customer account for a no show case which was communicated to the complainant. Therefore there is no negligence deficiency in service and accordingly the complaint has to be dismissed.

On the side of complainant proof affidavit was filed and submitted documents marked as Ex.A1 to A9. The opposite parties filed proof affidavit but no documents were submited on their side.

 

Points for consideration:-

Whether the opposite party had committed deficiency in service?

If so to what reliefs the complainant is entitled?

Point No.1:-

The following documents were filed on the side of complainant in support of his contentions;

Invitation letter from Jawaharlal Nehru University to the complainant dated 22.06.2018 was marked as Ex.A1;

Email itinerary receipt dated 23.06.2018 was marked as Ex.A2;

Email conversation both complainant and opposite party was marked as Ex.A3;

Standard chartered credit card statements were marked as Ex.A4 to Ex.A7;

Legal notice issued to the opposite party dated 03.01.2019 was marked as Ex.A8;

Interim reply by the opposite party dated 15.02.2019 was marked as Ex.A9;

The crux of the arguments of the complainant is that the PNR details were received through SMS and thereafter the complainant verified in the opposite party's website which displayed "Transaction failure" and there was no response while the complainant contacted the customer care number and therefore the complainant sent email to care@irctc.co.in requesting for copies of tickets but the tickets have not been sent as requested by the complainant through mail on 25.6.2018 and since the next day was Sunday as the complainant had to travel to Delhi on 25.6.2018 at 17.00hrs by Air India flight he tried to contact the customer care and it was informed by the customer care person that no records for transactions hence the complainant booked a ticket through Air India website for the same sector for which the complainant had to pay Rs.30,169/- which was made 1 day before departure on 24.6.2018 and suddenly on 25.6.2018 at 10.35 hrs the tickets booked through opposite party website was delivered through mail. Since the tickets booked through the opposite party was not delivered on time the complainant cancelled the tickets wherein suddenly the tickets were received from the opposite party through mail. Further it is only due to the deficiency in service of the complainant in not properly delivering the tickets on time and the customer care person of the opposite party who spoke that no records for transactions the complainant cancelled the ticket which is due to negligence on the part of the opposite party. Accordingly the complainant is liable for the full refund of the ticket amount as the same was cancelled due to the reasons as aforesaid and for the compensation.

The crux of the reply of the opposite party in its written version is that the PNR details has been sent to the complainant which contains all the details of booking which has been received through SMS by the complainant and the customer is 24x7 and there is no proof filed by the complainant to show that the transaction failed and the ticketing care mail id is flights@irctc.co.in not care@irctc.co.in wherein all call records have been checked but there is no such call record during the time mentioned and since the ticket details were properly communicated to the opposite party there is no deficiency in service on the part of the opposite party and the cancelation made is properly effected and accordingly the refund has been credited to the account of the complainant.

On perusal of the documents and evidence submitted by both the parties it is an admitted fact that the SMS for booking the ticket is been sent by the opposite party to the complainant. The complainant on 23.6.2018 at 7.40 pm had sent email to the opposite party requesting for E-tickets for the SMS received on booking made by him for which a reply is received on 24.6.2018 at 7.21 pm that ticket assigned with ID No. 626538, which is a automatically generated one. Further the E-Ticket Itinerary Receipt sent to complainant marked as Exhibit -A2 clearly shows the details of the booking made by the complainant with all reference contained therein. This being so, the complainant has again tried to contact the opposite party through its website and claimed that the website displayed "transaction Failure" and system reflects "No records for transaction" and no booking found in the website and no booking stands in the name of the complainant. Having the said E-Ticket Itinerary Receipt received, these being e-transaction the complainant ought to have waited for the tickets to be sent by the opposite party. But on the other hand the complainant had stated that he visited the web site as above said which makes us to doubt bonofide of the complainant. Further there is no such documents have been filed by the complainant to support his case for this statement. Further on 25.6.2018 at 10.30 am email is received by the complainant from the opposite party that reply will be received shortly and accordingly at 10.30 am on 25.6.2018 the opposite party has sent an email to take print out of the ticket and along with photo ID on check in. Further on 25.6.2018 at 10.36 am the complainant has received email from the opposite party that itinerary is sent thorough mail requested to check the same. These all being the Exhibit-A2 filed by the complainant. The complainant in an urgency has chosen to book tickets through the website of Air India for the same sector and had paid a higher amount before 1 day and cancelled the e -tickets already booked for the reason that he opposite party website displayed "Transaction Failure" and the customer care executives did not respond for calls are not any valid reason for cancellation of the e-ticket with the opposite party. Wherein the opposite party has clearly retaliated the claim in its reply notice that the message in regard to Transaction Failure is denied and was ever displayed in the website which is marked as the Exhibit A-9 filed by the complainant which is the reply notice to the complainant's legal Notice dated: 3.1.2019 which is marked as Exhibit A-8. Further except a mere allegation that the website of opposite party displayed transaction failure and customer persons did not respond which is without any proper evidence furnished before us and in the absence of any such proof we are unable to accept the reason provided by the complainant. Therefore we do not find any deficiency in service attributed by the complainant to the opposite party. Further the refund on cancelation has been paid by the opposite party to the complainant after such deductions which is as per the request made by the complainant with the opposite party and the same cannot be questioned. Further all the other communication made to all the executives after the transaction complaining on the allegations made by the complainant are not acceptable to come to conclusion that the opposite party has committed deficiency in service. Therefore the claim for the balance amount on such cancelation at that juncture merely due to the allegation by the opposite party that the complainant has not received e-ticket without any substantial evidence the same cannot be appreciated and is not acceptable. Therefore we are not in a position to award any such compensation as claimed by the complainant. Further the opposite party has specifically stated that the ticketing care mail id is flights@irctc.co.in not care@irctc.co.in for which the complainant has not retaliated or replied to this reply stated in the written version of the opposite party. It is seen that all the communications has been made only to care@irctc.co.in. Accordingly in the aforesaid circumstances the point is answered in negative.

On appreciation of the available documents, this commission could not find any case made by the complainant as against the opposite party as there is no proper proof is submitted to establish his case. Therefore on such basis the compensation as claimed by the complainant cannot be granted. Thus we answer the point accordingly in favour of the opposite party and against the complainant.

Point No.2:- 

As we have held above that the complainant failed to prove any deficiency in service on the part of the opposite party he is not entitled any relief from the opposite party.

 In the result the complaint is dismissed. No order as to cost. 

Dictated by the Member I to the steno-typist, transcribed and computerized by him, corrected by the Member I and pronounced by us in the open Commission on this the 25th day of January 2023.

 

  Sd/-                                                                                                                       Sd/- 

MEMBER-I                                                                                                         PRESIDENT

 

List of document filed by the complainant:-

 

Ex.A1 22.06.2018 Invitation letter from Jawaharlal Nehru University to the complainant. Xerox

Ex.A2 23.06.2018 Email Itinerary receipt. Xerox

Ex.A3 ............... Email conversation both complainant and opposite party. Xerox

Ex.A4 24.06.2018 Standard chartered credit card statement. Xerox

Ex.A5 23.07.2018 Standard chartered credit card statement. Xerox

Ex.A6 2308.2018 Standard chartered credit card statement. Xerox

Ex.A7 09.09.2018 Standard chartered credit card statement. Xerox

Ex.A8 03.01.2019 Legal notice sent to the opposite party. Xerox

Ex.A9 15.02.2019 Interim reply by the opposite party. Xerox

 

List of documents filed by the opposite party:-

Nil

  Sd/-                                                                                                                 Sd/-

MEMBER-II                                                                                                  PRESIDENT