DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, BARNALA, PUNJAB.
Complaint Case No: CC/6/2023
Date of Institution: 16.01.2023
Date of Decision: 02.07.2024
Manu Aggarwal aged about 28 years, son of Shri Abhey Kumar Jindal, resident of House No. 52, 16 Acre Scheme, Barnala, Tehsil and District Barnala(M.No.94171-23577). …Complainant
Versus
Make My Trip India Private Limited, DLF Building No. 5, Tower-B, DLF Cyber City, DLF Phase-2, Sector 25, Gurugram (Haryana) 122003 through its authorized person/authorized signatory.
…Opposite Party
Complaint Under Section 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
Present: Sh. A.K. Jindal Adv counsel for complainant.
Sh. Anuj Mohan Adv counsel for opposite party.
Quorum.-
1. Sh. Ashish Kumar Grover: President
2. Smt. Urmila Kumari : Member
3. Sh. Navdeep Kumar Garg : Member
(ORDER BY ASHISH KUMAR GROVER PRESIDENT):
The complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 35 of the Consumer Protection Act 2019 against Make My Trip India Private Limited, DLF Building No. 5, Tower-B, DLF Cyber City, DLF Phase-2, Sector 25, Gurugram (Haryana) 122003 through its authorized person/authorized signatory (in short the opposite party).
2. The facts leading to the present complaint are that the complainant and his wife Simmi Aggarwal planned to visit Maldives and the complainant availed services of opposite party and as per the advice of opposite party, the complainant purchased 5 days trip, out of which 4 nights and 5 days i.e. from 3.12.2022 to 7.12.2022 and the complainant paid the charges thereof online to the tune of Rs. 3,21,252/- to the opposite party. The complainant paid/send an amount of Rs. 35,328/- from his saving bank account No. 50100104900782 maintained with HDFC Bank Limited, Branch Barnala and an amount of Rs. 2,85,924/- from saving bank account No. 921010038597049 maintained with Axis Bank Limited, Branch Barnala, as such the complainant paid total amount of Rs. 3,21,252/- to the opposite party through online method as provided by the opposite party on their online portal. It is further alleged that on 25.11.2022 when the wife of the complainant Simmi Aggarwal was in her parental house, suddenly she received injury in the ankle of her right foot and the ligament of right foot was left its place and due to this reason, she is unable to stand on her foot and also unable to walk. The complainant's wife Simmi Aggarwal gets her treatment from Life Care Hospital, Bhattu Road, Fatehabad and after that she continuously get the treatment from Dr. Hemant Sharma, Preetiksha Hospital, Gurgaon (Haryana) and the doctor of that hospital advised to the wife of the complainant for complete bed rest. As such, the complainant under compulsion cancel the said Trip and the complainant duly informed to the opposite party through email message in time on 29.11.2022 and the message was duly received by the opposite party. However, through mobile call with the opposite party on 29.11.2022 also send a email on 30.11.2022 with supporting medical documents to the opposite party and requested them to refund the amount deposited/paid by the complainant for the said Trip purposes. But the opposite party employee assured to the complainant that the amount will be refunded as soon as possible after getting necessary permission from the higher officers of their concern. But after the lapse of period of more than 45 days, the opposite party not refunded any single penny to the complainant. Ultimately, the complainant on 13.12.2022 through her counsel served a registered legal notice of 7 days to refund the amount of the said Trip, which was duly received by the opposite party on 16.12.2022, but the opposite party did not dare to file any reply of that legal notice, nor refund the said amount to the complainant. Thus, there is deficiency in service on the part of opposite party. Hence, the present complaint is filed for seeking the following reliefs.-
- The opposite party may be directed to refund the amount of said Trip to the tune of Rs. 3,21,252/- alongwith interest @ 18% per annum from the date of payment till its realization.
- To pay Rs. 50,000/- on account of compensation for causing mental torture, agony and harassment to the complainant.
- Further, to pay Rs. 20,000/- as litigation expenses.
3. Upon notice of this complaint, the opposite party appeared and filed written version by taking preliminary submission on the ground that the answering opposite party is a consumer-centric company, which is managed online web-portal i.e. www.makemytrip.com and mobile application namely “MakeMyTrip”. The answering opposite party provides all the travel related unblemished services and information to its customers but not limited to air ticketing, railways ticketing, bus booking, hotel bookings at very competitive prices. It is further alleged that the answering opposite party merely acts as a facilitator for booking the confirmed air tickets/hotel bookings on behalf of its customers with the concerned service providers. At the time of booking of the tickets, the complainant duly accepted the terms and conditions of the agreement between the User and MakeMyTrip. Furthermore, the complainant at the time of booking the tickets also duly consented and adhered to the Reschedule/Cancellation Policy of the answering opposite party as well as the concerned airline. It is further alleged that MMT does not control or operate any airline, shipping company, coach, hotel, transport vehicles, restaurant, kitchen caravan or any other facility or service mentioned in the Brochure. MMT shall not be responsible for any act or actions of co-travelers, co-passengers which may result in injury, damage to the life or limb or property of the User, or which may lead to interference in enjoying or availing the services provided on the outbound tour. It is further alleged that MMT is only facilitator and any refund for any service which are not delivered by the service provider/independent contractors or for any reason for which the User is entitled for a refund is subject to MMT receiving the amount from the said service provider. It is further submitted that in case the User makes any changes in their accommodation while on the Outbound Tour, MMT shall not refund or pay compensation in any manner whatsoever. The User would also be liable to pay any additional sum that is required to be paid consequent to the aforesaid changes made in the accommodation. In the event of any delay in the refund beyond the period specified herein, the entire liability of MMT shall be refund of the said amount with interest calculated at the applicable bank rate till the date the refund is made.
4. On merits, it is submitted that the complainant was time and again requested to change his travel date alongwith his wife but the complainant bluntly refused. Since the payments had already been made to the service providers, after getting medical record from the complainant of his wife, the same was sent to the service provider that is the airline and the hotel. It is further alleged that the answering opposite party received an email from the airline vide which it was informed that the customer/complainant should contact the airline directly and the same was immediately forwarded to the complainant. Thereafter, it is not within the knowledge of the answering opposite party that as to what communication took place between the complainant and the service provider. The copy of email dated 13.1.2023 sent by the answering opposite party to the complainant on the instructions of the service provider airline. It is further alleged that the answering opposite party was in continuous contact with the service provider hotel at Maldives also and the service provider hotel firstly refused to make any changes or refund the amount. The service provider hotel only allowed to allow change in booking upto 31.12.2022 but made clear that in case of non-receipt of any reservation, 100% cancellation charges will be applicable. The opposite party denied all the other allegations of the complainant and prayed for the dismissal of complaint.
5. The complainant filed rejoinder to the reply filed by the opposite party vide which the complainant denied the averments as mentioned in the written reply of opposite party.
6. To prove the case the complainant tendered into evidence copy of brochure Ex.C-1, copy of online payment receipt Ex.C-2, copy of Life Care Hospital Medical Prescription Ex.C-3, X-ray Ex.C-4 and Ex.C-5, rest advice for one month certificate Ex.C-6, copy of email dated 30.11.2022 Ex.C-7, copy of prescription of Dr. Hemant Sharma Ex.C-8, copy of legal notice Ex.C-9, copy of postal receipt Ex.C-10, copy of tracking report Ex.C-11, affidavit of complainant Ex.C-12, copy of email dated 11.12.2022 Ex.C-13 and closed the evidence.
7. To rebut the case of the complainant the opposite party tendered into evidence copy of agreement Ex.O.P-1 (containing 16 pages), copy of package details Ex.O.P-2 (containing 7 pages), copies of emails Ex.O.P-3 & Ex.O.P-4, affidavit of Puneet Chawla Ex.O.P-5 and closed the evidence.
8. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the record on the file. Written arguments filed by the complainant.
9. Ld. Counsel for complainant argued that complainant and his wife Simmi Aggarwal planned to visit Maldives and the complainant availed services of opposite party and as per the advice of opposite party, the complainant purchased 5 days trip, out of which 4 nights and 5 days i.e. from 3.12.2022 to 7.12.2022. It is further argued that the complainant paid the charges thereof online to the tune of Rs. 3,21,252/- to the opposite party out of which an amount of Rs. 35,328/- paid from his saving bank account No. 50100104900782 maintained with HDFC Bank Limited, Branch Barnala and an amount of Rs. 2,85,924/- from saving bank account No. 921010038597049 maintained with Axis Bank Limited, Branch Barnala. It is further argued that on 25.11.2022 when the wife of the complainant Simmi Aggarwal was in her parental house, suddenly she received injury in the ankle of her right foot and the ligament of right foot was left its place and due to this reason, she is unable to stand on her foot and also unable to walk. It is also argued that the complainant's wife Simmi Aggarwal gets her treatment from Life Care Hospital, Bhattu Road, Fatehabad and after that she continuously get the treatment from Dr. Hemant Sharma, Preetiksha Hospital, Gurgaon (Haryana) and the doctor of that hospital advised to the wife of the complainant for complete bed rest (as per Ex.C-3 to Ex.C-6) and the complainant under compulsion cancel the said Trip and the complainant duly informed to the opposite party through email message in time on 29.11.2022 and the message was duly received by the opposite party, however through mobile call with the opposite party on 29.11.2022 also send a email on 30.11.2022 (as per Ex.C-7) with supporting medical documents to the opposite party. It is also argued that the complainant requested them to refund the amount deposited/paid by the complainant for the said Trip purposes and the opposite party employee assured to the complainant that the amount will be refunded as soon as possible after getting necessary permission from the higher officers of their concern, but after the lapse of period of more than 45 days the opposite party not refunded any single penny to the complainant. It is further argued that the complainant on 13.12.2022 through her counsel served a registered legal notice (Ex.C-9) of 7 days to refund the amount of the said Trip, which was duly received by the opposite party on 16.12.2022, but the opposite party did not dare to file any reply of that legal notice, nor refund the said amount to the complainant.
10. On the other hand, Ld. Counsel for the opposite party argued that the opposite party provides all the travel related unblemished services and information to its customers but not limited to air ticketing, railways ticketing, bus booking, hotel bookings at very competitive prices. It is further argued that the opposite party merely acts as a facilitator for booking the confirmed air tickets/hotel bookings on behalf of its customers with the concerned service providers and at the time of booking of the tickets, the complainant duly accepted the terms and conditions of the agreement between the User and MakeMyTrip. It is further argued that opposite party does not control or operate any airline, shipping company, coach, hotel, transport vehicles, restaurant, kitchen caravan or any other facility or service mentioned in the Brochure and shall not be responsible for any act or actions of co-travelers, co-passengers which may result in injury, damage to the life or limb or property of the User, or which may lead to interference in enjoying or availing the services provided on the outbound tour. It is also argued that the complainant was time and again requested to change his travel date alongwith his wife but the complainant bluntly refused, since the payments had already been made to the service providers after getting medical record from the complainant of his wife and the same was sent to the service provider that is the airline and the hotel. It is further argued that the opposite party received an email from the airline vide which it was informed that the customer/complainant should contact the airline directly and the same was immediately forwarded to the complainant (as per Ex.O.P-3 & Ex.O.P-4). It is argued that thereafter it is not within the knowledge of the opposite party that as to what communication took place between the complainant and the service provider and the copy of email dated 13.1.2023 sent by the opposite party to the complainant on the instructions of the service provider airline. It is further argued that the opposite party was in continuous contact with the service provider hotel at Maldives also and the service provider hotel firstly refused to make any changes or refund the amount and the service provider hotel only allowed to allow change in booking upto 31.12.2022 but made clear that in case of non-receipt of any reservation, 100% cancellation charges will be applicable.
11. It is admitted fact that the complainant purchased 5 days trip, out of which 4 nights and 5 days i.e. from 3.12.2022 to 7.12.2022 and paid the charges thereof online to the tune of Rs. 3,21,252/- to the opposite party out of which an amount of Rs. 35,328/- paid from his saving bank account No. 50100104900782 maintained with HDFC Bank Limited, Branch Barnala and an amount of Rs. 2,85,924/- from saving bank account No. 921010038597049 maintained with Axis Bank Limited, Branch Barnala. It is also admitted fact that on 25.11.2022 the wife of the complainant Simmi Aggarwal received injury in the ankle of her right foot and the ligament of right foot was left its place and due to this reason, she is unable to stand on her foot and also unable to walk and she gets her treatment from Life Care Hospital, Bhattu Road, Fatehabad and after that she continuously get the treatment from Dr. Hemant Sharma, Preetiksha Hospital, Gurgaon (Haryana) and the doctor of that hospital advised to the wife of the complainant for complete bed rest.
12. The allegation of the complainant is that under the above said medical compulsion he cancelled the said Trip and duly informed to the opposite party through email message in time on 29.11.2022 with supporting medical documents through mobile call with the opposite party on 29.11.2022 and also send an email on 30.11.2022 which was duly received by the opposite party and requested them to refund the amount deposited/paid by the complainant for the said Trip purposes. But after the lapse of period of more than 45 days, the opposite party did not pay any single penny to the complainant. On this, the stand of the opposite party is that the opposite party merely acts as a facilitator for booking the confirmed air tickets/hotel bookings on behalf of its customers with the concerned service providers. It is further the case of the opposite party that they were in continuous contact with the service provider hotel at Maldives also and the service provider hotel, who firstly refused to make any changes or refund the amount and the service provider hotel only allowed to allow change in booking upto 31.12.2022 but made clear that in case of non-receipt of any reservation, 100% cancellation charges will be applicable. Ld. Counsel for the complainant argued that at the time of purchasing the above said package from the opposite party these types of terms and conditions were not stated or supplied to the complainant along with brochure i.e. Ex.C-1. Ld. Counsel for the complainant further argued that the opposite party cannot escape from its liability by saying that they merely acts as a facilitator for booking the confirmed air tickets/hotel bookings on behalf of its customers with the concerned service providers because the complainant paid the above said amount of Rs. 3,21,252/- to the opposite party directly. Moreover, on the perusal of the file it is established that the complainant immediately informed the opposite party through email Ex.C-7 regarding the injury received by the complainant’s wife and she was advised by the doctor for one month bed rest which proves from Ex.C-6. The package was cancelled by the complainant due to unavoidable circumstances. The complainant informed the opposite party regarding cancellation well within prescribed period of cancellation. Therefore, we are of the view that by not accepting the genuine claim and not refunding the amount there is clear cut deficiency in service & unfair trade practice on the part of the opposite party.
13. In view of the above discussion, the present complaint is allowed and the opposite party is directed to refund the amount of Rs. 3,21,252/- alongwith interest @ 7% per annum from the date of payment till its actual realization to the complainant. The opposite party is further directed to pay Rs. 15,000/- on account of compensation for causing mental torture, agony and harassment suffered by the complainant and Rs. 5,000/- as litigation expenses to the complainant. Compliance of this order be made within the period of 45 days from the date of the receipt of the copy of this order. Copy of the order be supplied to the parties free of costs. File be consigned to the records after its due compliance.
ANNOUNCED IN THE OPEN COMMISSION:
2nd Day of July, 2024
(Ashish Kumar Grover)
President
(Urmila Kumari)
Member
(Navdeep Kumar Garg)
Member
