Before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Rohtak.

                                                          Complaint No. : 712.

                                                          Instituted on     : 20.12.2019.

                                                          Decided on       : 01.02.2022.

1.  Ms. Sushma age 47 years D/o Daya Singh, resident of H.No.2026, Sector-2, Rohtak, Haryana, In-charge of her group consisting of 11 Adult. Mb. no.9992155024.
2. Neena D/o Sh. Daya Singh, Resident of H.No.2026, Sector-2, Rohtak.
3. Surendera Singh s/o Sh. Raghubir Singh R/o H.No.1889, Sector-2, Rohtak.
4. Kiran Lata d/o Sh. Surendera Singh R/o H.No.1889, Sector-2, Rohtak.
5. Twinkle d/o Surendera Singh R/o H.No.1889, Sector-2, Rohtak.
6. Tushar  s/o Surendera Singh R/o H. No. 1889, Sector-2, Rohtak.
7. Veer Khatkar s/o Kulender Pal Khatkar R/o H.No.10C, New Quarters, Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar.
8. Meena Sewhag d/o Sh. Daya Singh, Resident of H.No.10C, New Quarters, Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar.
9. Rudra Khatkar s/o Kulender Pal Khatkar R/o H.No.10C, New Quarters, Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar.
10. Naina d/o Surender Dhariwal Resident of H.No.2026, Sector-2, Rohtak.
11. Siya d/o Sh. Surender Dhariwal, Resident of H. No.2026, Sector-2, Rohtak.

All the above complainants trough their Special Power of Attorney Ms. Sushma i.e. (complainant no.1).  

                                                          ………..Complainants.

                             Vs.

1. M/s Charming Yatra, Corporate Office, Office No.7, 3^rd Floor, Pankha Road, East Uttam Nagar, New Delhi-110059, Mob No.9717729644,9654274599. Website www.charmingyatra.com, Email st Floor, Jainia Tower, District Centre, Janak Puri, Delhi-110059, Phone No.011-45682372.

Second Address:-

Office No.8, 3^rd Floor, Pankha Road, East Uttam Nagar, New Delhi-110059. Mob No.9717729644, Website www.charmingyatra.com Email  

……….Opposite parties.

COMPLAINT U/S 12 OF CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT,1986.

BEFORE:  SH.NAGENDER SINGH KADIAN, PRESIDENT.

                   DR. SHYAM LAL, MEMBER

Present:       Sh.Roop Chand Khichi, Advocate for the complainant.

                   Sh.Rakesh Birla, Advocate for opposite parties.

                                      ORDER

NAGENDER SINGH KADIAN, PRESIDENT:

1.                Brief facts of the case are that on 21.09.2019, complainant met with the opposite party No.2 and after detailed discussion, the complainant booked a tour package for Andaman & Nicobar known as Andaman Package for her group consisting of 11 Adults  for 5 nights and 6 days @ Rs.31000/- per person with flight and in confirmation Rs.10000/- were paid in cash as token money to  Ms. Shanti Pawar at her office i.e. opposite party No.2. Opposite party also gave the Itinerary of tour package on the same day and the tentative date of departure was given end of November 2019. The detail of journey is as under:-

Package Cost        : Rs.31000/- per person with flight

Destination            :Deluxe Hotels

Port Blair              : Hotel Silver Spring(AC Standard Room)

Havelock     : Havelock Island Beach Resort

Island             (AC Deluxe Cottage)

Package       : 5 Nights Hotel Stay

Inclusive       (5 Breakfast and 5 Dinner)

As per the advance payment policy of the opposite party the complainant has to pay according to schedule given below.

30%  Advance                : 30 days or more before date of departure.

50% Advance                 : 20-29 days before date of departure

20% Advance                 : 16-19 days before date of Departure.

Complainant made the payment of Rs.318000/- to the opposite parties on different dates before departure and Rs.50000/- on 24.11.2019 at Port Blair through First Light Tour & Travels. On 03.10.2019, the opposite parties booked the hotels namely Hotel Silver Spring Port Blair for the period 24.11.2019 to 26.11.2019 and Hotel Havelock Island for the period 26.11.2019 to 27.11.2019. On 18.10.2019, after receiving the amount of Rs.235000/-, they changed the itinerary by their own without consent of the complainant and also downgraded the Hotel  standard beside this they also postponed the date of departure from 21 November to 24 November  and the rates were escalated from Rs.31000/- to Rs.33500/- per person. On 20.10.2019 the complainant requested the opposite parties to cancel the tour and refund the money paid by them but the same was flatly refused by the opposite parties. The opposite party also transferred the Tour package from Charming Yatra to so called First Light Tour & Travels. Thee First Light Tour & Travels hopelessly failed to provide the facilities as promised by Charming Yatra in their first itinerary. By doing this both the opposite parties have adopted illegal trade practice just to earn wrongful gain to them and loss to complainant. At the time of stay at Hotel Pearl Marina on 24^th, 25^th and 28^th November 2019, the complainant and her group faced many problems i.e. i) No sufficient water supply in the toilets, ii) Toilets were stinking, iii) Buffet meals were not provided as per commitment. Low quality food served, iv) No housekeeping staff was available, v) Rooms were at 3^rd floor and no room service staff was available. To apprise about the above said inconveniences and misdeeds the complainant made umpteen calls and also made complaints through whatsapp to the opposite party No.2 but neither she picked the calls, nor replied satisfactorily.  The act of opposite parties amounts to unfair trade practice and deficiency in service. Hence this complaint and it is prayed that opposite parties may kindly be directed to pay Rs.500000/- to the complainant as compensation on account of mental shock, pain and agony, harassment and also to pay Rs.21000/- as cost of litigation in addition to the amount paid by the complainant i.e. Rs.368000/- alongwith interest @ 18% p.a. from the date of payment till its realization.

2.                After registration of complaint, notice was issued to the opposite parties. Opposite parties in their reply has submitted that it is incorrect that the complainant made payment as per payment policy of the answering respondent. It is pertinent to mention here that the complainant failed to pay Rs.107415/- i.e. 30% advance which was to be paid by the customer at the time of booking not within 30 days. The complainant paid Rs.10000/- on 21.09.2019 on behalf of 11 adults with flight  package, which is not possible for the answering respondents to book 11 flight tickets for both sides. Because of only this reason the Hotels which were mentioned in itinerary were not booked till the day when complainant paid next installment and the fare charges of flights were increased similarly. Moreover, in between this period, the complainant herself made a telephonic call on 02.10.2019 and requested to prepone the date of departure from 21Nov 2019 to 19 Nov and on next day she once again called the answering respondent no.2 and again requested to postpone for 20 November 2019 instead on 19 November 2019 and thereafter the complainant requested the answering opposite party to provide land package without flight. The answering respondent provided the itinerary for land package @ 12000/- per person. Even after that the complainant kept the opposite parties in doubt whether she wants to book the package or not. Thereafter, one other fellow namely Ms. Kiran contacted the opposite party and requested for the complete package including flight with new schedule i.e. 24^th November 2019 and due to these frequent changes, the flight fares increased.  As per policy of opposite party, if there is any increase took place due to change of schedule then the customer has to pay the increased charges and accordingly the charges per person were increased from Rs.31000/- to Rs.33500/- including flight with final hotel, which were available on that time after confirmation from the complainant. In fact it was the complainant who kept on rescheduling the tour package herself. Lastly she engaged other team members to finalise the tour package and after confirmation from the team members and complainant herself, the opposite parties finalize the other hotels as the Itinerary given at the time of booking were full on the dates of their tour. It was the complainant herself who compelled the answering opposite party for rescheduling the tour package as per her own conveniences. The increase in package price and change of Hotels was the result of non finalization of dates by the complainant herself. It was the complainant who repeatedly preponing and postponing the dates and it was the complainant who illegally hold the payments till last. Frequent cancellation and booking of hotels effect the goodwill of the opposite parties. No loss is caused to the complainant rather she enjoyed the tour and now she wants to grab the huge amount by misusing the process of law. All the other contents of the complaint were stated to be wrong and denied and opposite parties prayed for dismissal of complaint with costs.

3.                Ld. Counsel for the complainant in his evidence has tendered affidavit Ex.CW1/A, documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C23 and has closed his evidence on dated 16.09.2020. On the other hand, ld. counsel for the OPs has tendered affidavit Ex.DW1/A, documents Ex.DW1 to Ex.DW25 and has closed his evidence on dated 08.01.2021.

4.                We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have gone through material aspects of the case very carefully.

5.                In the present case the grievances of the complainant is that she booked a tour package with the opposite parties for Andaman & Nicobar Island and on 18.10.2019, after receiving the amount of Rs.235000/-, the opposite parties changed the itinerary by their own without consent of the complainant and also downgraded the Hotel standard. Beside this they also postponed the date of departure from 21 November to 24 November  and the rates were escalated from Rs.31000/- to Rs.33500/- per person. At the time of stay at Hotel Pearl Marina on 24^th, 25^th and 28^th November 2019, the complainant and her group faced many problems i.e. i) No sufficient water supply in the toilets, ii) Toilets were stinking, iii) Buffet meals were not provided as per commitment. Low quality food served, iv) No housekeeping staff was available, v) Rooms were at 3^rd floor and no room service staff was available. It is further contended that to apprise about the above said inconveniences and misdeeds the complainant made umpteen calls and also made complaints through whatsapp to the opposite party No.2 but neither she picked the calls, nor replied satisfactorily. To prove the same complainants have placed on record copy of whatsapp chat Ex.C1 to Ex.C23. On the other hand, contention of opposite parties is that it was the complainant who kept on rescheduling the tour package herself. The increase in package price and change of Hotels was the result of non finalization of dates by the complainant herself. It was the complainant who repeatedly preponing and postponing the dates and it was the complainant who illegally hold the payments till last. No loss is caused to the complainant rather she enjoyed the tour and now she wants to grab the huge amount by misusing the process of law. To prove the same, opposite parties have placed on record documents Ex.DW1 to Ex.DW25.

6.                 As per the documents placed on file, it is observed that as per whatsapp chat Ex.C8 complainant has submitted that: “Almost all hotels are 2 stars. Why u r suggesting 2 starts hotels when we have taken 3 star package”, As per Ex.C12, opposite party has submitted that : “Wese appko suggest kru to cancel karne me loss hi he lekin benefit nhi he, Agar aapko thoda v mujhpe trust h to mere suggest hotel pe jaiye or wha jake appko 1% v problem hogi to bolna app”,  As per Ex.C15, it is submitted by the complainant that: “Charming yatra was unable to fulfill its commitment and doesn’t remain stick in her words. As soon as it has received our amount for Andaman and Nicobar trip it has changed our hotels and to not provide hotel stay as per itinerary. It is against the ethics. It is mental and financial torture for client.  Even by paying 10% amount as we can purchase property wroth crore of rupees. For this trip we had already paid 75% amount. Still we are not getting services as per itinerary provided by you”. As per Ex.C16, it is submitted that : “Shanti the hotel you provided is worst with no cleanliness. No water in washroom. Rooms are on 3^rd floor with no intercom in rooms. To order something we have to come from 3^rd floor. This is budget hotel not 3 star hotel as u given in itinerary. Washroom is stinking. Really u are biggest cheater. Food is served in mess like utensils. We have paid 50000 as desired by you. U have sent fake chatting with madhu. 2 vehicles are provided instead of one. U have promised for single vehicle. Really cheating on every step. No bed tea as promised by you in our itinerary. Fake charming Yatra. Fakest and biggest cheater charming Yatra and Shanti”. And the opposite party No.2 replied in Ex.C17  , “.Mam ye problems aap ek baar madhu mam se discuss kar lijiye”. As per Ex.C22, the opposite party has submitted that : “Yr first time kisi guest se itna suna maine. apni jagah pe vo bhi galat nahi he Maine kafi baar sorry bola hai unko”.

7.                From the alleged chat made between the parties, it is crystal clear that the hotels as shown in the itinerary were not provided, there was no cleanliness in the hotels, vehicle and food as promised were not provided. Hence opposite parties have not rendered the services as promised due to which the complainants could not enjoy their trip and they had to suffer great mental agony and  harassment. As such there is deficiency in service as well as unfair trade practice on the part of opposite parties and opposite parties are liable to compensate the complainant.

8.                In view of the facts and circumstances of the case, we hereby allow the complaint and direct the opposite parties to refund the amount paid by the complainant to the opposite parties on account of package cost i.e. Rs.358000/-(Rupees three lac fifty eight thousand only) alongwith interest @ 9% p.a. from the date of filing the present complaint i.e.20.12.2019 till its realization and shall also pay a sum of Rs.20000/-(Rupees twenty thousand only) as compensation on account of deficiency in service and Rs.5000/-(Rupees five thousand only) as litigation expenses to the complainant within one month from the date of decision.

9.                         Copy of this order be supplied to both the parties free of costs. File be consigned to the record room after due compliance.

Announced in open court:

01.02.2022.

                                                          ................................................

                                                          Nagender Singh Kadian, President

                                                                        ..........................................

                                                          Shyam Lal, Member.