BANGALORE: A holiday club was held guilty of deficiency in service by Bangalore Urban District Consumer Forum as it failed to give membership to a complainant even after accepting a payment of Rs 40,000.
According to a complaint filed by one Esa Khan, he had paid Rs 40,000 to Country Vacations for five years of membership. The club had promised to give him a membership card that would give him and his family members free access to various clubs and country club resorts.
Khan alleged that whenever he called to book a vacation, the booking slots were always full. He also alleged that even after two years since he made the payment in August 2011, the account creation on the club’s portal was delayed and he did not receive a card.
Khan contended that though he had tried to contact the authorities of Country Vacations several times and had mailed them, he never received any response.When Khan asked the club authorities to cancel his membership and reimburse the Rs 40,000, he received no response either. He then filed a complaint with the consumer forum in July 2013.
The club, on the other hand, said they had received Rs 40,000 from Khan as against the Rs 61,000 that he was supposed to pay for the membership. The club authorities said that instead of remitting the balance amount of Rs 21,000 even after two years since the first payment, Khan had filed a complaint making baseless allegations.
Khan, however, said that in October 2011 he received a letter from the club informing that the membership prize had been reduced to Rs 40,000 and the facilities would remain the same as that of Rs 61,000.
The forum held the club guilty and directed it to refund Rs 40,000 to Khan and also asked the club to pay an extra Rs 2,000 to cover Khan’s expenditure towards litigation.