29 May,2009 11:00 AM IST | | Shashank shekhar
About thirty travelers, who had booked a bus trip to Nainital, allege they were cheated by the travel agent. A police complaint later, the agent promises compensation
It's summer vacation and travel agents are back with their cool deals. But beware of the "attractive offers" they promise, which may not turn out to be as lucrative.
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Especially in this season of cost-cuts and recession.
A group of about 35 travellers discovered this truth the hard way after it started its journey from Delhi to Nainital on the night of May 27.
According to the miffed travelers, they had booked their tickets on https://www.redbus.in/, a travel portal.
The website charged Rs 600 per passenger for tickets of a luxury bus to Nainital, being operated by a travel agency, Heena Tours.u00a0
However, the passengers allege they were made to travel in a regular bus and that too after a five-hour wait at Scindia House, Connaught Place.
"We had to wait for the bus for more than five hours and were shocked to see the rattling vehicle. The behavior of the travel agent and driver added to our troubles.
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They harassed everyone, including children and senior citizens," said Vinod Sharma, who was in the bus with his wife.
"I booked the tickets online a week in advance and thought I would enjoy the journey. But the agency duped me," said another harassed passenger.
The miffed passengers even registered a police complaint against the travel agency.
Fortunately for the passengers, the agency accepted its fault. Redbus, through which the passengers had booked their tickets, accepted the service was not up to the mark.
In a written note (a copy of which is with MiD DAY), a senior official of the website said, "We apologise for the bad experience passengers had to go through. Our executive in Delhi has taken up the matter with Heena Travels."
Heena Travels too has accepted that the passengers were cheated in the quality of service provided.
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"We are arranging for a refund (of the fare difference between the promised and the actual bus) for all the passengers who booked through us," said an official of the travel agency.
More cheats out there
However, this allegedly was not the first case where passengers were meted out a raw deal by travel agents. "We receive regular complaints about these agents.
But we are helpless as there are no stringent rules in this regard. Tourism is very important for the country's economy and we can only grow by keeping tourists happy.
Most of the new travel agencies in the city disregard tourist comfort," said Sarabjit Singh, president, Indian Tourist Transport Association, a body of travel agents.
However, Singh said that travelers too should check the antecedents of agents before booking trips.
"There are many fraud travel agents operating in the capital. Tourists should verify and check an agency before booking their tickets," said Singh.
