Mumbai: Man endures 8-yr nightmare after buying 'free-holiday' scheme

IllustrationUday MohiteWeveall been tempted by the prospect of a free holiday For Andheri resident Nigel DSouza 41 falling for the deal meant the beginning of an eightyearlong nightmare after he signed up for a shareholiday scheme DSouzas agony finally ended last week when a consumer court ruled in his favourThe District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forums ruling comes nearly two years after DSouza manager with an event management firm took the holiday company to court after they offered R12000 as refund for cancellation of membership DSouza says he withdrew membership after he was repeatedly denied free holidays that he was promised at the time of signing up for the scheme in 2008Andheri resident Nigel DSouzaThe forum has directed the firm to refund the entire membership amount of Rs 173559 at the interest rate of nine per cent per annum from the date of filing the complaint March 4 2015 Further it has been directed to pay a compensation of Rs 25000 for mental agony and an additional Rs 5000 as cost of litigationWhat happenedDSouza alleges that in 2008 a staffer of Mahindra Holidays and Resorts approached him with a free holiday plan of 25 years As part of the scheme he was expected to pay a yearly installment of R9000 and promised seven nights free stay at any of the companys resorts across India once every year ldquoThis free holiday period was expected to kick off a year after signing the membershiprdquo DSouza saidAlso Read DMart charges extra Rs 81 for bag of rice ends up paying Rs 10000He decided to avail his first holiday only two years later in 2011 When he tried making a booking at the companys Coorg resort he was told all rooms were booked Later in consequent years he tried to get bookings in Shimla and Goa ldquoI tried booking a room at the Goa resort four times but got a room only oncerdquo he said adding ldquoThis happened even when I tried to book months in advancerdquo Nevertheless DSouza continued to pay the installment in the hope that matters would improveMeasly refundIn 2014 DSouza ran out of patience after he was denied two room at the companys resort in Mahableshwar The company said it could offer only one room knowing well that he was traveling with eight members Upset he decided to withdraw his membershipldquoIn order to convince me not to opt out they said that a series of deductions would made to my membership amountrdquo DSouza said ldquoFrom the total amount of R173559 that I had paid as membership fees I was offered a refund of just R12367 which I refused I was then offered R18367 I refused again It was obvious that they were negotiating with me and no standard calculation existedrdquo he said adding that his application form too had no terms and conditionsRead Story Retired IAS officer duped of Rs 22 lakh wins case to get his money backWhen DSouza questioned the firm the company claimed that apart from the application form another membership rule form had been dispatched to his address on August 5 2008 ldquoI never received this Secondly they had no proof of confirmation or acknowledgement from me of having received itrdquoDsouza filed a case in the consumer district forum for ldquodeficiency of servicerdquo Last week the forum ruled in favour of DSouza after the company failed to submit the membership rule form which it had allegedly sent to DSouza in court