Location/place: Pune
Name of company/service: Country Vacations
Country Vacations is a big fraud company, my personal experience with Country Vacations is depicted here.
On 22nd June 2013 I received a call from Country vacation informing that I won some gifts against the coupon which I had filled in on a Petrol pump. To this I replied “No” but the lady (Her name is Pooja) called me at least 15 times on that day so me and my husband decided to just visit CV and to collect the gifts from Aundh branch Pune. The Sales representative there started presentation by asking some general questions on our job profile, family and how frequently we go on vacation and what is the salary range etc. He explained us all the good things about CV and the vacation plans and their benefits, initially we were confused and said “No”, but then he explained us the term “Cooling-off” period which means “A buyer can revoke his membership within 10 working days from the date of transaction” and this guideline comes under “All India Resorts Development Association” i.e. “AIRDA” (http://www.airda.org/html/aboutus/code_ethics.html) and after explaining this we thought we can avail 5 years plan for 10 vacation weeks. Its cost was INR 90,000 for that day, as it was a discount offer. The Sales representative said, if we pay by any credit card (We have ICICI card) then the amount would be converted into 18 instalments but our ICICI credit card did not work there and we again said “No” to the membership, But then the sales person requested us to wait and he went inside one cabin and 2 min he came back and said ” We got approval for ICICI debit card as well and we’ll give you the discount of Rs. 20,000”, a doubt came in our mind and we asked the sales guy to leave us alone for 10 minutes as we wanted to discuss on whether to avail the vacation plan. But then the sales person said not to worry about the plan and it was the biggest discount ever they offered to their customer. Finally we paid 50% of the total amount i.e. 35,000 by ICICI debit card in 2 transactions (15,000 documentation fee + 20,000 membership fee). His colleague then made an agreement in which he only explained everything and did not give us a chance to speak, he explained us all the rules by himself. We signed the agreement and came home. After that I tried to find out few things in the agreement which the sales person committed us like 1. Cooling off period as per AIRDA 2. We will be able to avail vacation even after 5 years, the plan will not be lapsed which is not true and not mentioned anywhere in agreement. 3. About AMC, the sales person did not explained us clearly about AMC which we will have to pay every year (INR 8,000) till next 5 years and this amount can be changed without prior notice from CCIL. To verify this, the next day I tried to call one of the country vacation office to book a hotel (this was one of the gifts we received for 6 nights and 7 days) but did not get the proper response so I was bit worried and searched for reviews and I was shocked to know the reviews of CV, I felt lost. On the same day I wrote to country club for cancellation and refund of membership as the process was not started by that day. I received the reply after 3 days saying “The membership is non-refundable and non-cancellable” as per agreement. In the same week I approached ICICI bank and enquired about their tie up with country vacation, but bank people are also not aware of this. Then as suggested by one of the bank person we raised a transaction dispute against Country vacations for which service requests were raised in ICICI bank on 29th June 2013. After this, the service requests for both the transactions are in progress as per the bank and I am still writing emails to Country Vacations for cancellation and refund of membership. Please help me out to get my refund of Rs. 35,000.
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