Location/place: Chennai
Name of company/service: Country Vacations
Country vacations is a big time cheat, A case in this context is my personal experience with the country vacation club. On March 24, 13, I have received a call from the country vacations informing me that I have received a free 6 days and 7 nights stay in their resorts and that I need to come along with my wife and children, listen to their demo about the club and go home with the free vacation voucher. I was asked to come to the Country Vacations office in T Nagar 3.30 pm. Unaware of their real intentions, my wife, me and our daughter visited them. This has turned out to be the biggest mistake for me ever. We had arrived at the Country vacations office around 3.30 pm and were graciously escorted by one one fellow and his manager Kalyan started the demo at 3.30 pm. In the hour and half time, he informed us about various club plans and requested us to join the club. When we have informed that we are in no position to afford them, he came up with a five-year club membership plan. The details of this membership are as follows: 1. We need to pay a membership fee of rs. 51,000(Fifty one thousand rupees only) for five-year membership plan. 2. We can avail a week holiday for five years free of cost at any of the club hotels or the affiliated hotels. 3. Free car pickup from airport/Train station to the hotel and free car drop from the hotel to the airport and railway station. 4. Since we are registering for the plan on the same day, we are entitled to the following: a) Free usage of gym facility in their club for one year. b) Five years free massages and jacuzzis along with the free usage of sports room. c. Free couple passes to the events such as new year eve, valentine’s day, deepavali, dasara e.T.C d) Free hosting of personal events such as birthday, marriage days and other such occasions in their club. e) I will get tab
f) I will get a medical insurance of 2 lacs 5. I was informed that the amount would be converted into 18 months interest free emi. When I was still hesitant about the offer, he informed me that: 1. After receiving the welcome kit, which contains all the information about the club and what my membership entitles to, I get a free two-week look up period during which if I am not satisfied, I can cancel the membership and I am entitled to the complete refund of the membership amount of Rs 51,000. Trusting that the club will not do any fraud, using my Standard chartered bank credit card, I have gave rs. 45000 and 6000 with debit card to the club. I was given the assurance that within the next 72 hours (three days), I would receive the welcome kit along with the ‘tab’ which will contain all the details about the club along with the receipt for the amount paid as well as the details of offers which we were promised. The same day I searched through internet and realized the fraud. In internet I have come across an incident where a person was asked to pay Rs. 5000 as maintenance fee by the club. Just to check if I was totally fooled by the club, I called Mr. Kalyan and he confirmed that I need to pay yearly Rs. 5000 as maintenance fee during the demo on 24 march, 2013. Got angry and asked Mr. Kalyan to cancel the membership and return the money immediately as per his commitment of cancellation anytime within 15 days of registration. He asked us to call the call centre for cancellation, calling the call center itself was an experience in itself! Tried reaching 044-30443364/30486626/39155360/39155361 multiple times but without luck.. Many times, I have got a busy signal and I was forced to ‘try’ to contact them for a couple of hours. At last, Mr. Ranjith picked the phone and asked us to visit their office. I discussed with him about all the false commitments given including the Standard chartered bank message sent to me on paymet of complete amout immediately, maintenance fee. He informed me that he would check with his seniors and so far, I have not received any update.I have tried contacting the call center a couple of more times in the next few days and every time, when I asked for a senior manager, my call was rudely disconnected. To summarize: 1. I paid Rs. 51,000 for five years membership. 2. I was promised that the amount would be converted into 18 months emi without any additional charges. But now they say that I have to pay complete amount 3. I was told that I can cancel the membership if I am not satisfied with two weeks after I receive the welcome kit. I contacted customer care as well as the sale executive and now they are saying that it is not possible. 4. I am surprised that despite the bad reputation this club has, distinguished banks such as Standard chartered bank, HDFC bank and ICICI bank are providing the edc (swiping) machine. – I have raised transaction dispute with both these banks and waiting for the process, if I don’t get a positive response, planning to take action against these banks. 5. No standard membership fee. It’s more like cheat the customer and get as much as you can from them. This is a sheer misuse of the trust which the general public has on the club (considering that this club was in existence for a long time and during major events stars like shahrukh khan and amisha patel used to grace this club for major events). The exploitation of the club must be be stopped and to get my refund back, I am forced to seek the consumer forum court, judicial assistance and the media help. Along with the rs.51,000, I would like to claim another Rs. 5000 for the mental distrust as well as the miscellaneous expenses. Anand
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