Club Mahindra Holidays penalised

Unfair trade practices

Aneesha Sareen

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 26

Holding Club Mahindra Holidays guilty of unfair trade practices, the UT Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed Club Mahindra Holidays to pay Rs 15,000 compensation.

The popular chain of hotels has also been directed to refund 40 per cent of the amount out of Rs 2,85,430 received from the complainant towards the membership and to pay Rs 7,000 as costs of litigation.

The complainant, Amandeep Kaur, a resident of Mohali, had purchased a membership from Club Mahindra Holidays by paying Rs 2.7 lakh for a year in 2012.

It was alleged that at the time of purchasing the membership she was told that a holiday could be booked a month in advance, but when the complainant tried the booking a month before, she was told that the booking had to be made at least 6 months prior to the dates needed. The complainant was also told that she could book any season she wanted but when she tried the booking she came to know that certain seasons were not included in her membership. It is also alleged that she was promised that she could take relatives along but later on she found that the resorts did not provide an extra apartment for relatives. The complainant claimed that as she had not availed any services, she requested Club Mahindra Holidays for the cancellation and refund of the amount paid, but to no avail.

While passing the order, the forum stated, “The aforesaid acts clearly prove their indulgence in unfair trade practice. We can also gauge the predicament of a family, which had planned for a tour on each such occasion for the past three years, and the harassment that they had suffered at the hands of the Mahindera Club, when the commitments, made to the complainant, were not met,” said the forum.