OYO Group, HP hotel penalised

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, February 5

The Panchkula Consumer Forum has imposed a fine of Rs 1,100 on OYO Group and Hotel Swarn Palace at Chail in Himachal Pradesh for their failure to refund the booking amount of Rs 4,400 to a city resident.

The counsel for Anil Garg, a resident of Sector 9, here, had stated that his client had planned to visit Chail. He had booked four rooms in Hotel Swarn Palace through OYO app.

He said Garg had made a payment of Rs 4,400 as booking amount through PayTM. He said the OYO Group had informed him before the booking that if the consumer cancels his tour due to some unavoidable reasons and cancels the booking, the advance payment would be refunded to him and it would not deduct any charge for this.

The counsel said Garg had to cancel the tour due to some problem and he had also cancelled the hotel booking. After this, the OYO Group had also sent a confirmation regarding cancellation on Garg’s mobile phone and email stating that the money would be refunded within 24 hours of the cancellation.

However, Garg did not receive the money in his bank account even two days after the cancellation. Later, he sent a legal notice to OYO Group as well as Hotel Swarn Palace for not refunding the amount. After failing to get any response, he filed a complaint with the consumer forum.

The forum had sent notices to the OYO Group as well as Hotel Swarn Palace to file their reply. However, neither any official from these institution were present during the proceedings nor they filed any reply to the notice.

Consumer forum president Satpal and members Jagmohan Singh and Ruby Sharma directed the OYO Group and Hotel Swarn Palace to refund the amount within 30 days and also imposed a fine of Rs 1,100 for causing harassment to Garg.

The case

Anil Garg, a resident of Sector 9, had to cancel the tour due to some problem and he had also cancelled the hotel booking. After this, the OYO Group had also sent a confirmation regarding the cancellation on Garg’s mobile phone and email stating that the money would be refunded within 24 hours of the cancellation. However, Garg did not receive the money in his bank account even two days after the cancellation.