Sub. : Refund of Advance payment for Hall booking.

I am Kalpana Bipin Talpade, a housewife, residing in Borivali East, Mumbai. My daughter Dipti got married on 27th November, 2011 and is now happily settled.

We had booked a hall at Thakur Welfare Centre, Thakur Village, Kandivali East, Mumbai for 27/11/2011 and made a payment of Rs.70,434/- vide cheque no.749966 dated 8th February 2011 on Andhra Bank as 50% advance booking and Rs.2,100/- vide cheque no.749965 dated 8th February 2011 on Andhra Bank as donation to Zagdu Singh Charitable Trust. The Xerox copies of the cheques and donation receipt are attached herewith. They informed us at the time of booking that the donation was compulsory and non refundable as per their rules and we had no objection to that. The owner Mr. Chetan Goradia and my husband Mr. Bipin Talpade had a very friendly meeting.

When my son in law, who is out of India visited us in the month of July, he did not approve of the Hall due to the location & proximity of the Hall from the Station. They insisted on booking a hall in South Mumbai. I immediately informed Mr. Sureshbhai, who was attending to the Hall booking, about the same. He told me to contact the office, which is situated in Borivali West.

Though I had made the booking at Thakur Welfare Centre office, he asked me to inform their Office at Borivali West. I visited their Borivali West Office and informed them about the cancellation. They noted the same in their booking register. The office staff informed me at that time that they would not refund my Advance amount, even if they get some other customer, as it was mentioned in their terms & condition paper. I was shocked with this information and decided to meet Mr. Chetan Garodia himself. As 27/11/2011 was an auspicious day falling on a Sunday, I didn’t find any reason for not getting booking for that day. I was sure they would deduct a nominal amount of the advance when they got the booking of the Hall for 27/11/2011.

I kept visiting their office, inspite of being busy with my daughter’s marriage preparations. In end September, they asked us to write an official letter regarding the cancellation. When I send them the letter, they refused to accept it. They did not take any pains to book the hall for 27/11/2011. After 27/11/2011, I again tried to meet Mr. Garodia, but was not successful. In mid December, I finally waited for hours to meet him at the Hall. He was very rude and arrogant and treated me like a beggar. He told me that the Hall went empty on 27/11/2011 and they had incurred an anticipated loss of Rs.2 lakhs due to our cancellation and they would not have refunded the amount even if the Hall was booked on 27/11/2011. It is for the same reason, I have written to you. Please help me to recover the amount from this person.
I also heard from a relative that they had seen people walking out of that hall at 10.30 to 11 pm after attending some ceremony. On inquiry, they refused to admit the same.

Thanking you. Yours truly,

Kalpana Bipin Talpade