[Resolved]  Yatra Travel Portal — Misrepresentation

This mail is about my grievance with the unprofessional approach by the team at Yatra.com.

Booking Reference: Hotel accommodation- CJB03A Travel- ZH603A
I had planned for a leisure trip with my Parents (senior citizens), spouse and my one year old son, over the long weekend (10th April – 12th April) to Mahableshwar and decided to book a package with Yatra.com (Hotel Accomodation and travel arrangements).

I contacted the designated number and after much ado, from the available option of hotels selected Hotel Panorama and confirmed the booking with your executive Ms. Swati Bhati.

I also confirmed my bus booking with her and my forward journey was booked for 9th April on a push-back Volvo, which she mentioned was from Yash Yatra and my designated seat numbers were 7, 8, 9, 10. Similarly I booked my return journey on the 12th April on Neeta’s Mercedes fleet and my allocated seat numbers were 3, 4, 9, 10 respectively.

I was charged immediately on my credit card for the booking so confirmed and also got confirmation on my mobile (by SMS) and Hotel Voucher on my email on the 8th April, 2009.

To my rude awakening, at around noon on the date of my forward journey (9th April), another executive named Aarti Chowdhury called me and mentioned that due to certain snag at their end, although they had confirmed my hotel booking, but the same was not confirmed by the hotel and as a result they were as a replacement offering me accommodation in a hotel named “Dwarka”, which I refused upfront. I instructed to speak to their supervisor and after much pursuance; I was put through to Ms. Veeshan, who initially mentioned that there was no other availability, which was when I agreed to cancel my entire booking, including the travel (obviously), when Aarti mentioned that I would have to levy some cancellation fee on the bus cancellation. I again spoke to Veeshan, who in the meantime mentioned that she had spoken to the seniors and offered me to choose from another 2 hotels “Maharaj Residency” and “Aaram Lounge”. After googling the two, I settled for the former (Maharaj Residency). Even the new hotel vouchers were only sent to me at 7 pm on the 9th April.

In order not to jeopardize my family’s vacation, I felt I would get a fair value for money, since Veeshan did mention that in these cases they usually offer upgrades to their patrons. Least did I expect that my ordeal was yet to begin.

When the bus arrived (11pm), it was a Volvo alright but we were offered seat numbers 21, 22, 23, 24. I was fuming and tried everything in the book, but in vain. I knew that not much could be done since the journey was to begin. Throughout the journey, I could barely see my family suffering due to negligence and mis-information of your team.

We reached Mahableshwar at 6am and made our way to our hotel. We were allotted one room (# 101) and another temporary make-shift room (# 201), in the basement (with the room number scribbled on the door) to freshen up till the other room guest checked out. To our shock the room was not less than a store room, without light (sparing one), bathroom with broken faucets and unhygienic linen. We were informed that hot water was available at the hotel only between 7.30am to 8.30am (which I later observed on the notice board at the front desk. We were later shifted to Room # 102, which was marginally better than the make-shift room. I waited for office to open and then called at Veeshan’s extension on Friday 10th April, but there was no response to which I realized that since it was a holiday, the office would be closed as a result I waited for the next day. Also I unofficially confirmed that the rooms in the hotel were for only Rs.1000/- per couple room/day.

In the meantime, that evening (10th April), I thought of confirming my return tickets and I was guided to an Ankit Travels (authorized representatives for Neeta) and I was told that my booking was only communicated to them that evening at 5pm and the seats allotted to me were again 21, 22, 23, 24 (the forbidden last row). I was told to contact Red Bus since the booking was given by them. When I contacted Red Bus, I was told that I need to speak to Yatra only.

On the 11th April I tried contacting Veeshan again and I was told Veeshan was on her weekly off and I was put through to their supervisor Mr. Sandeep Singh Bayal. I completely blasted him with all my frustration. He promised that my return journey would be only on my designated seats and that I should not settle for anything else. I also made him speak to the agents but in vain. Later I convinced the agents to trade our seats because we were traveling with an infant and elder parents (since my father suffers from survical spondilytis). The agent gave into our plight and agreed to trade two seats with seats “S, T”. We had no option but to settle with the back seats for the other two passengers.

We were only glad that the ordeal was finally over. But I had made up my mind to take this up seriously with the authorities. I’am very serious about my claims and demand compensation for the misrepresentation, false promises and the through unprofessional dealing.

I therefore seek your help in recovering a complete refund of my money (Rs.13, 394/-). I have in the past dealt with almost all travel portals (MakeMyTrip; EzeeGo; TravelGuru; Cleartrip), but never have I come across anything like this.

Unfortunately, The company officials are too busy to attend to my complaints or they are used to this.