[Resolved]  Bharat Booking Holidays (India) Pvt. Ltd. — Fraudulent activity and breach of contract

Address:

Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir

This is regarding our Kashmir 7 day trip in June 2013 that was completely messed up by Bharat booking. It is unfortunate that we did not look up the reviews on this forum. I am adding this information for all families preparing for their dream vacation to Kashmir. Here is our experience: Prior to the start of our vacation, Bharat booking confirmed EVERYTHING in January (6 months prior to travel). Every hotel (by exact name and address), travel itinerary, houseboat stay, and the vehicle that we would get for our family of 12 people. Here is what happened in reality: 1) Per the itinerary, we were supposed to spend the first night in the houseboat. When we arrived, the person who received us -- SAMEER -- convinced us that it would be better to spend the last night there. We agreed, not knowing the story behind this change. They had not yet booked a houseboat for us and could not find one for the first night. This turned out to be very inconvenient for us when we had to travel for 3 hours from Pahalgam back to Srinagar and it was already too dark to enjoy the shikara ride. 2) Our initial confirmation at the Dar-es-Salam hotel was changed to Hotel Brown Palace (cheaper hotel). I was notified of this change without any specific reasons, and without being offered a choice of hotels to pick. During our stay at Hotel Brown Palace, my family realized that Dar-es –Salam was a better choice for our comfort needs. However, I had to pay for the trip based on our initial confirmation of hotels. 3) At Pahalgam, our initial booking was made for Hotel Paradise Inn, but the night before, I was notified of that booking too being changed to Waterview hotel. I was assured that Waterview hotel is a very good hotel comparable to Paradise Inn. Trusting the agent’s assurance on the hotel quality, my family reached Pahalgam after three hours of travel, exhausted and ready to freshen up. Waterview hotel is like a slum house compared to the Paradise Inn. Very small rooms, no hot water except in the morning, bathrooms that could not be locked, and a constant stench from the horse stable adjacent to the hotel. The room sizes were so small, we had to book an extra room on the spot, paying out of my pocket, just to keep our luggage and have one person sleep in that room to guard our belongings. That was enough to ruin our stay in Pahalgam and the rest of the trip to Kashmir. We were already complaining about changes to our original confirmation, but this was the limit! We did not do anything in Pahalgam, just stuck there, hoping that the night would pass by uneventfully, so we could return to Srinagar and end our holiday. 5) In Pahalgam, our dinner and breakfast was arranged at “Punjabi Rasoi”, a tiny restaurant that showed several food items on their menu, but only offered a choice of five items to us. In their own words, “we have those items on the menu, but we don’t make them because not many people order those items”. You can figure out what kind of a restaurant that was. 6) The vehicle we were provided only made our miseries worse. The vehicle is not appropriate for our group size (12 people). We got the Winger van as promised in our initial confirmation. But I had not seen that vehicle before and did not realize how uncomfortable that van can be for 12 passengers. I had specially asked for a comfortable AC-equipped vehicle, and I was told that the vehicle offered would not have AC (they said "you don't need AC in Srinagar". You do need it in summer), but would be very comfortable for 12 passengers. This assurance was also completely misleading. Any ride that took more than 30 minutes caused great discomfort to the entire group. There was not even a small fan in the vehicle, and with temperatures consistently above 30 degrees in Srinagar, we all were sweating and getting irritated, as if we were being punished for visiting Kashmir. Inspite of the initial changes, we all tried to accommodate for some time, but our suffering only grew every day, and when it came to our experience in Pahalgam, we realized that these changes were intentionally committed by the company, and were not circumstantial as we were made to believe. There never was a booking done at Paradise Inn as promised. So our effort to plan the trip four months in advance was really a joke, because everything that was confirmed by Bharat Booking was never really done. These so-called “last-minute changes” were never really changes. My entire family of twelve, including five children, were subjected to extremely sub-standard accommodations, dismal food options, and painful commute. As we spoke to the local agent, Sameer, in Kashmir, we realized that this is how the company usually operates, and have caused several visitors this kind of pain and distress. When we reached back home, I researched these forums and realized that I should have done my homework on Bharat Booking before believing their lies. Bharat Booking's actions constitute MAJOR CHANGES to the tour contract after that contract was signed between us. I am treating their actions as BREACH OF CONTRACT and FRAUD, making them liable for financial redress for failing to fulfill the terms of contract, as well as the mental tension and agony caused to my family and me through this breach. I hope your dream vacation does not end up like ours did. Please be careful.