• We bought a new Maruti Swift Car past December. 'Club Mahindra' team got our contact as reference from the Car Dealer. The sales persons from Club Mahindra kept calling us inviting for a face to face meeting. I have heard of Club Mahindra before, I knew they've properties in prime and exotic locations.
They kept calling my father to attend a meeting, saying they wanted to meet and describe the 'Club Mahindra' in detail. My father served as a Driver, he loves to travel. Now being a retiree, he was impressed by their offers and amenities.
• Me along with My parents attended a meeting of Club Mahindra at their property in Arookkutty, Alleppey. They explained a lot about the holiday packages and benefits of being a member in Club Mahindra. Also, I got to see many testimonials of existing members through the internet.
• The sales executive who talked with us, I appreciate his skills. He made us opt for a "Blue" Membership at the venue itself. The Membership tenure was for 10 years, for a total amount within 2, 00, 000 upon which a member gets 7 nights an year for stay at any of Club Mahindra properties. Plus a bunch of additional benefits, rewards and so on. The Sales executive convinced us that we can opt for an EMI option initially. We agreed it for a 3 months and foreclosure of full amount thereafter since my father's retirement settlement was about to be credited. We paid a down payment of 49, 650 on the spot itself.
• They agreed that " you can try out any of our properties after paying the first EMI, as a complementary stay, booking can be done through our app itself ".
This scene ended there, with a happy note. Now to the PLOT TWIST.
• We received a Blue Membership card within a week.
• We tried booking through their app, it showed only an offer booking of 5 days together.
• When tried for booking, it continuously showed error. I informed this to the Sales Advisor, he told will check and revert, but never did. I got my initial hiccup from here to be frank.
• By the time, I got busy with some office works as well as my project works, I couldn't follow up this. When the pension settlement got credited, my father paid the foreclosure amount of 1, 25, 836 on 7th May 2022.
• This time, I believed that I could sleep in a Mahindra Property with a belief that a full payment foreclosure of nearly 2 Lakhs has been done.
• Again, I wasn't able to book a property. Same error in the app. This time, my initial frustrations went on fire. I phoned up the Sales Executive, he informed to me that he can provide me a voucher if I pay 2, 000 for which he can book room for me through special privileges of NON MEMBERS. Which means, I and my family is still not in the members list. In Short, 49650 + 12571 + 128, 536 is not worth of being a member of CM!. I even have the voice recording of the Sales Person saying this. He then revealed that we won't get membership benefits after the initially opted EMI PERIOD OF 4 MONTHS gets over even the full payment foreclosure is done.
• I was done after hearing this. The amount paid was literally huge for us. My father doesn't knew the so called corporate cut throat mechanisms, he did it thinking of some good moments that we can spent together at some iconic spots. I however, mailed a cancellation request after getting instincts that this is not the right way that a person who had paid such an amount is to be treated. They do not have a proper responding system, each mails take atleast 4 days. An executive from a higher office got in touch with me some days after, saying that he'll rectify the issues. Still, nothing happened.
• Club Mahindra never acknowledged the cancellation request. An executive kept on calling me to go forward with the membership as it's a 10 year old lifelong concern. Also, on other side I began to receive calls saying that Annual Maintenance of 18, 000 Cost is due.
• Long long mail communications went on, still going on they never granted cancellation request. Annual Maintenance and offer messages kept coming. The same executive tried to convince us repeatedly.
• Finally, Club Mahindra agreed to cancel our membership. As per terms explained by the Sales Executive, we are eligible for a 60%--40% refund if the cancellation is made within 10 working days after membership. I vouched them saying we were denied from the membership benefits even after making full payment, after few days someone called to me saying it was a mistake from their side. But, I came to know that we've ZERO REFUND for our cancellation.
• I sticked on to my point. They are trying hard to keep us with the membership. But, seriously none of the service or amenities said by them were really offered. We did not even see a property of Club Mahindra or took their service.
• An amount of 190757 when asked for a cancellation on next week due to a justifiable reason becomes Zero refund for a customer. I came to know that they've the most flexible and favorable terms and conditions, favorable to the company and not to the customer. It keeps on changing in favor to them according to the problems we mention.
• I have mailed almost all of the available top authorities, till now no interventions are made.
• Whenever I place a mail, I receive a call from the same executive. He talks about terms and conditions only and not to solve an issue that's being raised.
• I ordered, warned, requested, pleaded. No cancellation confirmations or refund has been done yet. Instead, they mailed a zero refund calculation table. The membership card box named "white goods" has been charged for 15, 000 !. An amount that's more than collected from us is given as membership cost. Now, if I place a mail, the executive's modulation changed to " Hey, you better go on with the membership or else you'll get zero. " I can now confirm this as the biggest scam which I got trapped.
• I hereby stop mailing them since posting into social media becomes a final step of raising a concern.
• I never believe Mahindra is willingly doing all this.
• When I initially did a ground search of Club Mahindra, I forgot to add Club Mahindra "scam" with it. I was shocked to see many of victims like me who has lost money in Club Mahindra.
• All this happened within a span of 4 months. A reputed company is acting like a cheap finance companies and this is the first company that I'm seeing with a 100% cancellation - zero refund for not taking any of their services.
• I approached a personnel from the Consumer Dept. He explained that Club Mahindra's case is common and they do have "terms and conditions" that can make us walk in and around the consumer court for long.
• To whoever reading this, I request you NOT TO OPT FOR CLUB MAHINDRA at any cost. They'll keep calling you to get take their service. I still wonder what service have I took for 190, 000. And the hardest truth is, once trapped, an escape is never easy.
Membership ID : 2975190
We're eligible for a refund, not for a zero refund.
Club Mahindra Holidays customer support has been notified about the posted complaint.
