[Resolved]  SOTC — TAX Invoice Not Provided

Address:

South Delhi, Delhi

I and my family booked a 4 day holiday using SOTC GK office. The team had a good initial response. The problem started when asking for specifics. The travel vouchers did not mention room category, the half day city tour did not mention any specifics of what it would cover. We were charged in USD. We were three adults, and we paid a full supplement for the third adult for the room, however were only given a room twin room with an extra bed, where as the hotel had rooms with two twin beds.

The financial proposal that the SOTC agent sent me had travel insurance included, but when the final details came (only few days before travel) the insurance was not there. On pointing out the same, the agent refused to provide the travel insurance saying it was a mistake and I have to pay an additional Rs 900 (approx) per person. This was escalated to a colleague/superior who basic attitude was do what you want I will not give it. Since it was only one day before the travel I had to procure the travel insurance externally at additional cost.

What was also interesting is that I was asked to pay everything in advance with out being presented a Invoice. The figure quoted had some cost related to taxes. On asking for an invoice something called a Booking Invoice was provided with all charges mentioned as MISC, there was no mention of the GST number. On pointing this out, the rep only say "this is our standard invoice" format. Your "special" request for invoice has been sent to our mumbai office.

There was a mistake in my visa, and the rep only had to say please ignore this. I’m quite surprised at this considering it is falsifying information in a VISA

Till date there is no mention of the denial of services on the travel insurance

I escalated this matter to [protected]@sotc.in, got a prompt response that the matter would be looked into. A few weeks later I have received a cheque for some amount which was attributed towards travel insurance. The letter accompanying the cheque states this a full and final , and no further "claims" would be entertained etc etc . Where as it is a simple case of denial of services which were committed in writ (e-mail) . The matter related to give me a TAX invoice is still not resolved and a General Manager from the Customer Team has taken upon themselves to give me legal advise on not to pursue this any further and that I am ill advised. I wonder what the real underlying issue is with SOTC not mentioning the GST number on the Booking Invoice. Would be interesting for the Tax Authorities to look into this.


I would advise avoiding these travel companies and you would be better off doing stuff on your own. Or take a lawyer along for your travel discussions :-) and your CA for the invoices