Country Club Hospitality & Holidays Ltd. (formerly Ccil) — Pay for membership & help Reddy prosper!!

Address:	Mumbai City, Maharashtra, 400080
Website:	www.countryclubindia.net

Current status: I have filed a case in the consumer court after sending a legal notice to the Chariman, Mr. Reddy.

Case History: I applied for membership(Mem No BCGLP679) to Country Club(I) Ltd.(now renamed as - Country Club Hospitality& Holidays Ltd.) in Mar'07 by paying Rs. 175, 000 on the basis of several promises made by them, most prominent being - 1089 sqft NA plot in Bamboo Groove township near Sahara Ambevally at Lonavla, and also opening of club facilities near my residence. The club collected Rs. 20, 000 from me the same year towards registration of the above plot. I was also allotted a 1089 sqft plot in Tumkur at Bangalore under ‘Member Get Member’ scheme offered by the club; this was subsequently changed by the club to - 2000 sqft plot at Country club Kolad(Alibaug).

In Dec'07, I was offered a 1350 sqft plot at Golf Village(Hyderabad) for which I paid Rs 45, 000 to Country Vacations(a division of Country Club).

In Feb'09 I paid Rs 180, 000(inclusive of regn charges) to the club on an offer for upgradation of my Kolad plot to 20000 sqft(NA plot).

I followed up several times to get my plots registered. However, once the club received the funds, they stopped responding. Finally in Jan'11, I was informed by the Corporate Manager Mr. Subba Rao(current position - Director) that the Lonavla project cannot be completed& I can opt for 2 plots at Hindupur-Bangalore in lieu of 1 plot at Lonavla; the value of the 2 plots was said to be roughly equal to the Lonavla plot I was giving up. Faced with no option, I accepted this offer and after numerous follow-ups, the plots were finally registered in Oct'13. They prepared a Gift Deed and registered the plot using POA. However, the agreement shows the plots as located in A.P and not Bangalore as earlier specified; also the deed shows the property value as only Rs 19, 000(38, 000 for 2 plots). They collected a total of Rs 30, 000 as registration charges for these plots and Rs 12, 000 as Kahata charges, in addition to the 1.75 lakhs paid towards membership and plot purchase price. I feel badly cheated since a plot in Lonavla as promised at the time of membership would obviously be worth much more. However, since I also had other plots to be registered with them, I did not lodge a formal complaint against them earlier, and kept pursuing them via calls, emails& visits to get my other plots registered.

In 2012, I realised the payment of Rs 90, 000(out of 1.80 lakhs) I had paid in 2009 for the Kolad plot was misplaced by the club. I immediately contacted my bank& provided the payment details to the club. The club then informed me that the payment was credited to the Chennai branch& assured me that the error was sorted out. However, on a visit to the club in 2015 and when checking my accounts, I was shocked to know that Rs 90, 000 was still not accounted for. After endless follow-ups, false assurances& dead-ends, I finally made them rectify this mistake in April'16 and my payment now seems to have been correctly accounted for. They have not issued me a receipt for this payment& inspite of me requesting them for a receipt or duplicate receipt, they used to flatly refuse. Before taking my fight ahead, I wanted the club to account for this amount, or else I feared they would just siphon off my money.

I managed to register my plot at Golf Village through Country Vacations in Sept'14 by paying Rs 20, 00 as registration& development charges. The plot value shows only Rs 45, 000(amount paid for the plot - 45k in 2007& 20k in 2014).

As of now, I am unable to register my 20000 sqft NA plot at Kolad(full payment made by me in Feb'09). The club is coming up with the same excuse of project not working out& are instead offering me a 3000 sqft plot somewhere in Rajapur and also asking an additional 4-5 lakhs for this. Until recently, they kept assuring me that they would register my plot once a fresh inventory comes up. They had also asked an additional Rs 150, 000 for registration& NA conversion charges. I also sent them a copy of my RTC(7/12) document on their request to aid conversion to NA. Though the allotment letter clearly mentioned'No registration charges to be paid under Introductory offer', Mr Subba Rao stated that it was just a marketing strategy& mistake by their representatives, & I should pay Rs 1.50 lakhs. Thankfully, I wanted to wait until they register my other plots before trusting them with any further funds. I have tried the best I could to follow-up with them, spoke with every contact possible, but to no avail; Country Club has& continues to cheat every member in a similar manner and I have also read of instances of signature forgery done by them.

Country club managed to cheat me since earlier I trusted the club quite a bit. So instead of going for other lucrative property investments which would have given me substantial returns, I rejected those offers and invested with the club, with the belief that the EMIs etc I was paying for years with a lot of hardships would some day give me good returns. Their promise of a club being opened up near my locality was also a hoax, and thereby I have never managed to use the facilities for which I paid such huge amounts. Also, they collect random amounts, years in advance on the pretext of plot regn, kahata charges etc, knowing very well that those projects will never come up; they also do not provide bifurcations of such amounts collected or show them in the customers account, or even provide receipts for these.

I have manged to register 3 plots purchased from the club only after a lot of struggles. However, I am sure I have got a raw deal& have been cheated. When I was asked for additional funds to register etc, the only option I had was to - either pay up and hope I get the plot, or not pay& loose all the money already paid.