[Resolved]  Country Holidays Inn & Suites — country holidays inn &, suites false commitment hidden things and cancellation of membership and refund of money

Address:	New Delhi, Delhi, 110095
Website:	countryholidaysinnsuites.com

This is my worst and horrible experience with a Country Holiday Inn & Suites/CHIS (don’t confuse it with Country Inn). The sweetness and the kind gesture the sales team will show while selling their membership, you will be bound to fall into their trap and once your card is swipe, they will give you an agreement to sign stating that this is the written commitment of what we discussed showing the amount paid. They will not let you read the other conditions saying that you can read it later.
Following is the description of the incident that I have gone through with “Country Holidays Inn & Suites Pvt. Ltd, MGF Metropolitian Mall, Saket.

I have filled one coupon at SELECT CITY MALL, SAKET, NEW DELHII where the person told me that ‘Country Inn’ has opened new hotels at few locations including Shimla, Jaipur, Goa etc. and they will provide you 2 nights/3 days stay at their new hotels if your names comes in lucky draw. Moreover ill be provided with free salon vouchers worth Rs 15000 and Free PVR movie ticket.
Immediately after 2 hrs I received a call from a girl informing that I won the lucky draw for free vacation along with bookmyshow voucher. I was not willing to go as I don’t trust in these offers, so I denied. But she kept on convincing me that I just have to visit the MGF Metropolitian Mall, Saket. with my wife for collecting the freebies and have to spare a time of 45 minutes so that they could explain the freebies.
I did not go for collecting the same as I was not so interested in these types of offers. But, they kept calling me again and again to collect the gift. I counter questioned them whether there are any terms and conditions to accept the offer which they denied. I then said okay, I will come. They sent me same message with a invitation no. KR0073 mobile number – [protected] (Rahul Sharma).

I finally decided to go there on 30th Nov, 2018 at around 6:30 PM. I reached there and enquired about Rahul. Then a person shared a form with me asking the entry code to collect the vouchers. I was then asked to attend a presentation about company’s promotion to get the free vouchers. There were few more couples sitting there, thus, out of curiosity, I also agreed for the presentation. A well-dressed person came to me and started introducing himself as “Rehan” . He then asked that please introduce yourself so that we are comfortable with each other for next half an hour. He then asked you must be having some questions in your mind why any company is providing any free vouchers, which was right at that moment. He then said it’s for your time for promotion of company’s new app “CHIS”. He then started that you must have heard about Country Inn and I was also under the impression that it is related to Country Inn hotels as the name is similar to that only and the text message also mentioned the same. He then asked me about my last vacations and said that he will offer some plan only if it is relevant to you, else you will be provided the voucher without spending further time. He then said that offer would be valid for today only. He then said this is unlike other membership plans where they sell life time plans for 5-10 lakhs rupees. I started losing my interest and said that I am not interested in buying any plan. He then convinced that he is not at all selling any plan to me and started showing some five-star properties (hotels). He then said what if this hotel will be available to you at 2 star hotel price etc. I said yes it would be a great deal. He then said we have a 10 year membership plan for INR 1, 80, 000 lakhs. I straight away denied the offer since I cannot afford to pay it. They asked me that they will provide some cashback if few digits are appearing on my credit card. (I think they wanted to check whether I am carrying a credit card or not) They brought it down to 1, 35, 000 for 10 years and talked about various EMIs with many further freebies including 2 weeks of extended nights. They said no company will provide such kind of offer costing less than Rs 2, 000 per night for such kind of hotel stay. I completely denied their offer.. They then very politely said that please collect your free voucher before leaving the office. I will take only 5 minutes.

Then he casually started talking that what resists you to take the offer so that he can provide feedback to the company. I said it might be useful but it takes time to decide before spending such a huge amount for a middle class like me and I may opt for it if you will provide me one day’s time after exploring about the hotels. He then said it was already informed in the beginning that any offer would be valid for today only and he is not feeling great that we have wasted an hour. He then offered me another plan for 5 years stating that though it is for womens only, but he will somehow manage for it. He additionally offered me one-night stay at Fortune Hotel, Manesar along with free breakfast and dinner. He additionally offered me 2 nights with breakfast at either Jim corbet or Shimla and 2 bonus weeks making a total night of 47 nights at INR 95, 000. I then also denied that I can’t pay such amount at once. I told that I can confirm it over the phone at the later part of day but they forced us into this by saying that this is an exclusive offer for few selected families which would expire the minute we step out from the room. He then said he will arrange EMI plan exclusively for me. He showed some of the membership bought recently and said people who bought membership plan 4-5 years ago came and thank them for making an asset. He then said I only have to pay Rs 7, 500 per month for such a stay for 5 years. He then showed on calculator that per night stay is costing less than Rs 2, 000. I and my wife also seems convincing as the offer was lucrative, then finally inquired about the cancellation part again where they told us that at any point of time we can cancel our membership. I finally fall into their trap and said them okay. He immediately swiped my card for INR Rs 73000 from two credit cards and Rs 7000 from my debit card stating that we have offered you discount of interest to be shared by credit card. I immediately got an email with tax invoice for the amount. He then came with an agreement and while signing when I wanted to go through the agreement but they did not allow us to do so saying that “Sir, need not worry. It has all the information that we have discussed now and you can read it later showing the membership plan details and freebies only. You need not worry, Country Inn is not a small brand, you know”. I also relied on them as it was too late (9:30 PM) and we were feeling hungry as well. We were happy to get this deal and was waiting for membership details.

On 4th Dec, 2018, I got a confirmation call about the membership followed by an e-mail with login credentials. I then tried login on app to see how it works, but it was not successful. I then tried customer care number for several times but it was not serviceable. Then, I checked google about the company and it seems that it is a scam as the company was registered in December 2016 only. I then related that Country Inn and Country Holiday Inn & Suites are two different companies. There were many such scams mentioned on the internet. I was shocked to realize that a fraud has happened with me and that I have lost my hard-earned money.

Finding so much negative comments about this company, i talked to Rehan several times on number of issues which will be detailed below. He started changing his commitments made at the time of selling and tried to manipulate me again. Somehow i did not loose hope on CHIS and asked for my first holiday booking in goa. At first instance they denied saying that i cannot make the reservation request before 21 days of enrollment of membership. Moreover to my utter surprise i also got to know that i cannot make reservation more than 2 months prior the date of check in. To the contrary i was told that i can make reservations as soon as i get a welcome call. Still I waited for 21 days and deadline of 2 m onths and asked for reservation. To my utter shock they offered me substandard hotel having a tariff Rs 2000 only. On which I asked for refund as i totally lost faith in the company. On 29th Dec 2018 i asked for refund and on 31st dec 2018, the reply was “We regret to inform you that the cancellation cannot be processed against the specified reason, as the booking has not been denied.”
I then immediately replied with “I was informed that I can cancel my membership if I am not satisfied. Also, website clearly mentions the same as below:
In case of any valid point of dissatisfaction, The member can cancel their membership within 7 days of availing their first holiday after deducting administration charges, ASF and GST.
https://countryholidaysinnsuites.com/chis/refund
Please help in getting refund.”

I, then, read the so-called agreement which mentioned things which were totally opposite to what they said. I am doctor by profession and I have families of Judges and lawyers.This is a void agreement which can’t be enforceable as it is one sided agreement which doesn’t gives me any right to cancel.

Thus, this is completely a fraud where you will not get booking of your choice. They don’t have their own hotel as mentioned at the time of booking. They have floated a company whose name is like Country Inn just to make people fall into their trap easily.

I am enlisting all the false commitments and hidden things below:

1) At the time of sale of membership i was told that minimum tariff of empanelled properties is Rs[protected]/-, which is absolutely false as the property offered for my first holiday in goa has a tariff of Rs 2000. Its an insult for your members to offer such cheap properties.

2) It was told by Mr Rehan that room category offered for their members is either Suits/studio room. But contrary to this i was offered the lowest category room available in that hotel.

3) It was told that Country inn, Candolim and JW Marriott, goa, both the properties have a tie up with CHIS. But later on requesting for reservation in either of them, i was denied for the same because these properties are not in their list.
4) I was told that ill get a flat 20% discount on my flight bookings. But later Mr Rehan denied this and told that refund amount is not fixed and it ranges from 10-20%. Moreover, he assured me that money will be refunded within 7 days after the booking, but it has been more 3 weeks since my booking still there is no intimation from Mr Rehan about the refund inspite of frequent reminders.

5) No information was given at the time of enrollment that booking can't be done more than 2 months prior from the date of check in. This was a surprise for me as holiday planning is done well in advance.

6) Mr Rehan assured us that after getting a welcome call ( 3 days post enrollment of membership), we can plan and book our holidays. But later from reservation team i was informed that there is a lock in period of 21 days.

Please help me to get my money back since this a purely a fraud that has happened to me.

Thanking You,
Archit Bansal
(Spouse of Roopali Singh)