[Resolved]  Country Vacations — False commitment, cancellation of membership and refund of money

Address:	Bangalore, Karnataka, 560029
Website:	www.countryvacationsindia.com

This is my worst experience with a service based company. The sweetness and the gesture the sales team will show while selling their membership, you will be bound to fall into their trap n once your card is swipe, they way they step back us unbelievable. Following is the description of the Incident that I have gone through with “Country Vacations, A Division of Country Club (I) Ltd:

On 22 November, I had been to Central Mall, Bellandur in Bangalore where one nicely dressed guy asked me to fill up a lucky coupon, I filled it and gave it back knowing that these are just for promotions and we never get anything.
Immediately on next day (23/11/16) I got a call from a girl named “ Fauziya” informing that I won the lucky draw and three prizes are waiting for me – kitchen set, free vacation for a week for couple and some free entry in a resort and was one of the luckiest one to get this gift as per lucky draw. I was not willing to go as I don’t trust in these offers but still out of curiosity I asked the name of the company for which they are doing this promotion. That guy just told me it is small company and I just have to visit them and collect the gifts. I kept denying but they kept calling me again and again to collect the gift. l told that I am not married yet, then they suggested to get my fiance and collect my gifts from their Kalyan Nagar office, Kamanahalli. All way going to them I kept on getting phone calls by “Fauziya” ( M No: [protected])whether I was coming or not. I counter questioned them whether there are any terms and conditions to accept the offer which they flatly denied and offered me the mentioned 3 offers free against visiting them. Since, there were no T&C applied, I decided to go there on November 24, 2016 and found that it is Country club fitness center. I reached there and inquired about the gifts. The receptionist introduced me to Mr. Rueben (M #: [protected]) and who offered me to attend a presentation that would take 45 mins. I asked that at what time they will start the presentation, he replied immediately after the I go inside the room. Inside that there few number of tables with one sales guy/girl engaged with 2-3 couples. I and my fiance were introduced to Mr. Kafil (Rueben's associate) [ M #: [protected]] who then started the briefing about Country Vacations and Country Club with offer of Tea/coffee. Then came out with their actual intention. They wanted to convert me into a Country Vacations member and started making offer. They tagged a price of Rs 180, 000 for membership with Country Vacations and lifetime membership of Country Club. I straight away denied the offer since I cannot afford to pay it. Mr. Kafil called his manager (Mr. Rueben) and the they started bargaining with the price. They brought it down to 40, 000 for 2 years of membership but I kept denying the offers they made and talked about various EMIs. I told them that my card is already engaged in some other EMIs and I cannot lock my card for any other payments. Then they offered me that they have tie up with all standard banks (HDFC, ICICI, Standard Chartered, etc) and they can help my fiance to get a new credit card in 7-10 working days and I can pay the amount from my card now and later they will transfer this to her card which led us to fall into their trap. They told they will send the representatives to collect the documents and she need not have to go anywhere. Once she gets her credit card, these people will set up a 24 month EMI on her card and return my amount in the form of DD that I can deposit into my HDFC bank and clear my payment. So my fiance was very much convinced and told me that it is a good offer as she was about to apply for a credit card. The other mistake was we told them about our upcoming plan for a trip to Goa. So, they kept on holding me by one or other way and meanwhile negotiating on their offer. Even when I said that I need time to think as our wedding was upcoming in few months and we would need to speak to the other members of our family. 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 a one-time offer which would expire the minute we step out from the room. They said, this is an exclusive offer only for 116 families out of 500 and offer is for completing their 25 years of service. They showed us the general membership schemes with a very high price.They asked us to go for the Goa trip using their membership and after return, if we do not like the service, he will have the selling agents contact us immediately to sell the membership. I guess we were one of the few people who got caught on their trap as the offer was lucrative, We finally inquired about the cancellation part again where they told us that at any point of time we can sell our membership (that we considered as cancellation since selling itself means our member is being cancelled and we no longer have into any further contract with them). He also told that we can also transfer this membership to any of our Family members. Agent from their service will get in touch with us and in 7-10 working days, our membership will be sold and we would get back the full amount of 40, 000.00. I counter questioned them that how is it beneficial to them.They told upon selling, we would get back only the product price and the profit will be taken by the agent that was convincing. Finally we decided to get into the membership for Rs 40, 000/-. However they swiped my card before signing the agreement and also 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. You need not worry, we will take care of everything and we are here to give you the best services. CV is a service based company and your satisfaction is our priority” When I asked repeatedly if I can cancel the membership if I am not satisfied, they said that I don’t need to worry on that front and that it can be done easily hassle-free. They offered me to go for my trip to Goa using their service and take the experience and if we are not satisfied, we can sell it any point of time. They also offered me a discount of 20-40 % on flight tickets if we book through them. Evert Finally they swiped my credit card for Rs 40, 000/-. They told I will receive a welcome kit in 7-10 working days along with 3 GOLD cards. Mr. Kafil took us to a separate vacant room to hand over the agreement and told me that I will receive a call from their head office immediately and I have to tell that I have made the payment through debit card and not credit card. Before I could inquire anything more on this, I got the call from head office welcoming me to join the membership in their club. They asked me about the payment method and as advised I told debit card. Strange thing happened when the person from the head office told me about the transferring of the membership and not about the selling/cancelling. So I asked Mr. Kafil on this, he simply told that "don't worry, sale option is available and we can easily get it done" and handed over the agreement in an envelope with the 3 complimentary gifts.

On reaching home I found that my email address was written incorrectly so my fiance called Rueben immediately and informed about this. In return he confirmed it via Whatsapp that he has corrected. I responded telling I am not sure if this is going to work as it was overwritten, he then called and confirmed that I will receive a test mail on the next day (25/11/16). Then we went through their agreement which mentioned things which were totally opposite to what they said. I got suspicious and went through internet about Country Vacations reviews. We was shocked to realize they cheated us and a fraud has happened to us. We were so upset thinking that I have lost my hard earned money. I tried following up for correction of my email so that I get my online log in credentials and check for more details. I called Mr. Rueben for multiple times for explanation. Every time he came up with some different story. He said that everything is not mentioned in the agreement and that practically it will be completely different and the details will be in the welcome Kit that I was supposed to receive in 7-10 working days (for everything they need only 7-10 working days that is a never ending period). I felt like he is cracking a joke that a legal stamped agreement has no value in comparison to a welcome kit that I don't know when I am going to receive or if I am going to receive any day. On further discussions I found out that the Sales team has made a lot of false promises. I and my fiance had a long conversation with Rueben and asked them to give me another agreement which mentions the offers the he and his team pitched with. On this he said he will have the management to send me an email with a soft copy of all the offers that made. I called customer care as inquired about the same, they replied it cannot be provided as the agreement comes directly from the HO in Hyderabad. On further going through the agreement, I realized that a clause in the agreement mentioned that only the original agreement is valid and that any other communication stands invalid. I thus got totally irritated Finally I got pissed off and asked them to cancel my membership and return my money. Rueben straight away denied telling that his department do not handle selling and will ask customer care to get in touch with us when this is the same team who sold us this offering false commitments. But that never happened. On going through the online reviews, I sent a complaint cum cancellation request to their official email address on 25 and 26 but the emails never got deliver due to Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

[protected]@countryvacationsmail.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the server for the recipient domain countryvacationsmail.com by aspmx.l.google.com. [2607:f8b0:4002:c0c::1a]
It is the official email address for country vacations to which an email is never delivered
I got a different email address from the team ([protected]@countryvacationsmail.com) where I have forward the complaint letter asking to cancel/sale my membership immediately. ( I have attached all the supporting documents and the cancellation email for reference to show where they have failed to provide the genuine services and commitments).
After so much of fights and back and forth calls, I managed to get my online user ID and password. Nothing to my surprise they tagged my membership price for 1, 80, 000/- that I have never agreed for. Also, my fiance's has been added as my spouse when I have clearly told them we haven't married yet. If this membership is only for the married couples then why did they enrolled me into their membership. They should have some enrollment criteria and if they following the ethics and etiquette of a business, they should have taken the proof from me (like marriage certificate). On this again Mr. Rueben (the so-called Sales Executive Manager) repeated the same [censored] that he will have his management to send me the actual plan details and also came up with a new clause that I cannot go for selling until I use their services that was never disclosed to us during presentation. My question is when they have failed to follow the ethical business practices and followed all unfair trade practices (false offerings, false commitments, hidden policies), why I am being forced to continue with their membership. I have not availed any of their services and they have failed to become trustworthy so I am not liable to pay them any amount. I have sent them a detailed complaint letter with the cancellation request. In return, I got no clarifications on my inquiries but a 2 line response with a complimentary offer for 2D/3N vacations in any of their plots upon paying the service tax. When I straight away denied to fall into their trap again, I received another email from their customer care manager, Mr. Manoj forcing us to continue the service and telling that the purchase agreement has no clause for cancellation.
I am still fighting with them to get my hard earned money back but not got or getting any helpful response from them. So, I have no option but I have proceeded with other alternatives consumer court, Police. I have informed to HDFC credit card to block the payment. We are still following it up with HDFC to stop the payment as it is clearly a fraudulent transaction on my card. Please note: Agreement paper which was signed is just 100/- which is invalid as per Indian Government, for any agreement it should be rupees 500/- bond paper. legally, only perishable goods and some other sectors can draw such agreements...never the clubs. I am having stressful days since the day I visited this company. Could not concentrate on my work, plannings for my wedding.
As a citizen of this country, I would like to bring this wrong act into the notice of all Indians. Please do not get into the trap of this illegal act. I have been chasing them but those company professionals are playing tricks with me now. I have also sent mails to their branch and corporate office and waiting to get any helpful response from them. But I am surprised to see how they have completed their 25 years of service by cheating the peoples. This is also to raise the concerned authorities to take action and stop such kind of companies to deceive people like me. They not only hide information, misguide but also doing crime which is going unnoticed. We all are well aware that Country Vacations (CV) denies providing any cooling-off period to its members as per the regulations set by AIRDA and clearly states that the membership amount is non-refundable. CCIL/Country vacation used to be a member of AIRDA (All India Resorts Development Association) before and All AIRDA members has to obliged the AIRDA 10days Cooling off period, during which customer has the right to withdraw his membership and get his refund. (If you have the fraudulent intentions and pathetic service towards your customers, obviously customer would like to disassociate themselves and the same is happening in CCIL Case. So, they want to safeguard their money at any cost without giving standard services and disassociated itself from AIRDA in last quarter in order to not follow the cooling off period rule. (This action defines what the motto of CCIL is) Please visit https://countryvacationscheat.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/country-vacations-cooling...⇄ You will surely be enlightened since when and how these CV personals trying to cheat their customers and however people are trying their hard to get the hard earned money back.
There was also a case filed against CV/ CCIL; In the consumer forum Ludhiana judgement in victim's case (Case No.553, Dt.05.07.2012) the Hon’ble Judge specifically addressed this issue of ‘non-refundability’ – “Further the plea taken by the OPs (Country Vacations) that as per the terms and conditions of the impugned contract, the membership fee once paid is non-refundable is also not sustainable, as the impugned contract is one sided standard form of contract (where the parties are not equal in the bargaining power) which the OPs got prepared according to serve their interest and the complainants were supposed to sign only on the dotted line. For such a view we are guided by the judgement by the Hon’ble Supreme Court reported in AIR1986 (SC) 1571.” http://countryvacationscheat.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/country-vacations-cooling-...⇄ ; http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/[protected]/ludhiana/38510780_1_membership-and-refund-country-vacations-company...⇄

Please help me to get my money back since this a purely a fraud that has happened to me. Everyone o[censored]s work hard day and night to earn this money that this CV sales people loot in their so called 45 mins presentation.

Thanking You,
Bijoy Roy Barman,
Contact Number: [protected]