Helloworld Technologies India Private Limited — Unethical Payment being forcefully demanded by Hello World Coliving

Address:

Helloworld Technologies India Private Limited, 375, 5th Main Rd, Sector 6, HSR Layout, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560102

This complaint is regarding an unethical, undisclosed and not agreed payment being forcibly charged from me in addition to my agreed rent amount by the owner company of the Coliving space I am renting at.

Please find a detailed description of my case below.

1. I am currently staying in one of the rented accommodation building owned by the company Helloworld Technologies India Private Limited, 375, 5th Main Rd, Sector 6, HSR Layout, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560102 and named as 'Hello World Central' situated in Bellandur location in Bangalore. I have been staying at this property for over 2 months now and wished to complaint against the fact that unethical recurring charges being asked from me now by the company which were not disclosed, hidden and not explained or informed at the point of sale by the sales representative of the company. (The identifier 'company' will be used for all places in the rest of the complaint for representing the entity Helloworld Technologies India Private Limited, 375, 5th Main Rd, Sector 6, HSR Layout, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560102)

2. One of the Sales representative of the company contacted me on 17th July 2020. His name is Mr. Suraj (Last name unknown). During this first call Mr Suraj proposed the concerned property and suggested that he could send pictures of this property and can arrange a call with the property manager. I asked about details of the rent and he clearly mentioned that for a fully-furnished flat with Balcony will cost 22000 and a ground floor will cost 20000. He stated that apart from the rent the company would share your individual utilisation of the electricity and water and whatever is your utilisation company will provide a waiver on it.

3. Mr. Suraj shared the property photos and a video on my Whats app number and I've also enclosed these photographs in this complaint which were sent to me to give an idea on the kind of expectation was set by the sales representative initially about the property

He also shared a list of amenities that will be offerred in the property on my Whats app contact where the below details are mentioned (request your attention to j')

a) 65" LED TV with PS4
b) Carrom
c) Table Tennis
d) Board Games
e) Library
f) Lounge Area
g) Rent Includes Electricity + Wifi + Water

I have enclosed this whats app chat as well for your reference

4. I recieved a call from the property manager, Mr. Kamaraj (Last name unknown) the following day and during this conversation when I asked about the rent, he said Rs 22000 for the rent (with balcony flat) and there will be an electricty waiver for Rs 500 from my utlisation of the electricity and no seperate charges for Water. On my enquiry he mentioned that there is seperate electricity meter for every flat for the purposed of tracking the electricity utlisation.He asked to pay the non refundable booking amount of Rs 1998 and book urgently as the flats will be rented in thenext 4 days only and then the concerned flat wont be avaialable

5. I shifted to the property on 8th August 2020 and met with Mr. Kamaraj i noted that the common area which was shared in the pictures is demolished. Not a single amenity from the above list (Point 3) was present. I asked about the same and he mentioned that it was demolished because of some contruction, it will be rebuilt in one month. I have taken the photographs of this area on[protected] and it is clearly visible that this area is still not built and not a single amenity is present even now. Please compare the photographs shared by Suraj initially and the current photographs of the common area.

6. The electrcity meters were not found anywhere. I asked Kamaraj for the same and he said that electricity will not be a problem as everytime a very less amount will be charged and most of the rentees do not even pay the electricity charges. Even on multiple enquiries, he refused to show the details of where the electricity meters are there and how electricity utilisation is tracked. Also, he mentioned that he will be leaving this property as he is now being relocated to Hyderabad and new property manager will be coming in. Twice the property managers have been changed till now.

7. Please find below details of my timely payments done till date

a) Non Refundable Booking Amount - Rs 1998
b) First month Rent (8th August to 31st August) and Booking Amount - Rs 39, 508
c) Second Month Rent - Rs 22000
d) Third Months Rent - Rs 22000

After I made the payment for the third month. Suddenly, The company sends an invoice for Electricity utilisation of Rs 880 which did not have any breakup whatsoever of the units consumed and on what basis they calcuated this amount. Also, along with the electricity bill of Rs 880, they send another invoice of Rs 1083 for Central Utlities. As both the invoices had charges which were unclear and not agreed, i shared an email with company on my queries and recieved a response that these charges are for the common amenities i am using for example Common Kitchen, Heat Pump, Borewell Pump and Pump Motor. I called Mr. Uttam (last name not known) in HelloWorld to assist me on this and explained that I had never agreed and no one ever informed me about these charges to me at Point of Sale to which instead of helping me out he blatantly responded repeatedly that I have signed the agreement and he could share a copy of the same and nothing could be done about it. I explained that i have my own kitchen in my flat, there is no common kitchen i am using, there is no common area nothing here and i was not informed anything about the Borewell pump, pump motor, heat pump charges to which he said the submeter was just installed recently and hence the charges are applicable and i agreed in my rent agreement to pay for these charges. There is no whatsoever details in the agreement about any Borewell Pump, Heat Pump or Pump motor charges.

They have not defined the electricity units in the invoice as to how many units I have consumed and have neither provided any clarifications when i have asked for the same. This is a recurring monthly bill in addition to my rent of Rs 22000 for which i was not informed before and now it will be added every month to my rent with no justifications on the amount they are taking.

They send every single invoice with a deadline of 5 days of payment and for every other day after 5 days expire, they charge Rs 100 penalty fees. So i couldnt do anything but to forcefully pay the bill. I have already raised multiple emails for support on this to them but no resolution. They have my Security Amount of Rs 22000 still with them and there have been previous customer complaints for this company that they either do not pay the Security Deposit amount on time OR delay it to such an extent that the customer has to do an enquiry multiple times and at the end gives up.

Would request you to please help in this case. I have already attached the documents as discussed above. In case any receipts or Rent Agreement Copy is needed please let me know.