MakeMyTrip India — False Advertising | No Refunds | Loss of INR 4 Lakh

Address:

MakeMyTrip India Pvt. Ltd., DLF Building No. 5 Tower B DLF Cyber City, DLF Phase 2 Sector 25, Gurugram, Haryana 122002, India

We purchased a "trip package" to Greece from MakeMyTrip, as the service provider under the impression and assurance given by MMT that our visas would be processed without fail. This assurance was made by MMT after a thorough scrutiny of the documents required for the grant of a visa and under full knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the visa approval process. It is pertinent to point out that specifically on this assurance and under Makemytrip's promises, We paid the full amount of the package, i.e. Rs 4, 00, 000/- in advance to MMT, i.e. MakeMyTrip. Furthermore, there was an assurance from the MMT sales team that if in any case our visas were not granted, the service provider would process a full refund for our travel package.

We were informed that our visas could not be granted by the Greek embassy, and were asked to withdraw our applications to safeguard our records, some 10 days before our date of travel, upon which we promptly informed MMT of the same. However, since then MMT has failed to fulfill any of their promises and assurances regarding the refund of monies to us. Furthermore, MMT's conduct has been patently opaque, nonchalant, and unhelpful in providing us with any assistance or information required to process our refunds.

It is important to point out that we received an email from MMT on 13th July 2022 assuring us that all the monies received by MakeMyTrip from Qatar Airways upon cancellation of our flights had been refunded to us. However, upon multiple queries, MMT has failed to provide us with proof thereof by either providing any invoice or receipt received from Qatar Airways for the refund. Furthermore, although you were informed 10 days in advance about the declined visa applications, MMT failed to cancel any and all on-ground bookings/ hotel bookings etc made on my behalf as part of the trip package.
MMT, thereafter, informed us that there could be no refund of the same from their end on ground partners/ vendors; however, MMT failed to produce any proof of the same either. As we all know, it is industry practice to make part payments against any such bookings as advance payments and to pay the remainder at the time of realization of the services. It is difficult to believe that a reputed service provider such as Makemytrip does not keep records of such transactions or that their partner organizations do not entertain any cancellations even well in advance.

Furthermore, as MMT has admitted to receiving a refund from Qatar Airways for the canceled flight tickets, it can be reasonably presumed that MMT had booked refundable tickets for us. A bare perusal of the refund policy of the airlines reveals that "For fully unutilized ticket the amount paid will be fully refunded including tax(es) after deducting the cancellation charges (if any) as per fare rules provided the fare is refundable." Furthermore, the cancellation charges mentioned by the airlines are USD 75 on outbound flights and USD 50 for inbound flights. These can be verified at this URL: https://www.qatarairways.com/tradeportal/en/bookingnticketing/Penalties-and-Char...⇄ However, the refunds provided to us were not even 50% of the total price of the flight tickets.

On the face of it, it can be reasonably presumed that there is an ulterior motive of perhaps cheating us behind MMT's hesitation in providing us transparent statements of accounts and receipts of refunds.

We request you kindly look into this matter and provide justice to us as it was hard-earned money that Makemytrip is refusing to pay back. At the start, they even told us that in such cases they provide the equivalent amount of MMT vouchers which can be used anywhere but now they failed to help us in any manner and did not even reply and responding us.