SOTC Complaints & Reviews

We a family of four members, suresh chandra, sadhana, shashank and swarnima gupta booked a holiday package eur 320, european splendor beginning 31 may 2019 from bangalore. Booking id gs19004871 and gs 19004824. Our visa as a family were not processed by the company. Suresh and sadhana in mumbai. Shashank and swarnima visa processed in bangalore and not given. Now perforce they have to drop out of the tour with great pain to us. Now when we asked for their refund, initially, they told rs 43000/- per passenger without reasoning and raised it arbitrarily to 93000/- per passenger saying booking amount not refundable. Company website doesn't mention all these aspects. It says only airlines cancellation charges and company. Therefore, may we request you to look into the matter and do the needful.

Dear sir,
This refers to my tour package of 7n/8d.in this connection, i approached mr narayan anand sr. Sales executive sotc travel limited. B - 33 · 1st floor · inner circle · connaught place · new delhi - 110001 · india mobile no. — [protected] direct number —[protected] wherein he offered a package of marvels of ladakh for rs 39900/ (Per adult on three sharing) but due to some circumstances we asked for the package (Per adult on twin sharing basis) and on[protected] he agreed over phone for the aforesaid amount on twin sharing but when the money came out of the bank i. E. Rs ten thousands, he said my seniors does not agreed on this amount i. E. Rs 39900/-. Then i asked for the refund for which he denied. The amount of rupee ten thousands which i paid through cheque no-393925 dated[protected] has been taken on fraud.

My self kbl mittal. Booked a tour to bhutan from sotc in their group tour starting 13/5/19. The tour included 3 star hotel with bf & dinner. We had following issues:
1. The hotel at thimphu was not at all acceptable including the rooms & food quality.
2. The behaviour of the tour guide mr tharpola was unacceptable. He used disrespectful language & lost temper a number of times during the trip
3. Some of the itinerary itemes were not covered.
4. On the last day eggs were kept in the veg & jain packed breakfast.
5. Guide tried to take us in restaurants of their choice for lunch on some pretex or the other.
We wrote mails to sotc, brought the issues to the notice of their local agent mr megh raj but nothing happened.
Sotc even didn't respond. They were sweet till collecting the money for booking the tour afterwards they even didn't respond to our phone.
I opted for sotc since my earlier experience of australia tour was ok. But this one was horrible. At least i expected a quick response from them by responding to my mails & phone.

I, probir kumar biswas, working in air india, in the capacity of deputy general manager, have been travelling all over the world. Previously i have accompanied group tours with thomas cook. But for a change with the advice of my friend i chose sotc for the european splendor winter tour which started on 29th march. During the tour the flights allocated to us and the hotels where good and comfortable. The guide was experienced and a good orator. Everything was going smoothly. But on the 7th day of the tour it was snowing heavily, yet we completed the titlis tour without a problem. Then on the same day we set out for the lucerne tour but due to heavy snowing the driver was reluctant to drive. But our tour guide, mr sanjay was interested to complete the itinerary. However after approx. 6km away from the hotel, he stopped the vehicle with the plea that it was broken down. Mr sanjay advised us to travel back to the hotel without bothering to arrange for another vehicle, while he stayed back with the driver. It was very slippery and was snowing heavily. The journey was very rough and tough particularly for the children, ladies and elderly people like me. Some elderly people took cabs, while i injured myself while walking on the slippery road. Finally with lot of pain and agony i also took a cab. Most of the passengers were south indians who could not speak or understand english even with lot of grivences could not complain.
They neither provided any transport back to the hotel nor any conveyance charges paid. They not only cheated us, and when complained to their customer care executive lady she bluntly refused to do anything. It appears she is in hands and gloves with the travel agent mr sanjay in cheating the tourists.

I had booked a tour plan for croatia with sotc on 10 mar 19
In its yearly discount fair. On 23 april i have been informed that my trip has got cancelled as the firm has decided to cancel the product.

It's 15 the may now and i have still not received any refund. I have been following up on a regular basis but no use. They are just enjoying interedy on my money rs. 89000.

Respected sir,

This is the first time we have booked our tour for 5 people to europe with sotc and in the very first deal we have felt that sotc is the worst travel agency ever. We have booked our tour by paying rs 4 lakhs on 25.03.2019 vide booking file number: gs19006605 and acknowledgement number: ack-005774 (Sharing the id of 2pax).

On 10th april 2019 we had sent an email regarding cancellation of booking of 2 passengers. We have submitted the medical reports of those 2 passengers but still the travel agents are harassing us rejecting the reports saying that they require printed reports. Is it necessary that the hospital/ clinic/doctor to whom we consult should issue a printed report only?? My father is a doctor and he never issues a printed/system generated report.

After getting annoyed by your agent we have arranged a printed report also. Now these people want an mri report. We are super surprised to hear this from a travels company. Does a doctor who is practicing from the last 20 years and is a md holding a valid degree is not competent to issue a medical certificate? This is really very disgusting to hear from such a reputed company. If a person is unfit to travel does an opinion of a md is not valid? Is it necessary to go for an mri just because we have paid you our hard earned money to your company?? I feel to go for an mri should be recommended by a doctor not by a travels company. I being a daughter of a doctor can very well arrange a mri report but would that be fair if your customer arrange a fake report and submit to your company?

We tried to make your agent understand but our efforts are in vain. These people does not answer to our emails nor do they answer our calls. Today these people have conveyed that if an mri report is not submitted they 'll not refund the whole of our money. It has been 17 days we are constantly in follow up with mr haresh and mr rufus but either they do not answer our calls or if they answer they utter such non sense things. We feel sotc needs to educate their agents or the company should not have inserted such refund clauses. At the time of booking these people have called us 100 times and have assured us with best services. Is this the service sotc is rendering to their customers? After paying they have stopped answering our calls. Not only this we have still not received any visa dates or any communication for the other 3 passengers. At the time of booking mr. Haresh assured that he shall share flight details with us within 2 days so that we can arrange our flight from bhuj to delhi on our own but till today he has not answered to our msgs nor have answered our calls. This kind of an attitude is very disturbing and annoying. It feels like the 3 o[censored]s have also been trapped by sotc.

We request you to kindly intervene into the matter and refund our hard earned money of 2 passengers or transfer it to the other 3 passenger account.

Regards,
Ca jhelum ganatra
Bhuj gujarat
+91 [protected]

On 19th april 2019, ananya banerjee, sotc new alipore kolkata agent convinced me to pay an advance of rs60000 against a maldives package that i was planning with her help. She said she will soon send me the package details before closing down for the day. After that there was no correspondence from her end the whole day. After 2 days of plenty of ignored calls later she promised she will send all details on 22ndapril. She didn't send any details. I decided i don't want to travel via such an unprofessional and incompetent agent and decided to get my full refund, so i spoke to the other agent aurijit who assured i will get a refund asap as i felt cheated by ananya. Till now she keeps assuring me that money will be refunded in next 5 days. Most times she ignores my calls and sends msgs saying she will call back. I am fed up. Please help me get my refund.

I r. K. Goel booked a char dham yatra package from sotc mumbai initially ms bushra mirza said that it was a package of 80000 for 2 persons on 11.5.19 and kindly submit 50percent as advance so we deposited 40000 on 29.1.19 after receiving the money they send us the mail for giving them 50090 more for that tour which is unfair so we decided to cancelled the tour we have send the mail on 1 mar 19 to cancelled our tour and refund our money but they said bushra mirza on leave for one week then for one month now mr hrishi deshmanye is dealing with us and said that we were not refund that money as it is a booking amount and then also they send us a mail on 23 apr to give them the balance payment of 50090 which is quite surprised for us and reflect it that they were a cheater and a char company never ever go by them.

I booked two europe tours with sotc.in for this summer 2019.
Paid advance for each tour.
Additionally i paid insurance in the event of cancellation full advance will be refunded.

Suddenly my father health worsened with diabetes.in may 2019, another follow check up will be there following which insulin injections may be prescribed. Cannot travel in such situation.

Submitted the blood test results...

I had recently booked a vacation package for singapore and upfront i made a payment of 70, 000 in the sotc mela. Due to unavoidable circumstances i had to cancel my trip. Now, sotc is taking ever to refund my amount. It is been more than two months and they never respond to my emails. This has been the most frustrating and disappointing experience with such are branded travel firm. I would never recommend any of my friends to travel with its sotc anymore.

Hi,

I had made a pre-booking an europe tour for month may'19 by paying token amount 83, 000/-. Due to a severe condition one members, i had to cancel tour.

To surprise, cancellation charges are 20000/-. Person who is not availing tour package just because he made a pre-booking, you guys are charging so much.

I request you to please get back to on this also lower cancellation charge as i am facing...

I am recently cheated by mr aman makkar of sotc gurgaon branch... We are senior citizens and i told him again and agin that we want to travel with a group.. It is very stressful to be and feel alone in a foreign country... He cheated me by saying that it was a grp tour to dubai and abu dhabi for 6 days... When we reached there no grp was there nor any manager or such person to attend us.. You can think of my plight.. I am 69 years old.. Alone in a country with my wife... I cannot describe how we managed this trip as there was no option to come back.. All the time we were trying to catch the person whose no he gave us... We even tried to contact aman and ask him that why did he do this to us... He never replied... I cannot understand... For a little commission a man can do this to senior citizens... If some health problem would have happened who would be responsible for that... I want sotc company to ask him what was the reason for this.. Why he constantly lied... I even want them to remove him from his job instantly.

We were a group of 8 people went to dubai arranged by sotc. They put us up at al manar grand hotel apartment. The hotel does not provide tea satchets etc in the room. Even if you buy you cannot make tea because the electric stove does not work. The washing machine does not work. The washrooms shower is missing. After the bath the bathroom is flooded with water.
Sotc person does not come. Everyday we have to ring up and request for the car. The car is provided for half a day. He takes us around and leaves us in the restaurant for dinner and does not take us back to hotel. After dinner we have to come on our own to hotel. He takes us for shopping and drops us goes away. We have to ring up and request for a car to go to room.
It is a horrible trip. This was not told to us when we booked.
If you are taking sotc tour make sure. The breakfast is complimentary in the hotel. It is average. Sotc never gave us lunch. They provided two dinners. The rest of the day we spent our money.
They call it a cruise with dinner. It is awful better to avoid deira cruise and dinner.

We booked bhutan tour 3rd feb 2019 & paid entair amount. Tour cancelled was verbally told & not given official mail. No procedure for refund of amount is followed yet? Representative of sotc who booked our tour on line is unable to give us refund details! Please make sure about our refund. One has to think should we book further tours with sotc?

26.10.18-quote received by sotc hq against my specific enquiry for andaman holidays and negotiated and finalised same day and paid same day. Hotel promised was m/s shompen/ tsg grand/ sr castle by sotc.

30.10.18 - confirmation mail received after follow up w. R. T above hotel by sotc for accommodation available at hotel sr castle. Which i said ok.

24.11.18-not hearing anything for 24 days, i called / mailed sotc to be surprised people ducking, giving evasive replies and finally conveyed that due to mistake of ms. Sudha who now has left sotc, you can’t offer the hotel sr castle, instead offered degraded hotel m/s mainak

But finally allocated hotel classic regency at port blair

26.10.18-quote received by sotc hq against my specific enquiry and negotiated and finalised same day and paid same day. Hotel promised and confirmation received by sotc for m/s shompen/ tsg grand/ sr castle hotel.
24.11.18-not hearing anything for 24 days, i called / mailed sotc to be surprised people ducking, giving evasive replies and finally conveyed that, they can’t offer the hotel sr castle, instead offered degraded hotel m/s mainak.
Further allocated cheaper hotel. M/s classic regency.
There was no response and people were evasive.
So, i paid and negotiated for better hotel instead got cheaper hotel

I had booked for rann utsav and made the full payment on 12th november 2018 for check in on 4th january and check out 6th january 2019. I was informed by the sotc representative that the amount for the same will be 32500. After making the full payment the representative tells me that she has made a mistake in the amount and had told the cost for the month of november and february. So i have to pay 39000 for the same package. Now i hv reviewed many packages of other companies like yatra and make my trip. I also told her they are giving me a better deal. But she convinced me saying that their package is better. I agreed and now they are asking me to pay more. Why should i pay more for the representative mistake. They are asking me to take refund now which is going to take long or pay more. I am not getting any booking for the same dates. I have also booked 1st class train tickets which i will hv to cancel for the mistake of the representative. My kids were very excited about this trip. The bad behaviour and horrible service of sotc has completely ruined our holidays which we were so looking forward to. Very unprofessional behaviour i am not going to keep quiet. Will take this matter up on social media and also take help of media for this cheating with consumers will not do. I am never ever going to recommend sotc to anyone ever and also post this on my facebook and instagram page. Unprofessionalism at its best.

Hi,

I would like to share my concern and grave pain as sotc has taken 100% advance 1.7 lac on 7th october against my confirm booking of premium tents - rann o[censored]tsav scheduled on 23rd december 2018 check in and check out on 24th december 2018.

Despite of taking 100% amount they declined our family holidays bookings and left us in lurch as our all flight tickets were booked so we have to compromise on lower category which we never wanted to go far but as there were no choice left with us so we have to accept that.

It has been more than 2 weeks we have given our confirmation to sotc and chasing with for confirmation cum voucher of our stay along with refund of surplus amount but not getting any positive response.

I request indian consumer complaint forum to look into it and get the matter sort out please.

The services and response of sotc is very rude, unprofessional and pathetic.

Regards,

Sanjeev rana
Mobile [protected]
Email-sanjeev. [protected]@, megacabs.com and [protected]@gmail.com

I am a regular customer since 2006. Visited twice thailand, singamore, malaysia, egypt, dubai, europe last year. Again thailand in january 2017.in india also, i visited andman nicobar, leh laddak.
This year also i made a plan to malaysia and singapore on 25th november, 2018. Till date we have made a payment of rs.5, 20, 000.00 for 7+1 person but this year, we are chewing very big salt of spoon. I received many call from bombay and other places. Someone tells, we have paid only 1, 50, 000.00. Someone calls, send your passport ([protected]) directly to delhi office. He said, our local representative is very lazy. I also received a mail yesterday to call mr khalid iqbal ([protected]) for check list. When i am calling, he is not picking up. Very poor response by all means. I will request you, dont call us for any normal reason. We have paid your local representative and will comply all norms as he ask. I am ready to handover balance money, passport or any other formalities anytime, we are simply going on tourism not for job. Make our tour as simple as it may possible. But ask to contact any other person. Your local representive mr. Sumit is more than sufficient for us. Take every feedback from him. Hope you will not torture us in future.
Dr syed habib, gorakhpur (U. P.). [protected]

We (4 people) had completed 15 days europe darshan package tour (2.74l\person) through sotc on 22nd august 2018. We would like to highlight that in spite of paying the advance amount 90 days prior to the departure date, we had to undergo a lot of pain in attending the visa formalities, which was arranged at the last moment (Ie) one in bangalore and another in ernakulam. Apart from this, tickets were delivered just 1 day in advance and tour package gifts were also denied.
Though we have visited the local office at coimbatore and reported to the head office, no action has been taken till date. They don't have courtesy to make a call on this regard. Henceforth we do not recommend anybody to travel through sotc.