My letter of gratitude to IndiaConsumerForum.org

Nitin Sawant to N.N.Iyer

show details Aug 4 (1 day ago)

Dear Mr Iyer,

At the outset, pls accept my heartfelt thanks for helping me get justice. I'd never imagined anybody taking my problem seriously & getting it resolved with such speed. I couldn't make any headway with MakeMyTrip.com guys for over a month & you guys got it done in an hour. I'd come to you as the last resort, whereas I should have approached you, right in the beginning!

While I’ve no personal or business enmity with MakeMyTrip.com, what pains me most is the sheer callousness & brazenly rude attitude of their employees towards paying customers. I can understand the corrupt soul of a faceless company like MakeMyTrip.com, but why should dishonesty permeate all throughout their organization. I kept communicating to different names all the time, but none understood the pain & frustration caused due to their very mistakes!

I suggest everybody buying anything on the Net should first check the company's reputation on good consumer forums like yours, before using a Credit Card.

Thanks again. You have my gratitude forever!

Best regards,

Nitin Sawant

My humble response to MakeMyTrip.com, when justice was granted!

Nitin Sawant to Geeta, N.N.Iyer

show details 12:16 AM (15 hours ago)

Dear Ms Geeta,

Please let me start this by saying that I’ve nothing personal against MakeMyTrip.com & my outburst against you guys was simply because of the high-handedness shown by MakeMyTrip.com in returning my money, which you confiscated unfairly. Believe me when I say that it did not start this way; I’m attaching below my email of appreciation that I’d sent to Ms Sangeeta Jadhav & Mr Avi Jain, at the start of this fateful affair.

I’m aware that bizarre things happen while processing payments on the Net, but what’s really bizarre here was MakeMyTrip.com’s lack of intention in setting things right. And you cannot hide this, citing some company process. For a web-based technology-driven company, I can’t believe that MakeMyTrip.com “were completely unaware” that my “card was also charged during the online attempt which showed a transaction failure”. You mean there was no one monitoring the money coming in from a credit card that was NOT charged & a ticket NOT generated? Besides, any illiterate accountant could find out on daily reconciliation that there’s excess cash received in the company for the same transaction ID, for the same ticket, for the same route, on the same date, from the same person! Or is it that there are checks & processes in MakeMyTrip.com only while refunding the money?

What you did today – tracing the “card charge details with the transaction details” & discovering that this was indeed “a failed transaction” – could’ve been done on the very first day of my complaint or could’ve been tracked the moment I was wrongly charged. What it all implies that MakeMyTrip.com always knew that they’re wrongly holding back my money & intended to use it as long as they could, citing some lousy process, which the hapless customer like me should follow – till the consumer forum forces come marching in! Indirectly, what you’re saying is that, “Okay, we admit that we’ve cheated you. But we’re not giving your money back till YOU prove that we cheated you.”

Anyways, I hope to end this acrimony here. I will positively send you the scans of this month’s Credit Card statement & will follow up with you directly for reimbursement.

Hoping for a better service this time around.

Best regards

Nitin Sawant

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My first email to Sangeeta & Avi

rom Nitin Sawant <nitinsawant99@gmail.com> to Sangeeta Jadhav <Sangeeta.Jadhav@makemytrip.com> date Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 11:26 AM subject Re: FW: E ticket mailed-by gmail.com

hide details Jun 30

Dear Sangeeta & Avi,

I had the opportunity to book my tickets for my latest tour to Saudi Arabia through ur website & i must say that i m pretty impressed wt u two for the kind of top service experience u both delivered...

i couldn't use my credit card due to some glitch but u guys guided me through the whole ticket booking ordeal patiently, reserved the tickets offline, got me a good deal & finally when i visited ur ofc for collecting the tickets, the face to face experience wt u, Sangeeta was really heartwarming!!!

Wishing u guys a lot of success!!!

Best,

Nitin Sawant

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MakeMyTrip.com responds to IndiaConsumerForum.org; Offers to pay back in 72 hours!

Geeta Eral to me, N.N.Iyer

show details Aug 4 (1 day ago)

Dear Mr. Sawant:

I write to you in response to your compliant posted to us and on various blog sites.

First and foremost please accept my sincere apology for any inconvenience caused to you caused to you. While we did try to help you make an offline booking however were completely unaware that you card was also charged during the online attempt which showed a transaction failure.

As a process, in any such event we request the customer for the card statement so that we could validate the details from the merchant bank and reverse the full amount if charged any.

Unfortunately in this case as mentioned you have sent us the fax details which was not received at our end delaying the process of refund. Kindly note that we have traced the card charge details with the transaction details. As this was a failed transaction, we have initiated full refund and the amount should reflect on your card within next 72 business hours. In case if you have incurred any interest charges due to the delay , please share card statement to get the amount reimbursed.

Refund reference number is highlighted in red for your records.

Response Code	Date	Transaction Type	Amount	Transaction ID	Merchant Transaction Reference
0 - Approved	16/6/09 4:32 PM	Purchase	Rs.17,140.00	2000453874	FLTINT10002881681
0 - Approved	4/8/09 11:35 AM	Refund	Rs.17,140.00	376028	RRN- 921616134057

We have taken cognizance of your comments and the spirit in which you have shared your feedback. It is unfortunate to note that your recent interaction with us has not been up to your satisfaction. I sincerely hope you will give us another opportunity to assist you in the future so that we can restore your faith in us.

Please do write to me directly for any assistance.

Regards

Geeta Eral

Head- Customer Delight

geeta.eral@makemytrip.com

Ph: +91 9910361221

IndiaConsumerForum.org swings into action!

Of all posts I did, the one with IndiaConsumerForum.org worked immediately. Mr Iyer from the forum send the following scathing email to MakeMyTrip.com.

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N.Iyer to geeta.eral, amit.sinha, service, share.feedback, me, alok1040, alokvishnoi004, anandarup.das, b.mitra123, chhabraraj17451, dheemish4u, gauravkanoria, naweenrjn, sujalshah1975, madhulika_pawa., crmahato, vivek1_shenoy, brijesh_gosai

show details Aug 4 (1 day ago)

Dear Sirs,

We keep receiving complaints about your service and we forward herewith one such complaint received from Mr. Nitin Sawant. As you will observe, this complaint relates to charging credit card even when the transaction has failed. As a result of this Mr. Sawant is incurring credit card charges for no fault of his while MakeMyTrip has been using funds credited from his card account. This is a very serious affair and we request you to urgently look into the matter and help your customer in solving this to the satisfaction of your customer.

Regards,

N.N.Iyer

Admin

India Consumer Forum

Visit us at: www.indiaconsumerforum.org

Reply to: admin@indiaconsumerforum.org, nniyer.mail@gmail.com

Copy to ICF Members: Members please note that we have been receiving more complaints regrding MakeMyTrip and members should take note of this while availing their services in future

WHY E-COMMERCE DOESN'T SUCCEED IN INDIA?

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I've always wanted to start a blog but never came around writing one. It all started with one horrendous experience of doing business with MakeMyTrip.com & whomsoever I complained to, suggested I write about it on my blog, publish it to various consumer forums & put enough social pressure to get the job done! Guess what, it worked! Though I did not have my blog then, I decided that this was as good a time as any & the MakeMyTrip.com fiasco - however inappropriate, makes as a good conversation as any! Wish I'd something positive to start with; on the other hand, I believe this all could positively help a lot of travellers! So, here goes the first email/post dt. Aug 04, 12:03 AM, that got the desired response:

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Hello,

My name is Nitin Sawant & I am one of those in the long-list of miserables who've used a Credit Card on MakeMyTrip.com & PAID TWICE. On 16th June, I tried booking a ticket on Mumbai-Riyadh-Mumbai sector on makemytrip.com for 18th June travel date. I was happy at the fares shown on makemytrip.com website as they were the cheapest. I was using a friend's (Mr Virendra K.) credit card trying to complete the booking. However, the site wouldn't take my booking citing problems with the credit card.

Naturally, I gave up, But, soon as I received a call from their call centre (they must've gotten my details from the form I filled on their page). One Mr Avi Jain asked me why I abandoned purchase of the ticket & offered help. When I complained that the site was turning down the credit card, he asked us to try again. When that failed, I requested him to send me the ticket offline; I was willing to pay cash. He blocked the ticket & I was directed to their MIDC, Andheri office to pay in cash & collect the ticket the next day. I repeatedly enquired whether they'd still charged the Credit Card & he denied saying the transaction has not gone through.

Since the fare was cheap, I dashed to their Andheri office the next day morning. I met one Ms Sangeeta Jadhav who completed the transaction by accepting cash & gave me my ticket for 18th June. Their booking ID is IN0906B04541. I was so enamored that I offered to send them a complimentary email for their good service, which I did. But, little did I know that my nightmare had just begun.

When I came back from Riyadh, my friend called me to inform that makemytrip.com still charged the Credit Card with the full ticket amount. I was aghast. When I called Ms Sangeeta Jadhav in their Andheri office, she pointed out that this was routine system error & all I needed to do was send them a fax of the statement to reverse the charges. And then makemytrip.com's true colours started unfolding. I must've send 10 faxes, but on every call after that they claimed that no fax was received, inspite of we having a Fax sent confirmation. Then we sent the scan of the Credit Card statement. Again, none was received & whenever they received it, it was not opening.

After too much pestering, their Gurgoan call centre asked to send the details now to their Gurgaon office. Again all the faxes sent were not received & their telephones just kept ringing away. I kept blasting away emails threatening to complain to consumer forums but nothing worked. All I kept getting was canned service emails repeatedly asking to send the statement scans again.

Just on curiosity, I googled Makemytrip.com for consumer complaints & what do I find? They are notorious for this double-charging, snagging credit card details, cheating on refunds & what not! No wonder the consumer forum complaint threat did not work on them; this is their business model - double charge & loot whichever unsuspecting guy happens to give them their Credit Card details.

Honestly, I don't know if I'll ever get back my money. The next credit card statement has come in with interest levied on their previous amount. I hope to get justice & money back. I hope nobody loses their money & valuable credit card details on sites like makemytrip.com. It's people like them who've made e-commerce impossible to succeed in India.

I request you to forward this email to all our friends, colleagues & associates and prevent others from being duped under the garb of cheap fares.

Best regards,

Nitin Sawant