Forum orders Kesari Tours to pay Rs 30,000 in compensation

Failing to abide by the travel itinerary, Kesari tours was held guilty by the Thane district consumer dispute redressal forum for failing to deliver the desired services towards its consumers.

Arjun Ferrao and Asha Patil, residents of Thane, had booked a trip to Mauritius through Kesari tours, and had paid an amount of Rs 1,60,726 towards the trip, which was scheduled from May 18, 2016 to May 22, 2016.

According to the itinerary, the tour was of four nights five days, with each day listed towards sightseeing in Mauritius.

The forum held that the travel firm had failed to deliver the services promised towards its consumers thus asking the travel firm to compensate Rs 30,000 towards the same.

The forum asked the firm to pay back the money with nine per cent interest from the year 2016. The forum was also asked to pay an amount of Rs 5,000 towards their mental agony and Rs 5,000 for litigation charges

The complainant maintained that when they reached Mauritius, there were some alterations made in the itinerary, as the firm found it a bit difficult to cover the tourists places in the specified time. According to the complainant, the firm had decided to visit Cassela bird park on the last day of the trip, and that all were very excited for the same. However as it was a Sunday, thus the park was closed and hence, they all were disappointed.

They held that the firm knew that they would not have access to the park on a Sunday, even then, after reshuffling the itinerary, the visit to the park was scheduled on Sunday. Thus, the firm failed to deliver its promised services.

The firm was of the view that the complainant had never raised this issue during the travel tour. Neither did they mention it in the feed back form, which the travelers were asked to fill on the last day of its visit. The firm had asked the forum to reject the plea but it was denied.