Travel firm ordered to pay Rs 10,000 to complainant

Incidentally, no representative of Travelyaari and Babu Travels, the accused firm, turned up to hear the proceedings at the consumer forum. (Representational Image)

THE CONSUMER Forum has directed a travel firm, travelyaari.com, to pay Rs 10,000 to a customer for providing a non-AC bus despite charging for an AC bus. The incident happened on October 12 this year. The complainant, Piyush Baindara, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Microbial Technology, Sector-39, Chandigarh, said he had booked tickets for a Chandigarh-Kota train on September 2, 2016, as well as tickets for an AC bus from Kota to Udaipur for his family through travelyaari.com on September 6, 2016.

Baindara told the consumer forum that he had also informed the firm that he needed an AC bus as his son Hardik had a severe heart ailment due to which he suffered from breathing problems in a claustrophobic environment. However, when he, along with his family, reached the designated place to board the bus, a non-AC sleeper bus came. So, left with no option, they had to board it.

Baindara also mentioned in his complaint that due to the non-AC bus, he and his family members suffered a horrible experience and the travel firm had cheated him because it had charged fare for AC bus and provided a non-AC bus instead.

Though he had approached the firm for a refund along with interest and also served a legal notice, there has been no response yet. Incidentally, no representative of Travelyaari and Babu Travels, the accused firm, turned up to hear the proceedings at the consumer forum. The forum said a non-AC bus led to the complainant’s son severely falling ill and ordered the firm to pay Rs 5,000 to Baindara as compensation and Rs 5,000 as litigation charges.