THOMAS COOK INDIA MUMBAI cheated me:
The case in short:
1.0 My wife and myself took TCI tour to Australia+ New Zealand through their Bandra Office, costing nearly Rs 7 lakhs.
2.0 The cost of the tour include medical insurance cover for both of us as per offer from TCI.
3.0 Insurance cover note was not given to us along with other travel documents.
4.0 Ms Madhavi, TCI Bandra has confirmed in one of her mails to me that TCI has taken insurance and that I need not take it separately
5.0 On the second last day of Australian tour in Sydney, my wife slips and injures her arm.
6.0 She was transferred to St Vincent’s hospital, Sydney.
7.0 Tour manager asked me to meet the medical expenses and claim from insurance in Mumbai.
8.0 I had some balance left in my credit card which I used to meet the medical expense.
9.0 She under goes partial treatment and is discharged the next day.
10.0 We return to Mumbai.1
1.0 From Sydney and on return, I write to Ms Ms Madhavi of TCIL asking for insurance cover note. She did not respond and kept quiet. I phoned her and she does not come on line. Her colleagues tell me that she is busy with customers. As if to say that I am not a customer.
12.0 One fine evening Mr Nilesh of TCI phones me to say that insurance cover is taken. He is reluctant to give more details like insurance company, policy number etc. He also advices me that TCI will pay me the costs of medical treatment in Australia. This created a doubt in my mind and I am sure TCI had not taken the insurance.
13.0 Some days later Ms Bhavi Parekh senior executive of TCIL phones me and confirms that TCIL had goofed up and insurance was not taken. I asked her to send me this info in writing which is still awaited.
14.0 She offered me as a full and final settlement maximum of Aus$ 2000/- against bills, receipts. [Actual expenses are much more and receipts are available]. The ambulance dept. has just sent me their bill which is yet to be paid.
15.0 Mr Mitesh Acharya of Service Quality & customer Care of TCIL send me a mail asking to accept the settlement. He has answered my questions.
16.0 Mr Vishal Singh of of Service Quality & customtakeouter Care of TCIL send me a mail recently informing me that Mr Mitesh Acharya is longer in TCIL.
Points to ponder:
1.0 a] Was insurance taken or not?
b] If insurance was taken, why was the policy not given to me before departure or later?
c] If insurance was not taken, why was it not taken? Who is responsible? Anything more serious could have happened to us and in the absence of insurance cover we would have to beg in Sydney.
d] Since we were charged for the insurance, and insurance was not taken amounts to cheating.
2.0 Had insurance been taken, the treatment would be cashless. I had to meet the expense from my sources. It is good that a had acredit card or else I would have beg, borrow or steal in Sydney. Had insurance been taken, treatment would be completed in 2 days and we could have joined the tour in New Zealand.
3.0 TCI is offering me a maximum of Aus$ 2000/- when the costs are much more. Had TCI taken insurance the coverage amount would be US$ 5, 00, 000/-. [I have copies of the policies of other members in this tour showing this amount].
MY demand:
1.0 Written apology stating that insurance was not taken.
2.0 Payment of what ever medical expenses I have met at Sydney and Mumbai. In the absence of insurance cover and limit in my credit card, only part treatment was carried out in Sydney and the balance treatment was done in Mumbai.
3.0 Refund of New Zealand 8 days [ 10 days-2 days ] tour costs paid to you. As the tour could not be taken because of TCI fault.
4.0 Written apology for the trauma and mental stress caused due to TCI negligence and poor response to my complaints.
TCI executives high handedness and egoist behaviour has further added fuel to fire. We are all humans and make mistakes. It takes a bold person to accept his/her mistakes and that would be end of a dispute. Instead TCI executives think they are above the average Indian. The language used in the mails offering settlement smells of charity being made by TCI. I do not accept charity.
Now the Vice-President replies me as under:
Dear Mr. Goliya
Kindly allow me to refer to your emails of June 07 and 02, 2012 in response to my colleague Mr. Vishal Singh’s email of June 01, 2012. This is also further to your email of June 08, 2012 sent to Mr. Harshal Vartak.
It is indeed very disheartening to read your responses in reply to the emails sent by the service quality team. I am also being updated of the various comments posted by you against the organization on social media.
Mr. Goliya, I take this opportunity to submit that we have conscientiously investigated your case and responded to you in a considerate and professional manner. Also we have made a very fair offering to you based on the background of the case. Our senior official, Ms Bhavi Parekh has personally spoken with you and shared the point of view on the matter and regretted any discomfort caused.
Despite the above and the gesture as made, you have not submitted the supporting medical documents yet to us to process the refund and on the contrary you are maligning Thomas Cook’s for non provision of the refund.
We will appreciate if you accept the offer which is being made to you upon submission of the documents requested to process the refund, as we believe that the offer is fair, just and indeed generous under the circumstances.
While we understand your communication with us has not been under pleasant situation due to medical issue, we however, thank you for communicating with us and should you wish not to accept our offer for reasons best known to you, Mr.Goliya with due rRajeev_Vermacts, we take this matter closed from our side and do not wish to correspondence any further on this matter.
Regards
Vijay Sethi
Senior Vice President & Head – Tour Management & customer Service
Thomas Cook (India) Ltd
Mr Sethi’s mail is silent on various issues and questions. Yet he claims TCIL are behaving professionally. TCIL is pea nuts and he writes it is generous. Are TCIL giving me charity? Never ever even go near a tcil office: forget about using their services: unless you like to get cheated. Even after cheating me, see the arrogance and the attitude of Mr_customer of a senior executive of TCIL.
Can any one suggest what should be my next move?
Email: rajgoliya@gmail.com