Bengaluru: An invitation to a marketing event turned into an expensive ordeal for a 56-year-old Bengaluru resident, who signed a vacation ownership programme under pressure without reading the fine print. His bid to cancel his membership in less than three months was not honoured. The second Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission of Bengaluru Urban found a deficiency of service and unfair trade practice in the case and ordered a full refund.The saga began on July 29, 2023, when Murali HN, a resident of RBI Layout, JP Nagar, was invited to a marketing event at a luxury hotel on Vittal Mallya Road. The representatives of the holiday club dangled attractive offers before him with one condition — he needed to sign up immediately or lose the special offer.Convinced, Murali applied for the Club Mahindra Bliss Membership on Aug 27 and paid Rs 76,419 the same day, with the balance of Rs 16,503 payable over 12 months. The next day, company representatives visited his home, collecting two cheques and getting a 10-month ECS mandate signed.The fine print of the 10-year membership was only orally explained at a fast pace and never properly read. He was told bookings could begin from Oct 1 once his account was activated. He waited, got his credentials on that date, tried booking a resort from Club Mahindra’s venue list for a family vacation — and hit a wall every time.What stung more was the attitude change after he made the payment. On Oct 3, Murali emailed seeking cancellation and a full refund, noting he hadn’t used any facility and was within the stipulated cancellation window. Club Mahindra replied three days later, saying the admission fee was non-refundable.He instructed his bank to stop payments. Club Mahindra presented his cheque anyway on Oct 7 — it bounced, with Rs 354 docked as charges. A second cheque was threatened for Nov 7. Frustrated, he issued a legal notice on Nov 18 and filed a consumer complaint on May 5, 2024.Club Mahindra, which appeared through a counsel, called the complaint an abuse of process.It argued there was no legal entity called ‘Club Mahindra Holidays’. It is merely a brand name of Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India Limited (MHRIL). It insisted that Murali had voluntarily signed the membership form with full knowledge of the terms, and since he had failed to pay EMIs and annual subscription fees, he was not entitled to a refund and also claimed he had never approached MHRIL with an actual booking request, and the whole complaint was merely an attempt to extract money dressed up as a consumer dispute.The commission observed that Murali was never made aware of the detailed terms and conditions at the time of signing up for the membership. The commission noted that the terms and conditions of the membership agreement were one-sided, amounting to unfair trade practice. “It was a gross abuse of one-sided terms unilaterally set by the opposite party for their own benefit, doing nothing to secure the customer’s interest,” the commission said.The commission, comprising president Vijaykumar M Pawale and member Anuradha V, on May 13 ordered Mahindra Holidays and its customer service manager to refund Rs 76,419, pay Rs 10,000 in compensation for deficiency of service, and Rs 5,000 towards litigation costs.Guruprasad MN, advocate, said, “The biggest challenge in the case was proving how the entire agreement and process were one-sided. Customers are rushed into making payments with very little time to read the fine print, while the refund terms are structured in such a way that they could not practically evaluate the service before the cancellation window is closed.”
