Consumer forum orders refund after Covid-19 disrupts travel plans
In a classic case of vacation plans gone viral, the Ghaziabad
Consumer Forum
has ruled in favor of Ishan Pratap Singh, a traveler who was forced to cancel a family trip to the Maldives in 2021 after testing positive for Covid-19—just a day before departure, reported TOI.
Singh had booked the dream getaway from Mumbai through
Ineedtrip
, a Ghaziabad-based travel agency, coughing up a hefty Rs 1.9 lakh as an advance (and even taking a Rs 1.4 lakh loan to fund it). But when he tested positive via an RT-PCR on March 12, he requested the agency to reschedule the trip originally planned for March 13–17, as per the TOI report.
Though he tried to shuffle the dates—first aiming for May, then April, and finally November 2021—he was met with repeated refusals. The agency cited expiry of certain travel packages and warned of forfeiture by the partner hotel after September.
Despite these pandemic-related hurdles and Singh's continued
EMI
payments for the loan, Ineedtrip refused to refund the money. They also skipped responding to the consumer forum's notices.
Unimpressed, forum members Praveen Kumar Jain and RP Singh passed an ex parte order, declaring Ineedtrip's actions a clear 'deficiency in service' under the Consumer Protection Act.
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Now, the travel agency must refund the Rs 1.9 lakh within 45 days, plus 6% interest from the date of the order until the amount is paid. To top it off, they've been ordered to shell out Rs 5,000 more for Singh's legal costs and mental agony.
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