Consumer forum: Thomas Cook to pay ₹2.25 L to Bathinda family for ‘nightmarish’ Thailand tour

The forum said complainants were harassed at every juncture, which forced them to manage many affairs on their own in a foreign land with a language barrier

Observing that a tour company rendered grossly deficient service to a Bathinda family, the district consumer disputes redressal forum directed the firm to pay a compensation of ₹35,000 each to six members for causing mental agony, physical harassment and financial loss. The company is also directed to pay the litigation cost of ₹15,000.

HT Image

Six family members of Major General Mohinder Singh (retd) from Bathinda, which include four senior citizens and a woman with a minor son, filed a consumer case against Thomas Cook (Mumbai and Chandigarh). On January 30 last year, the family had booked a Thailand tour from April 15 to 22, 2019 with the travel agency, paying them more than ₹4.47 lakh.

On April 16, when they reached Bangkok, they found that there was no one from the company at the airport to guide them. They said were made to stay at ‘substandard’ hotels and served poor quality food. They alleged that the whole trip was disappointing and a wastage of money and emailed the company, which they said tried to wriggle out from their responsibility and liability of deficient services.

Denying any deficiency, the company mentioned that they did not assure to provide any guide at Bangkok airport, as the tour they had signed up for commenced from Phuket. They denied that the hotel and food were of sub-standard quality.

The company stated, that to amicably resolve the matter, and without admitting any of the allegations, they paid ₹11,540 to the family and also offered them a discount on their next booking. The the agency said this was a full and final settlement of all claims raised by complainants, which was accepted by them.

However, the complainants denied accepting this offer.

The forum observed that the tour proved “not only a nightmare to the complainants, but also caused immense physical and mental harassment.” Allowing the complaint, it added that the whole tour was mis-managed and the complainants thoroughly harassed at every juncture, which forced them to manage many affairs on their own in a foreign land, and besides a financial loss they also encountered language barriers.

Thomas Cook was thus told to pay ₹35,000 each to six members and pay ₹15,000 towards litigation costs.