An overseas trip that could have brought business to these businessmen from Bangalore turned into a huge mess before it could even materialise, thanks to a fraud by a MakeMyTrip representative.
Harish Kumar and P Manikantan, the two businessmen traveling to Singapore on business were in for a rude shock at the airport when they realised that the tickets and the VISA they had on them were fake.
The duo did not only miss their flight and the business they had intended to attend to in Singapore, but were also detained at the airport due to possession of fake Singaporean VISAs. They had booked the travel arrangements with MakeMyTrip, but from a physical branch of the company.
After the tickets were revealed to be fake at the airport, they went back to the MakeMyTrip office again, and after waiting for hours, received fresh tickets, which too turned out to be fake, back at the airport. It took a round of convincing the airport security that they had been duped by the company, and were not involved in illicit activities. After learning that the return tickets were fake as well, Harish and Manikantan shelved their trip altogether.
They then lodged a police complaint against the company for fraud. Meanwhile, MakeMytrip in a letter sent in response has absolved itself of the responsibility claiming that the bookings were done not on the MakeMyTrip online platform, but by a couple of employees at the branch. Though MakeMyTrip has offered a compensation in “Good faith”, to the tunes of an amount, much lower than what’s demanded by the victims.
The following is the copy of an email with the offer of an out of court settlement by MakeMyTrip. (courtesy: Bangalore Mirror)
We have already placed the settlement on record more than once. We had also communicated the settlement to you when we had met at Bansawadi Police Station at Bangalore. We once again place on record that you are already aware and have accepted that the forged tickets and visas were provided to you and your co-travelers by Roshan and Rupesh. Roshan has even admitted to the same. We also informed you that we have filed an FIR against Roshan and Rupesh and your visit to the Bansawadi Police Station was an attempt for you to directly settle the matter with Roshan and his family. Being a responsible service provider, MakeMyTrip addressed all customers who were cheated by Roshan and Rupesh. We have not only refunded amounts to customers but also provided alternate travel options to customers including you.
Please note that no part of your booking was done with MakeMyTrip. However, when the facts of your case were brought to notice, MakeMyTrip tried arranging your entire trip in good faith. The compensation you have demanded was disproportionate to the issue and exemplary, and so we had to offer a different compensation. You now want to file a police complaint against MakeMyTrip only because your unreasonable demands are not being met. In addition, you have also been threatening the safety and security of MakeMyTrip’s staff for not adhering to your demands. We still request an amicable settlement in this matter and would like to place our settlement offer before you once again of return tickets for 7 persons to USA and 2 lakh compensation. Please note that this is our final offer of settlement to you. This email is without prejudice to our legal rights against you in the above matter.
MakeMyTrip’s defensive tone in the email comes across as rather alarming considering the loss of business and the harrowing times experienced by the two businessmen, especially considering a company is responsible for the actions of its employees.