Jul 05, 2024 06:34 PM
590 Views
1. We booked a vacation package from Meet My Holidiers, a vacation trip planning company, for a trip to Jibhi, Himachal Pradesh.
2. Our journey began on June 16th, 2024, from Pilani, Rajasthan, traveling to Delhi, and then from Delhi to Chandigarh, which took a total of eight hours. On June 17th, 2024, we arrived at the Chandigarh Railway Station at 8:40 AM. Our cab driver, Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, was waiting in the parking area, but unfortunately, he did not assist us with our luggage. At 9:00 AM, we started our trip to Jibhi with our two daughters, aged five and ten. The children, already tired, fell asleep immediately in the car.
3. As we entered the borders of Himachal Pradesh, the cab driver abruptly turned off the car's AC and opened the windows. It was extremely hot outside, and military trucks were passing by, throwing smoke and dust into the car. Around 10:30 AM, both our daughters, who were sleeping soundly, started sneezing and crying. When we confronted the driver, he stated that the AC would not work in the hills unless we paid an additional Rs. 2000 for the return trip. However, we were still in the plains, and the terrain was not hilly at all. It seemed he deliberately turned off the AC at a rough patch inside a tunnel filled with heavy dust and smoke from vehicles to coerce us into paying extra. We requested him to turn on the AC while we spoke to our holiday planner, Ms. Rekha from Meet My Holidiers. She informed us that it was written in our itinerary that the AC would not function in the hills, as per the terms and conditions. Admittedly, it was our oversight not to read the terms and conditions carefully, but the description was vague. She never mentioned that the cab driver would turn off the AC immediately upon entering Himachal Pradesh without any warning. After more than 30 minutes of discussion with Ms. Rekha, it was decided that we would pay the driver an additional Rs. 1500 for the AC.
4. Ms. Rekha sent us an email stating that we needed to pay the driver INR 14, 000 upfront and verbally told us to pay INR 1500 for the AC upfront. She also mentioned that we could pay this amount in installments over our four-day trip. We paid the driver INR 5000 twice, on June 18th and 19th, 2024. We decided to pay the remaining INR 5500 on the last day of our trip after reaching Chandigarh. However, on the way, the driver suddenly stopped the car in an unknown location and threatened that he would not drive further unless we paid him the remaining amount in advance. He then started smoking inside the car, causing our children to cough due to the cigarette smoke. We asked him not to smoke, paid him the remaining amount, and then only he dropped us at our hotel in Chandigarh.
5. Contacting Ms. Rekha was futile regarding all the troubles the cab driver caused us during this trip.
