Casey
23 Dec 2018
3 0
Do not go to INDIA TRAVEL CENTRE [Shop No.: 28 NDMC Market, Connaught Place, New Delhi].
The “travel agent” here is dishonest and unprofessional. We hired a motorcycle here for a trip around Rajasthan. We attended their office, test-drove a brand new Royal Enfield which was running like a dream and agreed on a very fair price (we wanted a bike that we could rely on for a long journey).
When we returned the next day to collect the bike it was not there and we were told they were having the oil changed for us and that my boyfriend needed to get in a taxi to go collect it from the mechanic AND that we needed to pay him the full rental fee first (this should have been the first alarm but having been to India many times before we know that things do often work very differently so we trusted the process).
When my boyfriend arrived at the ‘mechanic’ (actually parking garage), he was directed to a different bike which was covered in a thick layer of dust. It obviously hadn’t been moved in a very long time and had an empty petrol tank and would not start. My boyfriend and the agents ‘assistant’ who accompanied him then had to drag the bike to a petrol station to try to get it started.
By the time we had the bike ready to go, hours had passed and we had already lost half a day of travel. In addition rather than a brand new bike we had a dusty damaged one. I requested that we be refunded at least 1 days rent to account for the wasted time and their dishonesty about the bike we would be given.
The agent (eventually and grudgingly) agreed but said that he would return this amount to us with the deposit when we return the bike. We ensured all of the agreed amounts were updated on our receipt and in the rental contract to be sure.
2 weeks later we (thankfully) made it back to Delhi to return the bike and the agent (resentfully) returned our original deposit amount but refused to give us back the additional days rent we agreed upon.
Next, (this is where things get weird) he STOLE our receipt from the table in front of us and made it disappear. When I produced my copy of the contract he told us it meant nothing and then simply pretended to be asleep in his office chair while giving my boyfriend the finger.
We were outraged and also in shock at his complete lack of professionalism and so turned to his colleagues for help. They told us to come back in two hours and they would return our money to us. We left knowing this was probably also a lie but felt we really had no other choice.
When we returned there was nobody there besides the agents young ‘assistant’ who also could not produce the money and conveniently was not able to contact his superiors.
We left feeling very frustrated and in need of a cold beer.
DO NOT USE INDIA TRAVEL CENTRE.
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