Consumer Court asks MakeMyTrip to pay ₹45,000 in honour of Refund Offer

A Consumer Redressal Commission here directed travel company Make My Trip (makemytrip.com) to pay a man over ₹40,000, including ₹15,000 as compensation, for not returning his money as promised under a scheme.

The complainant had sought a refund from Make My Trip, which promised the same if cheaper tickets were found.

Harish Bheemarthi, the complainant, approached the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-II, Hyderabad, in September 2019 claiming that he had booked four tickets from Make My Trip from Hyderabad to Kuala Lumpur – Kualalampur to Denpasar and Denpasar to Kualalumpur – Kualalumpur to Hyderabad. He had booked tickets under www.makemytrip.com’s ‘Best Price Guaraantee’ scheme.

Bheemarthi in his complaint said that Make My Trip’s Best Price guarantee (BPT) said, “If, within 24 hours of Booking, customer finds a lower International airfare on any India-based online travel agency (OTA) apart from MakeMyTrip, MakeMyTrip will refund 5 times the excess amount to complainants MakeMyTrip wallet, up to Rs.10, 000/- Terms and Conditions apply”.

After he booked tickets with Make My Trip, Bheemarthi found tickets to be cheaper by Rs. 6,000 on the website easemytrip.com, and hence asked for a refund, along with Rs. 6,000 for each ticket. However, when he claimed the money, the travel company refused it, stating that customers are not eligible for a refund if they used any deal
code, vouchers, corporate discounts etc.

Hence, Make My Trip declined the request of Bheemarthi, citing the same. It also submitted to the court that his itinerary that was submitted did not tally while rejecting the claim. It may be noted the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-II, Hyderabad called Make My Trip’s defence “flimsy”.

After going through all the evidence at hand, the commission noted that Bheemarthi submitted documents required to support his claim, while Mae My Trip did not show anything to suggest that the complainant’s itinerary did not match. Based on all evidence, the commission ruled in favour of Bheemarthi and asked the travel company to pay up.

In its order, it asked Make My Trip to: Pay the differential price ₹24,000 (at₹6, 000 per ticket) to the complainant together with interest @9% p.a. from the date of purchase till realization. It also asked the travel company to pay an amount of Rs.15, 000 towards compensation to the complainant for causing him “inconvenience and mental agon”, and ₹5,000 towards costs of the litigation.

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