Consumer’s a Hobo and [Y]atra.com=Shoddy Co.

Growing economy, increasing buying power, liberalization etc. etc. are only fancy phrases. The modern Indian consumer market is as progressive as an Opera.

After all the bullshit is slinged and the beat settles, the fact is you still have to pay extra in the form of a tip, bribe or commission to get basic service.
Let me narrate one of the instances that has disgruntled me.

I’m coming to U.K. so I book a ticket from Delhi to London for a particular date.
Then I change my mind and decide to fly to Manchester instead. Promise you for sane reasons. Now, I check with [Y]atra, the online booking portal I've got my tickets booked with, if I would be paying any extra money to cancel the ticket already booked and book another one on the new route with the same airline. Unfortunately, people at their call centre cannot even attend to an FAQ respectably.
They were however nice enough to give me the requisite information ultimately. So, I’ll be charged Rs. 400. I’m like fairplay, I’ll go with that.

So I cancel my ticket to London and book one to Manchester. Now, both tickets cost close to 20,000 leave alone the cancellation charges. That apart, the time and effort in calling these instruction reading service executives, takin a million ref. no.s and wt not.
Anyways, once I’ve booked it I ask them how long it would take for them to credit the amount of the first ticket into my account. Now the thing is, this is my dad’s credit card and its not a lot of fun playing wit. Right so these buggers tell me they’ll credit it back to my account within 3-4 days. Fairplay.
Its been a month since I’ve come to Leeds, and the money has still not been credited to my father’s account. This, inspite of him repeatedly calling them up and mailing them.
Its painful to even think of him going through that routine. I mean he had to pay the credit card company double of what he had to at the end of Jan.
It is important to understand that this is not just about the money, but about the whole façade of customer service and online transaction security.

Its time we have better consumer forums that are accessible and fierce. Some one’s gotta take [Y]atra’s trip and make mine better. Untill then, I’m awaiting a defamation case. haha. O I forgot they’d be too lazy to file one, besides their damages would never exceed mine. Fuck it! who's reading this.