Harassment continues by India Today

After troubling me intially, India Today kept on pestering me. Finally, I decided to terminate the subscription with them. But alas, even that is not happening smoothly. Finally, I was advised by one of them to go to court if I was having so much problem and hence I sent a letter to them regarding the same.

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I subscribed to India Today in name of my mother. This was done online and a confirmation letter dated 23rd June, 2010 (photocopy attached) confirming the amount of Rs. 1,200 for one year and assigning the subscription number was sent. And this is where my ordeal starts.

It was promised that the first magazine will be delivered from issue dated 12th July, 2010 but sadly this did not happen. After waiting for some time, the helpline was contacted. If I say that they were cooperative and helpful, then it will be an appreciation from my side. Just nothing was done to rectify the same. Kindly refer to the mails sent. The same are attached. I felt as if I am banging my head to the wall. After wanting to cancel subscription and infinite follow-ups, finally first issue landed on my doorstep in mid-Aug. Since there was a delay of 6 weeks, my subscription was extended by 6 weeks at the ending date. I would like to point out that this was also NOT done by India Today on a pro-active basis but only after I insisted on getting the same done. This was confirmed over e-mail and the same is attached.

The first magazine was delivered by the distributor himself and his contact number was taken by me for a ‘just in case’ scenario. But, alas, I was so wrong! Not a week I remember where I NOT had to call him requesting him to deliver the magazine. The magazine was delivered on a Friday or a Saturday of the week as compared to it hitting the stands on a Monday. On asking the same, I was told that it is the norm. Though completely not acceptable to me, I still continued to live with it.
Come Diwali in the first week of November, I received the issue dated Nov 1, 2010 on which the Bollywood superstar Salman Khan was on cover given his recent hit “Dabangg”. After that, magazine stopped coming. Personally, I was traveling and I inferred that weekly calls not being made have led to this failure. Upon calling the distributor, his reply left me shell-shocked! He was at native place and was given as an excuse of this. What kind of screwed-up distribution is this? You want me to believe that distribution at the last mile is person dependent?

This really left me irritated and hence, I decided to finally stop my subscription from India Today. Kindly understand that magazine not subscribed for adding woes in one’s life. I called up helpline to complain but the waiting period too tested my patience. After working my ways through, I was finally able to get the number of Mr. X in Mumbai. After explaining the case, he assured me to look into the case. He did back to me requesting for one more chance. I clearly explained that I have made up my mind to get it canceled and hence I just wanted to know the procedure. I was also told that it will take 3-4 weeks to get my refund. He also assured me that I just need to mention the cancellation part on mail and he will send a separate mail to take care of the same. I mailed for cancellation on Nov 27, 2010 which is attached. But, it seems that India Today has made up its mind to harass me more. I was again asked a ‘reason’ to cancel and similar non-sensical stuff was thrown at me. Kindly see the chain mail attached for details.

For example, upon demanding a breakup of refund, I got an immature and naïve reply that system generates it. Do you think such an answer is acceptable by any standard? Also, I was told that start date has been taken as July and end date as December for calculating the refund. The new start date of August came from your end and it was sad to see that records were not updated! Moreover, as already mentioned last issue received was Nov 1, 2010. This was clearly told to Mr. X in the telephonic conversation and he agreed in principle.

Even after follow-ups, I keep getting standard replies and no answer to my case. I followed it up with Mr. X too but sadly nothing came out. We are sitting in January now and still no communication on my correct refund which should be around Rs. 950 as per calculation sent by me on e-mails.

I last talked to Mr. X and was told that my case is being ‘considered’. What is there to consider here? I clearly told him that I am running out of patience and he gave me the advice to go to court. This telephonic conversation took place on Jan 7, 2011.

Upon his direction, I am writing this letter as a first step of filing a court case. Either refund my Rs. 950 (approx) as per correct calculation with interest@15% w.e.f Nov 1, 2010 + Rs. 1,000 due to harassment caused to me or let us sort out with the path suggested by Mr. X.

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I hope they sincerely act on this letter of mine.

Honesty pays!

Given the fact that I travel so much by autorickshaw, I am bound to meet some interesting people in Mumbaiand Delhi.

Today morning, I hired one to come to office. Since, I am used to travel the route daily, I know how much it costs to reach office from home given the traffic conditions. Midway only, I realised that meter of this person is fast by all standards.
So, I interjected him!

Me: "Boss, aapka meter fast hai." (Boss, your meter is running fast)
He: "Maloom hai. Aap wohi dijiye to sahi hota hai." (I know. You pay whatever is the correct fare)

I was taken back by his brutal honesty and handed him some extra bucks on my way out. Its not everyday I meet such 'honest' people ;)

P.S. - Adviced him to get his meter fixed asap too!