Hyderabad: Winning a lucky draw proved to be costly for a city resident who fell victim to a scheme offered by Country Club.
The victim, a resident of Patancheru, had visited Jalavihar on Necklace Road in May 2013 and submitted her details for participation in a lucky draw being conducted by the Country Club.
Within two weeks, she was informed that she had won a prize and was being offered a Billionaire Membership Scheme by the Club at a discounted price of '2 lakh. She was told that with this membership she would be entitled to a 150 sq. yard plot at the Shaila Bhoomi Venture in Mahbubnagar as well as free bookings at Country Club units across the country for five years.
The customer decided to take up the offer and paid the money. The company drew up a memorandum of understanding in her favour, but failed to produce the allotment letter as promised.
The customer alleged that when she had tried to avail the free Country Club accommodation while travelling to Shimla but was turned down.
Representatives of the Country Club said that the customer had failed to pay the development and registration charge of Rs 50,000 because of which the plot could not be registered in her name. They said that the terms and conditions specified that the customer would have to pay an annual membership fee, which she had failed to do, which is why she had been denied accommodation.
The forum noted that Country Club had failed to provide evidence of plots having been allocated to customers. It said that the company had lured the customers by offering them a discounted scheme for free accommodation, but failed to provide them with the benefits when they attempted to redeem them.
The forum said the consumer had been compelled to enrol under the scheme and make an advance payment on the very same day that it was offered to her with an ulterior motive.
“Extracting membership fees from unsuspecting people solely to enrich themselves with the malicious intention of defrauding the public is an unfair trade practice,” the court said.
Country Club has been asked to return the Rs 2 lakh, along with interest calculated at 10 per cent per annum for a period of four years, to each of the customers who had signed up for the fraudulent scheme.
