Badminton Club

Since my last post I have started going to Vida Badminton Club, which is not very far from my apartment. The club members play inside William Beamont Sports College, which is just nearby Warrington Collegiate. I joined the club as a visitor and they charge £ 3 per visit. They play once in a week on Mondays in evening 8 to 10 for 2 hours.

It is a nice experience playing there. There are 20-30 people coming to play and we have 4 badminton courts and we play in doubles, which means at a time 16 players are playing. We mark our names on a board and a person chooses names of other 3 players to play with. So whenever they come back from that game again write the names on board and it continues likewise. Till 10PM everyone would have played around 10 matches, which is very healthy. There are 5-6 people who are Asians (can't say if they belong to India, but names suggests at least 4 are of Indian origin.

I use Bus to go there and come back, which are available from Warrington Bus station. There are 2-3 weeks more to play, until I go back to India, for which I am excited.

Dayz in Warrington, UK

Today I am really happy! For last few days I was trying to kill the boredom I have, staying here. There is a set routine of timings, work, evenings and mornings. Each day I spend my time same way, Most of which inside my room and apartment.

My body is also giving me some time guilty feelings as my shape (inching towards being 40) is getting deformed day by day. Tummy is trying to curl itself and I am sure I can't run or walk for even 2 miles.

In Warrington, there are not many places where you could sit and enjoy seeing at sea/ people/ nothing at all. So usually after finishing at my work I talk to my family back home and then see if anything interesting on TV Free-view. Prepare dinner or eat something not-so-good and then watch any streaming moving till you are sleepy.

A few weeks back I bought sports shoes specifically to start running, however I had a good pair with me already. So the fateful Tuesday came when I started running, it was good in the evening and could easily find time in the evenings. These days (summer in UK) the Sun is in sky till nine or half past nine, so effectively I have bigger day. So on the day I dressed up in trunks and new shoes. Started from my apartment and run to a nearby council park, had a good run encircling it. My leg muscles were tightened and gave up after a mile of run, I sat on a bench and did some leg stretching to avoid pain. That was it for the first day of run.

There was another activity which I was looking to, to get me busy and fit. I searched for Badminton clubs in and around Warrington. Zeroed in on a club named Vida Badminton Club, which is 1.6 miles from my apartment. They play every Monday 8 to 10 PM, it was suitable and good. So I dropped a mail to the contact person and got favourable reply an to my goodness they could arrange a badminton racquet on loan for me. That was such a nice thing, so I am keeping me up to attend first session on coming Monday playing Badminton.

MakeMyTrip Unforgettable :( Contd....

Its 30th Mar and I have received two refunds, One as my original refund amount and another of same amount may be goodwill gesture from Makemytrip. I got 2.9K on Friday and again the same amount today ! LOL. There is no mail from there side nor a phone call.

MakeMyTrip Unforgettable :( Contd....

It's 24th Mar and I am waiting for the black grey clouds in the blue clear sky of summer days.

MakeMyTrip is again doing some backtalks with my bank I Don't know. But the reality is hard to swallow and bitter in taste, there is no sign of any activity at least visible to me on my refund of ticket cancellation.

MakeMyTrip Unforgettable :( Contd....

For my surprise saw my mail in the morning and Whoosh.....there was a comment on my blog, I wrote yesterday. It was quire astonishing and I felt good about it, indeed there are some people who constantly look after these type of escalations also. Definitely it should be as if companies can spend lots of money on their advertisements then they should also spend a little on these type of negative comments on the web.

I replied them with the booking ID as asked then swiftly received another response that they have made a refund of balance amount on 21st Jan'10 and asked for my Bank Account statement again. I have sent it earlier also, it was ready with me so again I sent it for the duration of 1st Jan'10 to 12th Mar'10.

Again on 17th Mar I got the same reply once again "We are checking the same with the bank and will update you on this accordingly. This seems to be a bank issue as we had already processed the amount but it is not reflecting on your account."

God only knows when He would shower grace on me :) Ha...Ha...Ha....Ha.... LOL

MakeMyTrip Unforgettable :(

As the title shows it's all about my first and probably the last experience with MakeMyTrip.com the so called Superbrand India 2009-10.

On hell's recommendation I used this website to book domestic flight tickets for my father, who is a heart patient and travel to Chennai often to meet his doctor. Again my hard luck I made to cancel this booking as my father changed the dates. If I take dates by records I booked tickets on Tue, Sep 8th 2009. You would hesitate then why I am writing blog today on Mar 15th...... Guess why.... because still I am fighting (literally) to get my refund money back.

I think this is a better way to keep a record of incidents in this matter because they don't keep records properly for the customer.

So from the very beginning as I mentioned earlier I booked tickets on 8th Sep 2009 and then cancelled on 29th Sep 2009. The travel date was 30th Sep and return was on 2nd Oct. My refund amount was not so much as we usually travel kettle class it was a mere amount of INR 5,549 in all. There were two tickets one from Delhi to Chennai and then back to Delhi. So far so good I forgot about the refund and as I expect from any bank or financial refund, it should have been credited to my bank account in 10-12 days at most.

Yes I got the good news and got my part refund of INR 2579.80 in my bank account on 2nd Oct 2009....... Jai ho Baapu ji ki.

Now the real story of my frustration starts.

I got an E-Mail on 13th Jan 2010, to revert with my Account details (I don't know how they credited earlier amount to my bank account without details :) ), I replied back with my account details very next day in pursuit of Happiness. After this, on 21st Jan got a mail from CCAvenue, the mediator company that the refund has been forwarded to my bank and I'll get refund amount in some time. I contacted Makemytrip to know the status of refund and they informed that my refund has been processed so I should wait for a few days. I contacted them 5-6 times and the same was the reply.

After all, one day I talked in a frustrated tone and they told me that the refund should be in my bank account, but it was not so they advised me to send them my bank statement for that period, without mentioning the file format of the statement. I sent account statement in reply on 23rd of Feb. From that day I am talking with them endlessly with one or the other reply from the customer care. On 8th Mar'10 support executive told me that the matter has been escalated to the concerned department and a new refund of the remaining amount has been made on 6th of March, so again I should kind'a wait.

Today I called up again and the executive denied that there was any refund made on 6th Mar'10. My refund was made on 21st Jan and I should send my bank account statement in PDF format because my earlier statement file was in XLS format so it was rejected by their Accounts team.

I have sent them a mail with my account statement in PDF format now, let's see what happens now. But for the very fact of the incident I have called them 15-20 times since January, which on an average of 10-15 minutes of duration comes to 255 minutes (~4 Hrs). In India individual or companies are charged for making local charge, if they don't know. Their toll free number is unreachable or not replying every time.

If Makemytrip require my details like my email ID, mobile number etc. then can't they call me or write me or it it is just my duty to get my money back? I receive a lot of deals or newsletter mails from Makemytrip but replying a simple mail is very tough for them you know...how many people they have to make it Superbrand of India .....750....yes really ! I assure you its hard to escalate the matter to their (other-than-call-center-executive) owners/ Managers/ In charges because you could not easily find any contact information.

I'll keep all of you updated till I get my money back (so much hard earned). Please do write comments to let me know any wrong thing I did in the process of trying to get my refund. God only knows I'll quit flying or quit booking with MakeMyTrip.

नववर्ष पर बीकानेरवाला

तो जैसा कि Title से लग रहा है, हमारा ये अनुभव बीकानेरवाला पर नए साल के दिन हुए वाकिये से ताल्ल्लुक रखता है। ये बीकानेरवाला भी हमारे घर के पास ही है, बस २-३ KM होगा घर से, Sahibaabad Industrial Area में है.

तो हुआ यूं कि सुबह से ही मन में था कि आज नाश्ता भी बाहर ही करेंगे और नए साल की शुरुआत नए स्वाद से करें। तो सुबह नहा धो कर और मंदिर पर मत्था टेकते हुए बस पहुंच गए बीकानेरवाला की दुकान पर, तब तक ११ बज चुके थे। सोचा अगर जलेबी मिल जाएँ तो मज़ा आ जाये पर काउंटर पर पता लगा कि साब जलेबी की जगह पनीर जलेबी मिल सकती है। अब पनीर जलेबी क्या होती है और कैसी होती है, ये पता नहीं था तो नए साल मैं खतरा न मोल लेने की ही सोची। फिर मटर कुलचा madam ने और Grilled Sandwich हमने ली और साथ में लस्सी ले ली और इस तरह सुबह तो मस्त हो गयी। घर पर आ कर सो लेने के बाद पहले से बुक Welcome की timing का इंतज़ार किया।

घर से निकले मूवी देखने और मूवी देख कर सोचा कि बीकानेरवाला पर ही डिनर करेंगे। तो मियां, बीवी और बच्चे सहित फिर वहीं पहुंच गए। घर से साले को भी बुलवा भेजा, कि हमारे साथ ही डिनर कर लेगा। अब जब आर्डर करने चले तो एक लफडा तो ये है कि आधा सामान नीचे वाले काउंटर से मिलेगा और आधा ऊपर वाले से, even bill भी अलग अलग काउंटर पर कटाना पड़ेगा। अब साले का मन छोले-भटूरे खाने का था जो नीचे वाले काउंटर पर मिलेंगे और हमें थाली खानी थी और बेटे को chinese platter, जो ऊपर वाले काउंटर से मिलेंगे तो जैसे तैसे भाग-दौड़ करके आर्डर किया अब सवाल आता है खाना मिलने का तो भाई नया साल का दिन और हिन्दुस्तान की भीड़ बस किसी को मिल रहा है, कोई रो रह है, बस चीख-पुकार का आलम था। पहले सीट भी तो खोजनी थी वो भी पासपोर्ट ऑफिस में बाबू से मिलने से kभारी काम नहीं था। जैसे तैसे कर के सीट खोजी और विराज गए, अब खाने का इंतज़ार शुरू हो गया, और थोडी देर में बेटा तो नींद के आगोश में रह-रह कर जाने लगा, बड़ी कोशिश की उसे जगाये रखने की पर khana नही आया और वो सो गया। अब साब 15 मिनट में छोले-भटूरे तो आ गए पर और 25 मिनट मैं थाली भी आ गयी पर chinese platter नहीं मिल और इधर बेटा सोया जा रहा था। इधर छोले-भटूरे पिचकने लगे और थाली भी ठंडी होने लगी।

अब मुझे खीझ होने लगी और गुस्सा भी आने लगा था. तो बस मैं पहुंच गया एक काउंटर पर और पूछा restaurent manager कहाँ है ? तुरंत counter boy ने एक बन्दे को फ़ोन किया within a minute एक बन्दा आया, देखने मैं Manager तो नहीं लग रहा था, तो मैंने पूछा आप manager हैं ? वो बोला "मैं supervisor हूँ Sir, बताइए क्या problem है ?" मैंने दूर से उसे अपनी टेबल पर रखे पिचके हुए भटूरे दिखाए और बताया कि ४५ मिनट से इंतज़ार ही कर रहे हैं. तुरंत वो गया और हम जैसे बहुत से दुखी जनों को देख कर उसने खाना बना रहे लोगों को kitchen में जा कर झाड़ा. तब जाकर एक लड़का हमारी टेबल पर ही Chinese Platter ले कर आया. और साथ ही छोले-भटूरे दोबारा से गरम लाये गए. अब बेटा तो ऐसा सोया कि उठे ही नहीं, तो उसका Chinese Platter पैक करवाया उन्ही supervisor साब से कह कर.

तो साहब, खाना तो हो गया supervisor साब कि फुर्ती भी देख ली. पर दिमाग में एक बात आई कि भाई इतने लोग जो वहाँ खडे दुखी हो रहे थे उन में से कोई क्यों कुछ नहीं बोल रह था ? problem तो सभी को हो रही है, पैसे तो सब दे रहे हैं (अलीगढ़ में मस्त छोले-भटूरे की प्लेट २० rupees में मिल जाती है और यहाँ ५५ rupees की है). हम यहाँ आये किस लिए हैं ? Indeed खाना अच्छा है पर सर्विस भी तो चाहिऐ. और अगर न मिले तो हाय-हाय करने वाले भी. नहीं तो ये नहीं सुधरेंगे.