[udaydesai]

It has been a trend in Mumbai, when one enters any mall a guy comes to you with a small chit “ saar, lucky draw coupon”. All you have to do is give your name & mobile no and which car you own.

My case goes back last year first week of march 2008. After giving the required details I received this call from club Mahindra stating that I have won and requested me to collect the winning coupon from their franchise situated at HUB mall at Goregaon. They requested me to come along with my wife. I instantly knew what I was accepting and made very clear that I am not interested in their membership, still they requested me to hear them out and then take a decision.

I said to myself – what the heck just take the winning coupon which is 2 days 3 nights free stay at any of their location and come back.
Went there on 19 -04-08 heard their lecture in which they said that membership fee is 1 – 2 lac( don’t remember now).

I refused to budge from my position, the lady who was continuously urging me to go for their membership and when I kept on refusing she gave me a look as if I am a beggar. I totally ignored her.
At last she gave me a letter in which there was a complimentary certificate and a phone no indicating that I should call at that no. and do my bookings.

Fine all set and done.
After a week I decided to call the no. provided. I was told that they will send me brochures and then I can select any destination of my choice.
Till date I have not received that brochure. I made number of call and they kept saying that they will send me brochure, then they used to transfer my calls to other person who then kept me on hold and then disconnect the line, and if I dialed the no again I used to get a busy tone. After weeks of trying, one day as I dialed their no I was shock to hear that “this number has been disconnected”. Till now I had not lost my cool as I was taking this lightly. First I did not approach them, they were persistent that I attend their so called lecture and when I refused to buy their membership they gave me this treatment.
Instead of pursuing the matter I decided not to boil my blood on these people and forget the matter.

Now the funny thing is that again the same thing happen yesterday when I visited Big bazaar “saar – lucky draw” Instead of losing my cool I gave all my details as I knew that these people will call me.

The very next day I receive their call and I blasted them for treating me like a doormat, the guy simply said that he is from marketing dept and he has nothing to do with other dept. I requested him to convey my compliant to higher up , on which he said he will and will get back to me as soon as possible.

Still awaiting their feed back.
The funnier part is that this guy immediately calls my wife and says that she has won the lucky draw. My wife simply puts the phone aside and goes back to her work. I don’t know how much time the guy was on the phone.

Now my question to you all - has any one received such calls from club Mahindra and then get treated like this. Losing the lucky coupon is not the issue here but the way they treat you is the issue. I can’t imagine myself in a position if ever I get treated like this after taking their membership.
Your views are welcome.

[HellwratH]

I am not sure about Club Mahindra, but there have been similar calls by other clubs. A few of my friends went to some place near Forum Mall, Koramangala and they did get some gifts (dinner set or something like that) as promised. But they have never treated anyone with any kind of disrespect.

[vasudeva]

I received such a call yesterday informing us about collecting the coupons. Similar calls received in the past. Unfortunately, my wife picked up the phone, and given her nature (trusting), she had to listen to some minutes of baloney. Fortunately for her, I came by, saw what was going on, and disconnected.

[normally_crazy]

Happens to me in every mall I go. So when they call me a couple of days later - I tell them I will attend the seminar on one condition. When they ask what - I ask them to find me a wife

[nitrous]

There's already a thread on this. I remember someone from the US saying they actually got the free offer although they said a firm no.

[malgudi]

I had a pretty disgusting experience as well with Club Mahindra guys. This was sometime in may - jun 2008. My father filled up this so called lucky coupon at the Palm beach Galeria in Vashi. The very next day a lady called up my father to say that he has won and he needs to come along with his wife to attend the so called lecture after which they would give the free coupon. My Father politely declined the offer. The lady on the phone was still persistent and also told my father "You are anyway geting a free voucher. Why cant you come and listen to a lecture for geting the free coupon?" My father again politely declined. Well the next sentence she said was "If you did not want to come why do you go about filling the coupon and waste our time" and disconnected the call. This left my father dumbfounded and needless to say he immidiately went and blasted the Club Mahindra guys at their office in Palm beach galleria. Till date the promised call back from Club Mahindra to appologise has not come.

[nishantgandhi]

Thats why the Handy BlackList software comes in useful! Despite having signed up for DND, I keep getting these calls. Having seen my parents fall for it some years back - very similar to your incident - I decided never to fill up their 'lucky draw coupon'.

[Samurai]

This is the age old technique of hooking holiday customers into joining resort memberships. Not only Club Mahindra, it is practiced world wide. I have experienced this exact scenario in Florida about 10 years back, and then in Goa just last year. They usually go for couples.

[Spitfire]

The last time a guy came to me with the coupon. I took it and wiped off some sticky stuff on my tyres and gave it back to him with a smile. This happened at DM and Sons bunk in Bangalore off old airport road. The attendants had a good laugh at his expense.

[tsk1979]

Club Mahindra is a fraud organization.
They called us for a session and promised free vouchers for 2 day stay in "off season"
They could not convert us, but as promised gave us the vouchers.
From January till End april(validity of voucher) I tried every destination near Delhi every weekend(off season in Rajasthan it is), yet they said they are full for the weekend.
This is a big scam of getting people.

[Samurai]

This is an universal scam practiced by every Holiday resort chain, why are we just picking on club Mahindra.

[null]

I just dont bother to even acknowledge their advances the moment I realise its someone like them.

Another place where they try to collect your details are those exhibitions which come in palace grounds/kanteerava stadium/koramangala indoor stadium where they are always behind you for your card/contact no/address.

[nitrous]

Originally Posted by samurai

This is an universal scam practiced by every Holiday resort chain, why are we just picking on club Mahindra.

Maybe because only Club Mahindra stoops to such low level "tactics" here.
I see why you're so defensive here

[udaydesai]

Originally Posted by Samurai

This is an universal scam practiced by every Holiday resort chain, why are we just picking on club Mahindra.

ya i agree with you. There was one more simillar incident, this was with country club.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by nitrous

Maybe because only Club Mahindra stoops to such low level "tactics" here.
I see why you're so defensive here

Am I defensive? I am not a club Mahindra member, I just own a Mahindra Jeep. I once stayed in club Mahindra paying 5K per night. That's about it.

Edit: While I stayed there, I did get a visit from a guy who wanted to talk to me about membership benefits. I asked him to come later and then checked out.