Hello All,

I was lucky to survive the attempts they made into luring me into paying the money for their vacation membership plan. I will narrate my experience here.

I visited Reliance Mart at Aundh, Pune on 6th October 2012. At the entrance itself they had their sales people who were targeting married couples. They asked us to fill a small slip which had details such as Name, Phone No., My monthly salary, My job etc.. Both me and my wife filled the form.

I received two calls from this number (020-66845922) the next morning at around 9:30 AM. A lady informed asked us that my wife was selected for some lucky draw and that we will receive a call regarding this in 2 days.

Then I received a call from this number (020-66845939) from Mr. Yash who informed me that my wife has won following prizes in a lucky draw. These prizes were:
1. A dinner set
2. Rs. 25000 worth of holidays across different locations in India
3. Rs. 1000 voucher of Gitanjali Jwellers
4. Rs 500 voucher of Central

He told me to come to their Aundh Office (Near Ozone Mall on ITI Road, First Floor, Above ADIDAS showroom) at 5:00 PM. He told me that their will be a 90 minutes program related to felicitating the selected families etc. and this is for married people only. I asked what are the terms and condition. This guy told me not to bring any credit card, ATM card etc. to their place. I also received a SMS from this number (8805097679). Below are the message details.

Come and collect ur gifts.
Yash:8805097679
:Attend 90 minutes program
:Married couple (Hus+Wife) entry is compulsory.
Add:- Aundh> pariharchowk> ITI road> (ozone mall>landmark)> crossword pizzahut> 1st Floor, office no. 102 Above Aadidas showroom> CENTROIL BUILDING, Aundh; pune.:*Have a nice day*

My wife and I discussed what this 90 minutes program could be. My wife's parents had such experience in past so we had an idea that it would be some kind of sales pitch for the company. My wife and myself decided that we will pickup all the freebies and will not succumb to any sales pressure.

I again received the reminder call at 4:30PM to check whether I have started for the place or not.

I reached their place at 5:00 PM. There were 3-4 couples sitting on sofa placed at reception. We told that we have come for collecting the gifts. They confirmed our mobile number and asked us to wait for few minutes.

After 2-3 min one person accompanied us in a big room with lots of tables and chairs in a restaurant fashion. We saw each table was occupied by one couple and a person from country club vacations.

The person started with whether we know about the CCIL and asking personal questions. At one point he asked about our CTC and left. Then again a new person (very smooth talker and very convincing) came and started taking us through the various benefits of joining the membership and resolving our doubts. The benefits included:

30/10/5 weeks worth of vacations in various CCIL owned or associated properties in different parts of the world. (A lot of pics related to these properties was shown to us)
Membership of CCIL owned clubs which are there in Koregaon Park and NIBM Road, Kondhwa in Pune and across different locations in India.
Membership is transferable, gift-able etc.
Membership of a health club called 'TAASHA'

This went on for around 90 minutes. In between various persons came to our table to introduce themselves and ask about us and left.

Finally they presented us with three plans ranging from 1.20 lacs to 2.75 lacs.

They kept on insisting that this offer is for today only and provided us with various options to pay.

We decided not to go with the payment because I suspected the urgency with which they asked us to pay the money (as if there was no tomorrow).

We asked them to give our gifts. Then they asked us to wait again. During our wait for the gifts, two girls again came to our table and asked us again to reconsider our decisions.

Then finally after waiting for 30 minutes more we were given the gifts. These were:
1. A dinner set : A very cheap bowlset
2. Rs. 25000 worth of holidays across different locations in India : This entitles us for a 6N/7D vacations in a place in India during off-season (Feb - Sep) on payment of Rs. 4000. Voucher code and web link was given. I have yet to check this link.
3. Rs. 1000 voucher of Gitanjali Jewellers : Rs. 1000 off on any diamond set or Rs. 51 off per gram on gold jewellery.
4. Rs 500 voucher of Central : Rs 501 and Rs. 251 discount voucher applicable on buying Rs. 5000 and Rs. 2500 worth of apparel. Applicable only at Central, Bund Garden Road.

We collected our gifts and left.

Today only I saw lot of complaints about this and I thank my luck for not getting tempted to join this (though the offer seemed very sweet to leave it and at one point I even considered joining their 5 year membership plan).

Lessons learnt:
1. Do not make big commitments/payments in a hurry.
2. Always suspect anything if it sounds too good to believe.
3. Do a proper research about company and its schemes on internet before giving any money.