Leaving for India on hearing some sad news re my father.
   Will not be able to post for next few days.
  

Complaint Filing with NY Dept Of State

     Complaints may also be filed with the NY Dept of State, Consumer Protection Bureau.
     Online forms available at https://www.dos.ny.gov/consumerprotection/form/complaintform.asp


     This is what I filed - others may wish to change specifics pertinent to their situation.

     2  round-trip Business Class Airline tickets San Francisco - Bangalore, India that were paid for, were not issued by Bombay Tours.  A Brief description follows.

    Bombay Tours advertised under Bombay Travels in the local Indian periodical.  Name of Mr. Vijay Bakshi was provided as contact.  I contacted him later part of September 2012 for 2 business class tickets SFO-BLR for travel Oct 17.  He promised to acquire them and quoted a price of $xxxx per ticket for a total of $xxxx.  Since travel was needed in a few short weeks, he asked that a deposit of said amount be made to his Bank of America for which he provided account number.  This was made on Sept 25, 2012

   He then provided a booking reference on Emirates.  Over the next few days I called Emirates, they said no tickets were issued.  When Mr. Bakshi was contacted, he said there was a problem with Emirates and he promised to get these on British Airways.  A booking reference on British Air was also made here by Mr. Bakshi.

   A few days before departure I attempted to confirm seating, tickets etc., with British Airways.  They informed me that a fraudulent credit card transaction was attempted and that no ticket would be issued.   This was a day or two before departure.

   I demanded my money back.  Bombay Tours deposited a check for $xxxx into my account Oct 17.  This was returned Oct 19 for lack of sufficient funds.  I attempted to redeposit check a week later but was told by Chase officer that funds were not available in account to clear.

   Certified letters have been sent to addresses provided, but there has been no response from Bombay Tours or Mr. Bakshi.

    I am taking next steps by filing this complaint.
 

     Bombay Tours also advertises under Bombay Travels  (BT).  However, the business seems to be registered as Bombay Tours. And as mentioned in earlier post has a Brooklyn, NY address.  This most likely appears to be a private mail box address.  Many of these types of PMBs are specifically setup to avoid detection and camouflage activities that are intended to defraud quite a few unsuspecting people.

   The person in the ad, Mr. Vijay Bakshi (VB), appears to be the sole person that answers the telephone when he does answer.  No one else used to answer telephone.

   I have repeatedly tried to call VB to get a refund.  He has always put me off one way or another.  He then would hang up the telephone the minute he knew it was me calling.   Once he knew the telephone number I was calling from, he would not even answer the phone.  I would call him from other phones which he would answer, but again the instant he knew it was I who was calling he would hang up.

   One other tack I followed was to get a number in the NY/NJ area codes from Google voice.  This worked in that VB would answer, but again hangs up once he knows it is me.  It is worth repeatedly confronting VB, after all its our money he needs to refund, so he does not know who he is calling him.

   I will post the bank account numbers that he gave me to deposit monies in next.   

Introduction & Purpose

      This blog is for victims of fraud that may have been perpetrated by a travel operator Bombay Tours.   The company has advertised in several local Indian community publications both on the East and West Coasts and in between.  The phone numbers on the ad:
           Mr. Vijay Bakshi  Tel numbers on ad:  212 354 4400 and 877 635 4099
     Address as per business registration:
           1407 Avenue Z, Suite 279
           Brooklyn, NY 11235

   To date there have been a few victims.  Essentially they all were promised round trip air tickets to India from various cities in the US and asked to deposit money into a bank account.  Sadly, no tickets ever materialised and different people seem to have had different experiences in dealing with this person and how tickets were supposed to be booked and finalized.  But the end result has been that money has not been returned to the customers who used this travel service and people could not travel as planned.
     It is hoped that this blog will serve as an information exchange point. Several suggestions have been made to pursue this company and rectify the situation.  Further details will follow, but at minimum these steps should be undertaken.
     >  Send certified letter to address on record, giving 5 or 10 day ultimatum for return of money
    >   File a complaint with the local DA or the Brooklyn DAs office
    >   File a complaint with the NY BBB,   http://www.newyork.bbb.org
    >   Police report may be filed but this may depend on local police procedure - in some places they want to see that all attempts to recover money have been followed, see certifed letter above
    >   Keep record of all account and bank info provided by Bombay Tours
    >   Keep chronological record
     These are just initial steps.  We may be able to engage a lawyer if enough of us get together and file a suit, individually this could get expensive.  Also, we should be monitoring the situation and status of the business.
    Hopefully more later and others can post.