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Under the Consumer Protection Act, you can haul up the matrimonial bureau for "deficient service," for not suggesting even one match for you and for "unfair trade practice" for making a false promise about finding you a match and about returning your money. You can seek from the consumer court, refund of your money with interest and also compensation and costs of litigation. In Shri Pathakji vs R.C.Kapila (complaint no A-629 of 1995, decided on 30-9-1996 ), the Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directed the marriage bureau to refund the money and also pay a compensation of Rs 5,000 to the complainant, for failing to find a suitable match for his daughter. The suggested matches did not meet the specifications of the girl and her father.
In August this year, I had booked a marriage/ banquet hall for my sister’s wedding in November. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the marriage was cancelled. I cancelled the booking in the first week of September. The owner is showing some terms and conditions on the back of the receipt and refusing to return my money. Can I get a refund? Since you have cancelled the hall well in advance, you should get the entire refund. Do not worry about unilateral terms and conditions, which were not shown to you at the time of booking. I must quote here the case of Tip Top Drycleaners, Ranchi, vs Sunil Kumar (RP NO 328 of 2003), where the highest consumer court in the country (The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission) made it clear that consumers are not bound by such one-sided terms and conditions on the back of the receipt. Last year, the first Additional Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in Bangalore asked the manager of Sri Ranganatha Swamy Kalyana Mantapa to return Rs 43,000 out of a total of Rs 60,000 paid by the complainant, H.K.Sathyanarayana, towards advance booking of the marriage hall. Here, the hall owner was offering to pay back only Rs 15,000 on the grounds that he had not got any other hirer for the hall, following cancellation of the hall by the complainant.
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In your case, the
bureau did not come up with even one match, so they did not work at
all and they also failed to meet the performance guarantee given to
you. So your case is even stronger. However, I must warn you that the
consumer forum may take anywhere between three months to two years to
decide your case, depending on the number of cases pending in the
forum at that time. You also have the option of seeking mediation as
an alternative. You can get details about it at the consumer forum
itself.