Hi

I have booked two sleeper tickets from Shirdi to Goa through Paulo Travels on their website
_www . paulotravels.com (PNR - 23112011/00000085/0956291) at Rs. 1700/- for my sister-in-law and her husband and they were suppose to travel on 23-Nov-2011 at 1500 hrs from Shirdi.
They reached the place at 1430hrs from where the bus was suppose to depart. However, 5 mins before 3pm, someone named Sunil Patil (+91 98227 71929) gave them a call and said that the bus has been cancelled. When I got this information, I immediately contacted Paulo travel’s helpdesk number (+91 93260 12761, 0832 2438531), and they kept saying that the bus will depart in time. When I contacted several times and reiterated that their agent Sunil Patil in Shirdi is informing us then they agreed that the bus might have been cancelled. We were all shocked because my relative had their hotel reservation for next day in Goa, and their return flight has already been booked. Their cancellation of bus could destroy the whole vacation.
Sunil Patil assured us that he will get them to Pune via another bus (non sleeper), and from Pune they will arrange a sleeper bus to Goa. After calling their manager in Pune (Somnath - +91 98224 48934) and Goa (Santosh - +91 98221 25077) they assured us that they will refund us the difference of a sleeper ticket till Pune. Finally my relatives sat on a bus at 4.30PM which departed from Shirdi at 5pm. When I checked with Paulo travels, I got to know that the last sleeper bus they have from Pune is at 2030hrs and by no chance my relative can reach Pune by 2030 hrs since it takes around 4.5-5 hrs to travel from Shirdi to Pune. I again contacted their manager, and he kept assuring that they will somehow give a sleeper bus, or a sitting bus which departs at 2200hrs
By evening, they even stopped answering our phone calls.
Finally my relatives reached Pune at 2145 hrs, and were able to catch the bus that leaves at 2200 hrs. When I demanded them to refund me the difference amount of a sitting and a sleeper ticket, they bluntly refused to pay any refund. With their attitude, it was clear that they have taken no responsibility after issuing a ticket from Shirdi to Pune and were not at all bothered whether the passenger would suffer or not. . To our surprise, my relatives were the only passengers in Shirdi waiting for their bus so I even doubt whether they had a bus departing from Shirdi or not. The bus from Pune was highly unhygienic and had lots of roaches and insects inside. The staff behavior was not friendly at all.