I would like to use this medium to put forth my complaint about a company called ‘Vidhii EHS’ and its staff who are involved in defrauding innocent, gullible people with so-called lucrative distributorship opportunities. This company's office is located at 8th Floor, Vibgyor Towers, Next to Citibank, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra (East), Mumbai-400098, besides having an office address at Hyderabad.
In the beginning of June 2015, this company had run many concerted advertisements through various channels soliciting enquiries for distributorship of its products in Mumbai. I was one of the very first people who responded and signed-up as a distributor (as stated by the company representative at a later stage!).
The company at the time of appointing distributors had made tall promises and given many commitments. I will enumerate below some of the unique features/points used by the company’s representative to convince people like me to sign-up as a distributor with them;
1) They stated that they were marketing a new innovative product without any competitors and hence the same would have a tremendous response in the market.
2) The company would be starting the promotion campaign (teleshopping) of its new product on 29/06/2015. I was assured that as an authorized distributor, I would be given the leads for the orders placed by customers from the area that I would take up the distributorship. So a distributor’s task and responsibility would only be to promptly deliver the product to the customer and collect the money.
3) I was told by the company’s Business Development Manager, Mr. Ram Konga that one of the promoters of the company was Mr. Alok Nath (a famous Bollywood actor acknowledged for his acting talent and integrity). Mr. Alok Nath's picture figures prominently on this company's website as well. Since I had not heard about a company called ‘Vidhii EHS’, I was apprehensive about investing a large sum of money. However, this business development manager, Mr. Ram Konga convinced me stating that a well known actor like Mr. Alok Nath would not be associated with any company that would not abide by its commitments. Mr. Alok Nath’s name and veracity was very convincingly used by the company representative to rope me in.
4) I was assured the gestation period for commencement of business was hardly going to be a fortnight. I made the full payment to the company in two installments (the last being on 13/06/2015). I was assured the company’s teleshopping campaign would be started on 29/06/2015, which in turn would mean my return on investment would start from that date.
For the two areas that I chose to take-up the distributorship, the company insisted on me making an initial purchase of 130 remote control units (the company’s product for sale). Mr. Ram Konga (BDM) told me that this quantity was based on the company’s internal survey as per location, projected sales, etc.
I was persuaded to take-up the distributorship stating that post the company’s campaign going on air, I would start to get between 5-10 customer leads on a daily basis. So as per his calculation, the 130 units that I was being asked to purchase then was just enough stock to last about 20-25 days. I was told that I would need to maintain a Minimum Stock Ratio (MSR) of at least 40% of initial stock. I told the company representative Mr. Ram that in future I was willing to make the payment to reorder with the company at regular intervals (weekly or even lesser) if required, commensurate with the company providing me with orders. Mr. Ram stated that the minimum requirement stipulated as 130 units by the company was because even after I reorder in future, it could take about 7-10 days for the company to replenish my stock. Hence the company’s business should not be affected in the interim period due to paucity of stock, which is the reason for the company insisting on me as a distributor buying an initial stock of 130 units. What superfluous statements for an explanation!
I have to mention here that while the company’s representative Mr. Ram Konga was soliciting me for taking up the company distributorship, he would call me many times a day. He acted so eager at that time to offer me information about the company, product, business, etc., and constantly reassured me about the company’s resolve and commitment to start the television promotion activity within a fortnight. But all of that ended after I had made the payment to the company.
After the brief introduction that I have given above, I will put forth my complaint about the unethical and unscrupulous activities of this company.
1) From the date I made the payment to the company and till date, less than 20% of my calls have been answered by the company representatives. The response rates have consistently decreased and now my phone calls are not answered, nor is there any response to emails.
2) From the promised initial business commencement date of 29/06/2015, the company has given 9 different business launch dates till date. The latest date given was 30/10/2015 where Mr. Ram said that the television promotions would be aired on ABV News channel. Earlier on many other occasions there were many other channels that they promised to start their promotional campaign like Colors Marathi and Colors Gujarati, etc. However, all of these pronouncements were nothing but misleading eyewash!
3) The company forced me to pay-up for 130 remote control units at the time of signing-up as a distributor in early June 2015. However, till date the company has only delivered 80 units in two installments (50+30 units). During the intervening period, the company personnel promised delivery of complete remaining stock on 10 different occasions. On each of the 10 occasions, I waited patiently to collect the delivery of goods, but those were nothing but part of the company’s false promises and overall strategy to hoodwink me.
4) The company representative Mr. Ram had told me about 2 months back that they were developing their website where a distributor could sign-up as a Vendor. This would enable us to check for teleshopping/online orders received for our respective areas. The option ‘Sign-Up As Vendor’ is available now on the company website, but this representative refuses to assign me the User Name or Password. He states it is still not ready.
5) The company after a lot of deliberation launched their teleshopping campaign on the ‘Hathway Movies’ channel from 17/09/2015. Even after all this while, the company representatives have so far not given me even a single order. Despite me having taken up the distributorship of probably the biggest and the most populous area in Mumbai, they state that there are no orders forthcoming.
6) It is not only just this one person, Mr. Ram Konga, all the other people of this organization that I have had the need to interact with over the last five months have all displayed very similar characteristics. I can provide the names of a few employees – Mr. Ram, Ms. Shefali, Mr. Oliver, Mr. Bhatt and Mr. Junaid. They are all peas of the same pod! It would almost seem that the company would have taken all of their employees through a concerted training. (ie. Never answer the phone, never ever keep your word and keep making false promises to dupe people!). In almost 5 months, I am sorry to state, I have not seen even one of their employees keep their word or commitment even once! (ofcourse after they got my money!). That is quite a dubious record as I would believe that adhering to one’s word or commitment at least once could happen even by accident!
Mr. Ram from Vidhii has deliberately not provided me with the complete stock as determined by the company itself and for which I have paid almost 5 months back. So I believe, the stock due to me from my investment is being currently used by him and his cronies for personal gains, denying and depriving me of my legitimate right to receive customer leads as per the Distributorship Agreement. I even requested Mr. Ram to allow me to be present in their call center to convince myself that there are no orders coming through following the teleshopping campaign on Hathway Movies channel. But he stated that is against the “Data-Protection Act”. I am not sure of how he got himself educated about the ‘Data-Protection Act’. This data (ie. The name of the customer placing the order, his/her address and telephone number) is the actual data which the company needs to and has agreed to provide me as per Distributorship Agreement to discharge my duties.
Initially for the first few days, he was telling me that it would take time for the sales leads to materialize. But once I got this uncanny feeling about his nefarious activities, I decided to get a dummy set-up done if only to expose his tricks. I placed a dummy order with a fictitious name & address from a different phone number not known to the company. Even after more than a full week going by, they did not forward me this lead. (As against what was promised initially that all leads would be forwarded to the distributor immediately on receipt!). If he had been honest in his dealing, this sales order received by him should have been immediately forwarded to me as the authorized distributor of that area. Later when I confronted him on this, he stated that they had made a mistake in taking down the customer’s address because of which the order did not get passed on to me!
The company is currently engaged in an intensive operation to appoint more distributors on an All-India basis and collect funds by making such false promises. I agree, I might have been too straightforward and naïve to have fallen prey to these unethical and unscrupulous men from this company called Vidhii EHS.
Unlike this company Vidhii EHS or its employees, I have always in all my life been honest, principled and ethical in all my work and dealings with anybody whatsoever. So after having fallen prey to these unethical and fraudulent practices of this company, I believe it is my moral duty and obligation to let the world know the truth so that many people don’t get exploited and fall prey to these people. As they say – ‘Being forewarned is being forearmed’.
Due to this business proposition that was offered to me by this company, I had left my full-time job to execute the responsibilities as a distributor of this company. The company only kept postponing business commencement dates as mentioned above, resulting in considerable financial losses for me. For a person from a humble middle-class family, this company has deceived me and put me in a very difficult financial predicament.
I have made a total payment of Rs. 325000/- (Three lakhs twenty five thousand only) to this company. On many occasions Mr. Ram stated they would refund my money with interest, but hasn’t done so. I lost on bank interest, I gave-up my full-time job to perform the required role and duties as a Distributor of this company. Due to this company’s false assurances, I gave-up my job and a steady salary income.
Not just that I have lost money and time, I have also been subjected to a lot of mental stress and strain over the last 5 months by this company. But since I always whole-heartedly stand to support truth and righteousness in all situations, I am willing to take up the crusade against this company so that they shouldn’t continue cheating other people in a similar manner.
I even send a couple of emails to Mr. Ram Konga and Mr. Junaid from Vidhii EHS in the last few days. I very clearly and categorically mentioned these emails as ultimatums. I had informed them that I did not want to continue my association with a company that was not ethical enough to keep its commitment. However, those guys have not cared to reply to me. Probably they have duped so many people already that they no longer worry about any repercussions.
Now they have stopped answering my phone calls and replying to my emails. So now I have to check-out other options available to me to counter these malpractices and wrongdoing against me on the company’s part.
Any reader of my above submission is welcome to write to me for any information, clarifications or comments. I have got all data and records like emails, SMS’s, WhatApp messages, payment records, etc. to substantiate the facts in my above submission. If there is also any conscientious reader from the legal fraternity who shares my ideology to always stand up for truth, I would appreciate his response with advise of how best to proceed in this situation. I can be contacted on the email address – (johnvarghis@gmail.com) or on twitter - @johnvarghis
In the beginning of June 2015, this company had run many concerted advertisements through various channels soliciting enquiries for distributorship of its products in Mumbai. I was one of the very first people who responded and signed-up as a distributor (as stated by the company representative at a later stage!).
The company at the time of appointing distributors had made tall promises and given many commitments. I will enumerate below some of the unique features/points used by the company’s representative to convince people like me to sign-up as a distributor with them;
1) They stated that they were marketing a new innovative product without any competitors and hence the same would have a tremendous response in the market.
2) The company would be starting the promotion campaign (teleshopping) of its new product on 29/06/2015. I was assured that as an authorized distributor, I would be given the leads for the orders placed by customers from the area that I would take up the distributorship. So a distributor’s task and responsibility would only be to promptly deliver the product to the customer and collect the money.
3) I was told by the company’s Business Development Manager, Mr. Ram Konga that one of the promoters of the company was Mr. Alok Nath (a famous Bollywood actor acknowledged for his acting talent and integrity). Mr. Alok Nath's picture figures prominently on this company's website as well. Since I had not heard about a company called ‘Vidhii EHS’, I was apprehensive about investing a large sum of money. However, this business development manager, Mr. Ram Konga convinced me stating that a well known actor like Mr. Alok Nath would not be associated with any company that would not abide by its commitments. Mr. Alok Nath’s name and veracity was very convincingly used by the company representative to rope me in.
4) I was assured the gestation period for commencement of business was hardly going to be a fortnight. I made the full payment to the company in two installments (the last being on 13/06/2015). I was assured the company’s teleshopping campaign would be started on 29/06/2015, which in turn would mean my return on investment would start from that date.
For the two areas that I chose to take-up the distributorship, the company insisted on me making an initial purchase of 130 remote control units (the company’s product for sale). Mr. Ram Konga (BDM) told me that this quantity was based on the company’s internal survey as per location, projected sales, etc.
I was persuaded to take-up the distributorship stating that post the company’s campaign going on air, I would start to get between 5-10 customer leads on a daily basis. So as per his calculation, the 130 units that I was being asked to purchase then was just enough stock to last about 20-25 days. I was told that I would need to maintain a Minimum Stock Ratio (MSR) of at least 40% of initial stock. I told the company representative Mr. Ram that in future I was willing to make the payment to reorder with the company at regular intervals (weekly or even lesser) if required, commensurate with the company providing me with orders. Mr. Ram stated that the minimum requirement stipulated as 130 units by the company was because even after I reorder in future, it could take about 7-10 days for the company to replenish my stock. Hence the company’s business should not be affected in the interim period due to paucity of stock, which is the reason for the company insisting on me as a distributor buying an initial stock of 130 units. What superfluous statements for an explanation!
I have to mention here that while the company’s representative Mr. Ram Konga was soliciting me for taking up the company distributorship, he would call me many times a day. He acted so eager at that time to offer me information about the company, product, business, etc., and constantly reassured me about the company’s resolve and commitment to start the television promotion activity within a fortnight. But all of that ended after I had made the payment to the company.
After the brief introduction that I have given above, I will put forth my complaint about the unethical and unscrupulous activities of this company.
1) From the date I made the payment to the company and till date, less than 20% of my calls have been answered by the company representatives. The response rates have consistently decreased and now my phone calls are not answered, nor is there any response to emails.
2) From the promised initial business commencement date of 29/06/2015, the company has given 9 different business launch dates till date. The latest date given was 30/10/2015 where Mr. Ram said that the television promotions would be aired on ABV News channel. Earlier on many other occasions there were many other channels that they promised to start their promotional campaign like Colors Marathi and Colors Gujarati, etc. However, all of these pronouncements were nothing but misleading eyewash!
3) The company forced me to pay-up for 130 remote control units at the time of signing-up as a distributor in early June 2015. However, till date the company has only delivered 80 units in two installments (50+30 units). During the intervening period, the company personnel promised delivery of complete remaining stock on 10 different occasions. On each of the 10 occasions, I waited patiently to collect the delivery of goods, but those were nothing but part of the company’s false promises and overall strategy to hoodwink me.
4) The company representative Mr. Ram had told me about 2 months back that they were developing their website where a distributor could sign-up as a Vendor. This would enable us to check for teleshopping/online orders received for our respective areas. The option ‘Sign-Up As Vendor’ is available now on the company website, but this representative refuses to assign me the User Name or Password. He states it is still not ready.
5) The company after a lot of deliberation launched their teleshopping campaign on the ‘Hathway Movies’ channel from 17/09/2015. Even after all this while, the company representatives have so far not given me even a single order. Despite me having taken up the distributorship of probably the biggest and the most populous area in Mumbai, they state that there are no orders forthcoming.
6) It is not only just this one person, Mr. Ram Konga, all the other people of this organization that I have had the need to interact with over the last five months have all displayed very similar characteristics. I can provide the names of a few employees – Mr. Ram, Ms. Shefali, Mr. Oliver, Mr. Bhatt and Mr. Junaid. They are all peas of the same pod! It would almost seem that the company would have taken all of their employees through a concerted training. (ie. Never answer the phone, never ever keep your word and keep making false promises to dupe people!). In almost 5 months, I am sorry to state, I have not seen even one of their employees keep their word or commitment even once! (ofcourse after they got my money!). That is quite a dubious record as I would believe that adhering to one’s word or commitment at least once could happen even by accident!
Mr. Ram from Vidhii has deliberately not provided me with the complete stock as determined by the company itself and for which I have paid almost 5 months back. So I believe, the stock due to me from my investment is being currently used by him and his cronies for personal gains, denying and depriving me of my legitimate right to receive customer leads as per the Distributorship Agreement. I even requested Mr. Ram to allow me to be present in their call center to convince myself that there are no orders coming through following the teleshopping campaign on Hathway Movies channel. But he stated that is against the “Data-Protection Act”. I am not sure of how he got himself educated about the ‘Data-Protection Act’. This data (ie. The name of the customer placing the order, his/her address and telephone number) is the actual data which the company needs to and has agreed to provide me as per Distributorship Agreement to discharge my duties.
Initially for the first few days, he was telling me that it would take time for the sales leads to materialize. But once I got this uncanny feeling about his nefarious activities, I decided to get a dummy set-up done if only to expose his tricks. I placed a dummy order with a fictitious name & address from a different phone number not known to the company. Even after more than a full week going by, they did not forward me this lead. (As against what was promised initially that all leads would be forwarded to the distributor immediately on receipt!). If he had been honest in his dealing, this sales order received by him should have been immediately forwarded to me as the authorized distributor of that area. Later when I confronted him on this, he stated that they had made a mistake in taking down the customer’s address because of which the order did not get passed on to me!
The company is currently engaged in an intensive operation to appoint more distributors on an All-India basis and collect funds by making such false promises. I agree, I might have been too straightforward and naïve to have fallen prey to these unethical and unscrupulous men from this company called Vidhii EHS.
Unlike this company Vidhii EHS or its employees, I have always in all my life been honest, principled and ethical in all my work and dealings with anybody whatsoever. So after having fallen prey to these unethical and fraudulent practices of this company, I believe it is my moral duty and obligation to let the world know the truth so that many people don’t get exploited and fall prey to these people. As they say – ‘Being forewarned is being forearmed’.
Due to this business proposition that was offered to me by this company, I had left my full-time job to execute the responsibilities as a distributor of this company. The company only kept postponing business commencement dates as mentioned above, resulting in considerable financial losses for me. For a person from a humble middle-class family, this company has deceived me and put me in a very difficult financial predicament.
I have made a total payment of Rs. 325000/- (Three lakhs twenty five thousand only) to this company. On many occasions Mr. Ram stated they would refund my money with interest, but hasn’t done so. I lost on bank interest, I gave-up my full-time job to perform the required role and duties as a Distributor of this company. Due to this company’s false assurances, I gave-up my job and a steady salary income.
Not just that I have lost money and time, I have also been subjected to a lot of mental stress and strain over the last 5 months by this company. But since I always whole-heartedly stand to support truth and righteousness in all situations, I am willing to take up the crusade against this company so that they shouldn’t continue cheating other people in a similar manner.
I even send a couple of emails to Mr. Ram Konga and Mr. Junaid from Vidhii EHS in the last few days. I very clearly and categorically mentioned these emails as ultimatums. I had informed them that I did not want to continue my association with a company that was not ethical enough to keep its commitment. However, those guys have not cared to reply to me. Probably they have duped so many people already that they no longer worry about any repercussions.
Now they have stopped answering my phone calls and replying to my emails. So now I have to check-out other options available to me to counter these malpractices and wrongdoing against me on the company’s part.
Any reader of my above submission is welcome to write to me for any information, clarifications or comments. I have got all data and records like emails, SMS’s, WhatApp messages, payment records, etc. to substantiate the facts in my above submission. If there is also any conscientious reader from the legal fraternity who shares my ideology to always stand up for truth, I would appreciate his response with advise of how best to proceed in this situation. I can be contacted on the email address – (johnvarghis@gmail.com) or on twitter - @johnvarghis