Country Club's Free Gifts, Membership Pressure Country Clu

A WARNING TO EVERYONE: PLEASE DON'T FALL FOR THEIR FREE GIFT AND LUCKY DRAW TRAP! I want to share my recent experience so that others don't fall for the same trick. Yesterday, I visited the Swadeshi Art Exhibition at Kora Kendra, Borivali West. At the entrance of the exhibition, a few people were standing with small rectangular coupon forms. They approached visitors and asked them to fill in their names and phone numbers. When I asked what the form was for, they casually explained that they were conducting a lucky draw for exhibition visitors. They said that everyone was being asked to fill out the form and that if my name was selected, I would receive a call the following day informing me that I had won some free gifts. Since it sounded like a normal exhibition promotion, I filled in my name and phone number and entered the exhibition. The very next day, I received a phone call from a person named Sahil. He informed me that my name had been selected in the lucky draw and that I had won four free gifts. He told me that I could collect these gifts from their back office in Kandivali West, near Swami Vivekanand International School, Parekh Nagar, S.V. Road. The four gifts he promised were: 1. A surprise kitchen articles set. 2. A one-week holiday accommodation voucher for a family of four, supposedly worth ₹25,000. 3. A Radhika Beauty Parlour voucher. 4. Couple movie tickets for INOX at Raghuleela Mall. Everything sounded very attractive, and he repeatedly assured me that all four gifts were absolutely free, with no hidden charges. However, there was one strange condition. He told me that entry was compulsory for a married couple. Since I am unmarried, I asked whether I could collect the gifts myself. He said I could send my married brother and sister-in-law or any other married couple on my behalf. He also mentioned that I had to visit between 3 PM and 9 PM and that they needed prior confirmation to arrange the gifts before my arrival. At this point, I started finding the entire arrangement suspicious. Why would someone need a married couple to collect gifts from a lucky draw? Why couldn't I simply collect the gifts myself? Why was there so much insistence on visiting their office? Nevertheless, I decided to understand what this was about. After looking into the address and the company, I realised that this was not simply a lucky draw gift collection. It appeared to be a sales promotion for holiday memberships. The actual experience at their office was extremely disappointing. Instead of simply handing over the gifts they had promised, visitors are made to sit through a long presentation about holiday packages and memberships. The entire approach seems designed to attract people by promising free gifts, holiday vouchers and other attractive offers. Once you reach their office, the focus shifts from giving you the promised gifts to convincing you to purchase their holiday membership packages, which cost lakhs of rupees. They use different tactics to convince people, make repeated attempts to sell their memberships and put unnecessary pressure on visitors. When someone refuses to purchase a membership, the behaviour can become extremely rude and unpleasant. The experience is nothing like the simple gift collection that was promised over the phone. My biggest concern is the misleading way in which people are approached. Visitors are not clearly informed at the exhibition that they are potentially being invited to a holiday membership sales presentation. Instead, they are told that they have won a lucky draw and are getting four free gifts. This is not how a genuine lucky draw should work. If the purpose is to sell holiday memberships, be transparent about it instead of using the name of an exhibition and the promise of free gifts to attract unsuspecting visitors. I would strongly advise everyone visiting exhibitions, shopping events or public places to be careful before sharing their phone numbers in such forms. If someone calls you the next day claiming that you have won a lucky draw and asks you to visit an office to collect free gifts, please verify everything before going. PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME OR FALL FOR THIS TRAP. A free kitchen set, movie tickets and holiday vouchers are not worth being subjected to unnecessary sales pressure or being manipulated into buying an expensive membership. I am sharing this experience so that other people are aware of this approach and don't end up in the same situation.