U.P Handloom Corporation

Prakash Cheyyar

I had gone to Agra yesterday. Since I was there to visit the Taj, I wanted to take a miniature piece of the Taj as a momento and urged the Auto Walla (whom we had hired for the whole day) to take us to the authorized govt. Emporium but he assured us of a reliable shop and took us to U. P. Handloom House, in spite of me being reluctant. We were welcomed by the shop keeper who showed us a replica of the mini Taj which according to him took 4 years and a few lakhs to build. He even displayed how the Taj looked at night and day with the use of lights and bulb. Then we were ushered in where we were exposed to various marble artefacts. I was engrossed in them but the shopkeeper distracted and urged me by saying that I would be more interested and fascinated by the saris made of Banana and Bamboo fiber for which Agra is known for. Though I never had the intention of buying any sari, just to have a look at the saris out of plant fiber made me go inside. For me, the sari out of Banana fiber looked more of a synthetic type and I was just confused. He charged 1850/- for one Banana fiber sari & 1350 for Bamboo saree, with his marketing skills, motivated us to buy the product. Moreover, the shopkeeper displayed the fiber by pulling it out of a ring and guaranteed the gold work for 5 years and when I came back home and tried the same thing with one of the synthetic saris, I was easily able to do it. This aggravated my doubt and made me look at the bill and I was surprised to see that we were not provided with a bill but only an estimate bill. This dampened my spirits and I came across this consumer complaints. I want to know if Agra is really known for Banana fiber sari and if my product is genuine or a fake. Was the auto Walla involved and had his share of commission for bringing in customers? If I have been duped, how do I go about and get my hard earned money back. Would be greatly obliged if I am guided and suggested.

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