[Letter to Accounts Officer Revenue Department]

Summary

A single-page administrative letter dated 9 December 1975, sent on Connemara Hotel (Madras) letterhead by the Asst. Manager, Front Office to the Accounts Officer, Revenue Department, Madras Telephones. It documents a billing dispute over a trunk call booked that morning from Room No. 162 by Mr. M. R. Masani of the Swatantra Party.

The hotel operator booked a call to Bombay telephone number 361884 at 8.00 a.m.; it was connected at 8.10 a.m. under Ticket No. X172 and billed at Rs. 60/- for six minutes. On checking out an hour later, Masani insisted he had spoken for only two minutes, paid the Rs. 60/- under protest, and asked the hotel to take the matter up with the exchange. He had also spoken directly to the exchange operator without receiving a satisfactory answer.

The hotel asks Madras Telephones to refund the disputed four-minute overcharge so that the difference can be returned to Masani, requests an early reply, and copies the letter to Masani at 148, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bombay 400 023. A marginal note adds that the hotel will pass on any reply and regrets the inconvenience caused.

Key points

• Letter on Connemara Hotel (Binny Road, Madras-600 002) letterhead, dated 9 December 1975, to the Accounts Officer, Revenue Department, Madras Telephones.
• Subject is a trunk call booked from Room No. 162 by Mr. M. R. Masani of the Swatantra Party.
• Call booked at 8.00 a.m. to Bombay Telephone No. 361884, connected at 8.10 a.m. under Ticket No. X172, billed six minutes at Rs. 60/-.
• Masani checked out an hour later and asserted he had spoken for only two minutes, paying the Rs. 60/- under protest and asking the hotel to investigate the four extra minutes.
• The exchange operator, when contacted directly by Masani, could not give a satisfactory explanation.
• The hotel requests a refund of the excess charge so that it can return the difference to Masani, and asks for an early reply.
• A copy is marked to Mr. M. R. Masani at 148, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bombay 400 023; a marginal note promises to convey any reply from Madras Telephones.