When traveling to a foreign country, accommodation is a big part of the cost, and some people see this, solicit business in the name of a person on social platforms with very attractive prices, and run away after receiving the money. Not long ago, Miss C told "Singapore Eye" that her friend lost more than 90,000 yuan because of such a "private custom".
Netizen Miss C told Singapore Eye what happened:
In July this year, a friend came to Singapore for a tour and wanted to stay in the Sands Hotel, because the official website did not have the room type I wanted, and I couldn't find it on the third-party platform.
The first booking went smoothly
Recommend to friends
I booked two nights on July 1st and 2nd, and the original one night was $380, and he gave me a discount, only $720 for two nights.
Generally, I book a hotel directly on the hotel's official website or find a third-party booking platform, this time because I am more urgent, I want to book a room on July 2 and 3 on July 1, and the official website shows that there is no room, so I will book a room through such a private channel. After all, it was the first time to trade with Zhao, and I was a little uneasy, so I asked for his passport and a screenshot of the Sands member.
The first transaction was very smooth, Zhao not only helped us get the room in a short time, the price was also very favorable, and then my friend wanted to travel to Singapore, so he recommended Zhao to them.
I paid 110,000 yuan and did not book a hotel and did not refund it
My friend A booked a 5-night stay with Zhao, 5 rooms per night, plus tickets to tourist attractions and a chartered minibus, and paid Zhao a total of more than 110,000 RMB.
A booked a hotel in Sentosa and the city at first, and then wanted to change to Sands, Zhao said that there was no problem, but to live in Sands, you have to pay another hotel room rate, as for the other hotel money that has been paid before, it will be refunded.
A paid the money for the change of hotel, but never received a refund for the cancelled hotel. Looking for Zhao to get a refund, he said that the banking system was being maintained, and he said that the credit limit was not enough, and he could always find a lot of reasons, that is, he refused to return the money.
Seeing that Zhao had been procrastinating and refusing to refund, I went to the police station on the morning of July 27 to report the case, saying that my friend might have been scammed, and the police said that they would follow up, and the police officer who handled the case also gave me his WhatsApp contact number.
According to the itinerary, A will arrive in Singapore on August 16. On August 7th, before their departure, I called the Capella hotel they had booked to confirm the reservation, but the hotel said that my friend's reservation was cancelled! I contacted the police officer via WhatsApp and he asked me to go to the police station to report the incident.
So I went to the police station again and reported the cause and effect of the incident to the police officer on duty.
After A got the news, he asked Zhao what was going on, and Zhao said that it was because there was a problem with someone else's reservation, and he also said that he would solve this matter, and he would arrange someone to receive and deal with these problems in the hotel.
The money has been paid to Zhao, and the ticket to Singapore has also been bought, and at this juncture, A can only believe that Zhao can get things done.
The package that was said to be a temporary change hotel was not paid
August 16 was the day A's group arrived in Singapore, and I went to Capella Hotel before they arrived at the hotel, and the hotel said that A's name was not on the check-in list. We contacted Zhao, who initially reassured A that he would call someone to arrange a room, but later changed his story and said that he had changed their accommodation to the Sofitel Sentosa.
Later, we learned that it was because the credit card used by Zhao when booking the room could not be deducted, and Capella Hotel would cancel the reservation.
When A came to the Sofitel Hotel, the staff at the front desk told them that Zhao had indeed booked a room for them, but he hadn't paid yet, and A had to pay the money at the front desk before he could check in!
In the back of the Jinsha Hotel, A paid for three nights' accommodation, but Zhao only gave one night of the room, and it was not the original designated room type, and A had to find a way to book other hotels for the next two nights.
In addition to the hotel room, A also paid more than 10,000 yuan to Zhao as the ticket fee for the purchase of Universal Studios, the zoo, the cable car, etc., many of these tickets were not paid, and some were charged twice.
The loss was more than 90,000 RMB
There were a lot of people who came to play with A, a total of 16 people, so A also booked a minibus with Zhao. The minibus was indeed booked, and the service was no problem, which is a rare item that has not been out of condition on this trip. However, according to the minibus driver revealed to A, after receiving Zhao's deposit, the minibus driver's Alipay account was frozen.
There were so many mistakes in this trip, the hotel that should have been booked was not booked, and the room booked was not the same as originally said, we kept urging Zhao to return the cost of the hotel room and the deposit, but he always shirked it for various reasons.
We checked Zhao's WeChat and found that he seemed to have withheld other people's deposits before and did not return them.
A roughly estimated that a total of nearly 114,000 yuan was transferred to Zhao, of which Zhao only paid about 22,000 yuan for accommodation/tickets/buses, and nearly 92,000 yuan (about S$16,770) for refund/deposit/hotel accommodation fees, which Zhao did not pay as agreed.
After returning to China, A also reported the case to the Chinese police.
Ms. C hopes that by sharing this real-life experience, she will warn everyone to be more cautious when booking a room to avoid being deceived.
The Singapore Eye has previously reported similarly:
In both cases, bookings were made through private channels, and the first transaction went well, but later things went in a bad direction when the transaction amount increased.
Brother Eye hereby appeals to all readers that when booking a room for travel, be sure to go through formal channels to book directly to the hotel's official website or a large third-party reservation platform, as the risk of "private customization" is extremely high, and many times the gains outweigh the losses.
(Singapore Eye wishes you all a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!) Source: Ago)
CY丨EDITOR
HQ丨Editor
Miss C丨Source
Miss C丨Image source
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