The Contrarian

thank you both for your replies OneMoreFarang and Mike. I agree with both your points. Hopefully he will learn from this experience. The deposit was a few hundred thousand I believe, so not the end of the world but a rather sizeable sum for a deposit if you ask me. And along with the FET issue and more pending payments coming, he is slightly concerned to say the least. Re FET, nothing was mentioned to him by either the agent or developer. I don't have much experience with purchasing condos here. But I'm also concerned for him that this will cause problems later. Not sure how he should go about this short of asking for a refund ASAP and starting over. Also apparently, he was convinced to buy the unit because his agent told him that she also personally bought a place in the same building. herself. True or not, she sounds rather charming.

IKEA and the ground floor experience was fun. The rest was somewhat underwhelming.

Overall I've found better prices with Shopee, likely because it is more of a local marketplace. But their customer service flow is not the best experience, and leaves alot to be desired

Dear ASEAN Now, Hoping to get some advice here. One of my friends, a foreigner, paid a deposit for a condo unit. It's one of those 'presale' units that has not even begun construction and won't be completed for a few years. Since purchase there has been a few issues surfacing. One being multiple delays to the purchase agreement without specific reasons, and one being that he was never informed of the FET. The deposit was thus sent to the developers via a direct bank transfer. The developers nor agents have mentioned the FET matters nor raised any issues. He's now quite concerned, and already tried asking for a refund of the deposit. The tertiary sales agent are insisting 'no refunds' because the reservation form claimed this policy to be enforceable short of regulatory issues etc. My questions: 1. Should he be concerned that the deposit was sent via direct bank transfer? Does he really need to redo the entire process? 2. If he would like to get a refund now, how best to go about this? A lawyer has mentioned that contrary to his agent's claims, 'one way benefit' contracts are unfair and unenforceable under both the CPA and TCA. But I'm not sure how accurate this is. He is also hoping to preferably resolve this amicably without legal or PR escalation. Thank you for any advice and suggestions. Would also appreciate any recommendations for further reading or resources that may help him. Sincerely, T.C.