The Travel Team Tour Company - Phuket Airport

[simon43]

I'm posting this based on concrete facts, not hearsay.

Yesterday, 3 guests stayed at my Phuket hotel, having booked via the above-named tour desk at the arrivals hall of Phuket Airport, (just near to the Avis desk).

After chatting with these guests, they showed me their credit-card payment slip which showed that they had been charged 2,900 baht per night by this agency, as opposed to the correct amount of 2,000 baht, (as detailed in the written contract with the agency).

I spoke with them by phone and they claimed it was a mistake!

So I went to the airport to retrieve the 'excess' money...

Well, the company didn't want to refund the money, even though they had clearly scammed it from my customers. It was only after I told them that the customers would contact the tourist police that they finally (with very bad grace), returned the extra money.

If you book a hotel or tour with a tour agency/desk, the price you pay should be exactly the same as if you had contacted the hotel or tour directly, not a single baht more. The tour desks receive a fixed commission from the hotel, as specified in a contract between the hotel and the tour desk.

(Some tour desks don't want hotels to publish room rates on their websites because this means that the tour desks cannot 'scam' their customers)

If you doubt the honesty of the tour desk, contact the hotel direct to confirm the room-rate. If it's the same as offered by the tour desk, then certainly use the tour desk service to book your hotel.

Simon

[LivinLOS]

Good on ya.. Its by naming and shaming these scams can be stopped.

Letter to the gazette IMO also.. Thats is repercussions are not possible.

[simon43]

The letter to the Phuket Gazette might be more than my kneecaps can take!!

Simon