Has anybody used Travel Mob?

[Bill Miller]

I rented a nice studio at UTD Aries here in Bangkok through an outfit calling itself Travel Mob. The owner of the condo and I agreed to terms, and the agreed amount was deposited with Travel Mob via PayPal, including the $59.00 service fee.

To date they have not forwarded the funds to the landlord, and when questioned they more or less said it is between them and the

landlord, and that there is a problem with his PayPal account.

I have never heard of a problem with a PayPal account. In fact you don't even need an account to begin as far as I know, just a

valid email address.

Well, I have made a couple of more inquiries with no response from them. I have more or less instructed them to either remit to my

landlord, or refund the sum less their service fee. We know there is nothing wrong between them, me, and PayPal, as they have the

money.

Anyone else have experience with them, or advice on how to continue if no action? PayPal has bowed out, as according to them you

have to file within 45 days. We did not learn about the problem until 45 days had come and gone.

[Fiddlesticks]

If it helps, I did a google on them and found this:

http://www.scamadviser.com/check-website/travelmob.com

Sounds like a reliable as safe outfit. There in fact could be a problem with the condo's Paypal account. If I had to trust either the Thai condo owner or Travel Mob, I would definitely side with Travel Mob.

[draftvader]

If it helps, I did a google on them and found this:

http://www.scamadviser.com/check-website/travelmob.com

Sounds like a reliable as safe outfit. There in fact could be a problem with the condo's Paypal account. If I had to trust either the Thai condo owner or Travel Mob, I would definitely side with Travel Mob.

Paypal accounts through Thailand get a LOT of scrutiny. If you look up credit card blacklisted countries you'll find Thailand listed. Every time I have new British cards issued I have to call my issuer and get them to lift the automatic block on Thailand. There is a reason for that.....

[Bill Miller]

As it happens shortly after my latest indignant email, this, and one other posting on Facebook the landlord received an email

announcing 'upon further review' and etc., and that they would be remitting the funds today.

All's well that ends well.

[Bill Miller]

Thanks, Fiddlesticks.
I received an apologetic message from Travel Mob, stating that they had checked with PayPal to find that the funds had NOT initially been sent to the landlord due to some confusion about email addresses, and they promptly retransmitted the funds.
As to your comment about blocks on credit cards, etc., yes! I was flummoxed to find an ATM request denied by my bank. I had not realized I should have given them my travel plans in advance. I do know enough to carefully examine the card slot before using, not that I would necessarily know what a "card reader" would look like. )

[NoshowJones]

PayPal are among the most incompetent people I have ever dealt with.

[dddave]

" I do know enough to carefully examine the card slot before using, not that I would necessarily know what a "card reader" would look like". )

A good idea for ATM security is to try to use ATM's in bank lobbies whenever possible. They can be counted on to be secure.

[Lancashirelad]

I once had a problem trying to pay someone through paypal. It turned out that when they had registered their email address to be used for payments that they had misskeyed one letter. It was me that spotted it eventually, not pp or the intended recipient.

This guy writes some very useful on info on skimming devices:

http://krebsonsecurity.com/category/all-about-skimmers/

Edited December 25, 2014 by Lancashirelad