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LESS than a month before his family of four was due to fly to Gold Coast, Australia, on a package tour, a customer was told by his travel agent that his tour was cancelled.
Reason: Not enough people to make up the tour.
The alternative?
Sign up for another package – but pay an extra $800 per person.
The call was puzzling because, just the previous day, his brother had called the travel agent asking to join the Gold Coast tour and was told it was fully booked. The customer had paid $5,052 for the six-day February trip and booked it last August.
He was so angry that he complained to the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case).
Mr Seah Seng Choon, executive director of Case, said the matter was eventually settled.
The consumer received $800 in kind and did not reveal other details of the settlement to Case.
Mr Seah declined to reveal the name of the travel agency as the matter was resolved amicably between the consumer and the tour agency.
He would only say the agency is one of the smaller ones.
Complaints against the travel industry continue to be a bugbear among consumers.
Another customer, shipping manager C H Ho, 56, said he found himself in a similar situation two weeks ago.
He booked a seven-day trip for his family of four to Japan, departing on 1 Apr, and put a $2,000 deposit.
His receipt stated that the tour would cost $8,996 for four or $2,249 per person and they were entitled to a further $100 per person early-bird discount when they made full payment.
He chose the package because it promised a flight on the Singapore Airlines A380 to Tokyo.
His family had never flown on the A380 before.
Plus, the overnight flight meant he and his two grown daughters could save on a day’s leave.
