Car Scam in Thailand Tour

By: Kazi Musa, SAVED News International Correspondent, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Several months ago, Mr. Vidi, one of my friends visited Thailand. He rented a car from a travel agency and had an enjoyable holiday. The trip was almost flawless except one issue, when he returned and took the car back to the agency, the agent of that car pointed out a spot on the car and claimed a big amount of money for this spot.

Mr. Vidi tried to make him understand that he didn’t get in an accident, so how it is possible to get a stain on the car? Unfortunately, that agent did not want to listen to him.

The agent was even pretending not to understand English. My friend was in a hurry to get his flight. For this reason, he had a pact with that unlawful agent and paid that unrightfully claimed fine. Though his wife tried a lot to get him not to pay, Mr. Vidi doesn’t like to get involved in arguments with such people, especially while traveling.

Lately, my friend contacted the office of the travel agent and made a complaint. The travel agent’s office took that issue seriously and made an investigation. The customer service officer of that agency was sharp in handling the issue. With the process of some interrogations, the agent confessed his fault and that was a travel scam.

Finally, that office informed my friend that the agent did this sort of scam many times with foreign tourists and demand money illegally. They also added that the travel scammer (car agent) got sacked from the office. Interestingly, that travel agency refunded the scammed money to my friend. Though it was a happy ending, be careful when you travel in Thailand because this happy ending may not happen to you.