Travel company slow to refund Hong Kong tour, customers speak up

A part of the Hong Kong tour introduction in the tour sales contract with customers of VNTour Joint Stock Company - Photo: THAO THUONG

Recently, reflecting on the Tuoi Tre hotline, reader Le Ngoc Nguyen Phuong (HCMC) said that she booked a Hong Kong tour for her husband and wife from VNTour Joint Stock Company (Truong Son Street, Tan Binh District, HCMC). Because the visa was late and the company confirmed that they would refund 100%. However, after more than half a month, Ms. Phuong still has not received the money...

Tour refund delayed because the company is having financial difficulties

According to the report, Ms. Phuong said that on March 13, she contacted VNTour Company via Zalo to book a tour to Hong Kong, departing on April 5 from Ho Chi Minh City.

"According to the contract, I paid the correct and full amount of nearly 31 million VND into VNTour's company account and had a receipt. 2 days before departure, the company notified me about the late visa and confirmed that I would be refunded 100% of the tour fee into the personal account I provided.

However, I have contacted many times and still have not received a refund," Ms. Phuong informed.

On April 20, speaking with Tuoi Tre Online , Mr. Tran Minh Luan - Director of VNTour Joint Stock Company confirmed that the incident as reported by the customer had occurred. However, Mr. Luan said that the tour refund was delayed because the company was facing financial difficulties.

Explaining further why the customer bought a tour but the company could not organize it and had not paid for any services, but why it did not refund 100% of the customer at once, Mr. Luan said that when the customer's money was transferred to the company's account, regardless of which customer, it was spent on the company's general business activities.

Not organizing a tour, late refund or splitting the payment into multiple installments is not correct.

Mr. Tu Quy Thanh - Director of Lien Bang Tourism Company, acknowledged that it is not right for travel agencies to not organize tours for customers and delay refunds or split payments into many installments.

"Unless the business and the customer can negotiate, if the customer does not agree, the business must refund the money at once. I have encountered cases where the tour company collects money but cannot organize the tour, the customer demands compensation for disrupting their plans. There is no dispute over compensation, it is easy to resolve to maintain reputation.

Whether the company is in trouble or not is an internal matter. If something like this happened, would you (the tour seller - PV) agree to delay the refund and split the refund into many times?", Mr. Thanh acknowledged.

When buying a tour, you need to carefully check the information of the tour seller.

To avoid the situation where tour companies cannot organize the tour after collecting the full amount of money, or organize the tour not as committed, according to Mr. Thanh, before "paying money" to buy a tour, customers need to pay attention.

"Go directly to the company office to verify if the address is reliable, and confirm the business license and international travel license. You can even type the name of the tour company online to see more information," said Mr. Thanh.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/mot-cong-ty-du-lich-cham-hoan-tien-tour-hong-kong-khach-hang-len-tieng-20250420091651839.htm