Matta asks scam victims to come forward and complain

The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) will assist victims who were cheated when vacation packages they paid for did not materialise. Association president Datuk Mohd Khalid Harun and honorary secretary general Joseph Xavier met with the victims recently at a meeting called by Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai. About 30 people showed up for the meeting at the Matta office in Kuala Lumpur but because the meeting room could only hold a small number of people, six representatives attended the meeting. Last month, 38 victims had taken a travel agent to the Consumer Claims Tribunal for cheating them of their money.

Listen up: Tan (centre) speaking to some of the victims before the meeting with Matta representatives.

They had purchased the packages at a travel fair last September but later found out that the agent did not have a licence to sell outbound (overseas) packages. Khalid said the association had asked the victims to come forward with the agreements they had signed with the travel agent so that Matta could assist them. Xavier said those who had taken the agent to the tribunal should proceed with their cases.

He said that before the plight of the 38 victims was highlighted in the press, they had helped another group of about 30 people to get refunds on the packages they had paid for to the same agent. “Some had paid only the deposit while the others had paid the full amount,” he said. Khalid assured that they would also be putting in place measures to prevent such incidents from happening in future. “We will not tolerate any more cheating. We have informed the Tourism Ministry about this and we hope that the ministry will take a pro-active role and vet tour operators. We also want them to go after the cheats,” he said.

He said the association was looking at providing insurance coverage for customers who buy tour packages so that they could be protected if the trip did not take place. “There are different licences for inbound tours, outbound tours and ticketing. “We will come up with a code system and make sure exhibitors display it at their booths so that visitors will be aware of what the company is allowed to sell,” he added. Tan suggested that Matta make it mandatory for operators to display their licences in prominent places during the exhibitions.

Khalid said the association had issued a press statement to inform the public about the operator but only one Chinese daily had published the statement. Tan suggested that the association also take up ads in newspapers in future to ensure that the information was conveyed to the public. “I have raised this issue to the Tourism Ministry and while Matta has expelled these agents, the companies may still remain as legal operators. The ministry has yet to inform the public of the action taken against these operators. “Many of the people who buy these tours have saved up for a long time to go on their dream vacation and when this happens, it is heartbreaking,” he said.

Tan believed that at least 200 people could have been cheated by the company. The 38 people who sought his assistance lost at least RM450,000 in total. Last month, the tribunal only allowed the cases of two victims to proceed because the others did not have the reply slips from the defendants to show as proof that the victims had served notice letters to make their claims. Xavier said that those who needed Matta’s assistance could send an e-mail to sbalan@matta.org.my

-thestar online.