hunghung

A happy ending for me: I got 20,000B back (out of the 31,000B I paid for the Cambodia tour).

To make a long story short, I found out last month from the travel agent that it had paid someone in MOTS (specifically, Tourism Business and Guide Registration Office in Bnagkok) 20,000B back in Sept. 2009 (a few months after I filed my complaint there).  The travel agent thought the money had gone to me and that the matter was settled.  Of course, I was never informed about the 20,000B.  I presented this fact to MOTS and I finally got the 20,000B (actually less because of bank wiring fees).


I don't think I would ever find out the whole truth, but here is what I think happened:

Mr. K (the lawyer who received my complaint) contacted the travel agent and it sent a staff to MOTS National Stadium office to meet Mr. K (or someone else in MOTS).  The staff was asked to pay me a partial refund of 20,000B and the money was transferred bank to bank on Sept. 16, 2009 to a personal, rather than an official MOTS, bank account given to the staff (I have a copy of the bank transfer receipt provided by the travel agent).  The last name of the money recipient is the same as that of Ms.L's, but their first names aren't the same.  Since Ms. L might not have given me her real first name (which is likely as she kept avoiding to give me her full name and official title), Ms. L  herself might have been the money recipient.  

When I presented the 20,000B story to MOTS, Ms. L emailed to me, saying that she found my story true and that I wasn't informed about the money because MOTS didn't know what the money was for (but she didn't tell if she was the money recipient).  Here is the intriguing part: Why didn't MOTS know what the money was for?    For bank to bank transfer, the recipient knows who the sender is.  If MOTS didn't know what the 20,000B was for, all it had to do was to contact the sender, which is the travel agent in Pattaya (the bank transfer receipt clearly stated that the sender was the travel agent, not an individual).  So I think Ms. L or someone else in MOTS wanted to keep the 20,000B, hoping that I would never find out.

My persistence paid off.

I can ask MOTS to investigate this matter, which is full of irregularities on the part of MOTS.  However, I am satisfied as I got most of the money back.


What is your thought?

Hi Mark,  is there a bus from Chanthaburi to Ban Phe?

Thanks Mark.

Ban Phe is some 15 km from Rayong city.  Would go to your place if I decide to include Ban Phe in my travel plan.

I stayed there before and found it is of very good value.  You had a bad experience?

I shot Lek an email, but still haven't received a response

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Wow, a couple of words from Zap.............

Depends if you want Rayong Town or are flexible, beach wise 10 mins toward Ban Phe is MaeRamPheung, long beach, fairly quiet most days except holidays and the [url="http://http://www.rayongbeachhotel.com/"]Rayong Beach Condotel[/url] is clean, if basic.
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Not a beach/water lover.  Would stay in town.