10-26-2010, 11:24 AM
‘Oku ou fakatulou atu pe mo e paenga ni ka e ‘ataa mo’oku ‘a e faingamaliee ni ke ‘omai ‘a e ki’i fakatokanga ni na’a ‘aonga atu. Kapau ‘oku ke teu folau ki Tonga, ‘oku ou tui pe ‘e ‘aonga atu ‘eni kiate KOE pe ko ha taha ‘oku ke ‘ilo pe maheni mo ia.
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Dear Friends,
Many of you are now aware of the issue where a travel agent here in Tonga stole $13,200 TOP from us. They took the money intended for tickets for our recent trip to Bali and our planned trip to Australia to spend Christmas with family. In the case of the first trip they issued a fake travel booking code and itinerary, not worth the paper they were written on and for the second trip issued a receipt and then simply pocketed the money. They left us absolutely stranded on our recent trip, and on one occasion when I called from transit in Australia begging them to fix the mess, they simply put the phone down on the table leaving me holding for 52 minutes while they chatted merrily in the background, before I had to hang up and buy more tickets again to keep moving to our destination. At this point they continue to ignore us.
With Christmas travel coming up we would hate our friends to suffer the same fate and as such warn you all from going anywhere near Kalia Travel and Tours at Fakafanua Centre. Chris and Clare Mafi, along with their employee Alunga Katoa have been involved in this theft and I suggest you let all your colleagues and friends know not to use them. I am advised that this is not the first time there have been problems with this agent. We have lodged a police complaint and it is currently being investigated. I saw two days ago that they still have the nerve to continue to open their door for trade. They have targeted Tongans and foreigners alike so don’t be fooled.
Unfortunately they are not the only travel agents around Tonga at the moment practising illegal schemes, there are many. Currently under investigation are complaints of theft of cash, fraudulent ticketing, double charging of credit cards and trade in stolen tickets. In many cases this has either left travellers without their money or coming to the airport and finding they have no booking. In our case it was both!
Only IATA registered travel agents carry protection bonds and policies which assist and protect the traveler from any such schemes. There are only three IATA agents in Tonga. They are Forum, Taufonua and Jones. Remember to ALWAYS get a full copy of the itinerary and a RECEIPT for any payments you have made.
My apologies if some of you have received this email twice, however I hope it saves you the heart ache we are currently experiencing. If you are on Facebook with the Tongan community around the world get the word out as I would hate Tongans coming home for Christmas to be stung by the same acts we are currently seeing around town.
John Cvetkpo
**************************************************
Dear Friends,
Many of you are now aware of the issue where a travel agent here in Tonga stole $13,200 TOP from us. They took the money intended for tickets for our recent trip to Bali and our planned trip to Australia to spend Christmas with family. In the case of the first trip they issued a fake travel booking code and itinerary, not worth the paper they were written on and for the second trip issued a receipt and then simply pocketed the money. They left us absolutely stranded on our recent trip, and on one occasion when I called from transit in Australia begging them to fix the mess, they simply put the phone down on the table leaving me holding for 52 minutes while they chatted merrily in the background, before I had to hang up and buy more tickets again to keep moving to our destination. At this point they continue to ignore us.
With Christmas travel coming up we would hate our friends to suffer the same fate and as such warn you all from going anywhere near Kalia Travel and Tours at Fakafanua Centre. Chris and Clare Mafi, along with their employee Alunga Katoa have been involved in this theft and I suggest you let all your colleagues and friends know not to use them. I am advised that this is not the first time there have been problems with this agent. We have lodged a police complaint and it is currently being investigated. I saw two days ago that they still have the nerve to continue to open their door for trade. They have targeted Tongans and foreigners alike so don’t be fooled.
Unfortunately they are not the only travel agents around Tonga at the moment practising illegal schemes, there are many. Currently under investigation are complaints of theft of cash, fraudulent ticketing, double charging of credit cards and trade in stolen tickets. In many cases this has either left travellers without their money or coming to the airport and finding they have no booking. In our case it was both!
Only IATA registered travel agents carry protection bonds and policies which assist and protect the traveler from any such schemes. There are only three IATA agents in Tonga. They are Forum, Taufonua and Jones. Remember to ALWAYS get a full copy of the itinerary and a RECEIPT for any payments you have made.
My apologies if some of you have received this email twice, however I hope it saves you the heart ache we are currently experiencing. If you are on Facebook with the Tongan community around the world get the word out as I would hate Tongans coming home for Christmas to be stung by the same acts we are currently seeing around town.
John Cvetkpo