Vietnamese officials yesterday visited Phu Quoc Island to handle a dispute between a Taiwanese and a Vietnamese tour operator over outstanding accounts.
The Kien Giang Province Department of Tourism said it would send a task force to study the contracts between Taiwan’s Mega International Travel Service (美加國際旅行社) and the Vietnamese firm, Vietnam’s Thanh Nien newspaper reported.
Mega on Friday and Saturday last week sent nearly 800 tourists to the island for a five-day tour, who were then entrusted to local Vietnamese tour operators.
Photo courtesy of Ziontour (Vietnam)
However, Vietnam WInnER International Travel Co on Saturday asked the 292 tourists under its care to pay US$720 each to continue, saying Mega had only paid one-10th of their tour fees.
Mega had also reportedly not yet paid Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways for the chartered return flights, raising concern that the tourists could become stranded on the island.
The travel agencies and airline reached an agreement to accommodate the travelers and fly them back to Taiwan, despite the outstanding payments.
Photo: Screengrab from Chen’s Facebook page
Yesterday, 613 of the tourists boarded three separate flights to return to Taiwan. The other 150 returned on Tuesday.
The director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Ho Chi Minh City also went to the airport to see the travelers off.
The Tourism Administration earlier said it was working with the Travel Quality Assurance Association to investigate whether Mega had contravened the Regulations Governing Travel Agencies (旅行業管理規則) and its client contracts.
The association would also help handle customer disputes, it added.
Separately yesterday, another travel agency based in Da Nang, Vietnam, said that Mega is notorious for delaying payments.
The two companies have worked together for about 12 years, Ziontour Vietnam manager Phan Anh Tri said.
Over 2019 and 2020, Mega accumulated outstanding accounts totaling more than US$80,000, of which it has only paid US$10,000, he said, presenting a balance sheet.
Three other tour companies in Da Nang have had the same problem with Mega, with the Taiwanese company giving a down payment to ensure they accept the tour, then delaying full payment, he added.
Mega earlier this week rejected WInnER’s claims, saying that the two had agreed to clear payments on Feb. 26.
It also promised to cover all client losses stemming from the dispute.
In other news, Taiwanese Internet personality Chen Neng-chuang (陳能釧), also known as Wan An Hsiao Chi (晚安小雞), has been arrested and detained by Cambodian police yesterday on charges of spreading false information, Cambodian officials told the Central News Agency, adding that he was neither beaten nor robbed as he had claimed.
Chen on Monday claimed that he was broadcasting live in an industrial park near Cambodia’s Sihanoukville Port, which was reportedly the location where scammers sent Taiwanese to work after luring them with promising jobs and high salaries.
The broadcast appeared to have been interrupted by someone attacking him.
Chen went live on Facebook again on Tuesday evening, saying that he had been robbed of US$3,000.
As of yesterday, Chen had not posted any updates on the social media.
Preah Sihanouk Province Governor Kuoch Chamroeun on Tuesday posted a notice on Facebook asking people for help finding Chen.
Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau said that it respects the Cambodian police’s right to investigate, and its liaison officer stationed in Cambodia would maintain close contact with Taiwan’s representative office in Cambodia and Cambodian police.
Chen could face charges of inciting discrimination, providing false declaration or illegal interference in the performance of public functions, based on previous cases.
Chen’s previous questionable behaviors include filming in a hospital in Kinmen County without permission in 2012 and claiming that the hospital was haunted.
Additional reporting by Ting Yi
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