Bad Experience with Travel Agent

[jinjin]

Do NOT go to Mr. Liu at XinDu travels in SanLiTun. He targets students and foreigners and is running a scam.

Over 5/1 break, my parents wanted to take the train to Lhasa. Mr. Liu at XinDu travel agency told me that he could definitely buy the tickets and is very experienced in purchasing train tickets. We were going to take the train to Lhasa on 4/28 and then fly back to BJ on 5/4. My parents have been to both BJ and Lhasa and were coming on to take the train for sightseeing. On 4/19, Mr. Liu told me he had purchased the train tickets and the plane ticket. He delivered the plane tickets on 4/21 and I paid him. He told me that on 4/24 he would be able to pick up the train tickets and then deliver them to me. On 4/19, when he informed me that he purchased the train tickets, my parents purchased their flights from the US to Beijing. On 4/24 he told me he would deliver the train tickets. he never came. Then on 4/25 he told me that he still had not gotten the Tibetan Travel Permits and would have to wait until 4/26 to come over. On 4/26 my parents arived and Mr. Liu was supposed to come at 8pm to drop the tickets off. He gave me a bunch of BS. On 4/27 he called my father and said he was coming over with the train tickets. He never came. I called him back and he told me that he did NOT have the train tickets. In fact, he didn't even purchase our travel permits. He then tried to sell us very expensive plane tickets somewhere else.

Later, I find out that the plane tickets he gave me for our return flight from Lhasa to BJ were FAKE. He kept the real ones so he cuold return them and keep the money in case we didn't take the "bait" and buy the expensive plane tickets.

This guy is a SOB. My student host gave me his number so I assumed he was trustworthy (later on it was discovered my student host did not research him and just happened to hear his name floating around--probably because of his bad reputation!)

I have since found out from many chinese law students at my school that Mr. Liu has a horrible reputation for dishonesty. Many Chinese friends say that they have purchased plane tickets from him and he quotes them a very cheap price. Then, the day before they are to leave, he delivers the plane ticket and says he was wrong about the price and asks for 50-300kuai more or else he won't give them the ticket. The student can't buy another ticket because it is the day before and they are very expensive so many of them just comply and give him the money.

His website is www.xindu114.cn. When I went to his office to try to get my money back, it was the size of my bedroom in the back of a narrow alley behind a building and it smelled like urine. In the "office" room next door, there were people sleeping. I also called Beijing Tourism Administration and they said that his business was not registered with them.

Mr. Liu's information is: bj8308_liu@263.net His info is: 北京市朝阳区南三里屯西15号楼爱特博售票处207,208室 01065926496 64171991 64171992 13501266529

[falcon]

I heard someone who faced similar thing in room-renting agency, they refused return subscription, that guy was going to call "110". so agency returned money.

[roddy]

One post is adequate, will delete the other one.

[jinjin]

Sorry about that admin. I posted this story on several different forums and must have come to Chinese-forums twice. It was not intentional. Thank you for understanding.

[wushijiao]

You should go to the authorities about this.

[gato]

You can try lodging a complaint with the local police station. According to the article below, they would take fraud cases involving over RMB2000. But even if you case involves a smaller amount, you can talk to them and find out if there's anything more you can do.

I've listed addresses of two police stations below. One is in Zhonguancun, which is probably closer to where you live, and the other is in Ditan, close to Sanlitun, where your ticket agent works. The Ditan police station probably has jurisdiction over this case, but if it's a hassle to travel over there, you might want to talk to people at the police station closer to you first before making the trip to make sure they handle the case.

Be sure to bring any documentary evidence you have with you when going to the police station, and make copies you so that you can keep the original if possible.

http://www.bmlink.com/net/netMarketDisplay.aspx?netMarket_id=140

若已经确定对方的行为构成合同欺诈，而且金额已经达到我国《刑法》规定的2000元起算点（对方涉嫌刑事诈骗罪），您可以向公安机关报案。依据我国《刑事诉讼法》第八十四条的规定――“任何单位和个人发现有犯罪事实或者犯罪嫌疑人，有权利也有义务向公安机关报案或者举报。公安机关对于报案、控告、举报，都应当接受。对于不属于自己管辖的，应当移送主管机关处理，并且通知报案人、控告人、举报人。”

http://www.hottoo.com/bianli/bszn/200703/20070307154002.html

Beijing police station list

地坛派出所 (Ditan police station)

地坛公园西门外

Tel: 84081567

中关村派出所 (Zhongguancun police station)

中关村南三街甲17 号

Tel: 62566587

[gato]

You can also try contacting the Beijing Consumer's Association for advice.

http://www.bj315.org/index.asp

北京市消费者协会

办公地址：北京市宣武区莲花池东路102号

Telephone: 96315

[jinjin]

gato:

Thanks for the advice! I'll call them first thing Monday!