Bangkok & Thailand Scams - Thai Gem & Tailor Scams

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Unseen Tours Scam

Thursday, 18 September 2008

I had been in Bangkok for five days. At the end of the five days I decided to go to Chiang Mai, to see the amazing city.

I went looking for a train ticket initially, because I heard it was good, but all the tourism operators told me I couldn't get one at short notice. Fair enough. Just as I was about to leave a tuk-tuk driver offered to take me to the TAT office (and pointed it out on a map) so that they would give me good advice. Despite what I had read over and over about tuk-tuk drivers, I still felt in control (because he said he was taking me to the official authority) and besides I wanted to see what the price was, as I was shopping around. Obviously, my first mistake! He took me to a big office which had six or so operators, and many Western people arranging trips. I felt pretty safe, seeing all those people there. The tour group operator was UNSEEN TOURS.

A friendly lady who spoke reasonable English suggested she could help me by organising a trek in Chiang Mai with 3 days accommodation plus airline tickets - almost instantly. I was happy to have the assistance. Then she told me the price - for four days, 17,000THB. I did some quick maths, and felt it was too much. I told her 15,000THB was the most I'd pay. She disagreed. I was clearly desperate for a solution, I decided to go with it. Second mistake. I even paid her a tip!!

Then I asked her, "Is this the total price I will have to pay" and she said, "Yes, total price". I went to the ATM to get the money, and paid it. Then she wrote me out a receipt - which at the time I didn't notice said "DEPOSIT" on the bottom. I just assumed the document was legit.

So she says, "You must go back to your hotel, check out, and then we will arrange the rest of the documents and tickets by the time you get back." So I checked out of my hotel and returned. On the trip back I started to feel I was being scammed, so I decided I would ask for my money back. So I came straight in and said, "I'd like my money back". The lady said, "But you still owe us money for the trip, we have booked the flight." The lady said something in Thai to me, and then talked to her manager. I was ushered into the manger's office who listened to (a probably fake) assessment of my request. The manager started speaking, in excellent English. He asked me where I was from. He was a smooth-talking, silver-tongued devil. I told him my situation, that I wanted a refund. He said, "I understand, but I can't give you a refund." He started to sweat profusely as he was talking to me, rubbing his brow, as if stressed. Then he said threateningly, "We can get the police to make you pay this money if you don't agree." I was intimidated. I said, "Look, I am reasonable, I will pay for the flight and accommodation but nothing else" He said NO. We sat there for sometime just looking at each other. Then he said, "OK, I will take 3,000THB off the price of 9,000THB. At this point I felt even more trapped. This was the first time I'd heard the price of 9,000BHT talked about. I felt I couldn't get my money back, that I was trapped. SO I thought the only way to get out of this situation was to give them a credit card to pay the final part (which was never discussed).

So in total I paid 23,000THB for a short trip to Chiang Mai! They took me to the airport. Yes, I am a trusting fool. But I wanted to believe in the Thais!

Some guys at the airport at Chiang Mai picked me up and took my envelop with the receipt for the money I paid. They took me to the hotel, and while I went upstairs to make sure my bag was in the room, they disappeared with all the evidence.

When I got to Chiang Mai I asked for a refund again, because I would not be going on the trek. I emailed them at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it but the email address bounced - did not exist. Nor did the telephone number work.

I feel horrible and I have not left my hotel room much and have a very negative view of Thailand right now. I have cancelled my credit card and will have to make it alone on the money I have.

The total price of this ended up being over 60% of its value. The rooms here cost 800THB per night. The tour wouldn't have been worth more than 1,000THB. The flights cost maybe 2,200THB.

It was so hard to save the money to come here, I am new to travel and did not expect this... I am certainly not a rich man.

Comments (67) Add Comment

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written by joey, Sun 21 Sep 2008 04:58:44 CDT

first rule of thumb in thailand, if they smile at you, dont trust them. dont give the scum your credit card,dont let it out of your sight. people like Brad are probably Thai. The low life in Thailand are in the gutters waiting for you,poor bastards I wouldnt swap with them for all the tea in China,they are low low down gutter snipes,When they smile at you in Thailnd ...............................do not trust them, when they say Thailand beautiful country, they lie. I want your money, I want your money, that is all they love Money

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written by Barb, Wed 24 Sep 2008 16:22:05 CDT

Wow,
I have had only great experiences in Thailand, tho, granted we have stayed in Phuket. Haven't been scammed, tuk tuk drivers are friendly and inexpensive and staff at the small hotel we used were extremely welcoming and friendly. We found good deals on tailoring, food was fantastic and cheap. We are in fact going back next week.
I feel very badly for this person and agree that Brad should be banned from the site. He seems to enjoy surfing to find people who have been hurt or taken advantage of and then kicking them when they are down. If you can't help, don't make things worse.

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written by JOHN, Wed 24 Sep 2008 22:33:40 CDT

To the author of this letter, mate it sounds you got a real bad experience here, its takes great courage to share it with us i only hope that this wasn't the first time in thailand as the thai people are in general fantastic. unfortunately for you, a couple of bad apples have spoilt your experience thanks again for sharing your story , and better luck in your travels in the future.

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written by Pf, Sat 27 Sep 2008 01:03:53 CDT

Sorry to hear that you were treated so badly & robbed by these people. It is important to remember not all tourist operators in Thailand are crooks like this one. Thailand is still a great destination for foreigners. However, it is our responsibility to do our homework and check out these "business" operators before we pull out our credit cards or pay any cash. Next time try getting references from others tourists, making friends with local Thais, getting recommendations from the hotel staff, and even visiting the Thai embassy or consulate in your country.

As for this "dishonest business operator" suggest you post the name of his business and the location on this and other sites to let other people know about him. Also why not write the Thai Tourist board and let them know, perhaps you might be lucky and they may do something for you.

I think we ned to remember that many of these people are struggling to make ends meet and the only thing they see in your eyes are the $$ $$ signs.

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written by MIKEY, Sun 28 Sep 2008 06:34:23 CDT

Brad:

thanks for sharing your story with us/

I think it is wise to always pay with a credit card, if there is a problem you can cancel the transaction quickly and leave the tour company to explain the situation ( and provide documentation like actual plane booking info, ect) to tha cc company.

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written by bard from bkk, Sat 04 Oct 2008 21:37:55 CDT

Bkk is a wonderful city , just dont think and act like a tourist. Walk away from people trying to offer you a good deal. If you do that most of the average thai people are nice. Spend some time in the city looking for the real deals , go to the markets . Have fun .

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written by Thai Threats, Mon 13 Oct 2008 06:15:29 CDT

Address of UNSEEN TOURS?
Phone number of UNSEEN TOURS?
Complain to the Tourist Police?

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written by Kevin, Tue 25 Nov 2008 10:24:42 CST

A word of advice TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) does not sell tours, they only give advice also tuk tuk are just as bad themselves. They get a cut for every tourist they take to scammers office. And lastly there TAT office in Hualompong train station, its next the showers and bathroom there's no need to take a tuk tuk. The head office is on Petchaburi Road.

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written by slouching_tiger, Tue 06 Jan 2009 21:47:07 CST

For anyone who wants to know Unseen Travel's address is

440/444 Wisutkasat Rd., Banpanthom Pranakorn Bangkok 10200
Tel: 02-282-4248, 02-629-4116
FAX: 02-282-0962, 02-629-1824

I too fell for the scam. I was sitting on a bench near khaosan rd reading a map (first mistake) when some guy comes up to me and asks the usual friendly questions: where you from? how long have you been in thailand? is this your first time in thailand? how long are you staying? Little did i realize that these questions were the MO of these scammers to find out if you have been scammed before!

Once he realized this was my first time, he asked what i was going to do in thailand during my vacation. I told him i was planning to go to an island. He then told me to make sure to go to TAT office to book your tickets. He said many agents on Khaosan Rd cannot be trusted because they are not TAT agents. He then proceeded to recommend a TAT agent and told me the stuff about its my lucky day. The government is subsidizing TUK TUK drivers with a yellow flag on their bike on this official holiday. You can ride all you want for 20 baht for 4 hours. He then proceeded to draw on my map five places i should visit with a tuk tuk driver. One was the lucky driver, another was the TAT office, and another was the jewelery store. All this time i was thinking this guy was extremely helpful.
He said his english was good because he was an English teacher.

Anyway, to make a long short, at Unseen travel i paid about double of what i could have paid if i booked everything myself. So a tour that cost 5,000 baht i paid 10,000. Plus the agent had the gall to take 500 as tip (commision). I'm kicking myself for not asking for an itemized list of costs for hotels and transportation. or shopping around before handing over cash. I guess because they said they were a government agency that these prices were the real deal.

Luckily i didnt hand over any money at the gem shop. If I had more money in my account at that time, if i had any interest in jewerly (thank god i dont), i certainly would have fell for it though. Three guys from three apparently different countries (thailand, malaysia, and singapore) talked about to me about how easy it was double my money and how i could become a lifetime member for this once a year special sale.

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written by tm, Wed 07 Jan 2009 21:36:37 CST

Hey Sammie'

Can you reveal the bank that the ATM belonged to that dispersed your fake 1000bht note.

I am coming back to BKK soon and would at least like to avoid the risk of using a dodgy bank if i can.

Manythanks T

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written by sammie, Thu 08 Jan 2009 12:00:08 CST

heck what the ATM machine spits out!

About 3 weeks ago I was given a 100 baht note as change at my local office coffee shop. It didn't look right and was missing the metallic strip running down the side - so I gave it back. This week I was reading about the 1000 baht notes circulating that were fake and all the markings that were missing. Yesterday I was at MBK and withdrew 10,000 from an ATM. When I got home I was putting the money on the counter when I realized I was given a fake. I started to wonder how the obvious fake got in the bank machine - then thinking that this is Thailand, maybe it was an inside job from a bank employee. What better way to get the fake notes in circulation and pull out the genuine notes to put in your pocket. Maybe you could print a reference to this and for all of us to be on the lookout - even from bank machines......tm i found this in Stickman's site, un fortunately it doesnt say which bank, but with the advent of our eastern friends now travelling to these parts I am more inclined to go to a Bank to exchange money now but maybe try and avoid the many bureau de changes in Kohsan Road. I am not accepting 1000B these days either, shop keepers not happy to accept either!

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written by tm, Thu 08 Jan 2009 13:17:34 CST

thanks for the tip' i will try to get only 500s' from the major banks. whats the most obvious give away on the fakes' you mentioned no silver strip' watermarks ? others

cheers'

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written by sammie, Fri 09 Jan 2009 13:46:59 CST

tm, when you first go to the bank get the cashier to show you what to look for. Try and avoid the thousands if possible, 500, 100, 50 and 20's should be ok but sometimes the 500's are dodgy. I try and carry a lot of 20's with me because the biggest excuse is "no change".. some of the ATM machines have been tampered with eg. just like in the west by our russian friends so be wary. Before your holiday one piece of advice is to inform your credit card company of your departure to the country/countries you are visiting so they are aware of your expenditure, try and avoid using CC at restaurants or where the card is taken away from you at all times.. When I was visiting Edinburgh I had my card cloned by an Italian restaurant and they didnt start to spend until I was back home in Thailand! Happy travels

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written by tm, Sat 10 Jan 2009 19:11:32 CST

ok cheers'

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written by nick, Wed 14 Jan 2009 18:17:17 CST

STAY AWAY FROM UNSEEN TRAVEL!

complete ripoff, charge you twice what it should - most reputable guesthouses/ hotels have them blacklisted and won't deal with them. best advice - go it alone. just show up wherever and walk until you find a hotel that works for you.

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written by Lee, Sun 18 Jan 2009 18:31:25 CST

Hi Not Saying

I am so sorry to hear that you were scammed. Is it possible for you to report to the authority or the Australian embassy about the incident? I am going to Phuket in a few weeks time and will definitely be on the look out for scammers. What a shame to see such low lifes ruining a beautiful country!

I hope that your travel experience from now on would improve. Thank you for sharing this unfortunate incident.

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written by Silly, Wed 13 May 2009 19:39:43 CDT

I feel so stupid... I did exactly the same thing. I paid Unseen Travel twice as much as everything costs. For the money I paid I should be staying in great hotels and I'm in very sad and chep guest houses. I'm so disappointed in Thailand right now. It's a beautiful country, but a place is not attractive if you can't trust its people. I'm still here in Thailand and I'm wishing never to come back.

Please stay away from here for your own benefit!

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written by Sammie, Wed 13 May 2009 20:33:32 CDT

To Silly: I feel so sad that you also have experienced this scam by this travel agency. I would love to give you advice on how to obtain a refund but I think you are probably having to put this down to experience and hopefully they will receive their karma in a negative way. I too had a friend who booked a trip to Koh Samet with these people which was the whole trip inclusive of beach bungelow etc for 2 months only to find no reservation had taken place at all. Wherever you are in Thailand, try and make the best of it with a positive atititude, you have your health (important in Thailand!), your passports etc. I am sure you will meet some lovely people and hopefully take home some good memories to counteract the negative aspects you have experienced. Hugs

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written by James, Wed 20 May 2009 09:27:19 CDT

I had a similar experience with unseen travels. I had a bad feeling after getting dropped of by the tuk tuk in front of the office, but I went in anyway. Then I bought a package thinking it sounded reasonable at the time, but looking back I realized I was just pressured and tricked into buying it. After adding up all the costs, it should of been about half the price. Now I just need to decide whether I should actually go on the tour or consider it an expensive loss. :(

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written by Sammie, Wed 20 May 2009 12:35:01 CDT

Try and go on the tour, and make it work for you James, let them see you wont be beaten by giving in. Their bad karma can be reversed in your favour hopefully lol, good luck

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written by Luke, Thu 21 May 2009 20:53:37 CDT

this story - everything to slightest details - happened to me and my friend as well. And I was sure no one can ever trick me... they are masters, them must have manual written on "How to rip off people". Another victims of UNSEEN TRAVEL. It happened to us on 19/05/2009. I dont think i have any mean to fight them back but to write this feedback - avoid them people!!!

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written by pighoglet, Fri 22 May 2009 04:02:06 CDT

The thing to do here is shop around, theres loads of travel agencies in Thailand and you should get an idea of the going rate by the time youve spoken to 2 or 3 of them independantly.

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written by hana, Fri 22 May 2009 05:50:41 CDT

only if the news would run stories warning people about this ......

and all the scams on this site...

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written by Auld, Fri 22 May 2009 11:50:33 CDT

Many travel agents will say the train is fully booked so they can get you onto a scam tour.

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written by pighoglet, Fri 22 May 2009 13:21:25 CDT

..........if you are looking at train times board at Bangkok's Hua Lampung station within a minute or so you will have someone asking you about where you are going on the pretext of helping you.

Most of the time they have a vested interest and are trying to get you to book something with a nearby friendly travel agent.

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written by Auld, Fri 22 May 2009 14:18:58 CDT

Why are scammers allowed to prey on tourists in these places?
Why does management and security do nothing?
Scammers working for Police? or just plain disrespect for foreigners?
Somethings wrong.

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written by Max, Mon 25 May 2009 07:19:07 CDT

Unseen Travel is the worst travel agency in the world!! I feel so stupid, a tuk-tuk driver bring us to this "gouvernement office "to book our trip! Everything was perfect until i've look on my cell phone for the real hotel prices... But after giving this £>

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written by MIKEY, Mon 25 May 2009 10:10:25 CDT

" and hopefully they will receive their karma in a negative way."

Sammie, you'll be telling us next that God really does exist?

Money is the only thing in this world that people worship.

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written by Silly, Mon 25 May 2009 16:01:06 CDT

To James: Go back on the tour and give Unseen Travel a hard time. That's what I did.
I was hoping that during the last days of the tour I would get good hotels (in the South), given that I had paid a lot of money for the booking. Well, I was wrong: all the rooms were really bad and in bad hotels. Whenever I called Unseen Travel to complain they said they could do nothing because the person who had booked everything (a girl called Peak) was abroad. Apparently one day she was in Korea and the following in Hong Kong. After that I didn't let them speak, I was so furious at being taken for an idiot, I just accussed them of being a bunch of liars. In total I spoke with them three times and two of them I got them to change the room.
The guy who answers the phone says to be the manager. He's extremely patronising and asummes that if you already bought their tour you would buy anything.
Of course I'm brave now that I'm back home. But all my time in Thailand I was wondering whether I was going to be picked up or not and whether the bookings had been made. The whole time was really stressful. In the end I was just grateful for coming back home safe and sound (Thanks Sammie for your words).
I will be definitely going back to Thailand, but will book everything myself and won't trsut anybody in the streets. You learn something new everyday!

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written by AZIZ, Sat 27 Jun 2009 11:33:17 CDT

add to this agency another one called Take-Care-travel.co
Generaly if you are taken by a tuk-tuk , you are going to the wrong place,,,some Taxi may do also this
Please inform all your freinds about this Mafia of tourisme in Thaillande

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written by Jiri Uherek, Wed 15 Jul 2009 21:15:20 CDT

Yes, we have the same experience with Unseen travel, they stole at least 6000 bht/person for our trip which they arranged!!!

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written by Jay, Thu 23 Jul 2009 16:13:43 CDT

There is only one sure way not to be scammed in Thailand : anyone, i repeat ANYONE who come to speak to you in the street, just walk and dont answer...
Then check EVERYTHING, i repeat EVERYTHING...this include the money you change or the western union you receive, the price to send a parcel at post office (they will add 100 or 200 baht that will not show on the receipt), the price of anything you buy (last example i was charged 85 baht for a red bull bottle at carrefour...), your change in every place you go (7/11 guy trying to shortchange me 100 baht on a 500 baht bill...), your laundry (the good shirts are likely to disappear...)

And be ready to loose a lot of time over let say 3 to 4 scams attempts per day

Stressfull and annoying YES
This is THAILAND

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written by BS, Wed 29 Jul 2009 22:57:58 CDT

It just happen to me. Today I went to TAT office. I though I could trust them , as I though they are some sort of the official guvernment office. I wanted to get visa for Laos. The guy took me to the Unseen travel office where I booked the round trip to Chiang Mai, Luang Prabang, Vientiane and back to Bangkok. I payed 40000 BH. I feel so stupid now. I counted each price separately and I realised I could get much cheaper, at least 10000 or even 15000BH. And I am not sure how will everything turn out at the end! Is the hotel booked? Plane tickets? I just hope everything will turn out well. At least I have the train tickets. 800 bh each.
The really looked very professional, and since I am new in baht, the price they offerd me sounded OK.
I'll be smarter next time.
And, by the way, the TAT guy took me to the tailer and jewelery shop. I new what he was doing but I let him take me there. I didn't buy anything.

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written by Ruud Heinrich, Sat 08 Aug 2009 16:10:19 CDT

I had several bad experiences with this travel agency. Overcharged, night(-mare)bustrip, hotelreservation with not available singlebedrooms, resort-reservation with not available bungalow.
Just back out of Thailand I will email this agency and make a complaint at the official T.A.T. website.
"Mr.Tony" has a nice story but not the real story. We were a bit in a hurry, he misused this oppertunity.
We should have thinked twice..........

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written by Farangtravelwise, Tue 25 Aug 2009 16:05:27 CDT

I want to warn of a Bangkok scam. Beware of paying for a tour with Unseen Tours in Bangkok, they are a rip-off! After a few days in Bangkok, we decided to do a tour of Cambodia and Vietnam thinking that we would make life easier than going it alone which is usually how we travel– how wrong we were! We had gone for a drink at the Royal Hotel which seemed a good hotel where lots of Westerners were staying and were beckoned over by a nice smiling woman from a tour company in the lobby. She told us that she would arrange all our transfers, coach travel and hotels including breakfasts. Once we paid quite a large sum by Thailand standards at their main office elsewhere, we were then told that it did not include getting to the hotels – only transferring out. We had also been led to believe that breakfasts in Vietnam hotels were included and this was also no longer the case. Things got worse, much worse.

When we arrived in Seam Reap in Cambodia, we found at the airport that our hotel was 2 k further out then the others. When we got there it turned out to be a back-backer place and not the 3 star hotel we had been promised. It had 4 holes in the bathroom for mosquitoes to enter at night in what is a moderate to high malaria risk area. It was not looking good. I decided to check out the internet for what lay ahead and to my dismay discovered travel blogs condemning our next hotel as “the worst hotel in Phnom Penh” and one even said “I would rather sleep on the street that stay there”. It confirmed all our worst fears. Some hotel and transport bookings had not even been made on our behalf even though we had paid for them in advance. In order to stay anywhere decent, we had to pay extra for an upgrade or for an entirely different hotel. Towards the end of our trip, we found ourselves in an isolated resort in Halom Bay in Vietnam with a shortage of restaurants all of which were at inflated prices. On our final day, we had to be in Hanoi (a 4 hour bus ride away) for a 5.00 am start the following morning to catch a plane to Bangkok for our flight home. The mid-day bus never appeared. We rang the Vietnam contact for Unseen Tours who said that a 4.00 pm one would be coming for us instead. As we had checked out of our room, we had to wait in the hotel lobby for what turned out to be 5 hours. By 4.20 there was still no bus – we phoned again and the agent apologised saying that she would send a private car in 5 minutes. 45 minutes later, it still had not arrived. Shortly after, a mini-bus turned up to drop off a guide who we had met on another trip and after trying to get through to our agent for us, he urged us to board the mini-bus which was going to Hanoi as it would soon be dark. I felt a bit reluctant thinking that a car was coming but I think he realised before we did that NO transport was on its way for us!! The agent clearly did not give a damn that we would miss our flight! In response to our complaints about being put in insect infested windowless, filthy dungeons, she assured us that she had booked us into a nice hotel in Hanoi. I was delighted to see on the internet that it promised to be just the kind of accommodation we had paid for. When we arrived at the hotel in Hanoi at 10.30 pm which looked ideal, the reception desk manager insisted that he not received our booking nor had he ever had dealings with our travel company (lucky him!) and furthermore his hotel was fully booked. The agent had told us we had a booking there probably never expecting us to turn up hardly surprisingly really considering that no transport had actually been arranged! When we eventually got back to Bangkok, we found that Unseen Travel had booked us into a hotel for prostitutes and their clients. By that time we were getting used to interesting stains and grit on our bed sheets. Well I could go on…. but the main message is – avoid Unseen Travel at all costs!! I wish we had.

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written by mikey, Wed 26 Aug 2009 22:24:22 CDT

Farangtravelwise

sounds typical of a company ( many like it) that figure they will not have to deal with you agin ( face to face)

I hope you paid with your credit card, and put in a complaint.

some cc companies ( I have citibank) are very good about taking care of their customers.

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written by Sidney, Thu 27 Aug 2009 10:23:06 CDT

"sounds typical of a company ( many like it) that figure they will not have to deal with you agin ( face to face) "

@Mikey, you are so right, Thais look at people as three circles, tourists belong in the third circle!

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written by Farangtravelwise, Thu 27 Aug 2009 19:56:12 CDT

Thanks Mikey - sounds good advice. I am looking into it as half was paid with a credit card. Unseen Travel wanted cash and tried to dissuade me from using a card (interestingly enough!)

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written by James, Mon 12 Oct 2009 23:03:06 CDT

Little consolation to the money and trust you have lost, but i have just run to an internet cafe to find out whether to pay 70000Baht for a trip of 2months with Unseen travel, and chap called "Jack" (I bet), we have until 12noon tomorrow to decide, as if a government organisation would give you a deadline.. it sounded the trip of a lifetime, ending with a fullmoon party ON NEW YEARS EVE!!

Anyway, i stumbled across this page, and i have decided to save my money, and enjoy Thailand on my terms....

Thank you!

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written by Rinus, Tue 13 Oct 2009 23:55:38 CDT

I am very suprised that no one recommends travelling without paying ahead at all. Especially when going on a tour this long and distant. In this region it is very easy to get around by just deciding where you want to go, buy a ticket at the bus or train station, go there and look for accomodation on the spot yourself. (you have to go to extremly remote areas to find places that don't have hotels or guesthouses at all, so in general you don't have to worry about ending up somewhere without a place to stay for the night, even when arriving late) The benefit of doing things this way is that you'll never get in the position of having to stay in a hotel or guesthouse in which you really don't want to stay, only because you've allready paid for it.

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written by ar5ab, Fri 27 Nov 2009 03:31:04 CST

lucky number

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written by Khun Krit, Fri 27 Nov 2009 08:16:33 CST

@ar5ab, are you of this planet?

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written by Alex, Sun 10 Jan 2010 12:21:52 CST

First time in Thailand by myself and I'd walked out of the Royal hotel where I was staying (which is quite nice but I had it booked through STA travel in Australia. However, I wouldn't recommend organising travel through the Royal Hotel Travel service in the lobby.) and did the first thing you do in a new place and read my map.
A man came up to me and asked all the usual questions - First time in Thailand, where are you from etc and I tried to Ignore him but then he said he was a Teacher and his English was quite good.
He told me it was a buddah holiday and that the "government tuk tuks" were only 10 baht to see the sights.
I said okay and got on.. We went to one place that is actually marked on the map and then around to temples that were under construction and generally, the wrong areas.
He then told me that he would get a gasoline coupon if i went into these stores - The clothes factory, and a jewelery market. (I wasnt interested in either) Then he took me to a travel agent. The first one was really dodgey so I left, the second was closed and the Third was Unseen Travel.
The lady was very nice and spoke english quite well and I told her that I had 3 weeks in Thailand. She planned out the whole thing and told me the total was 32,000 baht for 20 days.
THis sounded great at the time but I didn't have enough money and needed to transfer funds so she said I could put down a deposit and then pay the rest in Chiang Mai.
I put down 10,000 and then said I would come back the next day for another installment.

After sleeping on it I realised what i'd done and the next day got the hotel (who had actually told me Unseen was good) to call up and I asked if I could get my money back. She said it was okay so I went and got it back which I actually found really suprising, and now that i'm travelling independently I couldn't be happier or stress free!

Long story short - Travel independently! So easy to get on a bus or train and if you miss one you only have to wait up to an hour for the next! Book things from the places you are rather than in advance. Pretty much everything Rinus said.
And perhaps invest in a travel guide such as the Lonley planet

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written by Dirk Vdv, Wed 10 Feb 2010 20:01:29 CST

We also had a very bad experience with Unseen Travel Agency. We give everyone a good piece of advice: don’t believe what people tell you in the streets (the friendly lady must have worked for the agency), think twice and never book immediately at an agency you don’t know. Check it first out on the internet and go back afterwards. And always pay with visa, even if they are charging 10% extra for it.

Please read our blog and share the url with everyone you know. This kind of practises must stop. The sooner the better.

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=181019611&blogId=526437620

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written by Thai, Sun 07 Mar 2010 14:54:39 CST

Comment 44 I think you very bad personality, we smile it, do not meet what you thing, don't say every people same. So if you have bad feeling about Thailand, we not welcome you.

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written by Somchai, Sun 07 Mar 2010 15:05:02 CST

to be fairy, Dirk Vdv, no say EVERYBODI, she say "what people tell you" I Thai,and Iknow beleiver what Thai people tell yu.

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written by Me, Tue 16 Mar 2010 08:39:40 CDT

There's a fake TAT office right across the road from the central train station, or was in 2003 when I was there. I was over charged for places that were nothing like in the pics etc..! The building even had a permanent TAT sign over the entrance and was highly visible. Just shows that corruption is rife in Thailand and you shouldn't expect that people in other countries have the same morals as we in the West do. Quite the opposite actually as they seem to pride themselves in ripping off foreigners, as you'll find is the rule in most of the non-Western world, but more so in Thailand than most places.

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written by Mark Owen, Tue 16 Mar 2010 11:02:26 CDT

@Me, fair point. By the way, the scam with more complaints then nearly every other thread (on this web site) put together is a farang scam (holiday club)!

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written by BoomBoom, Thu 13 May 2010 12:36:03 CDT

@Me, I know exactly which you are talking about. It is still there as of December 09. We had a "helpful" cabby trying to take us there to get us sorted with train and ferry tickets. Why would I want to book a train ticket from them when I was on my way to the train station when they get their tickets themselves?

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written by boobmboom, Sat 15 May 2010 15:47:53 CDT

?????????????????????????????

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written by Erykah, Tue 09 Nov 2010 18:47:18 CST

2010 and unseen are still operating.

We just got back from the holiday from hell.. also newbies to Asia, having read-up a lot about scams we were not prepared for this.

We were taken by tuk-tuk to unseen travel in Pathumwan, Bangkok, where everything looked legit, we checked licensing etc and everything seemed fine, they even checked us into a non-insect infested hotel for a reasonable price so everything started out great.

We paid 91,000 baht for 3 flights (2 of us) and supposedly all of our hotels, food, tours etc. The s### hit the fan when she told us to come back and get the final details after we checked into our hotel.

We went back to get 'details' of which there were none, scribbles (I mean this literally, un-readable!) on bits of paper, no addresses no matter how much we tried, not even the name of the hotel in some cases, not even flight reservation numbers or anything. She even started to get aggressive with us when I tried pushing for details. We were very VERY lucky we managed to find an English speaking person to help us even confirm we had flights booked!! We were so scared about the reservation I canceled my credit card thinking they would try and charge it again.

The first low-blow was our 'English speaking tour-guide' spoke NO English, not even enough for us to ask for the bathroom.

Then, amazingly, we were actually picked up for transfers to Siem Reap, not by the 'luxury bus' we were told but a mini van that was full. The transfers were messy with no instructions of what to do, and running late (to the point others missed their next transfer).

We get to Siem reap, again with a shared car not the private car we were told and dropped at a backpacker hostel not the 4 star hotel we were promised. Our tour guide was fantastic though which was about the best part of Cambodia. Oh she also booked our flights so we would be in cambodia 4 days and 3 nights however she only booked accommodation for 2 nights so we had to pay further.

Amazingly our flights went without a hitch (even had checked luggage which we thought would be forgotten considering how the rest of the trip had been going).

So we arrive in Ho Chi Minh and the hotel that had been booked didnt exist, nor did the number she gave us for our 'tour guide' so again, we had to pay more!

Next, flights to Hanoi. once again no tour guide to pick us up so we took a stab in the dark and went to the "Hanoi View", turns our there are 2 and guess what, we were not at the right one, no we were to be staying at the disgusting 'city gate' (a sister hotel and a downgrade so unbelievable you wouldnt think it would be the same chain) which had a hole in the shower so water peed everywhere, stained sheets with holes in them, a broken computer, oh and musn't forget the cockroaches. checked out of here asap and had to pay AGAIN.

SO, now that we are back in Australia I am going through my credit card company (EVERYONE make sure you get a gold card for amazing legal benefits etc) to try and recoup some money as we estimate we were overcharged by at LEAST $900

Word of advice for anyone looking to do Thailand-Cambodia-Vietnam.. you DO NOT need a travel agent it can all be done easily, safely and most definitely cheaply online by yourself! Had we of known this we would have had a much easier, WAY cheaper and less stressful holiday

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written by jb, Thu 11 Nov 2010 23:15:41 CST

Just happened us today, so is there any way at all we can get out money back, 60,000 THB, we are here for 6 more weeks, so we have time to try everything.

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written by Jboy, Fri 12 Nov 2010 17:57:25 CST

Another bad experince. Same government official led to government tuk-tuk and we ended in Unseen travel!
Now in Krabi in terrible hotel waiting to getback to Bangkok to 4 starhotel for consolation and wash off the bad experiences from our South Thailand tour.
I have been travelling a lot but first time got cheated by government travel agency.
Due to long flight and jet lag we were too easily led by friendly thai people.
I tried to reach them by e-mail, no reply, stating that if our wishes were not fulfilled we would raise the issue in public in our country.
No effect so far.
I wonder how they can go on this scamming when so many people are complaining?
Atleast we learned the lesson!

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written by Angelo, Fri 12 Nov 2010 18:15:50 CST

"Atleast we learned the lesson!"

Many thanks for the comment, I hope not to learn this lesson!

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written by dejenlo volver, Tue 23 Nov 2010 21:48:42 CST

yes, this is a scam! they lie to you and they charge you WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much for horrible tours and places to stay. NEVER GO TO UNSEEN TRAVEL IN BANGKOK. it´s a scam. they steal from you. do not trust "tourist police" who tell you the temples are closed and send you to different ones because they work with these bullshit travel agents.

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written by Leo, Tue 07 Dec 2010 01:16:25 CST

We also are ripped on november 16th by Unseen travel at Bangkok. Natascha, a wel spoken indian girl ripped us with a smile on her face. DONT DO BUISINESS WITH UNSEEN TRAVEL!!!!! They steal from you! The trip we booked was well arranged but the price we paid was doubled. Due to long flight and jet lag we were too easily led by friendly thai people. It was for them a peace of cake to cheat us. That lesson is learned.

Watch out....

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written by Pete and Donna, Wed 12 Jan 2011 21:23:02 CST

We got scammed....TODAY by them......and yesterday....BUT we leave tomorrow so there is NOTHING we can do....we paid $4,800.00 to get into dreamworld and the crocodile park and spent over 8 hrs in a Bus in the last 48 hrs (normally it would have only taken 30-40 mins by taxi we spent over 2 and a half hrs ea way)
and normally it would have only cost us 2,000 baht.
I learnt a $100.00AU lesson today..... (how much extra it cost us)
BUT I will make sure I let everyone know....

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written by Rebecca, Sat 19 Feb 2011 10:12:09 CST

I fell for the same thing...I went to Unseen Travel two days ago and booked a night bus from Bangkok to Krabi. I booked my hotel and tour in Krabi independently, thankfully, but I ended up paying 1, 500 baht for the bus. I supposedly leave today at 5:30pm, and the bus shouls pick me up at their office. Has anyone else had a similar experience...will the bus actually come, or should I head to the bus station and buy a legitimate ticket, even though I end up losing $45.00CAD? Please advise!

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written by Michael, Thu 24 Feb 2011 06:29:57 CST

Hey rebeca! How was the Bus ride?

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written by Mr me, Fri 25 Feb 2011 14:00:53 CST

Thailand = LOS = Land of Smiles = Land of Scams, but you will find this is in every country tho (SCAMS) before i left to go to thailand in 2008 i reed up on every thing, im still here & i live in Phuket, ive never been scamed here as i know all there tricks That i read about b-4 i came here, ive never got in a tuk-tuk, i never buy things if it has no price tag on it ect ect ect. WAKE-UP People the world we live in these days is just about MONEY MONEY MONEY. its so esay to book bus/air/train/hotels ect on the day you want to travel, you dont need a tour-op to do this for you,(Dont be Lazy) if you go to a any country with your eyes closed you will be scamed/robbed as most do, i Love it here in Phuket every day its hot hot hot Fantasic i say, better than my country cold & sad people every where governments that scam/rob you with high taxes, Pls People read up where ever you are traveling to & think! then you wont get scamed/robbed. happy Holidays to all B-Safe out there as its a wicket world we live in today. PS if you want to know more about Thailand/Phuket Pls send $1,000 to you" This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ....

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written by Matty, Wed 16 Mar 2011 06:17:20 CDT

there's a lot of whining going on here. Lets FACE FACTS.

You enter the Unseen Travel office of your own free will. You sit down with your friendly travel agent of your own free will. You LISTEN and READ the offer and travel details put in front of you by your friendly travel agent. You accept it, some of you even negotiate and haggle the price down. Sooner rather than later, you have AGREED a fee for your travel tickets and hotels.
In MANY cases, you have just saved yourself the hassle of finding and booking hotels, good locations and transport. You may well have paid MORE by using Unseen Travel than if you go and do it all yourself. YOU are in THEIR country, using THEIR service, from your OWN free will. You want them to make NO PROFIT from selling you a holiday package? Time to grow up, get real and face facts.
I have used Unseen Travel many times and have never had problems, hotel reservations always fine, transport on time and so forth. Admittedly this has always been for travel within Thailand. My only ADVICE is to check and confirm all details BEFORE you AGREE TO PAY for their SERVICES.

Now, go and enjoy Thailand :)

Cheers

Matty

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written by Rudy, Wed 16 Mar 2011 12:10:42 CDT

Just GOOGLE "unseen travel" .. then decide if they are a scam operation.

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written by PHILHAL2, Sat 19 Mar 2011 06:13:12 CDT

I guess if there is one good comment about something , then they are an employee , owner , or vendor.
Thai is right , they dont welcome you unless there is a $ in it for them . Smiles in Thailand are rare unless the $ is shining . To many people are sucked in by these beautiful people . Unfortunately they forget the old sayings , "Beauty is only skin deep" so check the depth before getting involved .
What we get today is the same as everywhere else the Americans went for R R , greedy manipulative people who learnt their craft well from the Worlds greatest scammers , the Americans . Non believers , just visit any city that was and is used as an american R R base of operations . Many of us are victims of our own creations .

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written by Brian and johny, Mon 18 Apr 2011 11:42:07 CDT

This company name Unseen travel is very bad service. I walked on the street and met someone tell me about tour .She ask me about how long do i stay in Thailand and where i am going?. After that Tuk Tuk take me to this agent and i pay only 40 baht for TukTuk. I paid alottle of money around 35000 baht for 15 days no flight just tain and bus ferry hotel(no good and clean)..When i finish trip i came back to this scam tour and told them please break down for all the price..So that they canot breakdown to me .So i told them called to Police and call but can't help anything. I though this police is work together with unseen travel ...So crazy ,just tell every body don't do anything with this tour company..And don't trust all the people that talk on the treet...

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written by Stevany, Thu 19 May 2011 13:32:22 CDT

I just realized that me and my 2 friends are not alone in this case.. after I look this unseen travel on google..This April 15 we also got tricked by them..some of Police tourist direct us to go to the tourist information center, and we jus feel my hypnotized by the staff of this travel, and we agree when we said that we want to go to Pattaya...we paid for 1 person 1,200 baht each, so paid 3600 baht, and realized that we got tricked by this travel, when we back to that travel, they're closed and we should go to Patayya, and what made us very angry, they picked up us with mini bus, and drop us in terminal mini bus station, and together with local passengers, and we saw the ticket about 300-500 baht, and after that they drop us in some street and some mini bus picked up us at the hotel and its very near. And when we want to back from Pattaya to airport, they picked up us with some bad car and i think it's staff's travel car, because he with his wife, and drop us in bus terminal, and they give us ticket, and the ticket price only 125 baht....:( it's made us have bad experience with this Unseen Travel and "the police tourist" and tuk-tuk who drove us to that travel. That's my first experience went to Bangkok and got tricked!

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written by Irish, Sun 26 Jun 2011 19:40:28 CDT

I too got scammed by Unseen Travel. Two of my friends had booked our whole holiday with them the day before I arrived, from the get go they were over charging them for "1st class accomadtion". The travel agent named Jack had a reassuring smile and very good english so I went along with it but opted for a cheaper package which was still way too much.

on our trip everything went wrong, tickets were missing for boat rides that we had already paid for accomadtion was horrible and when we rang him asking could we go to Koh Tao a day earlier he went mad saying that Koh Tao was not part of our package and all this crap.
He was very ignorant and rude on the phone and he hung up on me. litteraly he took our money and left us high and dry.

Please steer clear of this place. Book things as you go along and deffinitly dont do a package deal, well not fromn this company anyway.

This is the only bad experience iv had from Thailand and found everyone else friendly and helpful.
It is a beautiful country but just be very wary of who you trust.

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written by EnglishTraveller, Sun 24 Jul 2011 22:04:06 CDT

Matty,

The dispute isn't purely on the cost. It's also on service.

We can't question that this company charges excessive amounts. That is just fact.

The most important fact is when you pay for something you expect to receive it. Not be given a load of lies & mistreatment.

When you pay a substantial amount of money on a holiday and have been reassured by the travel agent that they are there for you all the way, yet when crunch time comes they leave you high & dry. How can you justify a good service. It's wonderful that you had a good experience with Unseen Travel. But the sad truth is that most people have a miserable time due to wrong bookings with flights, transfers & hotels.

I was dumped on the side of a freeway 40km from my hotel in Patong, Phuket. This was after a bodged journey that was meant to be a direct VIP coach from Bangkok to Patong. Instead it turned out to be 2 coaches, the back of a pick up truck and then a final taxi which I had to pay for extra. Plus the ridiculous waiting times between each transport phase. The final taxi came after a 5km walk with a big ruck sac to find civilisation. A journey that was only meant to take 12 hours in total took over 24.

Unfortunately 3 days into my my stay in Patong I was hit by a motorbike. The injuries which seemed superficial soon became infected in the tropical heat. After going to hospital I made the difficult decision to head home & this is when the final headache came.

This meant that I was now cancelling all the remaining accommodation, transfers & excursions I'd pre-paid for. A total of about BHT 25,000. (£600)

Despite the fact that I know none of the remaining elements of my holiday had been paid for by Unseen Travel (I know this as I was travelling with 2 friends who experienced continuous problems throughout the remainder of their holiday with incorrect reservations, missing boat & bus transfers, plus wrong flight details) they refused to give me any refund what so ever. Even when consulting them about an itemised breakdown for my insurance company they could not give this.

**** I am now back in the UK and had a look at my credit card bill which is the method I chose to pay with Unseen Travel. A second transaction on the same day was made from my card & I now have the fraud services from my bank looking into this. An extra £300 went missing. Considering this is the only time I used my credit card throughout the whole holiday it seems pretty obvious who decided to steal money from me ****

My advice to anyone looking to take some of the stress out of your trip by booking with a travel agent. DO NOT BOOK WITH UNSEEN TRAVEL.

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