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Pattaya Travellers: Beware of Maneerat Transport & Travel (on Soi Post Offi


hunghung

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In March, 08, I took a 7 days/6 nights Cambodia package tour with Maneerat Transport & Travel in Pattaya for 31,000 Baht and that was a horrible experience. When you are in Pattaya, don't go to this "dark travel house" for your travel needs.

 

Here are the mishaps:

 

1. Visa Scam: When I arrived at a restaurant near the border at Poi Pet, an agent working for Maneerat asked me for 1200B visa cost plus his 100B handling fee (this fee was never mentioned by Maneerat). I asked him if I could pay US$20 (which was the info I had on the visa cost), but he said no. Unwillingly, I paid him 1300B. (1200 Baht is almost twice of US$20.)

 

Later, I asked some experienced travellers in Thailand about the visa cost issue and they confirmed I was ripped off.

 

2. Exchange Scam: After I had passed Cambodian immigration, the driver took the group on the bus to a currency exchange place nearby. He told us exchange places were closed in the weekend (that day was Friday) in Siem Reap and we had better get our exchange there. I found out later that there were plenty of exchange shops in Siem Reap that open 7 days a week. I did my homework and knew US$1 can get about 3,900 Cambodian Riels. That place quoted me the rate of US$1 to 3,200 Riels, which was a total ripoff. Of course, I did no exchange in the shop. Unfortunately, other people on the bus did some exchanges for their Bhat and US$.

 

3. Tour Not as Described: The tour was not what was described in the tour program. Among many unsatisfactory things, I was left stranded in Sihanoukville (Cambodia) when no one picked me up to return to Pattaya. I had to get back to Pattaya on my own!

 

Again, don't go to this "dark travel house" for your travel needs.

 

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ddave,

 

If the information had been posted by an existing registered member, and I dont mean post count, then I would probably not be so sceptical. But for someone to register at 07:09 on 19/04/2008 and to make this their first post at 07:12 on the same day makes me a little suspicious.

 

 

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It's 'oft said that I'm a Dum Cnut....even by ME...

 

but ANYONE using "Tour / Travel Agents" in the first place...I rest my case!!!!!

 

:rotl::rotl::rotl::banghead::cussing::banghead::rotl::rotl::rotl:

 

dddave, as you well know, I respect your opinions, but in this situation....Hmmmmm

 

Me thinks that the "stroppy" "agro" "high roller" cheap bottle of Thai "plonk"....(sorry Mekong. just trying to wind up "Munchie")....lol.... :grinyes::grinyes::neener::grinyes::grinyes:

 

has hit the nail on the head with this one.....

 

Who wants to grind "Axes" when there are so many very sweet "Axe wounds" that are a much better option to grind??????

 

So...the OP got done for 20 far can $$....wow...big scam..... let's tell the world and get these thieving pricks shut down... :cussing::cussing::boxing::boxing::cussing::cussing:

 

Maybe the OP will kindly tell us the whole...(or is that "Hole") story....

 

...until then....I'm with Mekong on this one

 

 

Cheers DS

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It wouldn't surprise me at all that the OP's post is completely accurate, although Maneerat Travel may not be fully aware of the way their clients are treated by their sub agents further down the track. Let them know in no uncertain terms, and that you are publishing the scam gaining them adverse publicity. Maybe they'll make some changes???

 

Sad fact of life but the first thing you should do when visitng a new country is to use search engines on popular travel sites such as Lonley Planet's Thorn Tree forum, use key word "scam"

 

Search the archives here at thai360. I posted recently about the above ripoffs at land border crossings especially Poipet.

"4. Get an evisa for Cambodia. At current exchange rates, it beats the hassles of immigration mafia at land border crossings, who ask for anything from 1000 -1200 baht for visa. If flying to PP, then you need a $20 note, but may have to queue. Up2u."

 

Need Quick Help

 

:beer:

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The tour itself (not considering the visa and exchange scams) was a total ripoff and I am certain that Maneerat intended to give me a sour deal. Here is what I wrote to Ministry of Tourism and Sports (the agent to complain regarding travel agents):

 

"in March 2008, I visited Pattaya and I took a 7 days/6 nights Cambodia package tour (by road) for 31,000 Baht with Maneerat (copy of receipt available). The tour was supposed to go from Pattaya to Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, and Koh Kong, and then return to Pattaya. The price was supposed to include tour guides and all meals in Cambodia (copy of the tour program available). Here are the major mishaps:

 

1. Siem Reap (2 nights): Before I paid for the tour, Maneerat showed me the brochure of the hotel which I was supposed to stay in Siem Reap. It is an almost brand new hotel called Monoreach Angkor Hotel (I have the brochure). However, when I arrived in Siem Reap (on March 7), the Siem Reap travel agent sent me to stay in Neak Pean Hotel, which is a very old hotel (although the front was renovated to look new).

 

2. Phnom Penh (2 nights): When I arrived in Phnom Penh by boat (on March 9), the driver hired by the above Siem Reap agent drove me to the hotel booked. However, the hotel didnâ??t have the booking record. Since the hotel was full, the driver and I had to look for hotel accommodation, wasting the very limited time I had in the city. In addition to the hotel mishap, it turned out that the driver was just a driver, not a tour guide. He just dropped me at attractions without any explanation of the attractions (a tour guide would walk with me and provide a fair amount of explanation).

 

3. Sihanoukville (2 nights): This was the most awful part. In Phnom Penh, I asked the driver about arrangements in Sihanoukville and Koh Kong. He said he and the above Siem Reap agent were only responsible for the Siem Reap/Phnom Penh part of the tour and he knew nothing about the rest of the tour, except providing me a public bus ticket to Sihanoukville. I was frustrated. I called and emailed Maneerat to find out arrangements for the rest of the tour. According to the tour program, I was supposed to spend 1 night in Sihnaoukville and 1 night in Koh Kong, with a guided tour in both places. To my great dissatisfaction, Maneerat informed me through emails (I still have the emails) that I would NOT visit Koh Kong and I would spend the last 2 nights of the tour at Holiday Palace Resort in Sihanoukville. Furthermore, there would be NO tour guide, NO transport to the hotel, and NO meals (except breakfast provided by the hotel) while I was in Sihanoukville. When I arrived in Sihanoukville, I was on my own! Thus, the package tour was not a package tour at all, not worthy of 31,000 Baht!!! (For your information, hotel accommodation in Cambodia is around 750 Baht/night. If there is no tour guide for all or a good part of the tour, anyone who pays 31,000 Baht for a 7 days/6 nights tour is being cheated.)

 

4. Return to Pattaya: This part is unbelievable. When I was in Sihanoukville, I emailed Maneerat about transport arrangement back to Pattaya. Maneerat assured me 3 times (in 3 emails; I still have the emails) that an agent would pick me up at the hotel lobby at noon on March 13 and take me back to Pattaya. On that date, I waited, but no one came to pick me up and there were no messages for me. So I was stranded in Sihanoukville for one night (fortunately, I was able to find my way back to Pattaya myself). Thus, Maneerat failed to complete my tour. A few days later on March 18, I emailed Maneerat about this transport mishap, but I heard nothing from Maneerat, let alone an apology.

 

This horrible Cambodia tour more or less ruined my holidays. Maneerat clearly has failed to deliver its promised services and the tour was just a ripoff (only the one-day visit to Angkor Wat qualified as a guided tour). When you also consider my First Complaint about Maneeratâ??s Cambodia visa and exchange scams, you would see Maneerat is hurting tourists and giving Thailand travel industry a bad name, needing actions on your part."

 

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sorry, but no sympathy from this corner...

you may have been shoddily treated, at the very least, by the tour company but if you had cared to do even the most basic research (ie spend 10 minutes on google; ask a couple of people) you would have learned that Bt31,000 would pay for a month of travel around cambodia...

i'm also amazed that there still are people out there who are surprised when they get ripped off in pattaya...you're not whiskers/bangkok barry in disguise, are you?

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