In early March this year, my sister and I wanted to book a free and easy holiday to the US for mid March, so we went to an established travel agency, Chan Brothers Travel. The trip to Portland and San Francisco was wonderful but the experience with Chan Brothers was unexpectedly disappointing.
We had enjoyed a two-night stay at the Mark Spencer hotel in Portland until we checked out. The hotel staff refused to honour the hotel voucher issued by Chan Brothers, saying that they were unaware of the arrangement. We tried explaining to them that the accommodation had been paid for in Singapore as part of the package, but to no avail. The hotel suggested we make the payment first and then seek a refund from our travel agency when we return to Singapore. As we were in a hurry to catch a flight, we had no choice but to settle the bill on our credit card.
Upon coming back to Singapore, we reported the case to Chan Brothers. We specified the refund be made to us in Sing dollar. They did manage to us get a direct refund from the hotel to our credit card but it was in US dollar and due to a difference in the exchange rate, the refund was S$15 short of what was debited. We went back to Chan Brothers but they said there was nothing they could do. They were unable to compensate us the difference. The tour officer that helped us book the tour package and whom we subsequently called, always seemed freaking impatient over the phone and in his emails, and it has been almost two weeks since he informed us that his manager would contact us on the exchange rate matter.
To Chan Brothers, S$15 may be a small sum (at least that was the impression we got) but that is not the point!!! We do not think it is fair for consumers to bear the extra cost due to miscommunications (or lack of it) between the travel agency and its hotel. The explanation given to us was there was problem with the computer system.
I thnk it might have been better to travel with the fly-by-night travel agencies at People's Park than with the cannot-make-it Chan Brothers. Or do your own booking online.
