MELAKA: A group of 21 individuals claimed to have been duped out of RM135,000 by an Umrah travel agent.
The group’s spokesperson, Mastura A Ghani, 59, said her husband paid about RM31,000 to buy five Umrah packages from Feb 13 to Feb 23.
“Each of us purchased an Umrah package priced at RM6,550 each after the company offered the package in August, last year.
“I performed the Umrah pilgrimage with the same company previously but this time, I never expected that they would come up with so many excuses after settling our payment,” she said after holding a press conference at the Ayer Keroh state constituency's service centre on Monday (April 1).
Melaka State Legislative Assembly Deputy Speaker Kerk Chee Yee was also present.
Mastura said her 59-year-old husband Azman Rahim agreed to purchase the second Umrah package offered by the company because of the steep discount given by the company.
"The payment was made through monthly instalments and the final payment was settled on Dec 15, last year," she said.
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Mastura from Taman Chempaka here, said the company also held two Umrah courses and issued the offer letter on Dec 9, last year to convince them.
"On Feb 11, two days before we were supposed to fly to Saudi Arabia, the company’s management informed us that the flight was postponed to Feb 20 because it was fully booked.
"The company then requested to postpone the flight for the second time by claiming that their staff failed to make the necessary bookings," she said.
Mastura said all of them were unable to accept the lame excuses by the company and requested a refund while a police report was lodged on March 6.
Additionally, she said a report was also made to the Consumer Claims Tribunal on March 8.
Meanwhile, Kerk said he hoped stern action would be taken against the company and advised the public to be cautious when purchasing any travel or umrah packages from unregistered travel agents.