Consumer Protection BC suspended the travel licence and froze the bank accounts of Sinorama Travel Vancouver Inc. August 8 after an inspection revealed a troublingly low amount of working capital, meaning there was a possibility the company would not be able to pay tour operators, airlines and hotels to ensure their clients received the services they paid for.
“What we found concerned us,” Tatiana Chabeaux-Smith, spokesperson for Consumer Protection BC, told the Richmond News.
“If a company doesn’t have enough money they may not be able to meet their future obligations. Seeing that kind of thing is a red flag for us. It could put people at risk.”
In this case, travellers may have paid Sinorama for their holidays but Sinorama may not have paid the hotels and tour operators.
A notice of licence suspension was issued to Sinorama CEO Xiwang Wang, explaining the action was a matter of public interest.
Langley resident Barb Taylor booked and paid for a vacation with Sinorama and is alleging the company failed to book parts of her trip.
Taylor was looking forward to a holiday to Vietnam with her partner and two other couples in October. But then, she saw an alert online that customers like her who booked with Sinorama were at risk of not getting the services they paid for.
“They weren’t answering their phone, so I Googled ‘Sinorama’ to see if I was dialing the right number … and I found [the warning],” she told the Richmond News.
She learned that Sinorama booked her return flight from Vancouver to Vietnam, but she could not find confirmed tickets for her internal flight between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
She contacted her hotel in Hanoi, and was told they had no record of her reservation.
Consumer Protection BC is advising anyone who booked with Sinorama to check directly with airlines, hotels and other service providers in destination countries to ensure Sinorama actually booked their travel.
“We don’t even know who our tour operators are,” Taylor said. “Sinorama hadn’t told us.”
Sinorama has not returned the Richmond News’ requests for comment.
Taylor drove to Sinorama’s Richmond offices only to find the door locked and a notice of licence suspension taped to it. Since then, a notice that the office space is for rent has been added to the door.
“Why did you collect my money … when you knew you were in trouble?” Taylor asked.
It is not clear why the travel company did not have enough cash, even though it collected payments from customers.
Taylor paid Sinorama about $3,000 back in March. She paid the remainder, bringing the total for her and her partner to about $4,000, August 4.
Four days later, Consumer Protection BC served Sinorama its suspension.
Now Taylor is trying to piece together which parts of her vacation have been booked.
“What do you do? Because we have plane tickets but nowhere to stay. How do you get from one city to the other? It’s an 18 hour drive,” she said.
She’s debating whether to still go to Vietnam, a destination that originally piqued her interest because of its enchanting landscapes. Her group has already bought their non-refundable visas for entry.
Chabeaux-Smith said customers who can’t find confirmation their travel was booked should contact their credit card companies or their travel insurance providers to see if Sinorama’s charges can be reversed.
Taylor has contacted her credit card company. The tough part, she said, is that they told her she’d have to wait. They can only give her money back if Sinorama declares bankruptcy or if the date of her planned travel passes and service was not delivered.
Chabeaux-Smith said B.C.’s provincial government has a fund to reimburse travellers whose services were not delivered, but only if they booked with a provincially licensed travel agent—which Sinorama used to be.
Consumer Protection BC is continuing to monitor the situation and is posting information for affected Sinorama customers on its website.
