Prague - It was supposed to be a beautiful family holiday at the seaside, and children were looking forward to travelling by plane for the first time in their life. Instead, the family Vícha from Prague and their friends will have to stay at home, and they fear whether they will ever see their money back.
The family is among thousands of disappointed clients of Tomi tour, a travel agency that went out of business 10 days ago without the means to refund those who had paid for the holiday that would not happen. What made Zuzana Víchová, the mother, even more furious than the other holidaymakers is that she paid for the trip only two hours before the company closed its branches for good and announced its bankruptcy.
"They must have known we were not going on any holiday," says Mrs Víchová. "We asked them about Tomi tour's difficulties and the branch employee told us he would bet his life that everything was fine. He accepted CZK 27,000 from us. They lied into our faces, they must have anticipated this."
The family of four paid a total of CZK 37,000 to go to Hurghada in Egypt in October, including a CZK 10,000 deposit paid earlier. The travel agent told them in early July that this favourable price was available if they paid the whole amount by 17 July, i.e. the day the company shut shop.
"We were to go together with friends, who took the same trip with Tomi last year and were very satisfied - so we decided to join them this year," says Mrs Víchová. "We don't go to seaside every year; usually once in three years, when we manage to save up."
Víchová thinks agent cheated
The shock came during the Friday night television news, which reported that Tomi tour was yet another travel agency gone bankrupt. "I almost had a stroke. I know there are worse things that can happen to you, but I admit I was destroyed," says Mrs Víchová.
Her family had for a long time hesitated whether to pay at all, after the first reports about problems with accommodation some Tomi clients had encountered abroad. "Everyone told us the problems were not serious, including at the association of travel agencies. Who else can I believe?" says Mrs Víchová, who in the end decided to take the risk and paid.
She is now convinced that the travel agency cheated their clients, and she wants to tell police her family had become victims of fraud. "On Monday I'll go and file a crime report," she says.
Her suspicion is fuelled by the speed with which the travel agency managed to terminate its business. "At 3pm they accepted our money; at 5pm their phones were already disconnected and their website was down. That is strange, isn't it?"
The Víchas are not sure whether they will get their money back. "We have sent all paperwork to the insurance company and will wait and see. That is another strange thing - the agency is insured with a Slovak insurer, so we now have to send registered mail to Bratislava. So far we haven't heard back from them."
