Korean Job Discussion Forums

[John Connor]

I have had enough. Again, I got a quote from a travel agent in Seoul about a flight out of Korea. After the initial quote I expressed strong interest in purchasing only for them to come back and say they made a mistake and that the price would not be originally as quoted but some more.

Months ago, I arranged to meet my friend in Australia since, according to the website, fares to Brisbane were even cheaper than fares to Hong Kong and Thailand. So I asked about it, was told by the staff that indeed that was the price.

I planned it, told my friend and parents I was going to Brisbane and they promptly booked their own tickets. Days later I get an email saying that they couldn't get the flight as one of the legs was overbooked and instead if you still want to go to Brisbane you must go on a different (700 000 more expensive) flight.

Since my friend and parents had already booked all I could do was grab my ankles and cop it.

Anyone else experience this? It sounds like a well versed scam.

Any ways to combat this?

[blackjack]

I use soho never had any problems

[fugitive chicken]

I had that problem. We tried Red Cap Travel Agency, and they quoted us 1.5 mill a piece for our flights, so we agreed, paid, and waited for our tickets. When they didn't arrive, we contacted the agency, and apparently she misquoted us by 1.2 mill won per ticket and decided not to tell us.....She offered to knock off 400k out of her own pocket. So, with 3 weeks to go before we were due to leave we cancelled our flight with them, wired money home and bought tickets online for only a couple hundred more than the cost of the first price they gave us. I really don't trust Korean travel agencies now...at least Red Cap, I feel much better just getting the tickets online and choosing my own flights.

[oldfatfarang]

Underquoting flights is a widespread practice in the travel industry. As is advertising a very cheap fare that either doesn't exist, or is only 1 seat per month on that flight leg etc. This isn't stricly illegal, but it's certainly not ethical.

These are just variations of the "Foot in the Door" sales technique. That is, the door-to-door salesman quotes an attractively low price, but after you've invited them into your house to inspect the product, they jack the price up to retail (or more).

Psychologists say this old sales trick works because the low price encourages you to inspect the item - and in so doing, you "activate your intension to purchase." Once you've made your decision it takes a lot of will power to refuse to buy the item (at the new inflated price).

All sales people know this sales trick: In fact, the most common two sales techniques are: "Foot in the Door" - and it's opposite: "Door in the Face."

I remember guys in business suits in the first two rows of my psych lectures. It turned out that they were insurance salesman, so you gotta watch them, too.

Good luck finding cheap fares from Korea. It's a closed shop.

[conrad2]

Bait and switch is rampant in Korea and doesnt seem to be illegal either.

[AsiaESLbound]

American sites sometimes do it too, but only before you have paid. If you don't like the 1.5x to 2x higher bait and switch price on the check out page, you can back out of the deal at the click of a mouse in real time. No sweat off of my back. Wash, rinse, and repeat with out having to call anyone for a refund. Refunds are difficult to impossible to get without paying a huge fee should you want a refund, but seats are confirmed as soon as you pay.

Why don't Korean agents have computerized real time purchase confirmation systems? Why don't they issue the E-ticket upon paying for it on such a system? Do they sell seats they anticipate will become available at the last minute at a profit based on previous trends? And when said hypothetical seats don't appear, you owe more money to ensure they do. Sounds like kwap service to me. I asked a co-teacher about this and she immediately said it was a horrible system that needs to be changed.

[John Connor]

[oldfatfarang]

[BoholDiver]

What I don't understand is how that's legal. As soon as the money has been paid, the ticket should belong to the customer. So they undercharged? Too frickin' bad. The sale is final.

I have gotten reasonable tickets out of Korea, but nothing stellar. 550,000 to Phuket via HK, inc. tax. Like that.

[AsiaESLbound]

[BoholDiver]

The correct solution to that is to go back to the store and demand a refund. Then she made no sales.

The police would probably side with her. Not b/c of her being Korean persay, but b/c Korea doesn't have good laws to protect consumers. Samsung wouldn't have it.