A journey company known as Hi there Darlings has scammed 1000’s of purchasers in South Africa after promising luxurious holidays internationally.
About 2 500 fed-up purchasers made a bunch on Telegram on 8 March. They’re doing every little thing it takes to get their a reimbursement from what they thought could be an ideal vacation.
The group of purchasers has been frantically attempting to achieve the CEO of the corporate, however it’s turning into obvious that she might have left the nation. Many individuals have opened instances with the police and are ready for his or her case numbers. All of the contact and firm numbers beforehand used to contact the CEO are going to voice mail.
A lady who used to work for the corporate spoke to News24 and mentioned that previously, purchasers did certainly go on ‘wonderful holidays’.
She mentioned: ‘I used to be aiding her with admin for six months however as an influencer, I used to be promoting for her for just a few years now and there haven’t been any points all of the years. All of the journeys up to now have gone on as deliberate.’ The girl selected to remain nameless.
The girl left the corporate in January after many consumers didn’t get refunds. She added, ‘There are folks within the Maldives proper now with lodging not paid. I used to be being harassed for folks’s cash when we aren’t answerable for their cash as a result of all the cash went into a non-public account. Folks have been harassing us for his or her cash and refunds and we aren’t accountable for that.’
The girl claims that her circle of relatives has additionally been scammed out of cash after the CEO simply went lacking.’My mother and father, she owes them R68 000 for an America journey in December final yr and my aunt was booked for a Dubai journey and he or she is owed R60 000. My cousin is at present booked for a visit in March and he or she doesn’t know what’s going on with the journey.’
The final traceable quantity for the CEO was a Dubai mobile phone quantity which is now unreachable and her Instagram account is deleted.
Michael Rentzke, one of many members of the Telegram group, additionally spoke to News24. He had been saving up for an abroad journey for ten years. He paid Hi there Darlings R42 000 in January 2022 for a ‘particular’ to Mauritius from 18 to 25 March.
Since reserving, he solely acquired a really small quantity of knowledge from the journey company so he determined to comply with up ‘extra intensively’, after which he was ensured all was so as. It was on 7 March that ‘the time bomb lastly exploded’ after one other girl who booked on the identical journey, messaged to say that the CEO had gone off the grid. Rentzke and his spouse have been left in ‘utter shock’.
Image: Getaway gallery
ALSO READ
Get comfy: Nat Geo to air documentary about Endurance discovery