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‘Loud music, no phone, no ID card’: Hong Kong buyers report sales tactics of travel agent

Consumer Council received 48 complaints where young people were lured and pressured into buying same South Korean resort package

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Consumer Council chief executive Gilly Wong (right) holds a press conference over the practices of a marketing agent for a South Korean resort. Photo: Handout

The Hong Kong consumer watchdog publicly named and shamed a local marketing agent of a South Korean resort on Tuesday over misleading and high-pressure sales tactics.

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The Consumer Council said it received 48 complaints against Great Time Universal (HK) in the first eight months of the year – a surge of more than four times the number of cases reported against the same company last year.

Great Time Universal claimed to be the authorised agent of Vistacay Vacation Club in South Korea.

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On Tuesday, the agent could not be reached for comment and the Post found that its office in Tsim Sha Tsui was closed for business.

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According to the council, complainants said they were forced to wait in a room filled with loud music and heavy beats, after their identity cards and credit cards were taken away for processing. They were also asked to switch off their phones.

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