The consumer watchdog received more than 150 complaints from customers of defunct travel agency Fantasy Tours before issuing a warning against it, a court heard yesterday.
In her testimony, lawyer Irene Bonello, who provides legal services to the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs’ Authority, defended the authority’s decision to issue the public warning on Fantasy Tours.
She said Fantasy Tours had been given several chances to remedy the situation as complaints had been flowing in since 2008 but the company opted to choose mediation for every case rather than reach settlement.
Dr Bonello was testifying in the compilation of evidence against Fantasy Tours director Karl Azzopardi, who stands accused with misappropriating his clients’ funds.
The company had accepted payments from clients up to the day it informed them, through a text message, that it was closing shop.
In a previous court sitting, a Fantasy Tours former employee blamed the authority’s warning – issued in October 2012 – as being the final nail in the operator’s coffin.
In the warning, the authority said Fantasy Tours was offering an “unsatisfactory” service and that it “failed to abide by its obligations”.
Fantasy Tours and its operators, Golden Travel Club Limited, were declared bankrupt in February last year after it was deemed as being beyond recovery. Dr Bonello stressed that the authority had every right to issue the warning on the strength of amendments to the Consumer Affairs Act. She said Fantasy Tours was not the first company the authority had issued a warning against.
Since then, the authority has issued similar warnings against other traders even with just one complaint. Dr Bonello explained that the authority had made several attempts to contact the company before issuing the warning, but an official letter was refused.
After the warning was issued, a meeting was held with Fantasy Tours to ensure that cases did not remain pending. That was when the company started gradually settling the claims.
Pending payments, she said, were finally settled by mid-July 2013, shortly before the company was wound up. She said the authority received a fresh wave of complaints after the company sent a text message informing clients it could not deliver on what it had promised.
Under cross examination, Dr Bonello said the company had made a request for the authority to withdraw the warning and instead issue a counter statement.
As the authority was considering this request, the company filed for bankruptcy before anything was done.
Brittania Tours director Noel Farrugia and KDM Travel official Joseph Cauchi also took the witness stand to explain they had been considering taking over the travel company but discussions did not go beyond the early stages.
KDM had also taken a step backward after seeing the consumer watchdog warning.
Magistrate Anthony Vella heard how the prosecution still had a list of some 200 clients who were set to testify in the case against Mr Azzopardi.
The case was put off until May. Lawyer Kris Borg appeared for Mr Azzopardi, while Franco Debono appeared as parte civile.