The REAL Hanoi Kids ask you to beware of imposters!
Jun 8th, 2013, 04:32 PM
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The REAL Hanoi Kids ask you to beware of imposters!
I want to share this email from the Hanoi kids. We really enjoyed our afternoon with them and want to encourage Hanoi bound visitors to contact them. However, there seem to be issues with imposters.
"Having taken part in one of our tours, you must certainly know the aim of our group. It is to provide our volunteers with a chance to practice their English and meet new friends from every part of the world. More importantly, we hope to introduce you to our culture in the most authentic manner, without being influenced by either money or politics. In short, this organization was founded and is now operated based on the good will of a group of young people with a love for their city.
However, recently there have been some fake websites with the same name, logo, web interface etc. which try to ruin the reputation that we have had to work for years in order to achieve. They appear genuine to many tourists who try to book a tour with them. Through some investigation, we have found out their trick: the booking requests are usually responded to nicely, but then the tour guides never show up. On the occasion that they do appear, the tour will then be conducted in a careless manner. This has left many tourists confused and disappointed. Some let it go but with a very bad impression about Hanoikids, some go to traveling websites and leave bad reviews. By doing this, not only have they seriously affected our group’s name, but they also create a bad image in the minds of travelers of a city with bad service and dishonest people.
We are working hard to find out who is behind this and what their motives might be. However, right now we need your help. If you recommend our group to family and friends who are traveling to Hanoi, please remind them we only have ONE OFFICIAL WEBSITE which is www.hanoikids.org and ONE email address for tour bookings which is [email protected]. Please be aware that the following websites www.hanoikidstours.com, www.hanoikids.com are NOT affiliated with our HanoiKids and the email address [email protected] is NOT a valid or official email address for HanoiKids. All web/email addresses other than the ones first mentioned above are NOT ours. You can also help by spreading the message on TripAdvisor and other media, so that other tourists will know and not fall for their trick.
Thank you so much for spending some time to read this email. We would really appreciate it if you could help us out in this matter.
We wish you all the best.
Hanoikids
"Having taken part in one of our tours, you must certainly know the aim of our group. It is to provide our volunteers with a chance to practice their English and meet new friends from every part of the world. More importantly, we hope to introduce you to our culture in the most authentic manner, without being influenced by either money or politics. In short, this organization was founded and is now operated based on the good will of a group of young people with a love for their city.
However, recently there have been some fake websites with the same name, logo, web interface etc. which try to ruin the reputation that we have had to work for years in order to achieve. They appear genuine to many tourists who try to book a tour with them. Through some investigation, we have found out their trick: the booking requests are usually responded to nicely, but then the tour guides never show up. On the occasion that they do appear, the tour will then be conducted in a careless manner. This has left many tourists confused and disappointed. Some let it go but with a very bad impression about Hanoikids, some go to traveling websites and leave bad reviews. By doing this, not only have they seriously affected our group’s name, but they also create a bad image in the minds of travelers of a city with bad service and dishonest people.
We are working hard to find out who is behind this and what their motives might be. However, right now we need your help. If you recommend our group to family and friends who are traveling to Hanoi, please remind them we only have ONE OFFICIAL WEBSITE which is www.hanoikids.org and ONE email address for tour bookings which is [email protected]. Please be aware that the following websites www.hanoikidstours.com, www.hanoikids.com are NOT affiliated with our HanoiKids and the email address [email protected] is NOT a valid or official email address for HanoiKids. All web/email addresses other than the ones first mentioned above are NOT ours. You can also help by spreading the message on TripAdvisor and other media, so that other tourists will know and not fall for their trick.
Thank you so much for spending some time to read this email. We would really appreciate it if you could help us out in this matter.
We wish you all the best.
Hanoikids
Jun 9th, 2013, 06:54 AM
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VN is the home of the travel company imitators. Remember back when VN was first opening up and the LP guide recommend the SInh Cafe as good low-cost travel agents? There were soon storefronts that said Sinh Cafe on every corner. I remember seeing storefronts next to each other that said Sinh Cafe! And when the Prince Hotel got good reviews, there were another 20 Prince hotels that sprang up in Hanoi alone. So since Hanoi Kids has gotten good review, I'm not surprised to hear this has happened.
We've had some "Hanoi Kids" (and DaNang Kids) spam on this board, I wonder if it was the imitators.
Anyway, a good reminder of buyer beware for VN.
We've had some "Hanoi Kids" (and DaNang Kids) spam on this board, I wonder if it was the imitators.
Anyway, a good reminder of buyer beware for VN.
