Singer Shawn Tok says China authorities made tour agency refund group in full after they were pressured by guide to buy items during Chengdu tour

SINGAPORE: Last week, the singer Shawn Tok took to Instagram stories to share the ordeal he and 22 other tourists experienced during a visit to China last month.

In his post, Mr Tok, who won the Campus SuperStar competition in 2007, alleged that during their nine-day tour, their guide brought them to a number of shops in Chengdu and pressured them to purchase such items as herbal medicines, silverware, jade, and combs.

”The tour guide literally wouldn’t let us leave the store until we hit his sales quota,” he said.

Mr Tok, 31, added that it reached a point where the guide shouted at the tourists, although during other times he behaved in a passive-aggressive manner to those who declined to buy anything.

Even when the group shelled out a total of 105,000 yuan (S$19,000), “It still wasn’t enough,” the singer said.

And when some tourists would doze off during the bus rides, the guide would force them to wake up so they could listen to his sales pitch.

To make matters worse, when 16 tourists wanted to take a break for two days as they were tired from the trips, which started early in the morning, they were not allowed by the tour agency.

Even when Mr Tok said that some had gotten sick and were vomiting, a guide said to him, “It’s fine, you can puke in the car, I don’t care.”

Fortunately, when they reported the matter to the authorities, they took their side and had the agency give everyone a refund in full, amounting to around S$20,000. AsiaOne noted that there has been a spate of similar cases of budget tour agencies taking advantage of victims.

Mr Tok has also spoken to Shin Min Daily News about the incident, saying that it was not his first time taking a tour in China and that his previous experience in Chongqing had been a positive one.

And even on this most recent tour, things were all right on the first two days.

“However, from day three, when we were on the way back to Chengdu from Jiu Zhai Valley National Park, he would make multiple stops at shops selling silverware, jade jewellery, and Traditional Chinese Medicine,” he said.

His father, Mr Tok, added, bought jade jewellery for 7,000 yuan (S$1,200) and then another piece for 5,000 yuan (S$910) after the guide refused to allow the group to leave. The singer’s father ended up buying another piece, as did one of their friends.

The guide allegedly told the group that they would have to spend two hours in the shop if they did not meet the sales quota.

After being helped by the authorities, Mr Tok and their group continued on their tour on their own, without engaging the services of another guide. /TISG

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