Agent disappears after being ordered to pay back clients (and allegedly owing franchisor 40K)
A Kiwi travel agent has gone rogue after being found to owe former clients thousands of dollars which he gambled away.
Jagadesh Gobburi, a former franchisee of Eco Travels in Auckland, has been ordered to pay back two different clients $3349 and $7700 respectively by the New Zealand government’s Disputes Tribunal, according to Stuff.
One of the clients had paid Gobburi for plane tickets to India which were never booked. The other customer used Eco Travel’s money remittance service, Eco Remit, to send funds to family in India, which never turned up.
The order said Gobburi “admitted that he has a gambling problem and has gambled money paid by his customers instead of remitting it to the franchisor”, and found that Eco Travels was not jointly liable.
However, both clients told Stuff that they are yet to receive the required payments from Gobburi.
Meanwhile, Eco Travels said it has terminated the agent’s franchisee contract, but are unsure of his whereabouts, and claims Gobburi owes the company around $40,000.
“Due to him, we have not only incurred a loss, but it has also affected our business,” the company’s spokesperson told Stuff.
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
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Jagadesh Gobburi has Australia Permanent Residency, it seems, so he might return to Australia soon, to make more victims.
Some one should stop this guy.