The trail of debt and customers left stranded continues to spiral in the wake of a travel firm collapsing this week.
Alameda Travels Ltd. suddenly shut up shop Monday morning at its office in Admiralty Centre on McKim Way, just southwest of the Cambie and Garden City roads intersection.
More than a dozen customers are known to have been left almost $25,000 out of pocket by the firm's closure.
And one customer alleges Alameda's owner, Deanna Leung, forged initials to alter a cheque made out to the travel company to pay for flights to Shanghai.
"Last weekend, I went to check my bank statement and I noticed a cheque that I made out to Alameda for $2,396 had been changed to be payable to Deanna Leung," said Tingting Yao. She had forged my initials on the change, I couldn't believe it."
However, it didn't become apparent there was a problem with the two flights she'd booked until Sunday evening, when a former Alameda employee called her to say the firm had folded.
"I called the airline, China Eastern, and they said my reservations had been cancelled because Alameda owed them money," said Yao. "I don't know if I'll ever see my money again."
No one answered the door at Alameda's office and its phone number clicks directly into voicemail. Many angry customers have contacted Consumer Protection BC about the sudden closure.
The consumer watchdog, which is responsible for enforcing consumer law and issues travel firm licences, said it received a call from Alameda Monday morning to say it was "ceasing operations immediately."
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