A MISSING ‘zero’ on its website cost Taipei-based Lion Travel Service more than NT$500,000 (US$16,500) in losses when a number of online customers signed up for an erroneously priced tour of the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route in Japan.
The four-day package, which takes travellers on a mountain-sightseeing route between Tateyama, Toyama and Omachi in Nagano, was supposed to have been priced at NT$24,900 per pax.
Instead, the tour was priced at NT$2,490 per pax and published on Lion Travel’s website at 23.00 on September 29.
By the time the error was rectified at the start of the next working day, 24 online customers had already booked the tour, according to Liu Leng-Hon, a vice president at Lion Travel.
Explaining the decision to honour the transactions, Liu said: “Even if we could avoid responsibility, Lion would insist on making good on its customers’ claims even though it means taking a loss.”
Liu added: “Lion’s work environment heavily relies on its e-commerce model, so controls are in place for the listing of online prices, price changes and tour group sizes so that error is kept within reasonable limits.”
Roget Hsu, secretary general of Taiwan’s Travel Agent Association, said the country’s Consumer Protection Commission allows online sellers to withdraw or correct mistaken pricing only if no orders have been made.
“Once there has been a booking, the travel agent must honour the price,” he said.
By Glenn Smith
