HONG KONG: Sixteen people who claim to have lost between HK$500 and HK$13,000 filed suit in District Court yesterday in an effort to get back their money from Rosland Park, a tour membership club.

One of the 16 litigants settled her case out of court yesterday. Emily Chow, 23, claimed she was forced to register for a tour membership in December last year and lost her HK$500.

"They forced me to register as a member and sign a contract which stated that I had to pay HK$1,000 per month," Chow said. "When I said I needed to ask my family for advice, they did not allow me to call anybody and asked me to turn off my phone."

She said her problem with the company began when she got a call from Rosland Park Limited. The caller told her that the company was conducting a telephone survey and had a gift for her. She was then required to go to the company offices and sit through a 90-minute seminar to earn her gift. She said she went to the company in Tsim Sha Tsui on December 28, 2008.

"After registration, a man of my age came and introduced the company to me. By then I realized this was a company working in the travel business," Chow said. "He started with friendly chit-chatting; then he began to talk business."

Chow was given an interview on traveling. She was shown some cheap plane tickets and hotel packages, which, she was told, she can enjoy after a membership registration.

Chow was kept for at least two hours at the company for the registration.

After leaving the company having made a payment of HK$500 as her membership fee, Chow felt something was amiss. She declined to make further payments to the company. She said she tried to cancel her contract but the company refused.

"They asked for HK$8,000 for canceling the contract," Chow said. "They called me day and night asking me why I was not paying them the HK$1,000 membership fee."

She received calls from different phone numbers that mostly started with the digit 3 followed by a private number.

Chow said she felt helpless and that she had nowhere to turn for help. She said she approached the Small Claims Tribunal and the Consumer Council but neither agency was able to help.

Chow hopes a grace period will be legislated in contracts so that the customers are given time to reconsider. In addition to legislation to protect consumers, officials of the Neighborhood and Workers Service Centre thought more assistance should be given to victims in need.

"The victims have already applied for the Consumer Legal Action Fund for about six months but still they could not get the funding," said Simon Leung of Neighborhood and Workers Service Centre. "They can't afford to hire a lawyer and were not able to get help through legislation."

(HK Edition 12/30/2009 page1)