Pegas Turistik head office representative, Nikorn Yatinunt, filed complaint at Kathu Police station on Friday (October 31) and requested that police help track down the individual(s) that have falsely represented the travel company.
The document in question, a black and white photocopy of a form in Thai and Russian, appears to be an attempt to deter customers from dealing with other companies in Phuket.
So far the perpetrator remains a mystery.
Mr Nikorn said the company took action immediately after learning from The Phuket News of the document. See original story here
Pegas Touristik has also posted warnings wherever possible that they will take legal action against any unauthorized person representing the company.
“This is a serious matter. Even if we cannot find those responsible, we warn others that the company will not tolerate this and will take legal action,” said Mr Nikorn.
“Every single document issued by Pegas Turistik has our logo at the top.” he added.
Mr Nikorn said he believed the warning had been effective as the document seemed to be no longer circulating.
Mr Nikorn suspects the document could possibly be the work of a former employee pretending to represent the company as an independent agent.
“Pegas Turistik usually signs contracts with foreign employees for between six and eight months. When those contracts end, many of them then become independent agencies. Some of them will not actually register themselves as an agency or try to cheat customers,” he said.
In defence of recent allegations by a group of local tour guides that foreign travel agents were illegally employing foreign guides (story here), Mr Nikon said that although Pegas Turistik was a Russian-owned company, it employs more than 200,000 Thais and benefits many more locals in the tourist industry.
“Our customers only spend two days with us with our two-week tour packages. After that, it’s up to them where they go, so local restaurants, bars, taxi drivers and spas all benefit,” he said.
“We have contracts with 700 hotels. Just multiply that by 100 employees per hotel and you will see how many Thais have jobs from our business,” he said.
On the issue of the Tourist Police insignia used on the documents, Tourist Police Region 5 Superintendent, Col Jirapop Puridech, said they would also seek to sue whoever has used the image without permission.
“It is a copyright violation. It may be difficult to track down the actual person responsible but we will keep our eyes peeled” Col Jirapop told The Phuket News.