School transport company stops operating after group of parents paid $13,000, police report lodged
A group of parents feel like they have been scammed after paying $13,000 to a transport company that is winding up.
Stomper KP said there are eight of them, who are parents of pupils of Marymount Convent School.
Altogether, they had paid a total of around $13,000 to Mr Eugene Ong of Swift Ascent Company to drop off and pick up their kids at the school.
The payment was for the entire second school term, which started on March 24.
The Stomper said: "He absconded with the money and is unreachable."
A police report was made on March 25.
In response to a Stomp query, the police confirmed that a report was lodged.
Earlier, a Feb 21 post in the Indians in Singapore Facebook group warned about Mr Ong and his Swift Ascent Company.
The anonymous post said: "Four families signed up for the service, which started in earnest and came to an abrupt halt within one to two weeks, where the driver reported to one of the parents that this guy was not paying him as agreed and therefore would not continue.
"Unknown to the parents, one day, Eugene also arranged to pick up one of the four children via Grab.
"Upon being accosted by the parents, Eugene admitted to being unable to continue operations and offered to end the arrangement and refund the money by Feb 11.
"However, till date, no payments have been made, and furthermore, Eugene has blocked the four parents' numbers."
A police report was made by the parents too, according to the post.
When contacted by Stomp, Mr Ong replied in an email: "We are in the process of winding up the company and also our report has been made to the police as well. We have engaged a lawyer to process it for us.
"They can submit the request to Case (Consumers Association of Singapore) or small claims court for reimbursement as we have mentioned to them before.
"We hope this does not go into social as we will get our lawyer to file against them as this is a commercial dispute and we will have our lawyer handle it accordingly."
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