On March 27, discount travel company Tellmeclub filed for bankruptcy while a number of its Japanese customers were still overseas on package tours.
Owing to the way its trips are paid for, these tourists still had valid return plane tickets but would have to pay out of pocket for accommodations that were originally included in the package. As for those customers who had already paid for tours that hadn't commenced yet, they were completely out of luck, since in most cases Tellmeclub had not covered them.
One 71-year-old woman, quoted by the Mainichi Shimbun on April 13, said she had already shelled out ¥121,500 for five nights in Thailand with her husband, but Tellmeclub called her the day before their March 28 departure to say the tour was canceled. It gave her a phone number to call to find out about a refund but no one answered when she followed up.