Runners still waiting for refunds from cancelled event in Miri

MIRI: Wee Lee Ji and her friends were excited when they heard about a running event a few months ago, thinking that it would be fun to take part.

All 18 of them then chipped in RM50 each for the registration fee and went together to an outlet at a commercial centre here to obtain the forms. Overall, they spent RM900 for a promise of an exciting running event, which was scheduled for July this year.

However, the event was postponed due to certain reasons and in the end, it was cancelled. Promises of refunds were then made to the participants by the organiser.

“Such promise stopped me from lodging police report, because I wanted to give the organiser some time to process the refunds. I’d even given them my bank account number for the purpose of reimbursement,” Wee told The Borneo Post here recently.

Months went by without any news from the organiser, prompting Wee and her friends to suspect that the whole event was a scam.

“I tried contacting the personsin-charge as an attempt to confront them about their broken promises, but to no avail,” she said, adding that three of her friends took the matter to Facebook – in their postings, they threatened the organiser that they would report the matter to the police. The move prompted the organiser to pay back some of their money.

“However, we are still waiting for the balance, which is about RM750.”

Wee said they even confronted the workers at the outlet where they obtained the registration forms, in the hope of reclaiming their money.

“The workers told us that they were just distributing the forms, saying that they could not take any responsibility in the matter. My lawyer said that outlet was our only option and that we should keep pressing the outlet to give us the necessary explanation,” she said.

A search on the Facebook page specially set up for the run indicates that over 1,000 people had registered for the event. There, the netizens – the majority of whom are the participants – posted strong-worded comments, with many demanding refunds.

“I am not an avid runner, but I do support charity running events in Miri because they raise funds for those in need.

“After this incident, however, I doubt that I would participate in any future event but say if I did, I would surely do a thorough check on the organiser’s background,” said Wee.