Bahr El Jebel Safaris Thomas Banks Non performance of contract and refusal of refund Alamos, Sonora, Mexico Mexico
Barh El Jebel Safaris, a provider of tour sevices in South Sudan, contracted with Lost Frontiers to provide a tour for 9 clients to South Sudan. All services were pre-paid and after a number of our cleints traveled to East Africa to enter South Sudan, Thomas Banks of Barh El Jebel notified us that the trip would have to be "canceled" due to rebel activity. He had noted that there was a small problems with rebels, but indicated that it wasn't a problem and that the army was in charge of it.
We had worked with Banks to develop alternative sto the origninal program, but he always came up with an excuse why it would not work. In the end, Banks said that the company did not refund canceled programs, but only rescheduled. In this case it was impossible since travelers had already used international tickets and later, because a civil war did break out.
We have contacted several other operators who have had similar experiences and have lost many thousands of dollars to Bahr El Jebel. Because Bahr El Jebel is located in Mexico, legal recourse is extremely expensive and difficult. Nevertheless, Lost Frontiers has filed a complaint in the District Court of Northern California.
A client who did travel later to South Sudan met several people who had previous experience there with Bahr El Jebel and suggested that the entire operation is a scam.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Bahr El Jebel Safaris SA de CV
Alamos,Mexico
Extortion and Defamation to Cause Financial Harm By Phillip Hassrick
#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Sat, April 11, 2015
Mr Hassrick’s (DBA Lost Frontiers) versión of events is false. His program of defamation to créate financial harm, use of the internet, contacting our clients, using such words as scam and falsely stating events, is his way to extort a refund , contrary to his agreement with us. Mr Hassick DBA Lost Frontiers agreed to our policy of no cash refunds, only credits toward a future safari in case of rebel activity. The policy is clearly stated in our web site and on our invoices. Small Problem? The Yau Yau armed rebellion in South Sudan stopped Mr Hassrick’s group. The rebels killed UN soldiers, killed government soldiers, destroyed a MSF hospital, looted and damaged the park headquarters of the park his group was to travel to, killed the park warden and some of his park rangers, indirectly caused the shooting down of a UN helicopter killing the UN crew and made announcements all foreigners should vacate the área. Mr Hassrick has made the statement the Yau Yau rebellion never occured, that we are liars. Anyone can google Yau Yau and read news reports. We did not work with Mr Hassrick for alternatives to the safari cancelled other than to issue him credit, until it was safe to proceed. No excuses were made, it was simply unsafe to proceed at that time. Other safaris were also stopped as a result of the Yau Yau rebellion. 99% of our clients are rescheduling, as soon as the current tribal civil war has ended. Many have already agreed to go in early 2016 on specific dates, with the anticipation of the conflict having finished by that time. Mr Hassick DBA Lost Frontiers is in a small group that will not honor their contract with us. Mr Hassrick DBA Lost Frontiers by his rampage of defamation is creating damages of loss of income to us that we have documented now exceedes $100,000 usd, in addition to damaging to our reputation. In Mexico and South Sudan defamation for the purpose of creating economic harm is a criminal offense , not civil. Our lawyers are filing complaints with the authorities in both Mexico and South Sudan against Mr Hassrick DBA Lost Frontiers. A Rip off Report about Mr Hassrick DBA Lost Frontiers can be located under the file number 1221754.