Over 400 lodge complaints following Five Stars Tours closure

 Since Five Stars Tours closed on Wednesday, there have been 29 customers seeking compensation at the Small Claims Tribunal.

The Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) has so far received 437 complaints, of which at least 200 complainants had bought bus tickets to Malaysia.

As soon as it opened for business at 9am on Friday, Transtar Travel at Golden Mile Complex had been attending to customers who had bought bus tickets from Five Stars Tours.

Transtar served about 80 such customers by the afternoon, and it is expecting more to turn up over the weekend. Another company said it has received 200 customers so far.

Many of customers are planning to return to Malaysia for the Lunar New Year holidays.

As for the employees of Five Stars Tours, none have taken up jobs offered by the Express Bus Agencies Association.

"Some of them have already worked a very long time with their bosses, so it's not very nice... to just come next door to work -- they might feel like they are disloyal to Five Stars," said Molly Chittick, senior sales manager at Transtar Travel.

"With relevant experience and skill set that the staff have, we will definitely consider (employing) them in the near future," said Alicia Seah, director of marketing communications at Dynasty Travel.

Dynasty Travel does not provide express bus services at the moment, but it said it is planning to charter three buses to give affected customers free trips to and from Kuala Lumpur. 

---