Hup Lik Debt Collection ripped us off! Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

In November 2010, while in Kuala Lumpur, my daughter and I met Ben Ng Beng Loon and his colleagues Sandy and Alex (the debt collector) of Hup Lik Debt Collection (M) Sdn Bhd (818549-A), 7-2 Jalan Cheras Maju, Pusat Perniagaan Cheras Maju, 43200 Cheras, Selangor, Malaysia; tel: +603 9075 1667, 90760023, 014 3339955, fax: +603 - 9075 1679; email: huplik88@gmail.com and admin@huplikdebtcollection.com  Perak Branch: No. 83 (1st Floor ) Psrn 3/2, Seksyen 3, Pusat Bandar 32040 Seri Manjung, Perak; Johor Branch: 31, Jalan Landak Batu, Century Garden, Johor Baru 80250, Johor.
 
I told them that my 90-year-old mother who lives in Johor Baru had been trying to get back a large sum of money from a man, a previous neighbour, Jack who had taken her to the bank to withdraw the money to put in his bank telling her that she would get a higher interest rate. Ben, Sandy and Alex convinced us that it was no problem for them to collect this amount, that they were a reliable registered debt collection company with a long and successful record of debt collection. They showed us testimonials from their clients.
 
In my mothers case, they assured us that they were 99% sure of being able to get the money back for my mother, and within one week of signing them up, we would get something back. They would also provide regular updates until the whole amount was collected. They even said that my mother would be so happy to get her money back that she would invite them to her birthday dinner in 10 days time.
 
They asked for an initial payment of $7000 and 30% of the amount collected.
 
On 23 November 2010, Ben, Sandy and Alex met my mother, sister and niece in Johor Baru. Again they assured my mother that it was easy to get the money back and the chance of this was 99%. My mother was at first reluctant to pay another sum of money ($7000) which could be lost again if Hup Lik failed to collect the debt. As the amount owing to my mother is something like $400,000, their commission would be more than $100,000, Ben agreed to an intial payment of $5000 and 27% of the amount collected.
 
My sister gave them all the information required to collect the money. When my mother asked them how they intended to get the money back for her, they asked her not to worry as they had the means. When my sister asked them what they would do if Jack called the police they said it was not a problem as they knew what to do as it was what they had to deal with all the time and thats what some of the initial payment would be useful. So my mother paid them the $5000. They called my sister to let her know that they had gone to Jacks house that evening and demanded the money.
 
A few days later, Ben called my sister again to say Jack had agreed to pay up the following week.
 
And that was the last call. From then on, my sister and I had been calling and emailing Ben and calling Alex to find out what they had done but they seemed to not answer our calls and ignored our emails. Even my mother tried to speak to Alex several times and each time she got through to him, he said they would discuss with Ben and they would go and see Jack in the next few days.
 
When we called Ben on other than our own mobiles, he answered the calls. Then he said they had done all they could and it wasnt easy to get the money from Jack because he called the police. Now the police issue seems to be a problem when it wasnt before we agreed to use their services.
 
If it was easy, we would not need to pay them to do it.
 
Now after just over a year we have not seen any results. Ben Ng and Hup Lik have failed to collect the money for my mother and have failed to do all that they said they would do to get the money from Jack. They have not fulfilled their promises.
 
On 8 December 2011 we asked Hup Lik to refund the $5000 my mother paid to them. Hup Liks response refusing to refund the money was almost immediate, that is on the same day. They added, You are not the first client to have such demands and as usual, we ask our client to gauge themselves our work by presenting themselves to the debtor as well as to contact the debtor.
 
We hope our experience with Hup Lik will alert other people with similar problems. Their website www.huplikdebtcollection.com has all their promises.