Livestreamer Jayner Teh issued an apology to local travel agency Chan Brothers today (April 15) for comments she made during getai performer and digital content creator Wang Lei’s livestreams last July.
The apology comes after Wang Lei and his team, including Jayner, made several detrimental remarks about the agency while on tour in Croatia and Austria between July 11 and 16.
How it started
In two Facebook livestreams made on July 15 and 16, which have been removed, Wang Lei and his team alleged that they paid $90,000 for a trip to Europe for 15 people, which allegedly included five nights of hotel accommodation, four days of transportation and four days with a tour guide.
“We learnt a lesson,” the 62-year-old said in one of the livestreams, which included Jayner, comedian Tay Yin Yin and getai singer Anderene Choo.
He demanded compensation, vowing that the amount refunded to them would be donated entirely to charity.
In another Facebook livestream, believed to be made on a separate day, Wang Lei and the others claimed that their unhappiness arose from three issues.
He said that according to their contract, they would have two vans or cars driving them around, but they ended up with a bus instead. They added that they were unhappy with this arrangement as some of them have motion sickness and couldn’t take the bus.
They said they had to check into the hotels by themselves and couldn’t enter their rooms with the hotel key cards, which they spent an hour rectifying. Wang Lei and his team also said that some of the rooms didn’t have air-conditioning and the hotel is located in a remote area “at the top of the mountains”.
In addition, they said they had to close their windows because of insects.
They added the shops were closed on Sundays and they were unable to conduct their livestreams.
Wang Lei also said heatedly: “I am not doing this for the money or to start a quarrel, I just want to let my fans know that they should be careful when they join tours in the future.”
He claimed that the terms in their contract were completely different from what they had experienced during the trip. They also alleged that the person who was in charge of their package wasn’t responsive when contacted.
Chan Brothers’ response
In response to those claims, Chan Brothers released a statement through a Facebook post on July 31, acknowledging that “some public figures” have shared their feedback with them during their private Europe tour and they had actively sought to address their concern by inviting them for a meeting.
They wrote: “Regrettably, they chose to make false and unfounded allegations against us through multiple Facebook livestreams.”
Chan Brothers also vowed to take legal action against them.
Jayner apologises
About nine months after the saga, Jayner, who has since left Wang Lei’s e-commerce platform, clarified and apologised in a statement signed by her and uploaded to her three Facebook accounts today.
She wrote: “I participated in making numerous statements against the services rendered by Chan Brothers and Chan Brothers’ operations.
“I now acknowledge that these statements have caused Chan Brothers to suffer reputational harm. I should have verified the information given to me before making these statements.”
Jayner added that she has deleted those livestreams, promising not to republish them and vow to not say or publish anything else related to the tour that is untrue.
“I am sorry for any harm and damage that the comments have caused to Chan Brothers, its management and its staff,” she wrote.
Chan Brothers said in a statement today that they would not be responding to queries since the lawsuit against the other livestreamers is ongoing.
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