“Locals team up with officials - withhold &o steal foreign ID cards
13 jun, 2020 i go for a scooter rental with license number L5944PB from Teman Petulang, with business address as 9 Wonocolo gg vi 9, Surabaya, contact number +62 856-4909-3091. The terms on rental is 300k deposit, passport or government issued ID card, and 1,500k for the rental.
A month goes by. 12 jul, 2020 I extend and pay up front for an additional month at 1,500k to 13 aug, 2020
internet connectivity drops to ~2mbps and / or becomes unavailable via my 3 devices. my 2 phones, and my one laptop. phones have 4g connection via XL and Telkomsel mobile networks. in one day, i book and / or go for 3 different hotels to get a useful wifi connection to the internet, that is i) Continent My Hotel, ii) the Grand Darmo Suite, and iii) Quest Hotel Darmo
It's a no go on internet connectivity
On the 4th day into the second month rental, on 16 July I call for early termination on the rental and forfeit the bulk of the monthly fee to relocate. I arrange and pay for onward travels. The rental agent is called to the quest hotel to conclude the arrangements
Not so simple
The scooter rental agent becomes unavailable and / or disappears. On an agreement to meet at the hotel, the agent doesn't show up. I call for the police from the quest hotel reception (on voice recording). The police cannot be reached
I forfeit and / or abort on my onward travels
I can't leave without my ID card
I head on over to the regional police station. I go for filing a report on my missing ID document. the report is not filed. I don't get a stamp and / or formal registration on my statement, nor is the situation resolved. The agent cannot be contacted from the police station either
I leave the scooter and keys at the police station explicitly requesting my ID card be retrieved in return for the scooter and / or keys. I text the agent via whatsapp. Messages sent to the agent have one check mark. That is, are undelivered
the agent cannot be reached
The agent has the monthly rental fee in cash, plus my money as cash deposit, plus my ID card. it's discovered police give the agent the keys and scooter to the agent as well, without obtaining my ID card. I'm in a predicament. I don't have my id, and i must move on
Police and / or agent stall on me recovering my card while I'm in the vicinity
According to the agent via Whatsapp "sorry yerterday i am so bussy". This doesn't explain how the agent has time to get the keys and scooter from the station and not give back my ID card. i proceed with my second go at my onward travels. Soon as i arrive at my next destination, my ID card suddenly becomes available 24 x 7, 327km from where I'm at.
there's a catch
It turns out a courier cannot collect my card for me. The rental agent assumes the identity of the police, calling me back to the station 327km away. The guy also has my money on the deposit. Looking at my prior recent review on Google and / or Trustpilot where my banking cards are frozen and / or my money is rendered inaccessible to me, it appears authorities are after my identity documents as well.
This is the only scooter rental agent to be found in the city that accepts ID cards as "guarantee". All other agents that offer rentals insist on passport as a mandatory requirement.
In addition to photos I take, I have with me voice record at the hotel reception, plus on the visit to the regional police station where officers are advised up front on the recorded session, as well as transcript on Whatsapp communications, plus forfeited hotel bookings and travel arrangements
Mark Berchowitz
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Refer to my Google drive folder https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1eS_LtooDx957QL1j6IusHPg7wrJUP5v9 for supporting documents, photos & so on.
This is a redeployment of my same review published on Google reviews at https://goo.gl/maps/94tbjfQJXazioZdv5 that's edited by Google which removes &o omits some of my supporting documents &o photos”
