Way to Russia Talk Lounge

danbrew · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:43 pm Post subject:

It's always been Intergroup - the invoice I received last year said Intergroup (or IGroup, can't recall) with Connect Russia being an Intergroup company. It's not surprising that Alexander is no longer using the ConnectRussia domain as the Connect Russia name has been trashed from here to Vladivostok.

From the whois service as networksolutions:

WayToRussia · Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 3:42 am Post subject:

We're dealing with this problem at the moment. Alexander from ConnectRussia also haven't paid his commission for already 6 months. The only reason he's still on the site is because he still can provide the fastest service and the best price and lots of clients choose him. Occasionally he fucks up (too many orders), but it's unacceptable as well and we well know it. His main problem is that when he can't get the tickets he can't get them to be refunded quickly and waits too long. It's partially because of the credit card payment system he uses, partially because of his own incompetence.

So he got an ultimatum from me -- pay the commission before 31st December 2007 and then pay all refunds in the first 3 weeks of January 2008. If he doesn't do it, we do a law suit against him financed with the commission he owes us, so that he returns the money to all the people who are waiting for their refunds.

I'll post more updates in this topic later.

Briener · Just Starting Joined: 21 May 2007 Posts: 6

I can only tell you a similar story.

i booked tickets going from irkutsk to moscow with connect russia last april/ may.
i was leaving australia in july, flying to beijing for a while and then catching the train to moscow from irkutsk.

the tickets were due to be delivered mid june to Australia, they arrived a week after i left australia at the end of July, luckily i had a friend who was able to get them fed-ex'd to me in beijing, which cost me another 100 dollars, otherwise they would never have got to me. needless to say the week before i left i prayed they would arrive on time, lost lots of sleep, and then resigned myself to not catching the train, which would have left us stuck in irkutsk.....

my recommendation is never to use connect russia, they simply dont deliver tickets when they say they will, they will have you pulling your hair out with their lack of communication and bad service also.

having been on the trans-siberian express now, i would recommend not using these guys, just fly to russia and get the tickets when you get there at the train station....... there are any number of trains leaving from irkutsk, and the 2nd train we caught from yekateringburg to moscow was almost completely empty in july, which is the busiest time, getting tickets would not have been a problem.

In short, when you book with connect russia, you will pay a high price for your tickets (up to 7 times the face value!), they will then tell you that the faster train is completely booked after you have paid,and put you on a cheaper train, you wont get any money back for this.

then they will send the tickets to your country after you have left, forcing you to make other arrangements....they're a bunch of con artists, i'll never use their service again.....
honestly booking with these guys will be one of the most expensive mistakes you'll ever make, i'm just lucky that my friend was able to get them fed-exed to me in beijing before we left.....
no thanks to Alexander or anybody else that works there.....

siobhanpeeling · Just Starting Joined: 03 Dec 2007 Posts: 2

Is there any more news on refunds from Connect Russia?
I am one of Alexander's 'victims' and will be in Russia for the next two months and much as I hate to waste any more time and money on him I was wondering whether it would be worth trying to track him down at his office to get at least some of my $3000 back.

danbrew · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 5:43 pm Post subject:

I have not heard of one single example where somebody got their money back from Alexander. From their bank, yes. From Alexander, no. I seriously doubt that you'll be able to easily get your money back should you confront Alexander. But perhaps you can bring along two big guys named Boris & Ivan to kick his ass?