We went for a private catamaran trip to Phang Nga Bay.
Everything was communicated via Whatsapp and I indicated my confirmation for the trip on on a Saturday, after few days of correspondence. On the following day (sunday), the company texted me urgently at 4pm to ask for my confirmation, to which i confirmed again promptly. They accepted the booking, said thank you. Then at 9pm that night, I received an urgent message that I would have to make payment with 50% deposit, within the next hour or the boat would be released. This was done without an invoice, and everything felt a bit suspicious. (why is the payment window so tight after all this time).
We were willing to pay, but the sudden-ness and the short payment window made it extremely suspicious it might be a fraud, so I asked some questions. Unfortunately, that meant we went slightly over the 10pm deadline. I asked to confirm the booking but they replied that unfortunately the boat is no longer available.
It was such a terrible experience because we had communicated over couple of days, exchanging details and there was never indication of pre-payment. When the request finally came, it was done with such short notice, it felt like a fraud. Who knows, but will you spend good money to go on a tour with such a company ?