Claims to Refund the referral fee to go to Canada

I have asked my friend in Canada to help me find an employer. We have agreed trough telcon that I will pay them $4,000 canadian dollar for the referral of my friend's friend. Upon sending the LMO from Canada I paid and sent them at once $2,000 and will pay the rest upon approval of the visa. I have a complete requirements only the working experience from my previous worked is nearly lapsed(w/c is valid only for 3 yrs.). But they knew it. They asked me to send them at once the half payment before sending me my LMO to file in the HK Canadian embassy.
I have filed in HK, I am at present working in Macau. But the visa was denied due to the lapsations of my permit. My current worked is not domestic works which is not allowed for the position I applied as Caregiver in Canada.

Now I am claiming back for a refund since they are not a registered agency. It is a personal referral only which I am willing to pay if I can be relocate & work in Canada. I am only asking for even half of my payment since I understand that they may incurred some expenses also. Actually it is my supposed employer processed my Contract & LMO and they only mailed it to me.

Is there any legal claims that I can file against them. I have the Western Union receipt, emails & sms as my supporting documents as my proof of negotiations with them.

Pls. Help...

what is an LMO? was there anything wrong with what they sent you? is the document truthful?

attyLLL wrote:what is an LMO? was there anything wrong with what they sent you? is the document truthful?

LMO means labor market opinion, which filed by my employer in Canada. In which I rec'd an approval with a confirmation number sent to me here in Macau, and it is filed in HK for the application of visa. My LMO is legal/truthful.

My documents are all legal. My contract from Canada is scanned email to me in blank form and sent to them. I didn't passed to any agency my employer processed it personally. Only i got my employer through referral (which I paid half for LMO)in which i am willing pay in full but regretfully my application is denied due to my working experience as a nanny is lapsed already. According to their policy i can only used it w/in 3 years. My recruiter said it is still valid because the embassy will base the computation of 3 yrs in the release of LMO. And my recent job at the moment never relate to my application. Applying as a live-in caregiver i need to be a domestic helper at present which I am not.

Do you know any agency or who can help me to file my complaints??

do i understand correctly that the persons you are trying to collect from are in Canada? I'd say you have to file your complaint there.

on the other hand, if you had a deal, I don't see how they breached it if they produced the document which you needed.

Yes they are in Canada, and I am in Macau. Is it possible to file complaints through embassy to embassy? We do not have a contract or anything signed. But the produce contract from the processing are all legal. Our agreement is by telephone conversations, email and sms messages only but everything are all intact except from the telcon.

embassies are not courts. you would have to file your complaint in canada if you want any chance of success.

Do you think there is a positive chance if I will file it w a lawyer there the fact that i am not living there. My concern now actually is not the money but the ego hurt by a friend i consider to be, and for them to stop recruiting more, because i have heard that there are another person's processing again, aside from the first one whom they were able to get in Canada.

Thanks for your attention and advice.

you can write a letter to canadian authorities and report their activities