YouTuber Wonji wins apology, full refund from Australian campervan company over racist treatment

Travel YouTuber Wonji, whose real name is Lee Won-ji, said she received an official apology and a full refund from an Australian campervan rental company after one of its employees subjected her to racially discriminatory treatment during a trip.

Wonji announced the resolution Tuesday in a video titled "The Australian campervan employee incident is over," posted to her YouTube channel "Wonji's Day," saying negotiations with the company had concluded.

Wonji said the company's chief operating officer had emailed an apology after watching the video, but the message contained no mention of a refund or further action. "What we wanted most was a personal apology from the employee — not the company — and a full refund. If they could not admit fault, we asked them to at least release the vehicle's pest inspection records," she said.

Wonji ultimately secured both a formal apology and a full refund after enlisting legal support from a law firm to convey her demands.

"After discussing it among ourselves, we decided to close the matter here," she said. "I think the company grasped the seriousness of the situation thanks to so many people getting angry and paying attention. We took the hit so you don't have to — I hope your travels are filled with nothing but good things."

The incident began when Wonji, traveling in Australia with fellow travel YouTubers Chaekoje and Captain Ttager, discovered bedbugs inside their rented campervan and complained to the company. An employee responded by suggesting the group may have brought the bedbugs themselves. When Chaekoje handed over a phone so a local coordinator could communicate with the employee, the employee refused to touch it, saying, "I don't want to touch your phone. I have a child at home," and demanded the call be put on speakerphone.

Wonji said the employee had displayed a look of disgust and a condescending manner throughout the encounter, drawing an outpouring of anger from fans. She later wrote in the comments that a pest inspection the following day confirmed bedbugs had in fact been found in the vehicle, and that the company had offered a refund on the condition that she not leave a review — an offer she declined because of how the situation had made her feel.

Wonji is a travel YouTuber with around 930,000 subscribers who gained a wide following through her appearances on the ENA variety series "Jigu Mabul Segye Yeohaeng," a globe-trotting travel show.

betterj@heraldcorp.com