Disgusted!

To whom it may concern,

I am hugely disappointed with the service and compassion, or rather lack thereof, I have experienced. And hereby would like to lay a formal complaint with request for immediate response and action.

Back in December 2019 I bought two tickets for the St Petersburg Ballet Theater performance of Swan Lake. This purchase was planned to be a birthday gift for my grandmother in March 2020. The tickets were purchased by myself in Durban for the performance in Cape Town. These were not the only tickets purchased. Plane tickets were also bought in order to attend the show. Unfortunately, early on in 2020 the show was postponed and shortly after there was a nationwide, if not worldwide, lockdown due to the seriousness of the Covid-19 situation. The situation was declared a pandemic and the whole world was faced with an unfami**** crisis.

Fast forward to 2021, the show was rescheduled for this year and was set to occur around May. However, as a result of the ongoing uncer*****y and health risks in March 2021 the show was said to be rescheduled again. It was now planned to take place in 2022. I consulted my grandmother again and informed her of this change, once again. Along with this, I had to contact Mango (whom I had booked our plane tickets with) in order to rearrange the ticket dates. Unfortunately, near the end of April 2021, it was stated that Mango would be going into Business Rescue. And with that, I may lose roughly R8000 in plane tickets. I know that Mango is flying again but on a much reduced schedule that may not suit our travel arrangements. But that is another story.

With that in mind, there is no guarantee that we will be able to get to Cape Town for the show and we certainly can’t afford to purchase other tickets with a different airline. Because of this, the unfortunate decision was made to return the Ballet tickets and try to make up a small portion of what was spent for this trip.

Fast forward to June 3rd 2021. I finally managed to get to Checkers to return the show tickets and be refunded my money. In order to be refunded, the return needed to be authorized by CompuTicket. The lovely lady assisting me at Checkers made the call to which the phone was then handed over to me. The following is what was relayed to me by the CompuTicket consultant:

1) I was eligible for a refund, however there would be a penalty as I had missed the final date for full refunds. I was told this final date was set as March 31st, 2021.

My response: alright, no problem! What is the penalty?

2) The penalty was set to be 50%.

My response: ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!!

3) I was informed that an email stating this information was sent out.

My response: I did not receive this email as I had relayed my grandmother's information when asked. The only reason I knew about the show being prosponed is because I continuously check the CompuTicket website.

To summarize: I am being penalized for a worldwide pandemic where the natural state of things has been turned upside down. Along with the loss of R8000 in plane tickets, I, a student and my grandmother a pensioner, must now forfeit another R500. I am furious about this and insist a full refund on my tickets!

I understand under normal circumstances this penalty being in place. But, up until the end of April, when we found out we no longer had plane tickets to Cape Town, we were still thoroughly excited to see the Ballet. This was not a decision I or my grandmother wanted to make. I had to return the tickets because we could no longer attend the show as a result of financial strain from Covid-19.

CompuTicket, I insist I be refunded my full ticket price because, aside from the fact that this is an extraordinary circumstance, I can guarantee you will resell our seats at their full price! STOP TAKING ADVANTAGE OF US SMALL VOICES!

If I do not hear back from you within the week, I will be taking this to social media and making my voice heard. We do not deserve to be taking advantage of and I will not allow it to happen.

Regards Hannah Angelo ***