Dealzilla, not getting what we paid for.

<p>On the 26th of August 2016 myself and 7 friends booked a 10-day holiday to Thailand from the travel company Dealzilla. The date of departure for the booked holiday being (24 March). The holiday booked included a flight to ****et, Thailand with a 2 hour stopover in Bangkok. The total travel time was to be 16hrs. The booking also included accommodation for a stay at the 4-star hotel Deevana Patong. The cost of the holiday was +- R17000 per person with a 50% payment to be paid upfront and the rest to be paid shortly thereafter. The cost of the holiday was higher than the industry average due to the short duration of flying.</p> <p>The bookings for the holiday were arranged through 2 friends who had dealt with Dealziller’s owner Shane Paruth on a work basis. </p> <p>On the 26th of August 2016 we all paid the 50% deposit and forwarded our passports and proof of payment via email to our friend who in turn forwarded all passports and details to Dealzilla. We all paid the balance of the holiday by the arranged date. </p> <p>3 days before we were to leave, we were informed that our holiday had been canceled due to the fact that Dealzilla did not receive 2 of our party’s passports. We were suspicious of this as we had proof that the passports were sent and even more suspicious since it took Dealzilla 6 months to inform us of this reason. And even more suspicious since they kept our money for all that time. On the night before we were to leave we were offered another holiday. This holiday was not the same holiday we had booked, and for the same premium price we had paid, we were now required to travel 33 hours with an additional stop over in Hong Kong for 14 hours. In addition, 2 of our party were required to travel separately for part of the trip. Given the large stop overs we were to now lose 3 days of our holiday to sitting in airports. </p> <p>We also could not stay in the hotel we had booked originally and were offered a sample of new hotels from which to pick from. Given that this was the night before we were to leave, we hastily picked one of the hotels- based on what they looked like on the internet and with assurances that they were 4 star, and comparable with the original.</p> <p>Upon arrival at the Bamboo Beach Hotel in ****et, we found the hotel amenities and rooms to be substandard and did not reflect those of the website and nor the standards of a four star hotel. . We took photos and listed the problems with the rooms. Our friend that was dealing with Dealzilla sent them through to Shane Paruth, the owner of Dealzilla. </p> <p>Shane sent back a reply via WhatsApp and agreed the hotel was substandard and agreed to put us up in a new hotel. He also offered to refund each person 50% of what they had paid for the holiday. </p> <p>Given we were to receive a refund for our holiday and a refund for our hotel room, Shane allowed us to book a new hotel for the equivalent cost.</p> <p>The cost of the new hotel was charged to a friend’s credit card and Shane agreed to refund all money back to him during the course of our stay in Thailand. The total cost for the new hotel was +- R64 000</p> <p>We were not paid back the money during the course of the holiday. Our friend who was owed the money for the credit card charge phoned Shane after we had returned to inquire about the missing payment. He was told that the money had to be used elsewhere and that he could pay the money back on the 30th of April.</p> <p> </p> <p>On the 30th of April the money had not been paid back to him. He attempted to contact Shane several times and finally as a last resort left a comment on the Dealzilla Facebook page asking where the money was. Shane then responded via WhatsApp that the payment was being delayed by public holidays and assured him in the message that the money will be paid back.</p> <p>It’s been 3 months since the payment was promised, but no payment has been made. </p> <p>We subsequently found another person on social media that, allegedly, had her holiday to Israel canceled ‘due to unrest in the country’. She was offered a refund. It’s been almost a year, and she has not received her money. </p> <p>Of course, when you don’t get the holiday that you pay for, nor get back the money owed to you by the company, you tend to leave bad reviews on social media. One of our group, as well as the person whose holiday to Israel was canceled for suspicious reasons, have subsequently had emails threatening them with court interdicts in an attempt to stop them from telling people about the bad experience.</p> <p>We would like Dealzilla to pay us back the money we paid on their behalf and for the 50% refund we were promised.</p>