Misleading and ********* customer experience with Discovery Bank and Vitality Travel

I want to share what I believe is a deeply misleading and ********* customer experience with Discovery Bank and Vitality Travel.

In December 2025, I booked an Emirates flight through Vitality Travel for a total of R8,797, which included a R460 Vitality booking fee.

The payment breakdown was: • 30,000 Discovery Miles (valued at R3,000) • R5,797 paid via credit card

On 30 April 2026, Discovery Bank notified customers via Whatsapp that Emirates had made provision for customers to cancel and receive full refunds. Vitality Travel further communicated that the Vitality booking fee would also be refunded for cancellations processed before 15 June 2026.

On 4 May 2026, I submitted my cancellation request. The call centre agents initially appeared unaware of the communication sent to customers, but the matter was escalated and I was assured that I would receive a full refund.

Fast forward to 25 May 2026: I received only R8,337, excluding the R460 booking fee customers were explicitly told would be refunded.

What concerns me even more is how the refund was processed.

Instead of: • refunding the R5,797 back to the original credit card, and • reversing the 30,000 Discovery Miles back to my Miles balance,

the entire amount was redirected into a “Vitality Wallet” without any choice given to customers.

Based on Visa merchant guidance, refunds for Visa card payments should generally be credited back to the same Visa account used for the original transaction. I therefore do not understand why the card portion of the refund was not processed back to the original payment method.

To make matters worse: • the funds are sitting under “auth” status despite the platform stating withdrawals reflect immediately; • customers are charged a R50 withdrawal fee to access their own money from the wallet; and • this withdrawal fee does not appear to be transparently disclosed in the T&Cs. • the viatlity booking fee is not refunded dispite communication made to customers and there seems to be a break in internal communication

This raises serious concerns around transparency, customer fairness, and how customer travel refunds are being handled.

Discovery Bank and Vitality Travel owe customers a proper explanation.

Links to their T&C's

Vitality Travel wallet: https://www.discovery.co.za/wcm/discoverycoza/assets/vitality/terms-and-conditions/vitality-travel-wallet-ts-and-cs-dec23-final.pdf

Middle East Airspace closure and disruptions: https://www.discovery.co.za/vitality/travel-advisory?fbclid=IwAR5KonlC_3enSPi-1nmf29GUCzoWCojkFLNVqG4EbDBDa3n7TKtdY9oFZ_x8pQ_wapm_MWFlNmUyMDQtNTI2NC00M2I0LTgyM2QtYzllODIxZjBjZjhj_waaem_thsf1WMUYMFFjGvS8ffyuA