JO
Julie O

1 reviews | Active since Sept 2023

27 Sept 2023, 17:29

Discovery Vitality Travel Poor Service

I have received the worst service from Discovery Vitality Travel after cancelling two air tickets on 13 June 2023. I booked the tickets with British Airways through Discovery Vitality Travel earlier this year, travelling to Amsterdam via London for my sister and I. When our visas didn't arrive on time my sister changed the date of the outbound flight directly with British Airways and paid for the changes with her ABSA credit card. When the visas had still not materialised the day before we were due to fly, we had no choice but to cancel the tickets. I cancelled directly with Discovery Vitality Travel and received a confirmation email to this effect and was asked to provide my bank account details for the refund. I was quoted 6 weeks for the refund and given the amount of the refund less penalties. When I followed up at the end of 6 weeks with Discovery Vitality Travel, I was then quoted 12 weeks for a refund. I was told via email and from the call centre that they could only refund me once the funds from British Airways reflected in their account. At the 12-week mark Discovery Vitality Travel could still not shed any light on my refund so I contacted British Airways directly. They were able to tell me that the refund had been processed on 15 June but because the booking was done through a travel agent, I had to follow up with them. I have since made numerous calls to British Airways and each time they provide new information I relay this back to Discovery Vitality Travel. Unfortunately, this has not helped at all, and 15 weeks have now passed with no end in sight. What I have discovered is that because the change to the original ticket was done directly with British Airways this refund was made to the credit card used to pay for it. The balance with is the bulk of the payment must come from Discovery Vitality Travel. Since booking the ticket, I lost the Discovery bank that was used to make the original payment. I have notified Discovery Vitality Travel as I am concerned that this might be the problem, but this just falls on deaf ears. The Discovery Vitality Travel call centre is difficult to get through to. Each time I call I speak to a different consultant who assures me that they will investigate my case and email/call me with feedback. This never happens. I made approximately 6 calls asking to speak to the manager Ashika Patel, but the calls are screened and she's either working offsite or in a meeting. Upon threatening the call centre with this review, I finally spoke to her last Wednesday. She assured me that she was dealing directly with British Airways Global Refunds, and that they would reply to her within a few hours. The last correspondence I had from her yesterday said she was still waiting for a reply. The excuses that Discovery Vitality Travel have made for to date include: • They are waiting for the funds to reflect • British Airways have not followed the correct internal procedure regarding refunds • The total refund has been made to the ABSA credit card (even though BA are adamant they cannot refund a card not used to make the original purchase, and the card statement does not show this amount!) One call centre consultant went so far as to say that British Airways are ****s and haven't done the refund. The British Airways call centre have gone above and beyond; they have provided accurate, helpful information. Their policy is to process refunds in 7-10 days, and they are horrified that we have now been waiting 15 weeks. As you can imagine, I have run out of patience and options. Please help!

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