Terrible service and dirty tricks

Travelling from East London to Durban, we tried checking in 2 hours before boarding and we were told that we must come back later as the luggage might be lost. We came back an hour before boarding, returned the hired vehicle and headed to the bag check-in which we got there more 45 minutes before boarding. The lady told us the bag check-in was closed, despite us showing her we were still within "40 minutes before boarding rule", she refused to check us in. They refused to call their supervisor and not to mention her rudeness the entire encounter. All they were interested in was for us to book the next flight since they know there are no other airlines except them in EL/PE. I had to book a flight in PE for 4,800, pay uber 3,200 to travel to PE for my flight. Disgusting!