False promises and exploiting people

I got the phone call saying I won a prize no strings attached as I entered the competition at the Tourism expo. I just had to listen to an hour presentation and a Thailand holiday would be mine.

At the presentation, a sales agent made a very good and aggressive pitch. You are not allowed to think about it. I told him I plan on going to Thailand in December. He assured me that they are a premium travel agent who can advise me on the best places to stay and activities to do as they travel frequently and have a lot of experience. He also allowed me to phone one of his satisfied customers. He then proceeded to show me the current specials they have and assured me that by travelling with them I would save tremendously. As I was still sceptic he searched booking.com and compared it to their prices. According to his calculations I would save tremendously even including their fee. He guaranteed me I would be able to go to Thailand in December , 4 star accommodation for 10k for two weeks. I asked him regarding cancellation and he stated that yes I can cancel, but that is obviously not what they want.

Based on the calculations made I signed up for the very hefty fee. I received a mail in the week stating congratulations, and I would be registered within 4-6 weeks, after which I can access their services and website. Obviously I put my holiday planning on ice, eagerly waiting to use their services and to receive the benefit of all this money I am spending.

After more than 6 weeks passed, I contacted them as my time was starting to run out. I then received login details and a mail address. No assistance on how to go about either. The website was a waste of time. I mailed the reservations department stating my friend and I would like to go to Thailand for two weeks in December and my friend was cc'd in. A consultant contacted us asking for a budget and where. We stated we do not have one yet, and we do not know where as we do not know the country. We asked her for suggestions and specials. She responded by asking again where and dates. We then gave her dates and places to go and asked again for suggestions. We then waited. After some time, we inquired as we need to get the bookings started and sorted. She responded with a quote of more than N$40,000. For 3star accommodation.

We responded that we were very dissapointed and this is not at all close to the 10k per person for 4 star as promised. We were then asked for the sales agent and was told that December is peak season.

After spending 2 hours on the internet we could get 4star accommodation for our two week holiday, everything included for 23k for 2 people. We informed the travel agent who requested the quote. We gave the accommodation and sites. I then started to realise this was a ****. I have to put in time and effort. There is no expert advice. There is no cheap high quality accommodation. By December my 3 star holiday through GTA would have cost me more than 50k if you include their fee. Where I could get a 4 star holiday for 23k.

When I realised my expensive misstake I contacted the relationshipmanager and asked to cancell my contract, to prevent me from paying for nothing for the next 10 years. I was told customer care will look into the claims and my contract is not cancellable. Basically as the customer you carry all the risk, you have to pay and GTA does not have to do anything from their side. They do not have to deliver any services and there are no consequences for them.

Customer service responded that they can cancel it for a fee and they did nothing wrong. They have many satisfied customers. And next time I should ask the agent to guide me regarding their accommodation. I continued to ask for cancellation.

After following up on my cancellation again, I was told it is now with the legal department and out of their hands. I have not heard from the legal department yet.

If I had planned my holiday myself I would have not lost so much money and time, and would have had a stressfree planning of my trip. This is an expensive lesson to learn. I can't believe a service provider can get away with non-performance with no consequences and the consumer suffers.