IMAGINE HOLIDAYS/CRUISING
<p>We booked a holiday with Imagine Holidays Departing 31/12/2016 and returning 13/01/2017. The cost of the package for two R51998.00, 3 days Dubai, 3 days Bangkok and 7 days ****et. My wife passed away in hospital during surgery on 29/09/2016. On 04/10/2016 my daughter contacted Imagine Holidays informing them of my wife’s death and a cancellation is required. Sandy of Imagine Holidays told my daughter that a full refund for my wife’s portion and 50% of my portion will be due on cancellation (R25999 + 12999.50) however she will contact their suppliers and try and get a better refund amount. On 19/10/2016 Sandy telephoned me to confirm that the total refund she could manage to get for me was R35000.00, which was less than what she originally told to my daughter (65.38% off my portion). I told her that I was not happy with the refund being offered and she said that this was the best she could do. Later that day I got a call from a guy called Ronvin from Imagine Holidays wanting to know why I am not happy about the refund amount. He again reiterated that was the best offer and in fact I was lucky the amount should have been less than that, he kept on about why I cannot go on holiday myself. He had no compassion whatsoever. I lost my wife we planned to go on this holiday together how can Ronvin think that I will happily go on this holiday alone. In the meantime prior to his call I contacted Emirates Airlines and enquired about their cancellation policy and was told that in my case where there is a death of a passenger 100% of the airfare is refundable for both of us. When I told this to Ronvin, all he said was that I booked through Imagine and that their rules apply. The amount that Imagine Holidays refunded was even less than just the airfare they got back from Emirates. I understand that Imagine Holidays are a business and that there are costs involved in a cancellation, but I don’t believe that an amount of R16998.00 could be incurred as penalties over an amount of R25999.00 especially due to the circumstances. I lost my wife and they treat this as trivial with no compassion at all. All they care about is how much profit they can make out of someone’s death. </p> <p>I have accepted the refund under protest as I was afraid if I delayed any more the refund would get less and less. I have now written to ASATA (Association of South African Travel Agents) about this and if I don’t get any joy from them I will refer the matter to the National Consumer Commission (NCC) for verification and investigation.<br /><br /></p>
Good Morning Segoven
We are very sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction with the service which you have received.
Our customer service team will be in contact with you within 24 hours.
Kind Regards
Imagine Cruising
Customer Service
Good Morning Segoven
We are very sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction with the service which you have received.
Our customer service team will be in contact with you within 24 hours.
Kind Regards
Imagine Cruising
Customer Service
Feedback regarding this complaint.
· 24 October 2016 complaint lodged with ASATA
· 28 October 2016 Ronvin of Imagine Cruising called me and tried bullying tactics, when he realised that I was not going to be bul**** he dropped the call.
· 31 October 2016 I received an email from Ronvin stating “we were unable to waiver the cancellation penalties therefore you were charged a cancellation penalty. I can further confirm that you received a higher amount back than what was calculated for the cancellation penalty”. I rep**** requesting that they provide me with documentary proof from their suppliers confirming the cancellation costs. Ronvin and Sandy of Imagine Cruising refused to provide the proof.
· 03 November 2016 I contacted the three hotels and the airline directly asking them to provide me with the cancellation costs. All of them rep**** that there were no penalties imposed. This information was passed on to ASATA.
· 1 December 2016 ASATA emailed me stating “we have been in various correspondences with Imagine Holidays regarding your complaint. They have advised: I have no evidence that the cancellation penalties were waived for this booking. Furthermore, it is important to note that Mr Govender is bound to our terms and conditions and our cancellation penalties”.
· 06 December 2016 lodged the complaint with NCC (National Consumer Commission).
· 13 December 2016 reply from NCC confirming that section 17(5) of the Consumer Protection Act applies herein and should be app**** accordingly.
· 15 December ASATA communicates the NCC’s advice to Ronvin.
· 19 December Ronvin replies “I acknowledge your reference to NCC and point 4 of your below email. However, we maintain that this matter has been dealt with as set out in section 14 & 17 of the Consumer Protection Act. It is noted as per your email that Mr Seelan Govender wrote to the suppliers who advised that they had not charged a cancellation fee – Can I please ask that you send me the written communication to further discuss with those suppliers who charged a cancellation penalty? I would once again wish to advise that we did not do anything wrong in this instance”.
· 19 December 2016 I referred the matter to the Consumer Protector and received a reply from the acting director of consumer protection “it is my opinion that you have a civil claim against Imagine Holidays based on misrepresentation (alleging that they have suffered a loss when indeed they have not) and demand that they repay the balance of the contract price”.
· 20 December 2016 ASATA and Ronvin informed of the advice from the acting director of consumer protection.
· 21 December 2016 Ronvin replies “The cancellation penalties applies to your portion of the holiday and I wish to state once more that you received a bigger portion of your money back than what was due to you”.
· 04 January 2017 ASATA corresponds with Ronvin again attaching all the supplier’s emails confirming that no penalties were charged by them.
· 05 January 2017 I emailed Jacqui of ASATA advising that I have been corresponding with Ronvin whilst she was on leave and that Ronvin was adamant that they have done nothing wrong. In view of this I will proceed with a civil claim against Imagine Cruising to sue for damages if they do not repay the balance to me.
· 12 January 2017 I got a call from ASATA informing me that Imagine Cruising have confirmed that they will refund me the full amount.
· 14 January the money was in my account.
My experience with this matter has highlighted the below facts about Imagine Cruising:
Ø Customer service is non-existent it’s all about how much money they can make out of you even if they are not entitled to it. By the way Ronvin has the title of Customer Service Supervisor?
Ø Their cancellation policy is not compliant with the CPA laws.
In the end they refunded me the full amount not because of their willingness to do so, they were forced to because I threatened to sue for damages through the civil court as advised by the acting director of Consumer Protection.
Lesson learnt I will in future do my booking directly with the airline and the hotels of my choice. I did an exercise on the same airline and hotels that we were supposed to fly and stay at for the end of this year and the cost was much less than what we paid to Imagine Cruising.
Feedback regarding this complaint.
· 24 October 2016 complaint lodged with ASATA
· 28 October 2016 Ronvin of Imagine Cruising called me and tried bullying tactics, when he realised that I was not going to be bul**** he dropped the call.
· 31 October 2016 I received an email from Ronvin stating “we were unable to waiver the cancellation penalties therefore you were charged a cancellation penalty. I can further confirm that you received a higher amount back than what was calculated for the cancellation penalty”. I rep**** requesting that they provide me with documentary proof from their suppliers confirming the cancellation costs. Ronvin and Sandy of Imagine Cruising refused to provide the proof.
· 03 November 2016 I contacted the three hotels and the airline directly asking them to provide me with the cancellation costs. All of them rep**** that there were no penalties imposed. This information was passed on to ASATA.
· 1 December 2016 ASATA emailed me stating “we have been in various correspondences with Imagine Holidays regarding your complaint. They have advised: I have no evidence that the cancellation penalties were waived for this booking. Furthermore, it is important to note that Mr Govender is bound to our terms and conditions and our cancellation penalties”.
· 06 December 2016 lodged the complaint with NCC (National Consumer Commission).
· 13 December 2016 reply from NCC confirming that section 17(5) of the Consumer Protection Act applies herein and should be app**** accordingly.
· 15 December ASATA communicates the NCC’s advice to Ronvin.
· 19 December Ronvin replies “I acknowledge your reference to NCC and point 4 of your below email. However, we maintain that this matter has been dealt with as set out in section 14 & 17 of the Consumer Protection Act. It is noted as per your email that Mr Seelan Govender wrote to the suppliers who advised that they had not charged a cancellation fee – Can I please ask that you send me the written communication to further discuss with those suppliers who charged a cancellation penalty? I would once again wish to advise that we did not do anything wrong in this instance”.
· 19 December 2016 I referred the matter to the Consumer Protector and received a reply from the acting director of consumer protection “it is my opinion that you have a civil claim against Imagine Holidays based on misrepresentation (alleging that they have suffered a loss when indeed they have not) and demand that they repay the balance of the contract price”.
· 20 December 2016 ASATA and Ronvin informed of the advice from the acting director of consumer protection.
· 21 December 2016 Ronvin replies “The cancellation penalties applies to your portion of the holiday and I wish to state once more that you received a bigger portion of your money back than what was due to you”.
· 04 January 2017 ASATA corresponds with Ronvin again attaching all the supplier’s emails confirming that no penalties were charged by them.
· 05 January 2017 I emailed Jacqui of ASATA advising that I have been corresponding with Ronvin whilst she was on leave and that Ronvin was adamant that they have done nothing wrong. In view of this I will proceed with a civil claim against Imagine Cruising to sue for damages if they do not repay the balance to me.
· 12 January 2017 I got a call from ASATA informing me that Imagine Cruising have confirmed that they will refund me the full amount.
· 14 January the money was in my account.
My experience with this matter has highlighted the below facts about Imagine Cruising:
Ø Customer service is non-existent it’s all about how much money they can make out of you even if they are not entitled to it. By the way Ronvin has the title of Customer Service Supervisor?
Ø Their cancellation policy is not compliant with the CPA laws.
In the end they refunded me the full amount not because of their willingness to do so, they were forced to because I threatened to sue for damages through the civil court as advised by the acting director of Consumer Protection.
Lesson learnt I will in future do my booking directly with the airline and the hotels of my choice. I did an exercise on the same airline and hotels that we were supposed to fly and stay at for the end of this year and the cost was much less than what we paid to Imagine Cruising.