Kulula.com: a joke for all the wrong reasons.

If there was an option for a zero star rating, I would be choosing that. I flew from Cape Town International Airport to Lanseria on Saturday 5th May 2018. Upon arrival, when I collected my BRAND NEW suitcase from baggage claim, I discovered that the retractable handle would not extend. I went straight to the Kulula desk to report the damage, and was informed that Kulula "does not cover damage to handles, wheels, or other protruding parts of bags". Since I hadn't taken out travel insurance, the best they could do was open a case "for the record". Believing that it was my handle that was broken, I left without pursuing the matter further.

Once I got home and unpacked my bag, I unzipped the inner lining to see if I could fix the handle. I then realised that it was actually the inner "tubes" of the bag that were damaged - the one was severely bent, clearly from having something very heavy dropped directly onto it. These tubes form part of the inner frame of the bag, are fixed in place and NEVER protrude. They are also not attached to the retractable handle, rather the handle runs through them (a point made more obvious by the fact that the retractable handle is silver and these tubes are black). The only reason that the handle now can't work is because the one tube is so bent (with the handle inside it) that the handle cannot move through it any longer. And above that, the structural integrity of my bag is now compromised, as it is not a hard case and these tubes form part of the firm back side of the bag. I sent Kulula pictures of the damage and pointed out that this is damage to an internal structure that does not protrude and therefore surely cannot be covered under "wheels, handles or protruding parts". After some back and forth, I received a brief e-mail from a person named Bennie to tell me my claim has been denied as Kulula "does not cover damage to handles, wheels, or other protruding parts of bags". They didn't even bother to spell my surname correctly in the letter they sent me "for insurance purposes".

Despite further questions from me for clarification, as to how this non-protruding non-handle part of my bag could possibly be covered under that "disclaimer", I received a rather rude one-liner addressed only to my surname (not so much as a Ms as there was in the previous e-mail) saying nothing more than "it falls under the handles". He has failed to respond to my subsequent e-mail, which included a request to be put in touch with somebody else who can assist me with escalating the claim. Nobody seems able (or willing?) to give me a straight answer as to how Kulula can justify not covering this damage when this is clearly not a protruding part of the bag.

Clearly Kulula should be spending less time focusing on their cringeworthy "humour" and more time focusing on their customers.