1 reviews | Active since Jun 2016
Refused our Refund - Can't Travel due to Covid-19 Risk
We booked accommodation through Lekkeslaap.co.za for Pilbra Beachfront Apartments in Port Elizabeth months ago, and cancelled this week due to Covid-19 risks. We informed the agent, Dominque Ferreira, about our situation - we have a Covid co-morbidity in our family, and therefore were advised by our GP to not travel to the Eastern Cape after is has been declared a "Hotspot" area.
The owners refused to Refund our full Deposit even after we requested and motivated clearly that the cancellation of our booking is due to the Nelson Mandela Bay and Eastern Cape area being declared a high-risk Coronavirus Hotspot by our President on 14 December 2020.
As we have a Covid-19 co-morbidity in our family, we do not want to risk travelling to a high-risk risk-area that has necessitated Government Restrictions and beach closures (we made the booking months ago when the situation looked very different). We find it appalling and greedy that the accommodation hosts would just keep our money for a service that we have rightfully cancelled after the area was declared a Coronavirus "Hotspot" with beach closures and an already overburdened Health Care system in the EC.
Therefore, we strongly feel that the advertised service can not safely be provided due to the high Covid-19 infection risk, as it is situated in an area where they cannot guarantee our safety. We did inform the owners and agents of our situation and medical risk profile of our family, but they still refused to refund us in full - keeping 50% of our money for themselves for doing nothing but administrate a booking that they will provide. **************** in a year that has been financially hard for everyone.
Lekkeslapp and the Pilbra Beachfront Apartments establishment have just lost us as potential future clients! If they were accommodating to our request, we would have absolutely recommended them to all our family and friends as well as in public reviews, but out of greed for a few hundred Rand they have just done potentially thousands of rands of damage to their reputation.
Thank you for reaching out to us on HelloPeter.
Unfortunately, the owner is within their right to request a cancellation fee, as there are currently no restrictions on travel. We will usually negotiate with the owners to see if we can try and motivate them to offer a full refund or a booking postponement.
In this instance, it seems that the owner is strictly following their cancellation policy.
I've asked your agent to also reach out to you and see what other options are available in its situation.
Kind Regards
Jurgens
Thank you for reaching out to us on HelloPeter.
Unfortunately, the owner is within their right to request a cancellation fee, as there are currently no restrictions on travel. We will usually negotiate with the owners to see if we can try and motivate them to offer a full refund or a booking postponement.
In this instance, it seems that the owner is strictly following their cancellation policy.
I've asked your agent to also reach out to you and see what other options are available in its situation.
Kind Regards
Jurgens
We have given a very clear and valid medical reason for requesting a cancellation, and believe it would be in your and the establishment's best interest to do the honourable thing and refund us in full.
We have given a very clear and valid medical reason for requesting a cancellation, and believe it would be in your and the establishment's best interest to do the honourable thing and refund us in full.