Unhelpful, bad communication and blame put onto customer - never flying Mango again

<p>This weekend went on a trip to do a triathlon in Durban, obviously needing to transport a bike. The trip to Durban went without an issue but on return and check in at the check in counter was informed my bike could not be checked in like normal at the oversize counter but had to be taken to a different terminal and checked in as cargo. When I asked the lady at the check in how I was going to do this and get to my flight in time I waas told that I must either rent a car or get a meter taaxi to get my bike there and hope to make it in time. I was told that if I missed my flight the cost of chnaging to a new one and the cost of the flight would be my own issue. </p> <p>So I caught a meter taxi to the cargo terminal (which cost me R150 extra) and then took nearly an hour to che*** my bike in (this was another service not very well organized) but clearly missed my flight. My boyfriend caught the flight to avoid getting two new flights which meant multiple collections at Cape Town when I arrived - again an additional costs and inconvenience. Speaking to other people doing this process they ahd been informed via email and text - I received nothing!</p> <p>When I returned to the Mango airlines help desk I was informed that I needed to pay for a new ticket and an admin fee and that the flights were full and I would go onto standby. eventually they just charged me the admin fee and finally booked me on th next flight, which by the way had plenty of empty seats still. I was also told that the information about the bike was on the website and I should have seen it when I booked my ticket. While standing in front of them I tried to book another ticket for the same week (where they would still have the same bike transport issue due to the Cyle tour in CT) and no where on the mobi site did this information come up. I was still forced to pay the admin fee for an issue which was not my fault!</p> <p>On arrival in CT my bike was only delivered late that same night and when I called to find out about it they told us they were not going to send an sms to let us know it had arrived as they had promised us during the check in process. eventually I did receive an sms but only the day after it arrived - causing me to miss a very important ride on my return and making me late in returning the bike bag I rented - an additional cost again for my pocket!</p> <p>Was also told to try sort it out on the guest are line - tried to call and waited 25 minutes on hold - again additional cost to me and eventually gave up and hung up.</p> <p>This entire process was extremely badly managed and I was made to feel this was all my fault with the airline doing nothing to assist or understand the situation. It cost me a lot of extra money and time. I WILL NEVER BE FLYING MANGO EVER AGAIN.</p> <p> </p>