Unfortunately their slogan “it's not just business, it's personal” is only a slogan.

Item: Petport
Rating: 1
Author: Danie B

First contact seems good, everything was sorted out. We decided to take a quite expensive flight for our cat to be at the same plane (Munich - Capetown). They promised that after arrival somebody will take care and we’ll be able to pick it up shortly after arrival. This was very important for us because of this long flight.

We asked for a proper quote (several details have been wrong or not sorted out) to sign. The answer was that she can’t do it. We rep**** that we’ll correct them and send it signed back, which was fine for her.

Then the first trouble started, the next agent told, no corrections are allowed. So we asked again for a corrected quote. This was quite difficult and not 100%, but we gave her a trust.

We had to do much paper work, nothing was prefilled. All in all it worked and we had been happy that everything was in progress.

On arrival we get no phone call, no really support. We found the CPT cargo station on our own, but nobody of PETport was there. So I phoned them from my German mobile and get a message from her that she sends me a mail. She wrote that the vet will be late at approx. 9:30 and we have to wait. Indeed she did at 22:00 while we’ve been already for 9 hours on our way and at this time at the plane without mail access. She knows our exact travel plan, so she also knows that we’ll not be able to read her message. She also told she tried to reach us by phone, but at this time we’ve been at the customs. Poor service if a mail and phone call is all you will receive.

At approx. 10:10 we get our cat, fully dehydrated (nobody took care, the water bowl was completely dry) and traumatized, because it seems the animals are stored with normal cargo stuff in the storage area. Transport was done by lifter with a rude driving. The most important thing for the handover agent was the signature that we received the cat.

Later on we complained about this whole situation and she told, nobody except the airport stuff has access to the animals. So you understand now what they understand about taking care and personal service. Most of their “promises” have been only irrelevant words. What will be the money for? “import permit, state vet inspection fees, paying handling cargo agent and customs clearance, admin costs”.

At the end a waste of money and mainly a nightmare for our cat! Never PETport again

Helpful (0)

Replies (1)

Petport's replyOfficial

08 Feb 2022, 12:15

Good Day Daniel, Everything you explained is your personal sentiments is as discussed directly part of the strict import into South Africa that, we’re a little confused as PETport do not have a "lifter" nor do we control the time it takes for your Fur Baby to be cleared into South Africa, we do not have access to the airside cargo section at all. This is all operated by airline ground handling and the SA government facilitates the final clearing which they do in person with a government inspector who is assigned to clear live animals once they arrive. You indicated that no water was provided is a serious grievance that we have taken up directly with the cargo port where your Fur Baby was held prior to release into South Africa as the pet is held in an airside warehouse prior to clearing no unauthorised personnel are allowed access at all. We did inform you by email on the 8th of October before your Fur baby's arrival of the amount of processing time the SA government requires. Regardless of your timelines, we can only collect Fur baby when processing is done, sadly there is a strict process that must be followed for the importation of live animals and no one can fast-track, that being said your pet was cleared in a much shorter time on arrival into South Africa compared to the timeline that was originally indicated to you per email. Please remember we are the processing agent and we facilitate the official documentation and customs processing. The only time we have contact with Fur baby is after the successful processing of clearance, which is not done by us this is completed by the South African State Vet and Government.

We apologise for your frustrations experienced through the SA Government and the import process into South Africa, South Africa does have stringent biosecurity controls which are followed rigidly to protect our borders.

Petport's reply08 Feb 2022, 12:15

Official