Shocking service and no follow up

<p>I regret that I shall no longer support SA Express. Not only have they inconvenienced me and made my flying experience unpleasant, but they have failed multiple times to follow up on my emails and phone calls to Customer Care.</p> <p>On the evening of Sunday, 19 June 2016, my flight SA 1378 was due to depart at 19h50 from East London airport to Cape Town. The time of departure changed from 19h50 to 22h45 due to technical issues; thus delaying passengers by 2 hours 55 minutes. The airport issued us with a voucher to the value of R75 at Mugg n Bean as an apology for the inconvenience.</p> <p>At about 22h00 we were informed that the flight had in fact been cancelled and we would be shuttled to overnight accommodation at the International Convention Centre. Our flight the next day would leave at 9am as the earliest flight to Cape Town at 8am was fully booked.</p> <p>The following morning Monday, 20 June 2016, we arrived at the airport and had to check in again. We had barely passed through security when we learned that our flight was delayed a second time from 08h55 to 09h25 due to bad weather; delaying passengers further by half an hour.</p> <p>This series of events is unacceptable.</p> <p>Firstly, we should have been notified personally that the flight was so badly delayed on Sunday evening; preferably by telephone, but even an email would have been better than nothing. We would have been able to make arrangements so that we could spend more time with loved ones rather than wait in the airport.</p> <p>Secondly, we should have had the first flight home the following morning. Making us wait until the second flight is not good enough.</p> <p>Thirdly, when we arrived at East London airport on the morning of 20 June 2016 we should have had our check-in process fast-tracked rather than make us queue with other passengers who had not been inconvenienced as we had.</p> <p>Fourthly, on voicing our disapproval of this inconvenience, we as passengers were issued with little slips of paper with the SA Express Customer Care details and told to contact them ourselves (the number on this slip was in fact incorrect; they gave us a fax number and not a telephone number). This is not good enough; the company should phone us themselves to apologise. Instead they insist that we take time out of our day to sit on a telephone waiting for an agent to pick up on the other end.</p> <p>Technical issues and bad weather are understandable and cannot be controlled but the manner in which they dealt with the situation was very poor. As passengers delayed by over 13 hours we should have been a priority. There were serious repercussions for us as a result of this delay.</p> <p>When I arrived home in Cape Town on Monday morning 20 June I immediately wrote an email to SA Express Customer Care to lodge a complaint. I received a case number # ********** 9. I also phoned Customer Care and they assured me I would get a response in 24-48 hours. I heard nothing back from them so I wrote a further email on the Wednesday 22 June to voice my discontent. I received a case number # ********** 4. I still heard nothing back. Eventually the following week Monday 27 June I called Customer Care and asked if there was any follow up on my emails. The agent, Kat, apologised and said that there had been staff shortages the week before; hence no one had got back to me. She said she would attend to it that day but I heard nothing back from her. The next day Tuesday 28 June I called again and spoke to the same agent. She assured me that the matter was being discussed in a meeting and I would hear back from them. I heard nothing. Today I called Customer Care and spoke to a different agent. She kept me on hold for 11 minutes while she tried to follow up on an outcome of the meeting but eventually asked if she could call me back. I asked her to call me in an hour's time.</p> <p>It has now been over and hour and a half since I made that phone call and still I have heard nothing back. I am a frequent flyer locally but I will not be wasting any more of my time or money supporting SA Express.</p>