Negligent, unprofessional, avoid at all costs!

We live abroad in the UK and booked an airport shuttle ride with Southern Shuttle on Sunday 20 May.

The company's online website sends you a text to let you know that payment was received, but it does not take an email address and sends no confirmation of pick-up details.

We booked a shuttle collection for 9.25am on the Sunday from the Blue Marlin Hotel in Scottburgh, Kwa-Zulu Natal. The hotel reception staff told us to wait at reception by the hotel entrance to be collected as the shuttle always comes to the reception desk to check for passengers.

We stood at the hotel entrance as requested and by around 9.45am, nobody had turned up and the hotel made a call to the shuttle company to check where they were as we were concerned we might miss our flight due to their late arrival.

I was met on the line by an abrupt owner, telling me that we were 'supposed to stand outside in the street waiting' and that the shuttle had already left with other passengers from the hotel. I was completely stunned as there had been no shuttle and no other passengers and we had been standing at the entrance to the hotel waiting since 9.15am waiting. The reception staff confirmed no one had been to the desk to ask for passengers and they did not see a shuttle arrive.

The owner's response was defensive and unprofessional. She shouted at me over the phone that we were meant to 'stand outside in the street and wait!!!' and that I should have 'read the terms and conditions!!!'.

The hotel manager confirmed to us that they had never before asked passengers to wait outside in the street.

The company owner then said they would turn the shuttle around and come back for us and we should 'wait outside in the street with our bags!!!'. We proceeded to take our bags outside and stand on the side of the road waiting. Another 20 minutes passed and I went back into the hotel to call again. The owner then simply said 'sorry we are not coming for you the other passengers are not happy about turning around'. So in effect, we had stood there waiting when they had no intention of turning around whatsoever, or letting us know that they now had no intention of coming back for us and that we had to make alternative arrangements.

In an attempt to make our flight, we paid a private transfer company R500 to rush us to the airport. We missed our flight and had to pay another R3,600 to get on the next flight. Upon arrival in Johannesburg, we also missed the shuttle we booked to take us to our destination, so we had to pay for another private transfer at R500.

Altogether, the negligence of Southern Shuttle cost us R4,600 (plus the money they charged us to book with them in the first instance).

The owner of this company had no intention of helping us or trying to rectify the situation. She was incredibly rude and defensive and at no point offered an apology or a refund. At no point did we receive booking confirmation that we were meant to stand outside in the street. The hotel manager told us that this had never been the case with any of the shuttle services collecting guests. You would expect that the very least they could do is get out of the car, walk to the hotel entrance and see us standing there, or check they have everyone in the car before setting off.

Their website clearly states: "Courtesy Call - don't get left behind! One local courtesy call will be made to the booked passenger on the date of travel, ensuring that we try our utmost not to leave you behind." We NEVER received a call, nor did the hotel.

Further, had the owner of this company at least been honest about the fact they had no real intention of turning around to come and get us, we could have immediately made other arrangements to get to the airport on time. Instead we were left waiting on the side of the road with our bags for a ride that was never coming.

It is so disappointing and disheartening to receive such shocking service in a country that is prospering like South Africa and which has such potential. Most people go out of their way to provide service excellence. This company and its female owner left a terrible impression. The way she handled the situation was completely distasteful. Their negligence and unprofessional service caused us an awful of stress and huge, unnecessary expense.

I do not wish for anyone else to have this experience and will be sure to spread the word about this incident both locally in South Africa and abroad via all review channels possible.