STA Travel Centurion is in breach of signed agreement

We were intending to travel to Thailand in April, however due to the outbreak we submitted a refund claim with Sta Travel. The store manager of the Centurion branch, Daynnah Blignaut, confirmed that the refund will be processed on 13 March 2020. 15 April 2020 (A month after our refund request and numerous follow up emails), we received correspondence stating that a refund won't be entertained but rather credit notes will be issued for use at a later stage.

We are a large group, having paid close to R120000 on the trip and are being told that credit notes will be given is unacceptable. To date, only 1 out of 10 travellers has been refunded, creating a precedence that the refunds would and ought to be honoured. If they were and have been able to honour refunds why stop and not complete the cycle with all the other travellers?

STA Travel has unilaterally altered the terms and conditions of the agreement by offering credit notes instead of cash refunds. As a result, STA Travel has breached the agreement we have in place with them. This is a major contravention of the laws of the Republic of South Africa for which legal action can be taken.

We strongly advise that all future travelers not book with STA Travel especially the Menlyn and Centurion branches, they are completely unprofessional and their recent conduct has been grossly ********.

I intend to pursue further legal action against this travel agency - to seek specific performance (I.e. cash refund) and also claim for damages on this matter.