Disappointed and saddened with levels of communication.

I booked 3 return flights JHB - Durban the 6th Oct - 8th Oct for myself and my 2 kids via Travelstart. A short holiday before school opened. I received an email 3days before my flight asking me to accept or declined flight changes to an earlier flight on the 6th Oct leaving to Durban with a link attached to respond. I did not respond to the email first time around - a day later I sent a request to add another two kids to my flight seeing that Travelstart requested me to change my flight I thought there might be availability - Travelstart did not even respond to my request. In the early hours of the early hours of the morning the next day I declined the email requesting flight changes due to travel arrangements that was in place. With no response from Travelstart I took it my flight remained as is. The 6th Oct I was on the airport 06H00am as my flight was for 07H30am. I went to check in 40 min before time and was told my flight just took of and i missed my flight. I tried calling Travelstart and the contact centre was not available untill around 07H30. Eventually I got through to an agent and was advised the next flight out was at 13H30 and at a penalty fee R3700pp (in total R11 100) of which i will be liable to pay I did not have that amount of money. I refused and she referred me to another department and they would call me back around 08H00 coz that is when they will be available, around 08H15 i got a call back from Travelstart and the agent i spoke to was telling me about the penalty for the next flight out and the same as the first call i refused to pay penalties as it was not my fault and yet they want to put the blame on me. I advised the consultant i want a full refund and she said to give me a call back as she has to referrer it to higher management. I waited for 2,5 hours for a call back from Travelstart and eventually they came back with a flight for 20H35 the evening not having a choice I accepted the flight and we missed an entire day of our vacay and it is all because the poor communication from Travelstart, therefore i will not recommend Travelstart to anyone. I had a hard time explaining myself to the agent that it was not my fault and with teary eyes i had to explain to my kids why we did not make the flight. It was their first time flying so imagen the excitement and i could see the disappointment in their eyes at the time when i didn't even know if we will be on the next flight out because all i had was our spending money for the weekend. I felt bad and disappointed because I myself was not sure and i had to prepare myself to tell my kids our only option was to go home. We sat from one restaurant to another waiting and not knowing if we are going to even make it to Durban for the weekend - the wait alone felt like eternity and when they eventually came back we had to push time for the evening flight. Thinking about it brings back rage so much emotion, disappointment and anger, I am going to fight Travelstart with everything I have. My first time with Travelstart and i will never ever ever use them again.