Horrible service from TravelStart

We were a party of 6 booking tickets on Turkish Airlines to go to Spain, and I was the only one booking via TravelStart as I wanted to support local businesses (a decision I've regretted ever since). The flights all got canceled, and I drove to the airport to chat with Turkish Airlines as Travelstart ignored all forms of communication. Turkish Airlines told me that I'm eligible for a full refund, and they marked my booking as such but notified me that I need to get a refund via TravelStart.

Everybody else in my party who booked directly (booking the same flights, on the same day) had the full refund paid by Turkish Airlines into their accounts 48 hours after the cancellation.

I've tried to phone, email, and fill in the cancellation form but did not even receive an autoresponder to the emails. I eventually used the chat functionality, and TravelStart notified me that I'm not eligible for a refund. This was the exact opposite of what Turkish Airlines told me. After informing TravelStart of this, they said they would follow up, and then a few days later, they sent me the ridiculous penalty fees of 52% of the original cost. To add insult to injury, they want me to pay R99 upfront for them even to process the request.

How the airlines can have a short turn around times directly refunding the passengers for the full amount, but it is taking weeks to get hold of TravelStart, and then they want to keep the majority of your money goes beyond me. If this is their way of responding to crises in the travel industry, they are in for a tough time.