1 reviews | Active since May 2016
NEVER AGAIN BOOK WITH TRAVELSTART, THEY LEAVE YOU ON YOUR OWN WHEN THERE'S A PROBLEM
I bought tickets to fly from DBN to JHB on Friday 26 Feb returning Sunday 28 February (Confirmation number ZA***4) on Mango via Travelstart. I also, regrettably booked car hire through Travelstart. Mango started to change the times during the week before we were to travel and resulted in me having to move my commitments for Friday around.
They also changed the time of my return flight from the morning of 28th to late afternoon (±17:30) which was not acceptable for me as I had commitments in Durban on Sunday afternoon. I tried in vain to change my flights for Sunday as there was a "system problem" with Mango.
We went to the airport on Friday morning for our 10:30 flight, however, the flight was continuously delayed with 30 mins a number of times. We decided that we cannot risk missing our Friday commitment and rather drive to JHB while we still have time in effort to honour our commitments on Friday afternoon.
We went to Mango who said we can just send an email to ***. I also went to Bidvest Car Hire at King Shaka and cancelled my car which they did. They said i must ask for refund from Travelstart.
Outcome, Mango gave me a voucher for the tickets (which is OK...), Travelstaret R600 booking fee i lost, and Car Trawler (whom i dont even knew i was dealing with but Travelstart's supplier) refuses flatly. I will never deal with Travelstart again, they take your money but refuses to deal with you if there is a problem. Then you have to deal directly with THEIR suppliers. As a very loyal Investec and Travelstart customer over a nmber of years, i wil never make the same mistake again. I lost R622.00 i paid Travelstart and another R406.42 paid to Travelstart (which i didnt manage to recover from their supplier, Car Trawler (not even Bidvest, who by the way was prepared to refund me).
Thanks for voicing your concerns and I do apologise for any inconvenience and frustration caused for your flight schedule change.
We try our best to make travel simple and ensure that our customers are satisfied.
With our industry there are various factors that may affect flight time changes, which the airlines & travel agent have no control over. This could be weather related, international airspace agreements, statistical data or technical issues, Covid etc
Airlines therefore cannot guarantee their timetables and this is the reason the IATA Conditions of Contract was drafted - which basically stipulates that airlines guarantee to transport clients from A - B but do not guarantee their time tables. Each airline also has their own Terms of Conditions and procedures where schedule changes and delays are concerned.
In our Terms & Conditions we do advise we go through a Third Party Supplier.
The cancellation policy and administration charge can vary depending on the car rental supplier.
As the funds for Car Rental go directly to the supplier, Travelstart is governed by all their policies and I'm afraid we are not able to waiver this. Each Car Hire company would have their own cancellation policy, and those Terms & Conditions would be mentioned on the Car Hire voucher you would have received.
The flexi ticket product purchased is a Travelstart product which we can refund from our side as you cancelled your flights due to Schedule Change.
We will process the refund from our side and the amount for this product should reflect within the next 2 - 3 days back onto the card used to make the booking.
I will contact you on the number provided to assist with any other concerns you might have.
Kind Regards,
Marcelle
Thanks for voicing your concerns and I do apologise for any inconvenience and frustration caused for your flight schedule change.
We try our best to make travel simple and ensure that our customers are satisfied.
With our industry there are various factors that may affect flight time changes, which the airlines & travel agent have no control over. This could be weather related, international airspace agreements, statistical data or technical issues, Covid etc
Airlines therefore cannot guarantee their timetables and this is the reason the IATA Conditions of Contract was drafted - which basically stipulates that airlines guarantee to transport clients from A - B but do not guarantee their time tables. Each airline also has their own Terms of Conditions and procedures where schedule changes and delays are concerned.
In our Terms & Conditions we do advise we go through a Third Party Supplier.
The cancellation policy and administration charge can vary depending on the car rental supplier.
As the funds for Car Rental go directly to the supplier, Travelstart is governed by all their policies and I'm afraid we are not able to waiver this. Each Car Hire company would have their own cancellation policy, and those Terms & Conditions would be mentioned on the Car Hire voucher you would have received.
The flexi ticket product purchased is a Travelstart product which we can refund from our side as you cancelled your flights due to Schedule Change.
We will process the refund from our side and the amount for this product should reflect within the next 2 - 3 days back onto the card used to make the booking.
I will contact you on the number provided to assist with any other concerns you might have.
Kind Regards,
Marcelle