EC
Elsa C
1 reviews | Active since Apr 2015
23 Jul 2021, 12:19
NEVER, EVER AGAIN!!
I will never recommend using this company for any travel - EVER! You can only contact them via WhatsApp, which makes it incredibly difficult when you have to make last-minute changes to flights (because of COVID). I had one of the worst experiences after being told by one of their agents that South Africans are able to transit through Heathrow. On the airport, we were told this is not possible, so we had to change our flights - we almost missed our first flight (thank goodness for the Qatar staff that helped us!!). We lost about R10000 worth of flights and had to book new flights worth over R8000! So, R18000 in total that we lost because of Travelstart. Worst of all? We had to fly without our luggage because the new last legs of our flights didn't have any baggage allowance.
I contacted Travelstart for a refund, but as you can imagine... communication is absolutely POOR. I even tried copying in their CEO who seems to be missing in action.
I WILL NEVER USE TRAVELSTART EVER AGAIN. And I will make a point of it to warn everyone to not use them.
Helpful (0)
Replies (3)0
Replies (3)
Travelstart's replyOfficial
25 Jul 2021, 09:45Hi Elsa,
Thank you for your feedback.
We have been in contact with you and investigated the booking. We informed you well before the flights that we do not assist with visa information and we provided a company that does. I confirm that 1 of the agents on whatsapp, which you had gotten through everytime, advised that it would be as per government regulations, under the guidance of the D7 Portugues Visa you had in your possession, but after this and before under our T&Cs we urged you to contact the relevant people as we do not keep up to date with travel documentation and it is the passengers own responsibility. Please note that on 18 June we assisted with a change and we charged less than R1000 for both passengers and advised your travel partner that to add a connecting flight would be much more costly and he agreed to purchase it at the airport. For the stress and strain which occured at the airport we have offered you a gesture of goodwill and it has been accepted. We are not responsible for baggage or any additional charges the airline had charged when ensuring you reach your end destination.
When trying to investigate the booking I asked numerous times for the whatsapp contact number so that we can assist you and conclude the investigation. Furthermore Myself and a Team Leader tried to contact you on 3 different numbers to no avail.
We had done everything in our power to ensure that you are heard and attended to and I am sorry you feel that this was not enough.
I will be reverting within the next 24 hours with the vouchers via email.
If there is anything else you need assistance with please let me know.
Kind Regards,
Melissa
Thank you for your feedback.
We have been in contact with you and investigated the booking. We informed you well before the flights that we do not assist with visa information and we provided a company that does. I confirm that 1 of the agents on whatsapp, which you had gotten through everytime, advised that it would be as per government regulations, under the guidance of the D7 Portugues Visa you had in your possession, but after this and before under our T&Cs we urged you to contact the relevant people as we do not keep up to date with travel documentation and it is the passengers own responsibility. Please note that on 18 June we assisted with a change and we charged less than R1000 for both passengers and advised your travel partner that to add a connecting flight would be much more costly and he agreed to purchase it at the airport. For the stress and strain which occured at the airport we have offered you a gesture of goodwill and it has been accepted. We are not responsible for baggage or any additional charges the airline had charged when ensuring you reach your end destination.
When trying to investigate the booking I asked numerous times for the whatsapp contact number so that we can assist you and conclude the investigation. Furthermore Myself and a Team Leader tried to contact you on 3 different numbers to no avail.
We had done everything in our power to ensure that you are heard and attended to and I am sorry you feel that this was not enough.
I will be reverting within the next 24 hours with the vouchers via email.
If there is anything else you need assistance with please let me know.
Kind Regards,
Melissa
Travelstart's reply25 Jul 2021, 09:45
Official
Hi Elsa,
Thank you for your feedback.
We have been in contact with you and investigated the booking. We informed you well before the flights that we do not assist with visa information and we provided a company that does. I confirm that 1 of the agents on whatsapp, which you had gotten through everytime, advised that it would be as per government regulations, under the guidance of the D7 Portugues Visa you had in your possession, but after this and before under our T&Cs we urged you to contact the relevant people as we do not keep up to date with travel documentation and it is the passengers own responsibility. Please note that on 18 June we assisted with a change and we charged less than R1000 for both passengers and advised your travel partner that to add a connecting flight would be much more costly and he agreed to purchase it at the airport. For the stress and strain which occured at the airport we have offered you a gesture of goodwill and it has been accepted. We are not responsible for baggage or any additional charges the airline had charged when ensuring you reach your end destination.
When trying to investigate the booking I asked numerous times for the whatsapp contact number so that we can assist you and conclude the investigation. Furthermore Myself and a Team Leader tried to contact you on 3 different numbers to no avail.
We had done everything in our power to ensure that you are heard and attended to and I am sorry you feel that this was not enough.
I will be reverting within the next 24 hours with the vouchers via email.
If there is anything else you need assistance with please let me know.
Kind Regards,
Melissa
Thank you for your feedback.
We have been in contact with you and investigated the booking. We informed you well before the flights that we do not assist with visa information and we provided a company that does. I confirm that 1 of the agents on whatsapp, which you had gotten through everytime, advised that it would be as per government regulations, under the guidance of the D7 Portugues Visa you had in your possession, but after this and before under our T&Cs we urged you to contact the relevant people as we do not keep up to date with travel documentation and it is the passengers own responsibility. Please note that on 18 June we assisted with a change and we charged less than R1000 for both passengers and advised your travel partner that to add a connecting flight would be much more costly and he agreed to purchase it at the airport. For the stress and strain which occured at the airport we have offered you a gesture of goodwill and it has been accepted. We are not responsible for baggage or any additional charges the airline had charged when ensuring you reach your end destination.
When trying to investigate the booking I asked numerous times for the whatsapp contact number so that we can assist you and conclude the investigation. Furthermore Myself and a Team Leader tried to contact you on 3 different numbers to no avail.
We had done everything in our power to ensure that you are heard and attended to and I am sorry you feel that this was not enough.
I will be reverting within the next 24 hours with the vouchers via email.
If there is anything else you need assistance with please let me know.
Kind Regards,
Melissa
EC
Elsa C's updateReviewer Update
28 Jul 2021, 11:51This proves exactly my point; it's now three days later and still no vouchers... This is not about the vouchers but the complete LACK of accountability. Scrolling through your profile on HelloPeter also just shows how accurate my review was.
EC
Elsa C's update28 Jul 2021, 11:51
Reviewer Update
This proves exactly my point; it's now three days later and still no vouchers... This is not about the vouchers but the complete LACK of accountability. Scrolling through your profile on HelloPeter also just shows how accurate my review was.
Travelstart's replyOfficial
28 Jul 2021, 18:24Hi Elsa,
Thank you for the revert.
The vouchers are a gesture of good will and will be issued to you in due course. As I have stated in my previous revert and on email, we clearly advise that it is the passengers responsibility to ensure that they have the correct documentation when travelling. Furthermore when we retrieved the whasapp conversations we has advised that visa requirements depends on government regulations on 1 occasion and on another we advised and provided the contact information for a visa company to verify if the travel documentation in you possession is sufficient enough.
I will follow up on the voucher issuance and revert on email with the information.
Regards,
Melissa
Thank you for the revert.
The vouchers are a gesture of good will and will be issued to you in due course. As I have stated in my previous revert and on email, we clearly advise that it is the passengers responsibility to ensure that they have the correct documentation when travelling. Furthermore when we retrieved the whasapp conversations we has advised that visa requirements depends on government regulations on 1 occasion and on another we advised and provided the contact information for a visa company to verify if the travel documentation in you possession is sufficient enough.
I will follow up on the voucher issuance and revert on email with the information.
Regards,
Melissa
Travelstart's reply28 Jul 2021, 18:24
Official
Hi Elsa,
Thank you for the revert.
The vouchers are a gesture of good will and will be issued to you in due course. As I have stated in my previous revert and on email, we clearly advise that it is the passengers responsibility to ensure that they have the correct documentation when travelling. Furthermore when we retrieved the whasapp conversations we has advised that visa requirements depends on government regulations on 1 occasion and on another we advised and provided the contact information for a visa company to verify if the travel documentation in you possession is sufficient enough.
I will follow up on the voucher issuance and revert on email with the information.
Regards,
Melissa
Thank you for the revert.
The vouchers are a gesture of good will and will be issued to you in due course. As I have stated in my previous revert and on email, we clearly advise that it is the passengers responsibility to ensure that they have the correct documentation when travelling. Furthermore when we retrieved the whasapp conversations we has advised that visa requirements depends on government regulations on 1 occasion and on another we advised and provided the contact information for a visa company to verify if the travel documentation in you possession is sufficient enough.
I will follow up on the voucher issuance and revert on email with the information.
Regards,
Melissa