Hellopeter
Share Your Experience
JS
Jamie S

1 reviews | Active since Jan 2018

04 Jan 2018, 16:48

Refund guarantee lies

I purchased the refund guarantee from travelstart, thinking I would get the majority of the cost of the ticket back if I had to cancel. I did have to cancel and requested a refund. I received an email that said they would only refund R19. So I called and sat on the phone while they bumbled about, realized their mistake and said they would fix it. This process repeated itself twice with me having to call back every time until I finally got someone who, I thought, was competent. They sent me another refund estimate and I agreed to it, even though I still would lose the majority of the cost of the ticket, and then they refunded me only R600! Which wasn’t the cost agreed upon and was less than it cost to purchase the refund guarantee! DO NOT USE THIS AGENCY! THEY ARE USELESS AND NO ONE HAS ANY IDEA WHATS GOING ON.

0
Replies (5)
Travelstart
Travelstart's reply05 Jan 2018, 13:44
Official

Dear Jamie,

we have called your number 5 times today, with no success. Your number goes straight to voice-mail. We have sent you an email with an explanation of the sequence of events regarding the refund on your booking.

With kind regards,
***nor at Travelstart

JS
Jamie S's update05 Jan 2018, 14:56
Reviewer Update
Yes, you would be unsuccessful, as I am back home in the United States.
Travelstart
Travelstart's reply05 Jan 2018, 15:08
Official

Hi Jamie,

thank you for informing us. Would you please be so kind as to acknowledge the email received.

With thanks,
***nor at Travelstart

JS
Jamie S's update05 Jan 2018, 15:21
Reviewer Update
First, when you asked for my contact details, I gave you my email. You took it upon yourself to call the number you had on file for me. I did receive the email, and I will respond to that person now. I have to say that I think it's very interesting that your customer service is so lacking until someone writes a poor review. It shouldn't take people getting so angry that they resort to publishing something online for customer service to boost to a high level. If people responded as quickly to regular emails as you do on this platform, there would (probably) be a decrease in people posting about your company on this site. As you can tell, I'm still unimpressed by this whole process and people deserve to know that when purchasing this "refund guarantee" that they are not going to get even 1/3 the price of their ticket back AND it's going to be an incredible hassle to even get that back. This has been infuriating.
Travelstart
Travelstart's reply05 Jan 2018, 16:13
Official

Hi Jamie,

please refer to the terms and conditions of the product you purchased: https://www.travelstart.co.za/cancellation-refund-policy. This information was shown to you when you selected the product.

The product states that you will receive a refund of your ticket price and taxes and that there is an administration fee which will be levied.

In your case, the ticket price was ZAR1649.29 and you have been refunded this amount less ZAR150.00 administration fee. This amount is refunded in two transactions. One amount of ZAR896.89 will be refunded by the airline, and the difference in the amount of ZAR602.40 by Travelstart, to give you the total refund of ZAR1499.29.

We are sorry for the confusion with regards to the cancellation quotes sent.

We trust you find the above in order and apologize again for the level of service received.

Kind regards,
***nor at Travelstart