TRAVELSTART BAD EXPERIENCE

This is my second review for Travelstart and unfortunately my star rating did not change. I initially thought the problem is with British airways but I came to realize it is not the case. It is in fact Travelstart. I would not have complain here but it is impossible to speak to someone directly. You need to work through a contact page and then you get options on what your query is. They do reply but if you need to reply again to sort something out, again you need to go to the contact page. This is so frustrating. you are not able to speak to someone directly.

My complaint: I booked two tickets through them with British airlines. I do not fly ever and this was a once off treat for my daughter who has never fly before. The tickets cost about R 1750 return from jhb to Durban for 12 July 2021.

Then Lockdown happened. The borders were closed. The looting happened and on top of that comair suspended their flights during that time, including my flights. Thus i was forced to cancel or suspend my tickets. I then chose to rebook in October 2021. Then, because of the change I HAD TO PAY IN. I cant just rebook and pay the new ticket with my credit i had... I had to pay in because i moved the flights. It was like a penalty. THIS WAS NOT MY DECISION. I am sure i don't have to explain COVID to anyone. I had so much issues to change this and I came to the conclusion that it would be cheaper to book a whole new trip than to move it. I haven't done that. I am not financially in the position to go around and book tickets as i please when i do actually have credit available. So i decided to not fly but to drive down to Durban . I then went onto Travelstart's contact page and saw a COVID 19 Refund option. I was so delighted and thought... Finally.. they will refund me. I logged a query. This was their response...

Please find the refund quote below: PER PERSON

Fare + Taxes: ZAR 769.68 Service fees + Travel Extras: ZAR 257.64 (nonrefundable) Airline Penalty: ZAR 493.00 Refund admin fee: WAIVED Refundable amount: ZAR 276.76

So to conclude: I will get a total of 553.52 back from the R 1750.00. BECAUSE as you can see, i pay PENALTY for something NOT CAUSED BY ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If i was able to rebook a normal rate as if it was a new booking I would have been happy to pay in the additional R 1500.00 what it will cost as this will be cheaper than to drive. BUT IT IS JUST NOT POSSIBLE WITH THEM.

I do not want to do this here but this is the only way i will get someone to act on my query. I will continue to review them if I need to. I need to say that Melissa from Travelstart phoned me previously with my first complaint and helped me really well, but unfortunately I can't get hold of her or anyone as they do not respond. I NEED THEM TO PHONE ME.