WO
Willem O

1 reviews | Active since Apr 2011

10 Dec 2020, 18:14

********* business

My daughter booked a flight to visit us in the Netherlands earlier this year. Unfortunately, it had to be cancelled due to the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 19 pandemic, thus no fault of her own. She received a voucher which we were happy with. My daughter has been granted a residency permit in the Netherlands thus she can fly to the Netherlands. The time has now come to redeem the voucher. She had originally paid R8417.00 and we were very happy to see that flights on your website cost R5599.00 (for a one way ticket which is what she now requires) imagine our shock, disgust and unbelief when she told us that she received an email from you stating that she must now pay in a further R 5020.37 thus bringing the total cost of the ticket to R13437,37. Upon further investigation we found that a flight from emirates directly is currently R R7125. How can you possibly explain this? We feel that this is totally unacceptable and that you should provide the flight at no additional cost. You have kept the money from her flight ticket in your account for the past 8 months, we had originally thought to ask for ’s money back however we realize that COVID-19 has caused though times for everyone, one would think that such a gesture would be rewarded but you have instead decided to penalize us for it. . I want to have a financial breakdown of how these newly found costs were added to the quote We also feel that we have a moral obligation to warn others against your ********* business. I suppose that we now also must wait another 24 hrs. for a response???? this is bad customer service, and we are terribly disappointed my contact details are W.J. Olivier

0
Replies (3)
Travelstart
Travelstart's reply11 Dec 2020, 17:05
Official
Good day Kobus 

Thank you so much for your feedback and for allowing us the opportunity to assist and respond accordingly.
 
I have had a look into your booking and would like to clarify a few things:

Travelstart is a registered third party supplier and acts as a search engine for good fares between the airline and the passenger. As Travelstart acts as an agent for the airline we are governed by all airlines rules and regulations and need to quote accordingly.

The fares and taxes quoted are those of the airline and Travelstart only charges R99.00 for these fees. The Airlines rules that we can only rebook to the same or the next higher available fare , we cannot downgrade the tickets unfortunately.  The thing affecting the fare and tax differences is also because the passenger is now changing to travel a one way instead of her original ticket that was a return ticket which is a reroute on the ticket. 

As suggested to you  your daughter will need to provide us with a return date in order to eliminate the charges of high fare and tax differences. I can confirm that our agents have since sent an updated quote , taking the suggestion into consideration. 

If there is anything else you need assistance with , you have my email address , I will assist when and however I can.

Wishing you a wonderful day further!

Thank you and kind regards
Travelstart 


WO
Willem O's update11 Dec 2020, 17:43
Reviewer Update
Good day,


Thank you very much to Lee-Anne and her team for resolving my complaint. After the explanation given, I understand the extra costs that was added due to a mistake on our side when selecting the flight. The explanation was clear and my concerns addressed.

Our complaint was taken seriously and resolved in a professional manner. I was promised a solution today and it is resolved today – very impressed!

My daughter received and accepted the final quote and will be flying home soon.

Regards

WJ Olivier
** Wish I could change the star rating**
Travelstart
Travelstart's reply12 Dec 2020, 11:29
Official
Hi Willem,

We are so happy to hear your query has been resolved. I have passed your response onto Lee-Anne as well as the team.

To change the star rating, click on your Username at the top right of the screen. Select ‘My Profile’ from the drop down menu.  All your reviews will be displayed.
Click on the review you would like to change, this will open the review.  Just above your review click on the button that says ‘Convert’.  Change the star rating on your review and select ‘Convert’ to save it. 

Yours in safe travel

Travelstart