When I was refused to board the plane last Saturday bound for Tacloban, the next thing that came into my mind is to buy a new plane ticket and refund the void ticket which I bought from a travel agency.
So Saturday late afternoon, I went to the Philippine’s largest shopping mall, Mall of Asia and headed directly to TicketNPost travel agency. TicketNPost is located at the south wing of MOA, just beside the SMX Convention Center. That’s where I bought my Manila –Tacloban, Tacloban Manila plane tickets last May 1, 2008 at 6:30PM The date and time of transaction is clearly printed on the Official Receipt.
The staff do not know what to do or handle my issue. I told her I need a refund because I was refused by the carrier to board the plane. I then told her that according to the airline’s system, my plane ticket was marked as CANCELLED. But who cancelled my booking? In the first place, it was already paid. And I do not have any plan of cancelling it.
The staff then repeatedly tried to check my plane ticket but she herself cannot find my booking on the airline’s system. I then pressured her to call her boss and inform her that I need a full airline ticket refund right at that moment.
The manager relayed the message that refund can only be settled Monday (that was yesterday), because they really can’t refund the money that Saturday afternoon.
So after an hour of pressuring them with seemingly futile results, I agreed to their condition to receive the refund Monday via bank deposit. I gave my bank details to the staff. Additionally, I also gave her my mobile number so that she would contact me once the deposit has been made.
I trusted their promise. But I warned them that I will report this matter to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) if they failed to pay me.
Monday June 30, 2008 came and no deposit has been made.
So I have decided to go back to the TicketNPonst travel agency in Mall of Asia today. But just before I head straight to their office and berate their staff, I checked my bank account again and see if deposit has been made. Zero, none, zilch. My ATM available balance is only fifty pesos.
I then head to their office thinking that this time, I should now be getting a full refund of my plane ticket. But I was disappointed one again. A sign on their door reads “OFFLINE, we will be back in a few minutes.” The door’s locked. To pass time, I went to an internet café and checked my mailbox for an hour. An hour later I went back the story’s still the same. No staff available. Locked doors and the hand-written sign taped on the glass door.
It is quite obvious now that TicketNPost is not willing to give back my hard-earned money. Their manager was not even willing to talk to me when I ask their staff that I wanted to talk to their boss. All they do is just do business and not care about the concerns of their customers.
They cannot even keep up with their promise to pay me via bank deposit. God, it’s only one thousand nine hundred plus pesos. But as a consumer, I have to make sure that I am getting my money’s worth.. After all I have the right to complain as part of the RA 7394 or the Consumer Welfare Act.
ARTICLE 52. Unfair or Unconscionable Sales Act or Practice - An unfair or unconscionable sales act or practice by a seller or supplier in connection with a consumer transaction violates this Chapter whether it occurs before, during or after the consumer transaction. An act or practice shall be deemed unfair or uncionscionable wh enever the producer, manufacturer, distributor, supplier or seller, by taking advantage of the consumer’s physical or mental infirmity, ignorance, illiteracy, lack of time or the general conditions of the environment or surroundings, induces the consumer to enter into a sales or lease transaction Grossly inimical to the interests of the consumer or gross one-sided in favor of the producer, manufacturer, distributor, supplier or seller. In determining whether an act or practice is unfair and unconscionable, the following circumstances shall
be considered:
c) that when the consumer transaction was entered into, the consumer was unable to receive a
substantial benefit from the subject of the transaction;
Now, I will be forwarding this post to the DTI to formally register my complain regarding this TicketNPost Travel Agency who looks like do not have any intentions of giving my money back.
So if you, your family, or your friend will be travelling, better inform them not to book tours or get their cheap airline tickets at TicketNPost or you might end up having the same situation like me.
This is the second part of a two-part story. Part of the story can be found here
Please forward this email to your friends, and family. Also I would greatly appreciate it if you can post this in online forums and blogs so that more people will be aware of what TicketNPost is doing.
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Beware when buying airline tickets via travel agencies: The TicketNPost Horror story