Baggage Claim
I have sent this message to SAA customer care (11 May 2009), we will see if they respond!
To Whom it May Concern
Baggage Claim
I had the unfortunate experience of having my bag “misplaced” by SAA whilst flying from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth over Easter 2009. I know I am not the first, nor will I be the last person to endure this unpleasant occurrence, however I feel the way these claims are handled is completely inappropriate and quite embarrassing on SAA’s part.
Firstly, the promise of the bag to be found and delivered! What a joke! After several days, no bag nor phone call was received from SAA. I then took it upon myself to enquire as to what steps needed to be taken to claim for the stolen goods. Weeks later, I was finally in possession of a claim form. I then had to find a police station, the post at Port Elizabeth airport proved to be unhelpful and quite rude, needless to say they had no idea what to do with the form.
Finally the form was submitted…or so I thought! After phoning baggage claim (an hour on hold, 5 minutes of conversation) I was told that they had not received the fax. Supposedly the people who receive the faxes were not a work just yet, 9am was just too early!
By now a month had gone by and completely out of the blue I received a phone call, my bag had been found and they would deliver it the same day! When I received by bag I was surprised to find the contents relatively intact. There were two empty boxes in the case, one for my perfume and one for Elizabeth Arden make-up. These two items make up a cost of roughly R800.
I was told to phone Tony de Villiers and report these stolen goods. Tony was kind enough to inform me of SAA’s weight policy, goods can only be claimed based on their relative weight! How convenient! If this had been mentioned to me at the beginning of the process I would have know not to bother, for I am now to receive R180 for my troubles… My phone account, my petrol, my time and wasted efforts amount to far more than R180!
I feel insulted and abused by SAA. The supposed carrier of choice to the South African public – which has experienced such negative publicity of late and which should be on top form to rectify this image – is lax, rude, unhelpful and unapologetic. And the worst part of this entire process is that this e-mail will fall on deaf ears. I anticipate negligence and silence…please SAA, prove me wrong!
Kind regards Lorin Baxter
Tags: Complaints, SAA
August 6th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
I too have had nothing but trouble with SAA & it was sadly my first & certainly my last, experience with them. I was thrown off my original flight with no warning, as their early flight was over booked & they decided to put those passengers in my seat.
I then spent 2 hours running around the airport talking, well at least attempting to, several SAA workers, all of whom were more incompetent than the last. They then had the cheek to try & charge me for a change of flight, claiming it was my own fault i missed the flight, nothing to do with them throwing me off.
I refused & kicked up a fuss only to be passed back & forth between the airport SAA staff & the SAA customer helpline staff, whom were so helpful they put the phone down on me, namely the so called supervisor Michelle!!
My bag was at that point somewhere between the plane & the airport, i was booked for the flight the next day & was assured my baggage was in the hold area for that plane.
I turn up the next day only to find out they have now cancelled that flight, that my bag is AWOL, that i had now lost 2 days wages due to their incompetence & when i asked why i wasn’t informed, i was politely given a letter, clearly verbal communication isn’t their strong point.
Returning again the next day to hope i can fly home, the flight appears to be in order & the check in staff, the baggage staff & the management staff at the airport all confirm to me that my bag is definately on the plane with me only for me to arrive at heathrow with no bag & no one able to tell me where the bag is.
Despite all this SAA are still refusing to take responsibility or show any real interest in my stressful situation, instead as a ‘goodwill’ gesture i was given a voucher for 25% off my next flight………….that is in no way an adequate apology or compensation for the shit they have put me through!!
Disgusting, absolutely disgusting!!