An Indian Australian family has accused a Melbourne-based travel agency of incompetency over thousands of dollars charged for tickets which were either cancelled or were never issued.
Brisbane-based Rocky Bhullar is likely to lose over $4,500 spent on air tickets bought from a travel company My Next Trip after it ceased its operations, including the websites and social media pages.
The Bhullar family's India trip planned for December this year is in jeopardy now.
Mr Bhullar claims he paid nearly $4,500 to buy four air tickets from Brisbane to Amritsar via Singapore.
“We had itinerary issued but our travel agents never provided us with the tickets. It is not a very big financial loss but we feel cheated by them,” said Mr Bhullar.
“We are not alone. There could be over fifty families that have lost thousands of dollars to this travel nightmare. The company didn’t fulfil their travel plans despite getting paid for the service.”
Mr Bhullar said that emails sent to customers state that the company is in the process of liquidation.
Travellers have accused the company of not paying refunds, failing to issue tickets, and not returning calls or emails.
Source: Supplied
Mr Bhullar blamed the travel company for "not keeping their promise".
“They are from our own Indian community. We believed them and this is what we’ve got in return. I wish they had kept their promise of giving us the best travel services.”
Mr Bhullar said that he had been using this company’s services without any problem for the last four years.
“They had been quite efficient until now. We never ever had any complaints, and they always gave us the best price and services. This was the prime reason why we recommended them to some of our friends."
Mr Bhullar’s family friends are also facing a loss of over $6000 in addition to a 'ruined’ travel plan to go to India.
“They booked their tickets with My Next Trip based on our recommendations,” said Mr Bhullar. “And now we are told that the company didn’t issue them air tickets leaving them thousands out of pocket.”
A Perth-based family which doesn’t want to be named told SBS Punjabi that their plans to visit Pakistan have been ruined and they’re also on the verge of losing thousands of dollars to this ‘travel crisis’.
Brisbane-based Bhullar family spent over $4000 to purchase air tickets for their travel from Brisbane to Amritsar in India. Source: Supplied
“We booked our tickets with this company. They didn’t issue us tickets. The company is now behaving in a very suspicious manner and are not responding to our phone calls," said a family member.
“We’re not very hopeful of getting a refund since they have gone into liquidation.”
Mr Bhullar said he wanted to see some scrutiny by the airlines.
“It shouldn’t be all about profit and margins. They should scrutinise these travel agents. Once the tickets are issued Airlines should check with the customers if they’re doing any cancellations,” he said.
"I did not get a satisfactory answer from Singapore Airlines. They were of no help while they should have looked into this matter on an urgent basis.... At least for the sake of travellers like us who have been their regular customers for many years."
Mr Bhullar who made the payments through his credit card has requested a refund from the bank through a ‘disputed transaction - goods not delivered’.
