Olayemi Durotimi, a London-based Nigerian, has accused Travelstart, an online travel agency, of refusing to refund her N746,836 after she cancelled her flight bookings in December 2021.

According to Durotimi, she booked three flight tickets with the agency on October 27, 2021 with the hope of travelling from London to Lagos on December 15, 2021.

She was however unable to travel as planned after the United Kingdom government imposed a Covid-19 travel restriction on flights incoming and outgoing Nigerian flights.

After receiving news of the restriction, Durotimi said she approached Travelstart to cancel the tickets meant for herself, her husband and daughter, and to refund her money.

“The restriction imposed by the United Kingdom on December 6, 2021 disrupted our travel plans and we approached Travelstart to cancel the ticket and refund us the money, even if they have to deduct their administrative charges. But Travelstart has made this really difficult. They have refused to make a refund,” Durotimi told FIJ.

She also said the agency has continued to give the same response to the several emails she sent to them to request for a refund.

“I have written numerous emails to Travelstart concerning this and every time, different agents from the company would reply saying they have escalated my complaint,” Durotimi said.

“The escalation has been going on since December 2021 without any form of commitment as to when the refund would be made or the amount of refund I’ll get.”

“When I approached British Airways, the airline we were supposed to fly with after Travelstart’s flight booking, I was told the airline was open to ticket rebooking and refunding for cancellation that happened during the COVID-19 lockdown period.”

Durotimi, who resides in the United Kingdom, accused the travel agency of treating her complaint with kid gloves because she is not based in Nigeria.

“I believe Travelstart seems bent to drown my cries of complaints in their I-don’t-care attitude to matters,” she said.

“I’m in the UK now and I’m in desperate need of my money.”

FIJ sent an email to Travelstart via its customer care e-mail address but it had not been responded to at press time.

This report was produced with support from the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development Inclusivity and Accountability project (CMEDIA) funded by the MacArthur Foundation