Kaatje Vanwolleghem, a Belgian residing in Nigeria, has narrated how Wakanow, an online travel agency, refused to refund her N180,000 two months after a flight she had booked via the agency’s platform for her daughter and herself was cancelled.

Vanwolleghem told FIJ she booked a Lagos-Owerri bound flight on August 8 but later had to cancel it when Air Peace, the airline she was supposed to travel with, suddenly rescheduled the departure time from mid-day to 7 am on the same day.

“I booked a Lagos-Owerri bound flight on August 8 for me and my daughter,” Vanwolleghem said.

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“I paid N180,000 for the flight. After booking, we were preparing for the departure day when Wakanow sent an email to me that the departure time had been changed.

“I felt hurt as the new departure time was inconvenient for us. I had to cancel it as soon as I knew the flight schedule had changed.”

The Belgian said she requested for a refund of her money from Wakanow after the cancellation.

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“After cancelling the booking, I made a request for my money to be refunded. I chatted with Wakanow on WhatsApp and they promised to refund my money within eight weeks,” she said.

“Rather than refunding my money, they have only continued to ask for my booking ref time and time again.

“Even after expressing how critically I need my money to Wakanow, they keep apologising and making promises that they have refused to fulfill.

“I am alone with my daughter and this money means a lot to us. It is past two months now and Wakanow has failed to refund my money.

“During one of my conversations with them, the customer agent that responded via WhatsApp apologised again and said that they would follow up for a faster resolution of my request. Yet, they are not forth-coming and I’m frustrated.

“To my utter dismay, after over two months, they sent another mail to me yesterday, October 9, stating that my money would be refunded within eight weeks. Another eight weeks again!”

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When FIJ contacted Wakanow via a phone call for comments on the matter, one of the agency’s officials, who refused to state her name, apologised for the delay in making the refund.

She also promised that Vanwolleghem would get her refund soon as Wakanow was currently processing many refund requests on a daily basis.

“I can see that a refund has been initiated for her,” she said. “I promise that before this week ends, she would get her money back into her bank account. I apologise for the delay. We process many refunds on a daily basis.”