Defunct travel agency strands, abuses customers
Customers have been left without a holiday, while others were stranded in Europe after the collapse of a WA travel agency.
Dozens of Perth travellers are seemingly now thousands of dollars out of pocket and without a holiday after the collapse of a Fremantle travel agency.
Consumer Protection is urging customers of the Fremantle-based Sky Air Services to contact them after receiving numerous complaints that flights and accommodation booked by the company had not been paid in full.
According to The West Australian the customers took to Consumer Protection after turning up to the airport to find flights had either not been booked, or had been cancelled due to non-payment.
Meanwhile, a Perth sporting group who booked with the agency was left stranded in Europe and forced to fork out additional funds for alternative arrangements home, the paper reports.
Consumer Protection Commissioner Anne Driscoll reportedly raised concern that some customers may still not be aware of the agency’s financial situation and urged clients in Fremantle to contact the airline or accommodation provider to ensure their bookings were secure.
Most of the complaints are from the Croatian and Serbian community as the agency specialised in travel to those countries.
“I also encourage those affected to contact Consumer Protection so we can get an accurate picture of the number of consumers affected by this situation and keep them informed of developments as they occur,” Driscoll told the paper.
Travel Weekly confirms the agency was neither a member of AFTA nor ATAS accredited.
The Sky Air Services website and phone remains up and running at the time of publishing. Below are snapshots from some comments Travel Weekly took from the company’s Facebook page.
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
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