How Mango airlines' lack of prompt communication left a family stranded
Mango's communications is vrot, says Consumerwatch’s Wendy Knowler.
It’s not been a great week for Mango Airlines and its ticket-holding passengers are feeling the pain - again. On Monday, the SAA subsidiary announced that it was going to go into business rescue and the next morning hundreds of would-be passengers were left stranded at Joburg’s OR Tambo and Cape Town international airports.
In the case of the flight departing from Cape Town at 10:15, bound for Durban, Mango only notified the queuing passengers shortly before 9, via SMS, that the flight had been suspended.
That was more than an hour after Mango had expected them to be at the airport! Totally unforgivable.
As is not posting a few Mango personnel at the airport to deal with distraught passengers.
One Durban family of five is only flying back to Durban this afternoon, having been unable to book seats on other flights on Tuesday or Wednesday.
LISTEN here for the full story…
KOO RECALL - What about “no till slips required” did the supermarkets not get?
By now, most people would have heard of the massive Tiger Brands recall of 26 canned veggie variants, mostly KOO brands, announced on Monday. It spans two years of product, from early May 2019 to early May 2021 - and Tiger Brands is expecting consumers to return about 20 million of them.
Since Monday, I’ve been hearing from people who took tins back, without a till slip - Tiger Brands said they didn’t need proof of purchase to get a refund - only to be told they needed a slip to get that refund. Ingrid Fakathi wrote: “I went to Checkers Davenport with the Koo baked beans. However I was not assisted cos I didn't have proof of purchase yet it is written we can take the recalled products to any supermarket for a refund.”
Responding, Shoprite head office told Consumerwatch that it would be “reiterating to stores again” that the refund may be done with or without a receipt.
“We apologise to customers for any confusion caused.”
But it wasn’t just Shoprite and Checkers.
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Arvin emailed: “With the product recall, l have contacted three major retailers to enquire how to return the stock that l have in my possession. Each one indicated that l need to provide a proof of purchase for the products. This is not possible as l purchased the product in bulk and l am not in possession of the slips. But I am absolutely certain that Tiger Brands said receipts are not required. Remember this recall spans two years, stretching back to product manufactured in 2019 - how many people have till slips going back that far? Or even a few weeks?"
This is Tiger Brands’ recall - their rules. And the retailers will get refunded in turn by Tiger Brands.
I think the retailers in KZN are a bit jittery about people bringing stock back without refunds, given events of recent weeks, especially large amounts, but it is what it is!
Massmart’s group corporate affairs executive Brian Leroni said he’d followed up with all the group’s operations directors to make sure that receipts for products returned to Cambridge or Makro stores as part of the recall will not required in order for consumers to get a refund.
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No stock, no specials
Shoprite also getting flak for excluding KZN from some of its specials.
The group is telling consumers: “We are working around the clock to re-stock and rebuild stores that were affected by the riots in KZN, and we can assure you that deals in these stores will resume soon.”
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