Kulula stole our moolah!
by Craig Raw
If you travel domestically in South Africa, you've probably booked a flight online before. And being a savvy and cost conscious traveller, you know that it's wise to check for different flights to get the best price. What you probably didn't know however, is that doing so on kulula.com can land you with a flight you never wanted.
It works like this: You search for a flight, agree to the terms and conditions and fill out your details. Before clicking the submit button however, you decide to open up another tab and check out a similar flight, perhaps from a nearby airport or at a different time of day. That search proves fruitless, so you revert to your original tab and click submit. Lo and behold, you're paying for and flying the flight you rejected.
It's easy to test this anonymously, without spending a cent:
- Open up Firefox.
- Search for a flight from Lanseria to Cape Town and go to step 2.
- Check the legal stuff and submit for step 3.
- Fill out some anonymous details and select "Pay Later" - but don't submit the form!
- Open up a new tab.
- Search for a flight from OR Tambo to Cape Town and go to step 2.
- Check the legal stuff and submit for step 3.
- Go back to your first tab. Note that the flight is from Lanseria.
- Click submit on the Lanseria flight - you're now flying from OR Tambo!
What makes it worse is that the call centre do not accept blame for the problem, and insist on charging you a cancellation fee. So, here's hoping someone at Kulula takes notice and fixes the problem. Until then, you have been warned!
Comments
post a commentShoo! You guys should submit this to getclosure.co.za - they have lawyers who are keen to take up some high-profile cases like this.
Posted by Dave on 2008/01/26
Did you guys ever reach the bottom of this? Was anything ever done?
Posted by Kulula Dude on 2008/11/04
As far as I'm aware, no. Either Kulula don't care, or aren't monitoring their brand online.
Posted by Craig on 2008/11/04
Other than refunding the admin fees.. nothing. I have just learned not to open more than one booking page at a time.
Posted by SuperSanti on 2008/11/04
Subscribe
RSS to Email
Get our latest blog posts delivered straight to your inbox.
eMarketing News
Subscribe to our fortnightly newsletter which is packed with interesting eMarketing news, views and other quirky titbits.
December
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |||
Archives
Categories
- General (586)
- PPC & Affiliates (30)
- Search Engine Marketing (94)
- WebPR (38)
- Online Reputation Management (38)
- Email Marketing (12)
- Design (18)
- Viral Marketing (192)
- Conversion Optimisation (14)
- Website Development (38)
- Industry Events (60)
- Quirky Stuff (115)
- Social Media (87)
- Work at Quirk (10)
- Friday Fact Box (24)
- Interviews (13)
- Guest Posts (4)
- Nice Finds of the Week (4)
Recent Posts
- A Day in the Life of Marketing
- Designing for the iPhone
- With Nandos We Can COPE
- Bike Hero
- Heineken Shows the Signs
Recent Comments
- gavich on Designing for the iPhone
- Janine on Designing for the iPhone
- Kelly on With Nandos We Can COPE
- Guy McLaren on With Nandos We Can COPE
- Tony Roocroft on Conversion Optimisation Tools
More photos of the QuirkStars At Play
Name:
Friends of Quirk
Websites:
www.quirk.biz
Problem is, is that Kulula does not allow for cancellations at all!! You have to change the booking and pay even more... over and above the more expensive flight!
Posted by SuperSanti on 2008/01/25