An East Lothian mum and daughter have been left £3,000 out of pocket after a nightmare last minute flight cancellation.
Fiona Mathers and her 13-year-old daughter were 'in tears' after their travel agent cancelled their flights to New Zealand. It would have been the mental health nurse's first trip home to see family since the pandemic.
The 54-year-old, who lives in Gifford, East Lothian, was horrified after discovering that Dream World Travel, a London based travel agents told the family they hadn't booked her flights home a week before the trip.
The mum-of-one was excited to bring her teenage daughter out to New Zealand to see her family after tragically losing her dad and being unable to attend the funeral last year.
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New Zealand was one of the last countries to open its borders, reopening on Monday May 2 2022, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern welcoming the first international travellers in over two years.
As soon as Fiona heard the news she booked tickets home to visit her 87-year-old mum who was widowed last year for some a much needed catch up and some quality time together.
The 54-year-old managed to find flights for her and her daughter to Christchurch from Edinburgh costing £2,000 and planned to go for six weeks as any less time isn't worth it due to the high cost of the transatlantic trip.
But just a week before their jet off date the mum was left distraught when Dream World Travel, a London based travel agents had not booked the flights she had paid for in advance.
The travel agents said there was nothing they could do so the 54-year-old sought a refund and frantically looked for flights to save the trip.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live the mum explained: "I booked at the beginning of May. I have lived here [Edinburgh] for over thirty years but I'm from New Zealand.
"As soon as they opened the borders I booked flights that day, you assume because its a reputable company and ATOL protected it will be okay. I have booked many flights over the years to and from home and never had an issue like this.
"I got an email confirmation and ATOL certificate so it seemed fine but as the trip got closer I had not received any E-tickets or information so I became concerned and contacted them. I was on the phone for two hours before someone picked up and said they would look into it.
"At 6.30pm five hours later I got a call back with a rep telling me 'unfortunately we haven't booked your flights' with no explanation. I couldn't believe it I was so angry.
"I had already sorted internal flights and accommodation so if I cancelled the trip I would lose thousands of pounds and they didn't care at all.
"I was just shouting at them, they didn't offer any alternative flight and I then got an email saying they would refund me the money.
"The last time I was able to visit home was November 2019, usually I only travel home every couple of years but because of everything that has happened over the pandemic it feels about six years since I last saw my family.
"My father passed away last year and I couldn't go to his funeral."
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She continued the new flights from London to New Zealand cost £4800 plus £500 for flights down there and a hotel overnight so with the refund of the original flights I'm about £3000 out of pocket.
"I don't know what else I would've done if I hadn't booked the flights yesterday. Then the day after I had booked the replacement flights, Dream World Travel got in touch saying they had found me new flights from Glasgow but there is no way I would trust them after that and told them I just wanted my money back.
"They then emailed asking 'can we talk?' I'm still waiting for my refund they said it would take 48 hours and now they have said it will take a couple more days.
"I checked the reviews afterwords and my heart just sank. They have a terrible reputation, my daughter spent all of yesterday in tears and I was in tears too. From now on I will be booking directly even though it is a bit more expensive it's more secure."
The mother and daughter will finally take there holiday to visit the family but are still waiting on the £2000 refund from the company.
Dream World Travel have been approached for comment.
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