Pretoria - For two years, Barry Harmse saved money so his family could go on holiday to Belgium.
After paying nearly R60 000 for plane tickets, Harmse is stressed and panicking after finding out that travel agent Elize Raath hasn’t booked the tickets.
On Friday, Harmse read the story of how Raath, of Elize and Elize Travel and Sports, was paid about R300 000 to book flights for Monument High School pupils to go on a European tour, but she didn’t do so.
Harmse then realised he was not the only one allegedly swindled by Raath. The latter was supposed to book plane tickets for 30 pupils but, on the day of the trip, they found that the tickets she issued were invalid. The school had to hire a new agent at the last minute, and donors helped to sponsor the new tickets.
The school has opened a fraud case against Raath.
“When I saw the story, I realised I wasn’t the only one she duped into paying for a trip,” Harmse said on Monday.
Harmse and his wife Theresa want to escort their daughter Jade, who is representing the country in the world fishing championships to be held in Brussels next month.
The family decided to turn the trip into a holiday and added a trip to Italy onto their itinerary.
“She did the bookings for my daughter’s team, and we thought she is reputable and it would be easier to use her as well. I initially booked economy class tickets for R15 000. We then discovered that my wife has blood clots in her lungs, so we decided that she needs to be more comfortable when we travel. I then upgraded the tickets to business class and paid an extra R49 000,” Harmse said.
Raath gave the family their electronic tickets and, just after the Monument High School saga, Harmse saw complaints on Facebook.
“We then contacted the airline and were told that our tickets don’t exist. I was devastated because we paid a lot of money and the trip is very important for my daughter.”
Jade and her teammates’ tickets are in order.
“She (Raath) has not been taking my calls and so I called her husband, who promised to sort the issue out. I don’t think that is going to happen. I’m worried that I don’t have any more money to buy new tickets. When I checked the other day, tickets have more than doubled and they now cost R70 000 for business class,” said Harmse.
He added that he was also worried because Jade, who is 17, needs an unabridged birth certificate to travel with the group.
“Because we might not be travelling with her, immigration is going to need the coach to have an affidavit from us and an unabridged birth certificate. She doesn’t have it,” Harmse said.
He said his only hope now was to get a bank loan
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Pretoria News