Lorette B

My Experience with Red Sea Jol and Mr. Zidane Mohamed Kamal Walid

My Experience with Red Sea Jol and Mr. Zidane Mohamed Kamal Walid Official Letter of Complaint and Call to Response On behalf of the attendees of the Red Sea Jol, I am writing to express our strong dissatisfaction, and poor customer Service against the below company: Red Sea Jol PTY Ltd, Company Registration: 201508081107 No Vat No: 000004800277776 and 000004200288936 Director: Zidane Mohamed Kamal Passport No: A15035441 Tax No: 9470239188 Address: 236 Rondebult RD, Libradene, Boksburg, 1459 On 02 February 2022, a tour was advertised by the Red Sea Jol (Pty) Ltd with Bobby van Jaarsveld and Juan Du Plessis. Amazing and well-known singers in South Africa. The Red Sea Jol (Pty) Ltd has been a tour operator in the Red area for over 8 years and is believed to be a “Top Quality Tour Operator / Tour Agency” based on its Facebook history and reviews posted by its clients. This can be seen on its Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/redseajol/ and website: http://redseajol.co.za/ I, including another 31 people were supposed to leave on 19 August 2022 for the Red Sea booked through Red Sea Jol (Pty) Ltd which subsequently did not happen. We have further received no formal communication after many attempts to correct the situation or have any recourse from/to the Red Sea Jol as to how and when we would receive a refund or alternative dates for the trip proposed. I have provided a summary of information and facts below for reference and kindly request that our voice be heard, and some action taken to intervene so the 31 people who paid their money over to the Red Sea Jol in full can be refunded or compensated. Summary of events and facts On 02 February 2022, a fully inclusive trip to the Red sea was advertised by Red Sea Jol Pty Ltd on Facebook. The trip was advertised and known signers Bobby van Jaarsveld and Juan Du Plessis would be in attendance and in the dives as they are themselves, keen divers. This was a massive draw card in booking the event. I, including 31 other persons contacted the Red Sea Jol to book our space. The Tour operator and owner of the Red Sea Jol Mr Zidane Mohamed Kamal Walid hereafter known as “Kimo” email address: kimo@redseajol.co.za acknowledge our request and on Friday, 28 January 2022 15:42 and sent our deposit invoices to be paid, for 2 guests. The costs for the trip were R 37 299.00 per person fully inclusive including Flights, Full board accommodation on the boat including daily dive, nights’ accommodation on land, Cairo day trip and nights’ accommodation and return flights. A securing deposit of R 10 000.00 was to be paid on receipt of the invoice and the balance on request when invoices and statements were received. From calculations, the Tour operator would have received (31 persons x R 37 299.00) = R 1,156,269.00 which is a substantial amount of money. All monies were paid into the below bank account: Red Sea Jol PTY Account Type: Business Account Branch Code : 250655 Account Number : 62571056483 Bank : FNB Northmead Square SWIFT CODE FIRNZAJJ For reference: L & J Bridges paid the deposit of R 10 000.00 A confirmation mail was received from Kimo Zidane (kimo@redseajol.co.za) that the deposit was received. A WhatsApp group was created on 01 June 2022 to manage the communication and related information for the trip confirmed for 19 August 2022. The group continually asked for Statements / Invoices, so that payments could be finalised and all schedules for example flights / Transfers / Hotels and Boats could be supplied. Kimo always had excuses, for why people had not received this information. Towards the end of July 2022, the group had still not received updated statements and/or invoices to make payments. A request was then sent from Kimo to request that the group needed to send Kimo confirmation of the payments made by everyone so he could reconcile. The information was sent directly to his email kimo@redseajol.co.za as per the request received on 25 July 2022 at 07:37:16 To our knowledge, all payments were made into the Red Sea business account below and Kimo was the person responsible for receiving and allocating all payments. The bank account details provided were: Red Sea Jol PTY Account Type: Business Account Branch Code : 250655 Account Number : 62571056483 Bank : FNB Northmead Square SWIFT CODE FIRNZAJJ A message posted on the Group was sent out by Kimo requesting via what’s app that all payments be sent to him to confirm all have been allocated correctly. All persons submitted their information and Kimo confirmed via WhatsApp confirmation thereof. On the 5th of August considering that the trip was planned for 19 August 2022, I and a number of other persons started to get concerned that we had not received confirmation of the trip, the itinerary nor ticket confirmation. Just after people started to raise concerns Kimo on the 6th of August 2022 hit us with his first Bomb shell, Informing us of a price increase. This was not well received considering the fact that no one in the Group had received any confirmations or updated statements and now asked to pay an additional R 8500.00 per passenger. At this stage most believed that this was a scam. In addition, a lot of people paid their monies in February months before the trip and Kimo should have reserved flights to prevent such an increase from happening. The group was furious and had a lot of questions which he did not answer: 1. Why do we need to pay increases if we have already paid in full and months prior? 2. Why were flights not booked in advance and prices secured with the deposits paid? 3. The Group had constantly requested information which was not supplied and now request to pay additional funds. The reaction was very mixed. Some people asked for immediate refunds, others stated that Red Sea Jol needs to cover the additional cost, some asked why he did not have insurance for situations like this, and some asked if there were alternatives as they did not have the additional funds and what would happen if they were unable to pay the additional increase requested. Kimo's response was vague and, at this time, advised the Group that he had fallen ill which was making it challenging for him to handle the stress caused by the matter. At this time, it would have been prevalent to have someone assist him seeing he was sick and unable to deal with the matter especially considering has notified the group of the increase on 06 August 2022 ten days prior to the trip. Kimo requested to resolve the matter by going to Egypt Air to discuss the price increase and would revert with a possible solution. The Group agreed and thanked Kimo for his efforts. The following Morning dated 07 August 2022, Kimo posted a reply at 9:55 am via what’s app confirming that he managed to reduce the price increase and this difference would be covered by the Red Sea Jol. There would be an increase in the service charge which needed to be paid upon arrival from EUR 165.00 to EUR 190. The Group agreed and the matter was resolved and the booking was back on track. Kimo requested if the Group knew of additional passengers, we should let them contact him to assist with filing up the boat. I referred my parents who are pensioners to Kimo on the 7 August 2022 who then booked the trip last minute and paid over the monies due in full. REF: Mr & MRS SWANEPOEL. At this time the Group had not received an infinitary nor confirmation of the tickets. Info was supplied by Zidane Mohamed Kamal (Kimo) regarding our trip while we wait for tickets. The Group started to request the information a couple of days after in order to arrange foreign exchange and connecting flights for this they do not reside in Johannesburg. Kimo confirmed that he was waiting on the tickets to be issued which would take a couple of days. Confirming that the trip was still to happen and some of the details pertaining to trip arrangements and equipment needed. On 14 August when clients followed up on Flight tickets it was confirmed by Kimo that the tickets had still not been issued and the pricing that Kimo has secured was not in question. Kimo opted to turn off his phone and refused to speak with any of the parties or reply to anyone's messages. On Tuesday 16 August 2022 with the trip planned to leave on Friday 19 August 2022 Kimo returned to Group and posted terms and conditions. Note, that the Group had never seen these terms and conditions and any other related communication except for the initial invoice received. The Group had now a suspicion that the trip was cancelled. After numerous messages on the WhatsApp Group asking about the status post the terms and conditions being posted Kimo opted to remove himself from the WhatsApp Group leaving all the guests in the dark. Needless to say, the trip never happened even with huge efforts to try and make my own arrangements, speak with Kimo directly, and arrange tickets directly. The Tour company Red Sea Jol has taken in excess of R 1 million rands from customers that paid for a trip in full that never happened. In addition, have no recourse with the Tour Company Red Sea Jol as they are based in Egypt and have refused to deal with the matter or communicate the way forward. The group has requested to the Egypt Embassy is to intervene in this matter to try and get a favourable outcome for this group of people. This is a large amount of money a variety of people have paid a saved for some time including pensioners. Due to the above our pack of 31 clients, which were stranded without tickets on Friday the 19 August 2022 have attempted to resolve this matter with no Feedback. We have proposed the below options to Red Sea Jol with no outcome received to date: 30 August 2022 Option 1: Refund. Option 2: Move the Trip Without receiving any communication from Red Sea Jol, we have moved forward with charges again Red Sea Jol. Case numbers have been received by parties and additional cases are being lodged individually. Post all the events noted above and trying to understand where our money went, L Williams pursued to speak to the Flight operator and other Dive clubs that have operated with Red Sea Jol before. During this investigation, we made contact with Sphinx Travel and Tour who was the appointed Flight Travel agent from the Red Sea Jol. After speaking with the Sphinx, it was confirmed that the flights were cancelled 3 days prior due to non-payment for the tickets. We received the below confirmation indirectly that the deposit was made, and Red Sea Jol had two groups planned for the same time. A Group of 19 people and a Group of 31 persons were our Group. We have confirmation that the Group of 19 persons did indeed go on the trip where the Group of 31 persons were left stranded (our Group). My opinion is the Red Sea Jol did not have sufficient funds to secure both Groups and this decided to pay for the smaller Group which was within the monies paid. The balance after payment of the 19 tickets was paid back to the Red Sea Jol. Confirmation was accidentally posted on our Group and soon thereafter deleted. I trust that all parties involved understand our plea and hope that the Egyptian Embassy will be able to assist or guide us in any way possible. Lorette Bridges