Members of the community still fuming over ticket refunds

While the decision taken by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) to cancel the remainder of the upcoming Christmas in July events at both the Pretoria National Botanical Gardens and the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden in Roodepoort has been welcomed, some community members who purchased tickets are still fuming over their refunds.

SANBI has in fact terminated its contract with the service provider.

Read the initial article here:

https://roodepoortnorthsider.co.za/301720/public-applauds-sanbi-decision-to-sack-service-provider/

The Northsider contacted the ticketing company, Howler, and asked for some clarity on questions put forward by the community with regard to the process of getting refunded.

Howler Support Agent, Thabo Lehari, said, “There were lots of complaints from unhappy customers about the event. We did not organise the events, but we have made a lot of refunds. Unfortunately, we cannot refund tickets that have already been scanned via our system – we can only do those refunds via our financial department.”

The community is advised by Howler to contact them via support@howler.co.za or call them on 011 880 2199.

In addition, Howler could not confirm the change of venue for the Giant Bug event and said that the tickets for the show have been put on hold as they are still waiting for the organisers to confirm the way forward.

Efforts to contact the event organiser via telephone and email were unsuccessful.

Here are some of the comments and complaints from the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden’s Facebook page:

• Zelda Erasmus – Struggling to get my money back from Howler where the tickets were purchased, anyone else struggling?

• Cronje Colette – I see the Giant Bug show that was scheduled after the lights show, simply changed the venue to Rivonia, and are selling tickets again.

• Adele George – I bought five tickets and paid R333,15. Howler only approved a reimbursement on one ticket then deducted 50 per cent. I received R43,56. So why were we told that we should contact Howler for a reimbursement?

• Carmen Sarah Hull – I bought eight tickets and was only reimbursed R61,50; were we not supposed to receive out entire amount back?

• Adele George – Do we get 100 per cent of our refund or does Howler retain the admin fees?

• John Gordon-Smith – When one goes online, Howler’s response is that we can only have a 50 per cent refund as it [the event] was six days ago. It was five days ago. Notwithstanding that, the company does not honour its commitments. It organised an event poorly from all aspects, in fact so poorly that SANBI has broken ties with them, but will not refund? David Huni, please ensure that your organisation does the right thing.