Recently, I made an online ticket reservation on wakanow.com. I was issued with a booking invoice advising me of the bank account details to make payment to as well as the amount. Lucky me, Wakanow supplied details for the same bank that I am using. Immediately, I transferred the stated sum to Wakanow, taking care to follow the specific details that had been advised and noting my booking number in the remark field of the bank transfer. I forwarded the evidence of transfer to the advised wakanow.com email box as an attachment and waited for my ticket to be issued.

Three (3) days after, I was yet to be issued with a ticket. I sent an email to Wakanow to request for my ticket and then it hit me like a bolt – I was informed that my reservation had been cancelled because Wakanow had not received the online payment that I had made. To make matters worse, I was informed that the ticket price had risen and asked to re-purchase the ticket at the new price. This was wrong and Wakanow was not telling the truth! The online transfer from one account to another account within the same bank was instantaneous. My bank account was debited immediately for the full amount and a debit note was issued to me by the bank confirming the time and date that the money was transferred. Obviously the money was not hanging in the hair. Have we not been taught in school that every debit must have a credit? Someone within Wakanow had neglected doing his duty and now I was being requested to bear the burden on an increase in flight cost and make payment!

As many will understand, businesses that lack integrity may profit for a while but will eventually die from same. I refused to succumb to the entreaty to buy a new ticket. I thought an apology from Wakanow was well deserved but none was given. I requested Wakanow to refund my money and went ahead to purchase another ticket from another vendor.

Well, if Wakanow would not apologize for its sloppy handing of my ticket issuance and would not incentivize me for it, one would expect that the process to refund the amount that I had paid would be made painless and immediate. This was not also to be. I made a refund request same date and t be fair, I received an acknowledgement of this request the next day though I did not receive the refund. 9 days after I had made the ticket payment, I sent another reminder to Wakanow requesting for the refund. I still did not receive the refund and followed up with another request five (5) days after. It was not until17 days after I had made the payment that I eventually received the refund. In essence, Wakanow has traded with my money for 17 days free of charge. This was unbecoming of any enterprise that has plans to grow and I am most displeased.

I have decided to blacklist Wakanow from those companies that will benefit from my business or the business of people that I am related with because of the following:
1. The Company lacks integrity – it got paid for tickets and never issued same as per our contract;
2. The Company is not truthful – it collected funds and denied collecting same;
3. The Company lacks morality – it collected funds, traded with it for 17 days without paying a kobo for the cost of the fund;
4. The Company is not Customer focused – through this unbecoming event, the company did not consider it worth it to own up to its failure and apologize for same.

Will it surprise anyone if this business fails when it lacks care and concern for its customers? A business that does not treat its customers with respect and honor its agreements will not be around for long.