[Resolved]  Visa — strawberi holidays

Address:

Mumbai City, Maharashtra

Visa Processing error by strawberi for client Mrs Preeti Vaingankar

This has reference to client Mrs Priti Vaingankar whose visa and ticketing for New Zealand was done by Strawberi holidays handled by Fatema Kuru.

The details when we applied for a multiple entry visa the first time and as reflected in the passport is given below

Visa issued on 4th Nov 2010 explicitly mentioned should not arrive after 3rd April 2010.Visa was valid for 6 months from date of arrival. Cancelled visa copy enclosed

The above visa was rejected as it had the status of single entry visa and not multiple entry visa because Strawberi personnel (Angad) did not know his terminologies of multiple entry visa. Above all he lacked the foresight to carry a probe to the requirement of the traveler particularly when my mom had categorically stated that multiple entry was required to travel to Australia ,and even when it was was mentioned on the application form i.e travel to other countries whilst her stay in New Zealand.

Since the travel plans were getting delayed,we had asked Stawberi holidays whether they could clarify that my mother could enter New Zealand anytime between 3rd April 2010 ,and then could stay in the country 6 months from her date of arrival in NZ

As usual Strawberi holidays were not in the capacity to give us an answer and so my sister checked with NZ Immigration directly and as per Jasmine’s mail from ANZ she was eligible to stay in the country for 6 months from the date of arrival (ANZ immigration- mail enclosed)

The visa was subsequently amended to multiple entry visa, the details on passport reads as - issued on 15th December 2010, must not arrive later than 15th August 2010(visa copy enclosed).

Going by the above, we presumed that 15th August 2010 would mean my mother could enter NZ before 15th Aug 2010 and was eligible for stay in NZ from the date of arrival. We reconfirmed the same with Strawberi and told them to issue tickets the details of which are given below.

26th March 2010-Mubai -NZ
25th September 2010-NZ-back


Now ideally the visa should have been valid till 26th September 2010 from date of arrival and should have been valid for 6 months .We had ascertained the same with Strawberi while doing the bookings and they had affirmed that entry into New Zealand must not be after 15th August 2010.

Here I very categorically remember asking Fatima if we could extend her stay and she had remarked -the visa will be valid exactly 6 months from her time of entry into NZ so further extension to her stay will have to be via a fresh application to NZ authority. I also remember the return date from NZ was just in line with the visa expiry date.

Since my sister wanted to check ,if she could extend her ticket for a week , she was shocked to learn that the visa was not valid .This was on 16th aug 2010. She put a mail to Jasmine again for clarification and was told
‘’We don’t issue multiple entry in parents cases ,we issue only single entry 6 month but as a request and confirmed tickets were enclosed we issued visa valid up to 15 Aug 2010.The visa was issued on 15 Dec 2009 so its more than 6 months.’’
Which means Strawberi Holidays themselves did not know the visa processing norms for single entry and multiple entry were different .If they did not know the difference how would they expect us to know the difference?However the error went unnoticed by the travel agent and she issued us return ticket more than a month after expiry of visa .
Since this clearly indicates the sloppiness of strawberi holidays I got in touch with Fatema Kuru on 16th August 2010 only to be rudely told by her that we should have checked at our end and I was reverting after a period of almost 4 months for which she or Strawberri was not responsible.
When I blasted her she told me to stop shouting or she would bang the phone on me, which were her exact words.
In the meantime my sister was at NZ immigration and in order to waive the penalty charges they asked for an apology letter from the travel agent.

When we wrote to her and addressed her rudeness she responded with another rude mail and asked to send the scanned copies of visa.
The apology letter sent by her and as required by NZ authorities had blamed us mostly and blamed strawberi partly .This was sent at 6.30 pm.Since the above allegations were totally baseless ,we did not accept the letter as it was no fault of ours and told them to revert by 16th evening evening so the matter could be dealt with on 17th Aug morning in New Zealand.However there was no revert after that
The content of the letter is given below with our objection marked in red
(Scanned copy of letter enclosed separately.)
=======================================================
The Immigration Officer,
New Zealand
Sub : Mrs Preeti Vaingankar visa extension

Dear Sir.

This is with reference to the Multiple entry visa no 8754493i ssued to Mrs Preeti Vaingankar on l5th December,2009 till 15th August2 010.

The permit mentioned on the visa is till 15'h August 2010 but overlooked by the guest and the travel agent as , tickets were issued well in advance.

Objection:Visa issued date is 15th Dec 2009. The issue date on ticket is 17th dec 2009.

(The ticket was only issued after the visa came in on 17th Dec 2009 .)

Even at the immigration the stamp mentions clearly the stay valid till 5/08/10. This stamp was done at the time of arrival at the Auckland Airport on26'h March 20LA.Even if the guest would have informed us at that moment return ticket would have been pre-poned
or visa extended io the desired date'

My mother is a Sr Citizen and had asked for wheel chair assistance both ways. Also you do not expect a 67 year old woman on wheel chair to check at the airport, the visa details or complications, when all travel details was taken care of and assured by Strawberi holdays.and particularly because we believed in your efficiencies in handling international assignments.

This also contradicts her earlier mail dated On Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 1:48 PM, Fatema Karu-Strawberi Air <[protected]@strawberi.in> wrote:

‘That means visa validity is from 15/12/09 TO 15/08/10 which means the passenger can enter any date between the the period mentioned and stay in New Zealand for 6 months.

In this case the entry date into New Zealand is 26th Mar 2010 so 6 months is 25th Sep 2010

For further clarification , scan the holding multiple visa copy of Mrs Vaingankar and forward to me.’’


Request you to please considert the lapse from both the guest and the travel agent and would be highly obliged if penalty for application of fresh visa is waived off

Sorry for all the inconvience caused.
Thanking you,
Yours sin cerely,

Note the letter does not mention anything about penalty/additional charges to be borne by them when the client in question is a Sr citizen

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Knowing the gravity of the situation and the sensitivity required in case of a visa expiry that too pertaining to a Sr citizen , I was surprised they did not even have the courtesy to call or revert with another mail on 16th August 2010.
The next morning we received a call at 11.03 am when it was closing time in NZ . from Fatema .I told her curtly to connect me to her senior , but she only reverted that they will not apologize .Her exact wordings are mentioned below.
====================================================

On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 10:56 AM, Fatema Karu-Strawberi Air <[protected]@strawberi.in> wrote:
Ms Pallavi Jayakar,

Tried to call you on your cell this morning several time but number busy.

I would not send an apology letter but definately help you in the extension of the visa.If required please let me know.

We have briefed the Immigration officer in New Delhi and he is willing to help us out.

Let us know accordingly.
=======================================================
Which means even in such a sensitive and precarious situation as this ,it was we who were to follow up with her and not the other way around
My only contention is
1.It is the duty of the travel agent to check and validate information, recheck and reconfirm every international travel detail and issue the ticket appropriately .
Because we lack the expertise and experience it is obvious that we have taken your expert assistance to eliminate all these errors .If the same went unnoticed by us then it should have been your job to do it ,particularly because you are a reputed travel agency known for handling international ticketing and visa assignments and moreover because you were paid for it.

2. They are aware that my mother is a sr citizen age 68 and we had asked for wheel chair assistance. Knowing the scenario , it was their duty to double check on all pre requisites for international travel.

3.Knowing that the visa expiry is related to a Sr citizen they should have the empathy to revert earliest and avoid further trauma.

4.Fatema Kuru ,was she genuinely concerned about her client’s well being ,in true professional spirit would not have kept matters pending at her end.

The visa has not been issued and I yet need the letter to waive the penalty charges. I will definitely not accept an apology that distorts facts .There is nothing more to say.I rest my case here.The Sr citizen is suffering and is being treated for panic attack

Contact Pallavi Jayakar :mobile:[protected]/[protected]