I wouldn't be telling you this story if one little chiseler hadn't tried to gyp me out of my hard earned money...😂😂😂
A travel agent, most likely a tout, who conducts her business at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, obviously thought I was the kind of run of the mill push-over that is easily swindled.
If she had known what she was up against, she probably wouldn't have pushed her luck that far.
I usually buy my air ticket for domestic travels online. But this time around, I couldn't, because there were issues with the airline's website which made it impossible to buy the ticket online. And to compound matters, Air Peace appeared to be the only Airline that has flight to Enugu from Abuja on Tuesdays. As I was wondering what to do, since I was far away from Abuja, a friend introduced me to this woman travel agent, who he thought was reliable. She sent me her account number to send the money for the ticket, which I promptly did by instant online transfer. Several hours went by without any response from her. Towards evening when there was still no response, I called her but she didn't answer. I wondered what her game plan was but I wasn't alarmed. After some hours, I called her again. This time, I was lucky and she picked the call. She said she was on her way home and she would get back to me.
Later, she sent a text message, quoting the ticket reference number, which she claimed to have bought. The number looked genuine but somehow I felt uneasy. Why didn't she send the ticket by email so that I could print it. I told her so and she promised to do so the following day, that is today.
In the morning, I decided to do my own little investigation. So I found the Airline's website and tried to get the details about the ticket but I was told that the reference number was invalid. I was surprised but I said to myself they probably had not overcome the problem with the website. All the same, I decided to investigate further. I called the Airline's customer care service and gave them the number to check for me. They were thorough and checked everything from the number to my name, my email address and everything else. They couldn't find my name. This time I became alarmed.
My concern was not so much losing the money but missing the flight. The prospect of travelling to Enugu by road was not appealing...So I called her but her phone was switched off. I sent her a text message and told her to forward the ticket by email. After several hours, she sent a reply that I should send her my email address again which I did. Several hours went by again without response. I tried her number again and she answered. This time I dropped all pretence and told her that the ticket reference number she sent me was invalid. I also told her that I had contacted customer care service and they had confirmed it to me.
When she realized that the game was up, she apologised and admitted that she gave me an invalid number so that I would stop disturbing her. That she was delaying to see whether the price would come down. I told her I didn't need any discount, she should buy the ticket as it was. She said she would. From then, she stopped picking my calls and did not respond to my messages. It was clear she thought she had heard the last of me.
It took the intervention of a staff from our headquarters in Abuja, Ladan Mohammed, (Maganin biri karen Maguzawa) for her to buy the ticket.
When she realized that she couldn't get away with it, she became very rude to our staff... such audacity... not only that, she started sending me insults via text messages. When I refused to respond, she started calling me. I knew she wanted to vent her anger on me, so it was my turn to ignore her calls...
That was how I eventually got my ticket. But come to think of it, my worry is, if I didn't know anybody in Abuja, she would have swindled me, wouldn't she?
So it is always buyer beware...