The management of Amypar Travels and Tours Ltd has faulted a claim that it ruined a family’s wedding trip to the United States.
In a statement by the Managing Director Patricia Ekhaguere, the firm said it was not at fault for the error and that the issues had been resolved.
It said an online article by Consumer Life blog was aimed at “not only painting our company in a bad light but a calculated and deliberate attempt to de-market us.”
Amypar Travels and Tours said on March 1, 2016, an old client, Pastor Yemi Omoniyi, contacted Ekhaguere to enquire about the cost of flight tickets to the U.S. for his wife and mother for a trip scheduled for March 25, 2016.
Omoniyi sent his wife and mother’s names as “Mafa Omolola, Omoniyi” and “Janet, Elizabeth Omoniyi”.
The ticket was bought using the names sent.
“Omoniyi never pointed out that his mother’s surname is Mafa and differed from his and that of his wife’s,” the firm said.
All through their interactions, Omoniyi did not mention the disparity in his mother’s surname, the firm said.
While at the airport, Omoniyi called Ekhaguere after the airline stopped his mother from boarding the aircraft because the names on the ticket and the international passport were not the same.
The firm said Ekhaguere worked with staff of the airline to secure another early date.
The statement adds: “They secured 27th March 2016. She informed him and that N278,000.00 only was the amount it will cost for the upgrade.
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“Pastor Omoniyi refused to pay the charge for the upgrade, stating that our Managing Director should be the one to pay for the upgrade.
“She (MD) refused to pay for the upgrade because the surname disparity was not to her knowledge; she had a scheduled settlement to be paid to IATA on the 30th of March which was two days away, and Pastor Omoniyi had not completed his payment for the tickets.
“After two days, Pastor Omoniyi got angry and asked for a refund of the amount paid for the two tickets.
“At this point, our Managing Director had already paid the charge for Pastor Omoniyi’s mother’s ticket upgrade, which he has up till date refused to pay back.
“On 3rd May 2016, Pastor Omoniyi again asked for a refund and by 6th May 2016, the refund was out and payment was made to Pastor Omoniyi.
“During the period of this transaction, our company made a lot of losses and lost businesses worth millions because our Managing Director’s attention was focused on solving Pastor Omoniyi mother’s ticket issues.
“On 4th May 2016, Pastor Omoniyi through his solicitors wrote a petition to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) titled ‘Re – Petition against Amypar Travels for marring my brother’s wedding in the US’ against our Managing Director, demanding for the sum of N2,450,000
“In response, our company through our solicitors wrote a cross petition to the NCAA dated 19th May 2016 titled ‘Re: Cross-Petition against Pastor Paul Yemi Omoniyi for false claims/demand and defamation of character’ stating that our Managing Director does not owe Pastor Omoniyi the sum of N2,450,000.
“Some months later, the matter was resolved when our Managing Director presented the chats of the Whatsapp conversations between Pastor Omoniyi and herself where it was discovered that the names used for booking the flights were exactly what Pastor Omoniyi sent to our Managing Director.
“We, therefore, urge the general public to disregard whatever vile comments aimed at destroying our business image and hold that our company is a responsible and forthright one and could not have survived this hostile business environment for the past 13 years if we were otherwise.
“Also, we hold our esteemed clients in very high regards and understand very well that without their patronage we will not be in business.
“If anyone is in need of further clarifications or require any information with respect to the foregoing, please do not hesitate to reach out to our MD on 08037071161.”