Zuji, you suck

I used Zuji for the first time to book our flight to Fiji this Sunday. Never again! When choosing our inbound and outbound flights, I specifically chose the ones that had check-in baggage was included. After I booked and paid for everything, I found out that our outbound flight from Sydney with Virgin Australia didn’t actually include check-in baggage, and that I had to pay an extra $20 per person to add it! Our Qantas flight back to Sydney did include a check-in baggage allowance, but it wasn’t much use to us given we weren’t going to be able to bring any check-in baggage to start with!

Of course, the fact that the Virgin Australia flight was one of the ‘saver’ fares meant that I couldn’t make any amendments once I’d made the booking. So I called Zuji the day after to tell them about my situation. The person I spoke to said that he could speak to their tech department and confirm exactly what I had seen when I had made the booking. He said that he would call me within two days ‘at the latest’ to let me know what his findings were. So I waited. And waited. And waited. Nothing.

I ended up forgetting about it and getting on with the rest of my life, as you do, until the week before we were due to leave (this week). I called (again), described my predicament (again), and mentioned that I was still owed a call from last time. The lady on the phone said that she would do exactly the same thing as the previous person did and would call me back with her findings (again). This time, I actually did get a call, but she said that after checking with the tech department, they told her that there had been no mistake with the listing.

What a crock of sh!t. Here’s the screenshot that I took of my flight. Admittedly, I take it the day after I made the booking when I discovered that check-in baggage wasn’t included, as I wanted to double-check exactly what I had seen. The first person I spoke to said that the screenshot wouldn’t be valid, as ‘fares change all the time’. More bullsh!t – it was exactly the same flight for exactly the same fare that I had paid, and the screenshot is exactly what I saw when I made the booking. See that empty white box next to the flight details? That’s where it should say that no check-in baggage is included with the flight.

I ended up paying the extra $40 ($20 each for me and my partner) to get check-in baggage. What else could I do? It’s my word against theirs. I could make an absolute nuisance of myself and ring around demanding to talk to anyone at Zuji that could help me. I could even pull the journalist card and demand to speak to their public relations department. But for what? Forty measly bucks? Not worth my time and effort. But I will spend 10 minutes writing up this blog post to vent my frustration, and next time I’ll vote with my wallet and use a different service.