Hillview Travels Ltd

Wednesday 25th may

I had booked 5 tickets from him on January costing £2500 and my friend bought 6 costing her £4000. We paid the amount in two instalments. When I asked for the tickets he kept on delaying. On the 2nd of May he came with printed tickets. We called the Emirates office and they said these are booked but they have not been confirmed as the payment has not been made. We called and he doesn't hold the calls went to the office and the office is closed. Called the Emirates office again and they said booking has been cancelled. Extremely angry that we have lost such a large amount. The reason for trusting them was because we had previously bought tickets from then and had no problems. I will be contacting the financial conduct service.

Please take the time to read the following passage as we expose Sultan Ahmed, manager of Hillview Travels Ltd, a man who tried to run away with my money.

On the 20th of May 2015, we contacted Hillview Travels Ltd to book my tickets for Umrah (a pilgrimage performed in Saudi Arabia) in December. We wanted to book as soon as possible so that we could get the cheapest price; on the 27th of May, we made a full payment of £2000. We gave him our passports so that he could issue us visas. We were handed what he called “e-tickets”.

On the 26th of September, my sister decided that she would accompany us on our pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia with her family. She called and booked her tickers. A week later, on the 3rd of October she made a payment of £2200. She gave him her family’s passports and was also handed “e-tickets”.

Near to the end of November, we contacted him to check if he had sorted out our visas. He profusely promised us that he had. So why hadn’t he returned our passports yet? Why did he not show us evidence of our visas?

Arousing suspicion, this lead me to conduct more thorough research into his company, which in retrospect, we wish we had conducted earlier. The following mess that drowned me was completely unprecedented. We discovered two reviews of Hillview Travels; one from 2011 and one from 2014 – both telling the same tale [1].

One reads as follows.

“WE booked my ticket with hillview travels and paid immediately. We were told they would email my ticket to me. We waited for a week when nothing came we called them, we was told they would email it to me. This went on for two months. We contacted the airline who had told me there was no booking for me. We contacted Hillview travels. They told me the booking was made but the airline made a mistake. This went on for two weeks. Eventually we called the agent to request a refund so that WE could book the travel with someone else. We are still waiting for my refund after 18 months.”

This review confirmed my suspicions and elicited deep concern for my future prospects. Flabbergasted, we decided to check this company on a director’s website [2]. We discovered that the Company Status was “dissolved” which meant that they no longer held a license to issue travel tickets. Hoping against hope, we phoned Saudi Airlines to confirm that my tickets had been booked. They told me that nothing had been booked for me. Only that, several months ago, a reservation had been made, but they hadn’t received a payment, so the reservation had been cancelled. By this point, we were insanely frustrated. We called the ever elusive Sultan Ahmed several times, and when he finally picked up, We presented the facts of the situation to him. He tried to convince us that the reservation document WAS the ticket.

Resigned, we called a friend who worked for Zam Zam Travels and gave him the details of my predicament. He was able to run a thorough check of the reservation WE was given. The reservation had been made by Imran Travels. It dawned on me that Sultan Ahmed’s lack of licence meant that he had to go and book it through another company. My friend then asked me to give him the e-ticket number – this was NOT on the reservation. We then directly contacted Imran Travels, who told me the same thing the airlines did; that a reservation had been booked, but due to lack of payment, was forced into cancellation.

Livid, my sister and our husbands went to the Hillview Travels offices to confront this man face to face. He had the audacity to sit there and try to convince us that the reservation WAS the ticket. He was absolutely adamant that this was true so we told him to call Saudi Airlines from his office, and watched as they told him the exact same thing they told us. Hanging up, he strenuously attempted to ease our qualms by trying to tell us that Saudi Airlines are lying and have their own agenda working against him. What kind of a man was this?

Astounded by his refusal to yield to the truth, we were forced to give him an ultimatum. Return our money at once or book our tickets right now. Fail to do neither, we call the police. After a lot of shouting (a conversation we have recorded on my phone) he then begged us to leave the office and return at 3pm when he has the tickets ready. We point blank refused to leave because, extremely distrustful by this point, we saw this as his window of opportunity to escape with our money. So in front of us, he called Milfa Travels and booked it through that company. This cost us an additional £3200. Our passports were still in his possession and we asked for them back on the pretence that we had to draw money from the bank, afraid that he’d tell us that he might take our passports. This fear stemmed from whispers we heard that the company employs illegal immigrants and takes passports for them to use. He stood up and went over to his bag where we watched him put our passports 7 months earlier, dug through its contents, and finally handed them back.

Entering December worrying about the success of our visas being fixed, my stress soared through the roof and WE had trouble eating and sleeping. Consequently, I became ill which prevented me from performing Umrah as well as WE could have. Trusting this “religious, pious” man is one of my biggest regrets and we are writing this post to warn people not to have the same fate befall them. WE are currently urging Sultan Ahmed to refund our £3200. He has denied all claims and refused to accept any responsibility. His refusal to comply will result in legal intervention. We are absolutely outraged by his meddling and deception and we are certain that Allah will punish him for this.

WE are not the only client he has done this to. This has happened to others.

I booked my ticket with hillview travels and paid immediately. I was told they would email my ticket to me. I waited for a week when nothing came I called them, I was told they would email it to me. This went on for two months. I contacted the airline who had told me there was no booking for me. I contacted Hillview travels. They told me the booking was made but the airline made a mistake. This went on for two weeks. Eventually I calls the agent to request a refund so that I could book the travel with someone else. I am still waiting for my refund after 18 months.

I booked flights for 5 people via hill view travel sgents, paid the money snd was told my tickets are confirmed. When i checked the booking online it showed there were no tickets booked i then rang the travel agents who assured me tge tickets wre booked. When i rang the airline tgey alsi told me tge tickets were reserved but they were waiting for the tracel agents to confirm some details. When i called the travel agents tgey told me they were sorting this out and he would let me know tge next day. Well tge next day nothing was sorted and every time i called the person who i was dealing with was never in thr office or was always on anither line. Everytine i called i was told it would be done today, well today has never come. The agents were not willing to give me a refund either as he said that the money has been paid to the airline. However u still had no tickets. I was very annoyed and angry to say the least. The travel agents not only took my money but never got me my tickets either. I would never go through this agents again and would strongly advise others not to either. I am very dissapointed and angry. The travel agents were very un cooperative and unhelpful. Whenever i called they gave me excuse after excuse. .