South African ground-handler Match Event Services has been criticised by the trade after causing ‘chaos’ for World Cup tourists from the UK.
Customers arriving in South Africa had to fend for themselves when private transfers failed to turn up. Others did not receive transfer information and tickets for internal flights for England’s opening match on Saturday.
The firm’s performance prompted comparisons with England goalkeeper Robert Green, whose clumsy handling cost the team a 1-0 victory on Saturday.
Sue Richardson, senior sales consultant at Journeys a la Carte in Staffordshire, was forced to go into work at midnight on Saturday to deal with an irate client on a £26,000 Emirates Tours trip bought as a present for his son.
Richardson said: “They made Robert Green’s handling look positively assured. It was complete chaos: there was no private transfer and no welcome pack.”
There were a least 52 people with him in the same position. “The upside was it showed him the value of booking with an agent,” said Richardson.
A spokesman for BAC Sport, an official World Cup tour operator which has 1,000 clients in South Africa, said: “Customers weren’t getting their confirmations until the night before departure.
“They [Match Event Services] were pretty shoddy; it’s as if the World Cup just snuck up on them.”
Imran Patel of Match Services admitted there had been “logistical challenges”. He said: “Rest assured that we are doing everything possible to rectify matters in collaboration with our participating tour operators.”
An Emirates spokesman said: “Emirates has a specialist team on the ground to look after our customers and they will be dealing with any issues.”
Picture credit: Rex Features