Posted on October 23, 2008 - by Justin Hartman
SAAsucks.com
What do you get when you…
• …install a brand new WordPress instance on a fancy new domain name?
• …steal FlySAA‘s home page banner and insert it into the WordPress default theme?
• …do a Google search for other people who’ve complained about SAA?
The answer… SAA Sucks.
Seriously though, the whole getting ripped off experience I’ve recently gone through with South African Airways has really hit me hard. What’s more is that I’ve realised that not only do most people feel the same way but many have gone through similar experiences.
Added to this, my letter of demand to Khaya Ngqula (CEO of SAA) seems to have fallen on deaf ears and I’ve been left with a bad taste in my mouth ever since.
Thanks to Gregor for giving me the idea to do a site around this and in a short space of time I managed to get SAA Sucks up and running. The idea behind it is to dedicate space on the interwebs for anyone to go and complain about SAA.
It is clear that SAA are living in complete arrogance and have a total disregard for their clients and I think we need to take a stand. I’ve been a big pundit of the power of social media and now we can really put it to the test and see if we can make any difference whatsoever.
So while SAA Sucks is now live it’s up to you guys to help me spread the word. Write a blog post about it, send the link to your Facebook friends, post it on Twitter, Google bomb SAA with a link to SAA Sucks, frankly I don’t care – just spread the word.
Finally, If there are any designers out there who’d like to do a proper theme for this site let me know – it could do with something decent!
14 Comments
I'd love to hear yours!
I am a seasoned entrepreneur and currently the CEO of 
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October 23, 2008
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I don’t fly, but I can definitely see the value in a site like this. SAA management needs to be made aware of the fact that their ground staff and messing around with clients in inappropriate ways.
Good one!
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October 23, 2008
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New blog post: SAAsucks.com http://justinhartman.com/2008/10/23/saasuckscom/
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October 23, 2008
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Quite frankly, I’m a little surprised that this domain was even available in the first place. Kudos to you for taking a stand, Justin.
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October 23, 2008
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I’ve forwarded you a story.
There are many.
And not all of them mine, I see.
Absolutely spectacular idea!
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October 23, 2008
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Excellent site bru! I think those mofos at SAA have very little to be arrogant about quite frankly – they haven’t turned a profit EVER.
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October 23, 2008
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[...] new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting and do come back.My friend Justin got screwed over by SAA recently. It wasn’t pretty and he ended up losing a fair amount of [...]
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October 23, 2008
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Nice. Can I send you an angry letter I wrote to them last year? (which, or course, saw no reply from SAA). Viva social Meedja!
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October 23, 2008
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Absolutely. Send it to news@saasucks.com
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October 23, 2008
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Keep the pressure up on them… Put names Justin… Phone a consultant or his PA and ask for their name…
No response – then you say well… Josephine Smith didn’t reply to me at 8:32am on Thursday… Then you do it again… Then Josephine Smith’s nearest and dearest will start crawling out of the woodwork…
Ok thats probably just vindictive but they were duly warned…
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October 24, 2008
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[...] For those of you who don’t know, Justin Hartman has created a space on the interweb for people to complain about their treatment by South African Airways and share their horror stories online. He simply calls it SAA Sucks. Here’s a quote from his introductory post: [...]
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October 24, 2008
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Perfect use of social media! I introcuded SAASucks.com now to the German public as well.
Unfortunately, a similar website for Air Namibia would be just as successful, I suppose. Sigh.
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October 24, 2008
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[...] to do it online. Hellkom is probably one of the more outstanding examples of this, and thanks to Justin, there’s a new one on the [...]
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March 25, 2009
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i agree: and would further this by offering the following:
1.try getting an explanation why a short flight between port elizabeth costs more than the full price of kulula or 1 time between durban and cape town. there simply is no justification, for the complete and utter monopoly rip off of our tax money.
2. mango have the worst website, it is completely disfunctional. if you call the c…s at the call center, you will feel the aggression, you will have your time and the cost of the call wasted…at maxi call rates. you will be left feeling humiliated. no wonder…they dont care,,,,they get bailed out! service? who cares! ask chantel, yusuf, and sebi.
3. the fact that the dalai lama was refused a visa to a peace conference prompts me to urge all travellers within and to south africa: DONT USE SAA OR MANGO! they are state sponsored airlines: We should not support them, becuase our South African state sponsors the likes of mugabe, kadafi….real peace loving men, i dont think!
rather use 1 time and kulula..you wont get abused, the websites work…simple and easy.
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October 1, 2009
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Brilliant! saasucks.com is a great example of how businesses can no longer be complacent in relation to customer service. Consumers have more power than ever …