JETSTAR RIPPED US OFF AND COST US THOUSANDS!!!!

So.. On 22rd feb my partner and i had planned to fly domestic to Auckland from Christchurch, Our flight was at 2.45pm, from home we tried to check in through the app and the website (as we only had carry on bags). The response from both the Jetstar App and their website, was 'Error please try again.' We tried and same thing over and over.. So we left and headed to the airport.. After the crazy traffic with taxis and dropoffs etc we arrived at 1.55pm and proceeded straight to the kiosk to check in. Kiosk also responded with us 'Error please try again.' So again, we gave it another go.. It then printed a ticket (it looked exactly like a boarding pass) BUT on the docket it said, 'This is NOT your boarding pass please proceed to Jetstar counter.' Ugh by this time im already fustrated! We head to the back of a massive line which was slowly being split into 2 lines as u reach the counter, because the only 2 counters open for service were the luggage drop offs! As i said before, we only had carry on. Finally after waiting patiently with our fingers crossed things were still okay for us, we reached the woman behind the counter and presented this piece of paper from the kiosk, she looked at her watch and said, 'Thats not your boarding pass?' (UGH!! u dont say!!!!!) She then told us, 'That is not a pass, you will not be boarded on the plane as yous have missed your flight, it is FAR to late for you to try and board the plane now.' I tried to explain that we were lined up because THEIR kiosk defaulted ud and she told me, 2 bad n that was a shame wasnt it, we will have to wait around and see if we can get on the next flight which is in 2 hours, as a standby.!!! We asked her if that would be free then as we had already paid $900 for our flight we had apparently missed ( NOTE all the while customs was calling for people flying with the flight to hurry up as the gates were closing.) She laughed at us!! And said 'No, it will cost whatever is decided and we cant tell u anything untill the time comes. Is that all.' IM ABSOLUTLY FURIOUS! That in my eyes is THEFT and we were on time, the flight was still calling passengers and we were denyed ANY and ALL access to the flight we had paid $900 for!!!!! We missed our pre paid for, shuttle to the city in Auckland, we missed out on our pre paid for hotel room which was also $400 a night AND we had to pay another $977 to board another flight with another company so we would arrive in Auckland in time to get there for the event we were going for. The woman was RUDE, NONSYMPATHETIC to the situation the company she works for put us in, not to mention BLUNT, DISRESPECTFUL, and NO help to us what so ever. They CLEARLY STOLE from us, and that is ok in their eyes. We are 2 hard working young people who never get the chance to go away from our city, this was the start of our very FIRST holiday n the 3 years we have been together, and it started horribly as JETSTAR RIPPED US OFF and cost us THOUSANDS!! My mother is a business, fraud lawyer and lucky for us very intelligent when it comes to things like this and has already started writing a legit formal complaint towards the company and the woman who messed us around. But after stumbling upon this site, it doesnt look like ill have a lot of luck in any reimbursements or an apology like we deserved at the least. What a disgusting way to treat people who choose ti fly with them, its any wonder they have any customers at all. If anyone has any advice for me or a similar experience to share then please do so!! We r so gutted from the experience from Jetstar and the staff who we dealt with. :(