When it comes to tour operators NOTHING is ever guaranteed in black and white, they always have a way out.

Cosmos' online T&Cs don't specifically mention "Allocate on Arrival" but do mention change of resort area, in which case they will pay the £50 per person you mentioned as a minimum if they give less than 7 days notice. Were the £600/ £260 per person?

If you had the true facts of what went on you may have a very good case - but I suspect you'll never know. The T&Cs only cover them for things that go wrong after they take the booking, in your case there can't have been much scope for that. In fact by letting you check in for the flight without advising of the change they are implying that the hotel booking went wrong whilst you were in the air. This is highly unlikely but can you prove it? Short of visiting every hotel in the specified resorts and confirming that they were open and fully booked at some point during your stay, you are going to have problems.

If we assume that they knew about the hotel problem before you departed then they should have advised you and given you the option to cancel with a full refund plus the £50 compensation. Would you have taken that option if offered?

Have they ever offered any proper explanation of what went wrong? If not, write to them and ask for one. Ask that they prove that they acted in good faith, after all if they can do that it will protect their future reputation (and if they refuse it will send a message to potential customers).

If you want to push them for an explanation and possibly spend time investigating it do not cash the cheque yet!

Thanks for the info.

Just to confirm, the price was £600 for 2 people and the compensation offered is £260 total. Its not so much the amount of money, its that we paid for a holiday that we did not recieve and ended up having to pay a lot more due to their change of booking.

The comment that grips me most in their reply is that I should have waited for them to find us alternate accommodation, but the fact is we were guaranteed by the rep on 29th Dec days before the last day of the holiday that we would not be moved as stated in my letter of complaint, so had no option but to move ourselves with only 3 nights left so booked a hotel for the next day.

I think I will write to them again asking them to explain why we weren't accommodated where we booked or informed prior to departure.

The success or otherwise of your claim will hinge on the exact wording of the 'guarantee' given at the time of booking about which resorts you were likely to be sent to. Any ambiguity or caveats, however small the print will probably let them off the hook. I've never gone AOA precisely because whenever I've looked at them closely there's been some clause along the lines of 'usually the following resorts are used for AOA' or that there is 'the possiblity that the accommodation used will not have featured in the main brochure'. Such clauses let them send you anywhere they choose and you have little comeback. If there is anything remotely similar in the Cosmos brochure then I don't think you stand a chance.

In the end they will say that it was your choice to move hotels and 3*HB for a fortnight at £300pp was always possibly too good to be true and given that their compensation offer reduces the cost of what was booked to £170pp then I don't think that's it likely to be improved upon.

SM

If they have already sent bigmac a cheque though SMa surely that would indicate that they accepting blame . . in which case I think there is a good chance of re-cooping a bit more wouldnt you think ??

lyn

I agree. I have read before that once they have sent you a check they are admitting liability.

The key is not to cash it, but keep it and if you do not think it is adequate compensation, write back immediately saying why.

Doe

Sorry spelt cheque wrong. No edit button.

The wording on the letter accompanying the cheque is what is crucial - TOs can and do make payments whilst actually stating that this is NOT an acceptance of liability or blame but is simply a goodwil gesture. As the payment of £260 is just over 40% of the total holiday then I still doubt that any more would be forthcoming. On the basis of the the standard 40:60 ratio I think that there's a good chance that they'll argue that they've refunded the cost of the unsuitable accommodation and still take the line that the extra costs incurred where done so as a result of the client's choice. Given the low cost of the holiday in the first place, pursuing this through the small claims court system could cost more than has already been offered.

In the end Ros is probably the one best placed to advise bigmac8666 whether they stand any chance of getting more.

SM

SMa wrote:

On the basis of the the standard 40:60 ratio

SMA is correct. Most TO's work out that roughly 40% of your holiday cost is for your accom, transfer and reps service with the 60% being for your flight.

I'm struggling to find any T & C's about AOA with Cosmos but I'm sure they have themselves covered.

The company I work for does not give AOA resort specifics, you get what you are given. If you are placed in an accom/resort that you don't like and you choose to make your own arrangements, you have then curtailed your holiday and we would have no further liability to you (no transfer or reps/resort office service). I think they will take the view that you chose to leave the unsuitable accom and that they will not reimburse you for any further expenditure.

You say that they named six resorts, is there any small print at all to say that you may not get one of them? The whole issue depends on this. They could very well be in a big pile of poo or they could have themselves well covered. Check all your paperwork!

I too would be interested to hear the wording.

choice of 6 resorts were named in the south of the island and guaranteed in black and white on the contract.

The £260 refund does seem to back this up as T/O's don't give out refunds lightly and usually 'start off' at £50.

I do know that if you are in accommodation that is unsuitable and you have given the rep ample opportunity to 'put things right' then you are entitled to move yourself to alternative accommodation and claim on your return. Your best bet is to speak to Ros Fernihough tomorrow on 01922 621114.

Let us know how you get on.

Is there anyway to attach docs?? I have scanned everything!

Thanks to everyone for the help and info!

The actual wording actually states " you will be allocated on arrival in one of the following resorts" then lists 6 of them.

As far as I can see there is no small print attached to this.

Unfortunately, even if the "small print" is not attached in the physical sense it will be attached in the legal sense. There is enough in their standard T&Cs on their website and if there was a brochure it will be there as well. So assuming that you saw the offer on the website/brochure it can be taken that you saw the T&Cs. If you went into a travel agents Cosmos will say you should have aske dto see the T&Cs. If the tickets were posted to you it is likely that T&Cs will have been there, if not obvious. They may have been printed on the document wallet or on something which looked like a flyer for more business. If they really have issued your tickets with simplified T&Cs which do not mention the "get out clause" and do not refer to their main T&Cs you may have a chance but it's unlikely that they would do something that stupid!

For the sake of everyone interested, the T&Cs are here. The bit that covers this is in section 3. To hide behind this clause their defence will rest upon the change being due to "unusual and unforeseeable circumstances" which were beyond their control and which they could not have avoided even with all due care. I have no doubt that in your case this is not true and you have been screwed but to get anywhere YOU will need to prove what actually happened. And that is where your problem lies because you don't know what really happened, You can't go to court and just say that they must have done something wrong, you have to show what. The killer evidence from your point of view would be a document from the unsuitable hotel showing that the room had been booked for you before the departure date.

Whether these T&Cs (and they are pretty much the same as all the other Tour Ops) comply with the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (see here for the law or here for the fact sheet) is something that needs to be looked into but for that to happen a Trading Standards Office (or some other coordinating group) will have to provide evidence of mass abuse to the Office of Fair Trading.

Your best chance for peace of mind, if not your money back, is to keep pushing in writing for a reasonable explanation. If they give one you will have something to investigate, if they refuse it would add more weight to the allegation that the T&Cs are Unfair.

I realise that you feel ripped off (because you probably have been) but if you scroll through this forum and the one about Tour Operators you'll find dozens of other cases even worse, and they are just the tip of the iceberg. You have at least learnt a lesson for life, T&Cs always exist so if you can't see them go and search. And if you think these are bad you should read your Travel Insurance Policy small print.....

You would have to have ticked a box somewhere in the booking process to agree to the terms and conditions.
Most people will just tick the box and never read them.


Also on this type of forum most of the topics are about booking disasters or holiday disasters so you are not going to get many people pointing out good experiences.

Most TO's work out that roughly 40% of your holiday cost is for your accom, transfer and reps service with the 60% being for your flight.

I'm dubious about this because if you had known you were going to have a lousy holiday, you wouldn't have volunteered for it in the first place. Neither do I think it is supported in the courts.

I would recommend a word with Ros Fernihough -

We have teamed up with Ros Fernihough, Travel Law Solicitor, to provide the best information available.
Ros has offered our members free impartial legal advice. Please note that Ros does not read or post on this board any contact to her must be made via :-
Tel :- 01922 621114

Peter

It probably wouldn't be supported by the courts but this is the formula a TO uses when they work out how much compensation they want to pay. Of course we hear time and again that folks recoup the whole holiday cost and more in court.

Louby

If it were me I would get legal advise on this one, despite any T&C's to the contrary the TO would have to be completely incompetent not to be able to get you into one out of six guaranteed hotels in the resort of choice.

Unless of course they sold them all at a higher price as named accommodation.

and that isn't something outside of their control

Now if all six hotels had burnt down, flooded, been invaded by aliens then they might have an excuse but IMO a guarantee is a guarantee in this case.

TheFisherMan wrote:

Also on this type of forum most of the topics are about booking disasters or holiday disasters so you are not going to get many people pointing out good experiences

What a wierd thing to say. Hardly constitutes advice to the OP.

There are many positive experiences all over the forum, loads of hotel reviews making recommendations, plus tons of helpful hints and tips. This is a complaints thread, so it will be about complaints.

Sorry didnt mean to upset you

Thanks to all for your helpful advice.

I have been trying to get through to Ros for 3 days now for some official info but obviously there are a lot of unhappy people unfortunately, but I will carry on trying and post any findings here.

Im pretty sure I will be contacting COSMOS again if only to try to get them to explain what happened and expess my unhappiness again.

I do think that holiday companies get away with a lot of wrongdoing, but as this is my first bad experience I think I will take it on the chin and hopefully learn from it, but not giving up yet!

So what exactly are you asking for?

Compensation? You have had a 40% refund. How much more do you want?

Or do you just want an explanation and apology?

I agree it was not a very satisfactory holiday but sometimes these things happen.

You also need to consider if trying for more compensation, you may not get it and finish up out of pocket.

Not being negative but trying to take an objective viewpoint.

fwh