Me and my partner went on holiday to the Maldives on 12th July '09. We paid £140 for extra leg room seats when booking the holiday in March, then an extra £22.50 a few days before we went, to book the individual seats together (seats 20A & B). When we got on the aircraft, our seats were just normal seats and the cabin crew couldn't move us, apparently. The aircraft (B763ER) was changed at the last minute to another with a slightly different interior so we ended up with the wrong seats, the journey back was with the correct aircraft however.
I'm having a lot of trouble getting through to First Choice now, I obviously want the money back for the seats as we have paid for something and haven't received it and there was a few other complaints I wanted to let them know of (TVs stopped working completely after we paid £5 each to upgrade to the 'premium TV' service and no one could here the announcements made by the pilots during and before the flight) I sent a polite typed letter to First Choice on the 27th July and sent it First Class Recorded, they received it on the 28th July and I have the electronic proof of delivery here. Nearly a month has passed and I've had no reply, so I sent an email on Friday 21st August, still had no reply.
It just seems as though they are ignoring me, all I want is my money back! I'm not sure what to do next, if I phone up i'll just get through to a call centre in India!?
Any advice would be great.
May I suggest you read this topic;
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=135246
Mark - one of the mods on HT had a similar problem and is in the process of taking legal action. Lots of useful information on how to go about sorting out your problem.
fwh
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=135246
Mark - one of the mods on HT had a similar problem and is in the process of taking legal action. Lots of useful information on how to go about sorting out your problem.
fwh
I have checked which aircraft operated the OP's flight and the situation is slightly different to Marks problem. There are 6 aircraft that Thomson have that used to belong to First Choice, which are predominantly used for Longhaul, one of the aircraft has a slightly different layout, same seat pitch, entertainment but the extra legroom is at different row numbers. If the aircraft gets changed between seat allocation and departure then the check in agents only see that the customer has requested for example row 20 and they have rules to follow that they are not moved because 9/10 that will cause a complaint. This doesn't happen when the customer requests and pays for extra legroom as they will be moved and put in an extra legroom seat, the "select your seat" basically overides the "extra legroom" premium.
Bit of an update.
Went through with ABTA as I still had no reply, they were great and told me that I will receive a letter within 14 days from First Choice. I received a letter today from First Choice (after 15 days) offering me a cheque for £10 which was to cover the cost of our premium TV upgrade that we didn't receive. However, they are refusing to refund me the money for my extra legroom seats because they said, and I quote, "After speaking to our Duty Office they have informed me that the seats you were allocated were extra space seats. Unfortunately I am unable to offer you a refund of your extra space seats". Basically they think I'm lying, which I am not. The seats 20A & B on G-OOAN are normal seats, they should know that as I stated that in my letter(s) I sent them.
Also the letter First Choice sent me was dated the 25th August, yet the envelope was stamped on the 25th September and I received it today (26th September) which is slightly odd.
So I guess it's time to get back in contact with ABTA as I am still not satisfied with the outcome, can't believe First Choice can't just pull their finger out and give me my money back.
Went through with ABTA as I still had no reply, they were great and told me that I will receive a letter within 14 days from First Choice. I received a letter today from First Choice (after 15 days) offering me a cheque for £10 which was to cover the cost of our premium TV upgrade that we didn't receive. However, they are refusing to refund me the money for my extra legroom seats because they said, and I quote, "After speaking to our Duty Office they have informed me that the seats you were allocated were extra space seats. Unfortunately I am unable to offer you a refund of your extra space seats". Basically they think I'm lying, which I am not. The seats 20A & B on G-OOAN are normal seats, they should know that as I stated that in my letter(s) I sent them.
Also the letter First Choice sent me was dated the 25th August, yet the envelope was stamped on the 25th September and I received it today (26th September) which is slightly odd.
So I guess it's time to get back in contact with ABTA as I am still not satisfied with the outcome, can't believe First Choice can't just pull their finger out and give me my money back.
The "why" it happened is irrelevant. The reality is that something was paid for and not received - extra space seats. Perhaps trading standards might be interested, and you can always get legal advice from Ros.
By now I would not be satisfied with money back, I'd be after compensation for disappointment, an uncomfortable flight, plus the current aggravation and time spent writing letters.
Peter
By now I would not be satisfied with money back, I'd be after compensation for disappointment, an uncomfortable flight, plus the current aggravation and time spent writing letters.
Peter
Well no reply from ABTA yet, I think small claims is the only option now which will now cost me more money *sigh*
I want compensation as well as my money back now as this really is taking the ****.
I want compensation as well as my money back now as this really is taking the ****.
I recently made a complaint to first choice about the royal in cancun which i stayed in november 2009
After a week of being at the hotel they closed the beach until further notice because they were rebuilding it.
There were 6 digger/jcb 24/7 it was horrendous,could not relax by the pool,walk the beach,swi in the ocean or sleep at night.First choice didn't even contact me before my departure to say any work was going to be done,we paid £3500 and one of the main reasons we chose this hotel was for the beach.How long do they take to reply? it was done on the phone,should i write the complaint and send it with pictures aswell??
thanks
After a week of being at the hotel they closed the beach until further notice because they were rebuilding it.
There were 6 digger/jcb 24/7 it was horrendous,could not relax by the pool,walk the beach,swi in the ocean or sleep at night.First choice didn't even contact me before my departure to say any work was going to be done,we paid £3500 and one of the main reasons we chose this hotel was for the beach.How long do they take to reply? it was done on the phone,should i write the complaint and send it with pictures aswell??
thanks
Yes, definately, keep hold of all original copies of your photo's (or make sure you have a back up of any digital photo's) and send them along with a written complaint. Keep any complaint to one side of A4, if there are quite a few points which cannot be conveyed on one side of A4 create a bullet point style complaint letter with an opening paragraph and a closing paragraph - detailing what outcome you expect.
I used to work in a similar complaints department and short, polite concise complaints were always able to be dealt with a lot more swiftly.
I used to work in a similar complaints department and short, polite concise complaints were always able to be dealt with a lot more swiftly.
It's unfair that First Choice didn't let you know that the beach was being rebuilt. We were there early September (great hotel BTW) and the diggers were there then, knocking down the breakwaters that had been illegally built (by the hotel group)the previous year. The beach was closed due to a legal dispute between the hotel and the powers that be (Mexican government - local I think). First choice would have been aware that the beach was being rebuilt (It's been talked about since Hurricane Wilma), but probably wouldn't have been aware that the beach would be shut completely although there has been plenty of info about it happening on Trip Advisor. I would get in touch with Ros Fernihough (phone number at top of this thread) and see what she advises re photo's etc. Hope this hasn't put you off going back to this wonderful hotel?
Denny
Denny
Thanks denny
Nope has not put me off it is an amazing hotel i loved every minute of it,just really gutted bout the beach.Have had a look on the webcams and the beach is fabulous now absolutely huge,if first choice had told us about it i would of posponed the holiday till early next year or changed hotels to the royal in playa del carmen.Thats life i suppose but a phone call off them would of been nice
Nope has not put me off it is an amazing hotel i loved every minute of it,just really gutted bout the beach.Have had a look on the webcams and the beach is fabulous now absolutely huge,if first choice had told us about it i would of posponed the holiday till early next year or changed hotels to the royal in playa del carmen.Thats life i suppose but a phone call off them would of been nice
I have had a reply to my complaint (further up the page) all i got was SORRY is there any thing else i can do? it cost us soooo much money and was complete misery the last week,will never ever use first choice/thomson again they really dont care about the customers what so ever
thanks
thanks
Contacting Ros would'nt do any harm, I'm sure. At least you'd get a definitive answer on the options available to you. Good luck.is there any thing else i can do?
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