That is fair comment FWH, if we accept that it is OK for a travel company to let you down, and not even give you an explanation or even an apology. I have had issues with Thomson, First Choice, and Direct Holidays in the past 16yrs, but each company has had the professional courtesy to reply, and in the case of Direct Holidays, I received a personal phone call from the managing director. The whole purpose of this website is to tell holiday truths.

Funnyboy,

You may well be forgiven for finding Kosmar to be good, but eventually you may run out of luck

I have travelled with most of the travel companies around over the years and have never had a bad holiday from any of them.
I put this down to good research and planning.

I'd also put it down to a fair amount of luck. Just because you haven't had a bad experience with a company doesn't mean that other people haven't too. Even the best of companies can make the occasional slip up (and the real test of their customer service is what they do when things go wrong).

Many thanks for your post greyejectbutton.

I may have warbled on with my Kosmar posts, but to suggest that I failed in my planning and research is but an insult and would suggest that "funnyboy" has neither digested or even read my posts.

I would suggest that if I was guilty of being upset and cynical with Kosmar, it was because I had done my research and planning to the "nth" degree. What more can you do if you visit a resort, make researched decisions on your next visit, research the flight times, get suspicious, not book from that airport (and subsequently find that your research and planning is well founded), book from another airport and still have the company let you down and cancel your holiday. Can I ask what you would have done different "Funnyboy" in your planning of our holiday to Parga??? Perhaps I am being unfair to Kosmar at this point too because they did offer us two studios together albeit in a different resort, which I turned down (given that my girls are 10yrs and 7yrs), and all this was going on in the same fortnight that the little girl in Portugal went missing.

It is not like booking a holiday to Gran Canaria, where if the holiday company let you down there are other self catering complexes that you can book through other companies!!

There are not many travel companies that do Parga but I looked at every one in detail. I spent hours trying to book another Parga holiday, and as the hours went by, I felt more and more annoyed with Kosmar because of the way I had been let down.

I went on to Parga Forums and looked at booking private accommodation and flights, but it was going to cost me around £2,700 plus the costs of taxis from Preveza to Parga.

By all means have a pop at me for my cynicism with Kosmar and inform me that my comments don't help because no-one posts happy comments, as this undermines the people that have great holidays, but for goodness sake do not deprive me of my rational will.

My wife and I have been in the fortunate position of taking, on average, 3 holidays a year since 1990, with a variety of tour operators. We have had many happy holidays, and accept that you cannot expect things to go right all of the time. I have only been computer literate for 5 yrs, and indeed if there was a criticism to be thrown at me, it would be because I hadn't posted "good holiday" reports under the appropriate accommodation listings in "Holiday Truths" and other websites, as this would be the appropriate venue to do so.

I also wonder how good research and planning would have avoided my wife and I having to visit Gran Canaria in November 1993 (booking made months in advance), with Falcon Holidays (First Choice), being asked to go to the next accommodation in the street because the rep hadn't been given keys for us for our booked accommodation (The Nevada), after watching 3 other couples get off at our booked accommodation with keys given out to them on the coach on route from the airport, and having to sit for 5hrs before the company admitted that there was a double booking issue. At least on this occasion we ultimately received an apology and were given compensation from the operator, although the accommodation that we were ultimately placed in was not in the area of the resort that we had researched and planned for, having been to the resort on 2 previous occasions.

I feel I have made my point and do not regret alerting the general public, should they happen to find this forum, to the fact that there is a case to answer from Kosmar Holidays in terms of customer service.

I accept that my experiences, given that I chose to post them, may be ridiculed, but this is certainly my final post.

I too research and plan our holidays meticulously. Yes, we have had good holidays with Kosmar in the past, however last year when we were told on arrival at Lesvos airport that our accommodation had changed - to a lower standard and with two adults and two children squashed in a studio for 3 (the owner had to find a campbed) and in a different resort - and then back home when my husband rang Kosmar to complain to be told, and I quote "what do you expect me to do about it" - yes we were extremely angry and the customer service was appalling. Perhaps if Kosmar had held their hands up and apologised and even given us an explanation, we wouldn't be pursing them in the small claims court now. This is not something we took to lightly because it is very stressful.
I am currently researching and planning our holiday for 2008 - it takes quite a while to get it right particularly when you have children - nevertheless it won't be with Kosmar.

There are two issues here.

1 -The holiday was not as described.

2 -When you complained, the response of the TO was not as you would reasonably expect.

We can accept that sometimes things can, and do go wrong.

The real complaint is not that they have done so, but the response we get when we complain.

I do sometimes wonder if the problem is more to do with some of the staff employed to deal with our complaints, rather than the company itself.

Much as people may rant about their problem holiday I know that this also extends to other service industries.

Before I retired I spent much of my time trying to resolve not, the original complaint, but the problems created by staff who could so easily have agreed a solution yet chose not to.

I do however stand by my original statement that a less cynical attitude when commenting is appropriate.

Not everyone has a problem and not everyone gets the same response when they do complain.

The objective of HT is to enable those with a problem to seek and get advice which will assist them in planning a holiday, and when things do go wrong to get assistance.

It is not our role to continuously castigate TOs - I see that as being of little help.

If I have a burst pipe I need help to find a plumber, not horror stories of what happened when someone else had one.

fwh.

Sorry if i hit a nerve barnie1528 didnt mean to.

Whilst I appreciate that some of the problems are to do with the staff employed by TO's, the person my husband spoke to at Kosmar was the Head of Customer Services!! If you look at other review sites, customers have had problems with Kosmar for many years - but equally Kosmar have also had good reviews. I would also add that I have never had a problem with Kosmar until last year - and when things go wrong, boy do they do wrong. I think it is important people are made aware of problems that may happen. Looking at the various threads on this site, it appears that many of the problems customers have with Kosmar are the same - eg. change of flights, change of accommodation, change of departure airports, non refund of deposits to name but a few. Surely it's time for Kosmar to get a grip with all the complaints they have and begin to run their company as it should be - and sack some of the staff in Customer Services!! I must add that I know other TO's have problems at some time or another, so its not just Kosmar. I also know that some TO's are extremely good at customer relations.

Quick update - just got the date for our court hearing - 2nd Nov! Will let you all know the outcome.

good for you
be interesting to hear the outcome

Can I just add - I think the staff employed by Kosmar are working with a policy - it's not their personal decision not to pay back the refund, they are being told how to act, they shouldn't be sacked they are doing as they are told. It's Kosmar as a company who decide to be bad at Customer Services. Great if you don't need Customer Services and your holiday runs smoothly. But bad if something goes wrong.

Hi Alice,
On reflection, yes you are right, it is company policy. Trouble is you just get so worn down with the constant banging your head against a brick wall every time you phone customer services, you want everyone sacked out of pure frustration!! It is the company that needs to sort itself out.
Hope all is well with you anyway - only just over four weeks til our court case!
Carrie

I've just sent off my statements last week So still fighting!

Good Luck for November

Thought you would all want to hear our good news! Went to court yesterday and we won! Kosmar found in breach of contract. We were awarded a total of £2800 plus £300 costs (£350pp)!
So very many thanks to Ros and Pam yet again.
Carrie

Many thanks for updating us on this one.

Pleased to hear that we have been of help.

As a point of interest what did the money recovered represent in terms of what you had paid.

Was it a return of your money or were damages/interest included.

fwh

Thats excellent news Carrie!! Well done Ros and Pam (again ;))

Kath x

fwh
There were two contracts cross referenced - six plus two.
First contract for six - cost of holiday £2089 - received 50% damages (£1000) plus £200pp for me, hubby and two youngest, and £150 for eldest daughter and friend for loss of enjoyment etc (£1100).
Second contract for two - cost of holiday £998 - received 40% damages (£400) plus £150 each for loss of enjoyment etc. (£300)
The extra £300 was costs.
Carrie

excellent well done! determination paid off in the end

Thanks Alice,
Hope you are as successful
Carrie