Holiday Complaints

Do you have a holiday complaint? For help and advice post in here.
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Why go through ABTA (A club for travel agents - hardly independent) when there is the easy option of the Small Claims Court.

Mark :)
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Ive got no idea how to do that, and even if we did I dont know if we could afford it.... anyone been down this route and been sucessful?

i really dont want to let them get away with it but the irony is the honeymoon has made us 100% skint lol
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You could ring Ros on 01922 705134 (you'll prob speak to Pam her PA) Ros is a travel law solicitor and often assists our members. She will offer you free advice. Let her know you've been sent by HT.

Good luck and let us know what happens :tup
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Hi Linzi

Sorry to hear about your bad experience - and on such an important holiday too.

Mark is currently taking First Choice through the small claims court.
Take a read of this thread:

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=135246

I think your best bet is to contact Ros Fernihough. she's a travel law solictor who gives advice to HT members free.
She'll be able to tell you if you have a decent case for complaint.

Her contact details are here:

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=117254
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=57959

I think tour operators are supposed to tell you of changes to your booked holiday as soon as they are aware of them, so it would be interesting to know exactly when they knew your original hotel was overbooked.
Are you saying that you weren't even told of the change of accommodation on your arrival at the resort, that you only found out by looking at your AI wristband?

Was the rating of your booked hotel 5* and the one you spent the first half in a 4*?

So they've offered you £80 cash or £120 voucher as compensation - what was the total holiday cost?
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Also, did you fill in a complaints form, signed by the rep at the resort?
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Hi,

It would seem that you have a fair case, dependent of course that you can prove your allegations. In regards to ABTA, it is not actually a "travel agents club" rather an association that all the members have to agree to a code of conduct. In any case, the £70 fee you mention is to instigate an Arbitration via an independent organisation IDRS.

Arbitration is far easier option than county court as you simply rely on paperwork, whereas with court you have to attend. The success rate for Arbitration is approximately 80% in favour of the claimants.

Furthermore, the registration fee for Thomas Cook to defend the case is around £300, so as soon as you submit you papers, expect an offer of settlement soon after, which would include your £70 fee, unless of course Thomas Cook have a rock solid case.

CSM :D
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Thanks for all the replies, its all brilliant advice.

The holiday cost in total was £1000, which was for me, husband & an infant we didn't have to pay for as he was 1 when we travelled.

We booked a 5* hotel yes, and were put in a 4*. Thats the main complaint, the rest is stuff that you take a risk on when you go anywhere (e.g. food) our main gripe is that we didnt get what we paid for, and they've been appauling since we got back.

As far as the complaints form - we were never offered one, our rep just advised we write to the company on our return. Should we have filled one in?

Ive never been on holiday before with my family you see, only my parents in the past who would have dealt with this sort of thing, so no idea what we should/shouldn't have done. Live and learn I guess.
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Hi Linzi.

Can you post the name of the hotel you booked and the one you ended up in?
Also, did you pay extra for a sea view or just make a request?

Louby
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Am I allowed to post names of hotels? If its ok to Im happy to...

Also no we didnt pay for a sea view room, just requested it and told them it was our honeymoon. Our room was on the ground floord overlooking the main road, and it was the first room in the hotel to, so we got loads of kids knocking on the door and legging it at various times in the morning.

Although thats not the issue really, more bothered about being put in the wrong hotel as we didnt pay for sea view
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Have you kept the wristband with the 4* hotel written on it? If so, this will be sufficient to prove you were in the wrong hotel. Whilst it will be in the contract to obtain a complaint form, the tour operator can not rely that you did not complete one as a defence.

In my opinion, you should succeed.

CSM :D
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no, we had them taken off us when we were moved.

Thanks for the reply x
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Am I allowed to post names of hotels? If its ok to Im happy to


I'm sure it's fine but just to make sure I'm sure one of the mods will answer that soon .
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Ok, the hotel we booked to stay in was Seher Resort & Spa, and we were put in for the first 1/2 week was Seher Sun Beach Hotel
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Reading your comments I fail to see how you can take the matter to ABTA. It is an arbitration service that only operates where both parties have exhausted all means of resolving the dispute. You have been made an offer and I cannot see where ABTA can assist.

As in the case of MarkJ these disputes can take a considerable amount of time to resolve. Many fail simply because people get fed up of the prevarication and abandon their claims.

I agree with other posters that you do have a case and, in my opinion at least, the offer made is unsatisfactory. The best advice gas already been given with the suggestion that you should contact Ros Fernihough. Again in my opinion the only way in which you are going to achieve a sensible solution is with specialist help and advice.

We are only able to express our personal opinions which have no standing in law. This needs an expert.

fwh
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Thanks for your comments :)
I was mainly posting to see what others suggest, and see the outcomes of people who have been through similar. Obviously we just dont have money to spend on taking to court or an association if the likelyhood of us getting any kind of compensation is slim.

I will definately contact Ros.

Thanks once again for all comments
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Good luck, Linzi.

Whatever happens, do come back and let us know how you got on.
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hi all....there is one thing in many of the complaints I hear of or read on HT and else where that really bugs me....it is this complaint form ...you have to ask for one ...you have to make sure you get one...it needs to be filled in corectly and signed by a rep on site.....then it needs to be forwarded to travel firm...

Seems reasonable....but it relies on....people knowing all this....asking and managing to get on from a rep on site...and the rep doing what they should with it..

Can we not have a form on HT that we can print off...that we take along with our passports as nescassary paper work....maybe Rhos could come up with a format...it would make her job a bit easier...make people aware just how important this form is in the event of a claim...that we can fill in on site and get signed if we have problems....that has section for rep to fill in with regards to explanations and remedial actions taken.....

Maybe if these forms are so important and the first thing you need verifying is that you complained and had form completed on site....it is time that travel firms included it in the final booking paperwork... along with information about how to use it and how important it will be in the event you need to complain

Also photo's and video's are invaluable evidence...we take lots of silly ones of just about anything when we are on hols....good memories of a great time.....but so often I read of complaints with no photo back up ....we now have digital cameras that can take thousands of images ect and free to load on a PC...and copers to print or put on a CD.....so make use of your camera for back up evidence
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Whilst the idea is good any form we produce runs into one major problem. The TOs will only recognise their own official form.

Reading many of the complaints over the years the problem - as I see it - is many people when they have a problem simply complain about everything in the hope that the TO will accept things were not right. Just consider how often we say the complaint is far to long and full of irrelevancies. The problem so often is people do not know how to put a letter of complaint together.

I do think that if we could come up with a simple check list it would help a great number of people, however we must remember that many people only arrive here at HT after the event.
There are various check lists here on HT and I know many people make use of them - a complaint check list would be a useful addition to the tools available, but who is going to do it?

As a negative comment. I did one for car hire to take some of the mysteries out of the jargon, but have often been berated by people with a problem when I have tried to explain things so would a check list do any good. Any check list will have its limitations and I can well see complaints from some that we have missed something off.

fwh
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