Hi

I sent a letter of complaint to Thomson on 21/8/09 and received the standard acknowledgement dated 28/8/09. They stated that they would write back to me within 28 days.....so 28 days later, having had no response, I rang the rep I had dealt with to find out what was going on.
She rang me back saying that she had been promised that I would receive a reply within 2-3 days. Having chased again I eventually received a phone call 35 days after their first letter was dated which was 42 days after my letter.
The Lady who rang offered me compensation of the upgrade price to the Family room and 10% of the total holiday price so approx £600 in total. I believe that this is the usual arbritary amount to try and get someone to go away with the minimum of cost/fuss. I have asked the Lady from the complaints dept to detail their offer in an email to me so that I can include it in my pack to ABTA.
I have attached my letter to them and would be interested in peoples thoughts. The description of the Family Room on the website has now been altered to reflect that there are only 2 rooms in total - which I see as a fairly major admission of fault.

Thank you.

Andrew

Dear ...

Further to our telephone conversation on Thursday 20th August 2009 I am now putting my complaint(s) regarding my recent holiday to the Tropical Princess resort, Dominican Republic in writing (see above Bkg Ref).

Throughout the number of conversations that we had, leading up to and after the booking was made, you are aware that finding the right accommodation was crucial to me and was pivotal to the eventual decision to book the Tropical Princess.

My family unit consists of me, my partner and two daughters who were 17 and 11 at the time of the holiday. Having older children, it was an absolute necessity that we had an accommodation unit that offered both security and privacy - we have only booked holidays on that basis for the last 3 years.
Unfortunately this sector of the market is terribly under catered for with interconnecting rooms seldom guaranteed at time of booking and proper 2 bedroom family units scarce.
As you will recall, this led to many resorts/destinations initially considered being dropped as suitable accommodation could not be found or guaranteed.

The Tropical Princess resort offers Family Rooms which are promoted and described on the Thomson website (hard copy included) as having "2 independent bedrooms"¦"¦and a living area with 2 additional beds" and on that basis fitted perfectly the requirements listed above for my Family.
Therefore, in consultation with yourself who was utilizing the same website description, I booked the holiday in October 2008.

Subsequent paperwork kept referring to the booking as a twin room (including our ticket booklet). I continually queried this with both you and other members of your branch (S** for one) because the Family Room as advertised was what we had paid for and was so important to us. I was assured that this was merely a booking system glitch and that the Family room, as described on the website, was booked for us.

On arrival at the resort at approx 4.30pm we went to our allocated Family Room - 3335. First of all the room was disgusting. It was dirty with dust and sticky splashes everywhere, there was snot wiped on the sink units and the bedroom furniture was heavily chipped and marked, the wardrobe door broken, a hole where the on/off switch on the TV should be and the air conditioning, if working, was not making the slightest dent in the temperature.

Secondly and crucially the room did not have "2 independent bedrooms"¦"¦and a living area with 2 additional beds" but only one bedroom and 2 single beds against the wall in the only other living space.

I immediately went back to reception to complain - each trip to reception was a forced march in very hot and humid conditions, not great after about fifteen hours of traveling - a round trip of 20 minutes each time just to get there and back. First of all I complained that we were obviously not in a Family Room only to be told that this was a Family Room and that the rooms as described on your website and bought in good faith by me DO NOT EXIST! I queried this with at least 3 of the reception/customer service Staff who all confirmed that their Family Rooms are 2 living spaces maximum and are one bedroom with additional beds in the other room.

Chastened and not having the description from your website with me I returned to the room which further examination revealed to be uninhabitable. I returned to reception again, complained and demanded to move room. Having initially received no joy from the staff I tried your 24 hour helpline only to find myself on hold, on my mobile from Dominican Republic for more than 15 minutes before giving it up as a bad job - not great customer service when by its nature the helpline is there for someone ringing from abroad who has a problem and needs help!

Luckily I then saw L**, the rep, explained the situation to her and she helped get us moved to a different room - 3201.

This room was better in that it was not dirty, a bit worn, BUT the air conditioning was not working, the window lock broken and the lock on the door to balcony was gone so we couldn't secure the room - outside the balcony and window was a sloping first floor roof enabling anyone to climb up easily. We had to barricade the balcony door with furniture in order to leave the room more secure and sleep remotely well, which my partner didn't. I reported all the problems to reception that night. I went to reception to buy a safe key which didn't fit and had to swap it which involved 2 more round trips to reception. The room still only had one bedroom and two single beds pushed end to end in the area outside the bedroom, again not what we had been assured we had booked.

The next morning we went to L**'s welcome briefing at 10.30am and stayed back to speak to her. She made note of the problems and promised to speak to M**- the customer services manager.
I went to see L** at her desk in the evening as nothing had been done. She again said she would speak to M**. Nothing happened. Another night of limited sleep due to no air con - the average temperature was 85-90 degrees with very high humidity - and concerns over the unsecured room.

The next morning we again waited for L** at her welcome meeting point which was unfortunately a waste of time as there wasn't one so eventually we went to see L** again at her desk. She had spoken to M** and he had told her everything would be sorted out last night. Lou rang him from her desk and asked for things to be sorted by 12noon which he agreed to.

At 12 noon nothing had happened so we again had to go to reception. We went to reception with L** and met M**who promised technicians would be at our room within 15 minutes.
2 hours later there were still no technicians.

It took numerous phone calls back and forth with me staying in the room before 3 technicians (lads) eventually turned up. They poked around with the air con for 30 mins before giving up and indicating it was as good as it got - which was useless.
They seemed unaware of the balcony door and window problem so just as well I had stayed in the room with them as I got them to fit locks on both.

After they had gone there was no discernable difference to the temperature but I left the room to give it a chance to see if it did get any cooler.
We returned to the room at approx 6.30pm to find it was still stiflingly hot. Tried to contact M** who was working until 8pm but he was off round the resort.
So another night with no air con! But interestingly there was a very strong smell of drains in the room after the heavy rain at night.

The next morning we again went to speak with L** at her welcome briefing. She was very helpful but disappointed as the hotel had not sorted out these problems. She said that the Hotel had been very busy but was now quieter which should help.
She said that M*** was waiting to hear from us if everything was now ok so we immediately went to reception to see him at approximately 10.20am.
M** was at their Managers meeting so we didn't get to speak with him until about 11am at which point we also involved Li**, the reception manager. They both promised us another new room that pm. We had to ring at 2.30pm. Rang at 2pm. M** asked to meet at main restaurant at 2.40pm. He turned up at 3pm. There was also an American lady who was also having problems waiting for M*** and he showed her room change first.

M*** then took us to 2 rooms. We agreed to move to 1231 as the air-con was working even though it was an open plan room with no privacy for us or our teenage daughter at all. Then we had to pack and move things. I had to go with M*** and porter between rooms eventually finishing at about 5.30pm.

There were still issues with the room, there was no lighting at all in the children's half of the room and one of the three small lamps in the main half of the room was not working but at least we had air conditioning! There was also only one bathroom in this room.
M*** kept offering a goodwill reservation at one of the Caribe restaurant choice which we eventually used after some of the problems had been addressed.

As well as the loss of four days of holiday due to trying to sort out room problems there are other issues that undermined the holiday:

On at least four occasions during our stay the resorts water was off leading to appalling problems in the communal toilets near the pools/beach and meant that showers could not be taken - including our last day as we tried to clean up after a last trip to the beach before traveling home.

The resort is currently running a cheap promotion with the local Dominicans to boost numbers at Weekends which led to long queues at food stations and the running out of crockery/glasses etc which is not acceptable when you have paid a premium to book from the UK.

On a more trivial note the resort offers Archery but only had 2 arrows while we were there! Our children, particularly the younger one, had been looking forward to this. The two sailing Hobie's which are included in the all inclusive package were often broken and/or out of service.
We all had several days of upset stomachs and stomach cramps during our stay, we only ate one light meal off site during our trip, on a British run excursion.

Less important, but irritating, the TV in the third room was always fuzzy, we had given up hoping for normal service; and it was galling to discover on the last day that all the other people we met at the resort had coffee percolators in their rooms. There seems to be no standardization of the level of service offered to guests.

Below, I have attached the segment from your terms and conditions that I believe is relevant to my complaint(s) and would also draw your attention to the 1992 Package Travel, Package Holiday and Package Tour Regulations, which states that operators have a contract with holidaymakers and must deliver what they promise.
"6. Our responsibility for your holiday
We will arrange for you to receive the services that make up the holiday that you choose and that we confirm. These services will be provided either directly by us or through independent suppliers contracted by us. We are responsible for making sure that each part of the holiday you book with us is provided to a reasonable standard and as was advertised by us (or as changed and accepted by you). If any part of your holiday is not provided as described and this spoils your holiday, we will pay you appropriate compensation unless this is due to reasons beyond our control"

Quite clearly, Thomson have advertised, promoted and sold to me accommodation that does not exist at the Tropical Princess and you have not, therefore delivered to me what you have promised under the terms of our contract.

As with the other resorts we considered and rejected I would not have booked this holiday or this resort if the family room accommodation had been described accurately. Combine this with all the other problems experienced and I would expect an immediate reimbursement of the full cost of the holiday and a goodwill gesture on top.

Please contact me at the address above or on my work email: *Removed* which I monitor constantly.

Please be aware that whilst I hope you will take this opportunity to resolve this complaint, should your response be tardy or inappropriate I will be contacting ABTA.

Yours Sincerely