Apologies this is a long one.
Booked a package holiday with Hays Travel November 2009 to Rhodes, flights, transfers and hotel , Invoice arrived stating flights with Globespan from Edinburgh at 1305 hrs on a wednesday, no probs then. Globespan go out of business, I wait a couple of weeks no contact from Hays so I phone them and tell them Globespan gone out of business, Don't worry they say Thomas Cook is flying you from Edinburgh same day same time. They follow that up with an invoice stating the same. Later on I get the final bill saying I'm flying from Edinburgh same day same time. 6 days prior to departure no flight tickets call Hays they say don't worry tickets will be sent 7 days before departure I point out that it is 6 days before departure, don't worry they will be in post get them tomorrow, same thing happened for the next 2 days then told you can collect tickets at Edinburgh Airport prior to departure. So 4 days before departure I googled the flight number and lo and behold it showed a flight from Glasgow Airport not Edinburgh, and a 1620 departure not a 1305 departure. called Hays back, they insisted it was a flight from Edinburgh, but they would check. They checked I was right they were wrong, but not to worry they would amend the booking details and I could simply just change all my arrangements to suit them. Still waiting for the apology. Doesn't end there, the transfers were for a flight arriving from Edinburgh 3 hours before I was due to arrive and for taking me back to the airport 7 hours before the return flight !!! It took numerous emails and phone calls before the finally sorted out the transfers, after I insisted on speaking to a supervisor, a simple apology and an explanation of what went wrong would have helped, but that seemed too much to ask for.
On my return I made an official complaint to Hays Travel, and asked for my letter to be forwarded to Mr Hays, but apparently he doesn't deal with customers who complain, so my complaint was dealt with swiftly, and the answer was, wasn't our fault it was Thomas Cook not telling them of the change of airport and the change of flight times, a significant change I believe. I raised a complaint with Thomas Cook as their terms and conditions entitled me and the wife to compensation of £40 each! Thomas Cook's answer was not their fault either, as they sent a letter to Hays travel on 10 January 2010 telling them of the changes and giving me the opportunity to cancel with a full refund or chose other flights. They followed that up with an invoice a few days later showing the new flight details and Airport change also posted to Hays Travel, and on 03 May 2010 they posted the flight tickets to Hays Travel with the new flight details on so no I was not entitled to any compensation.
Back to Hays Travel and they said wait for it was not their fault as they can't be held responsible for the Royal mail losing the letter posted in January from Thomas Cook, the Royal Mail for losing the invoice posted days later and the icing on the cake the Royal Mail for losing the flight tickets posted in May 2010. So where do I go from here it has taken me about 7 weeks to get this far. Complaint to ABTA, write to the press or if anyone out there has any other suggestion I would be pleased to hear it.
This was obviously a very stressful experience but I'm not clear what you are looking for from Hayes Travel. Are you:
1) Wanting an apology from them and an acknowledgement from them that there customer service dept's handling of the problems left a lot to be desired?
2) An acknowledgement that you should have been given the opportunity to cancel and be given a full refund?
3) Recompense of additional expenses incured by you as a result of the change of airport?
4) A partial refund because your holiday was curtailed because of the new flight times?
If it's 1) then my advice would be to move on and let it go. You've given them ample opportunity to do this and they have resisted doing so - there's unlikely to be anything that you can do now that will extract this from them. Frustrating I know but there'e not a lot you can do.
If it's 2) then again, I don't think that there's much that you can do since you did still go on the holiday and accept the major change. Odd as it may seem, had you refused to accept the change and not gone on the holiday, you might have stood a chance of getting them to retrospectively accept that they should now refund you instead of expecting you to pay for a holiday that you didn't get.
If it's 3) you need to provide them with evidence of the extra expenses that you incurred eg the cost of phone calls to get this sorted, additional travelling expenses incurred in getting to Glasgow instead of Edinburgh, loss of pre-paid longterm parking charges paid in advance for Edinburgh etc.
If it's 4) then you need to quantify by how much your holiday was shortened but if I'm reading this right you were actually in the resort for longer than originally planned so I wouldn't hold out much hope for any partial refund.
However, if you are wanting compensation for the overall hassle then I think that they are likely to argue that 'these things happen' in that when any airline collapses it puts immense pressure on TOs and TAs to get things in place to ensure that in the first instance any passengers stranded in resort get home, followed by ensuring that those who are booked to travel out in the short-term do still get their holidays or are processed for refunds etc. People who are travelling out at some point in the future are going to slip down the priority 'to do' list and given that you waited a few weeks after Globespan had cone out of business before contacting Hayes I assume that you fell into this group?
It might be too late to do anything about this now but at the time a short, concise unemotional letter stressing how far short of their usual customer service standards this fell might have resulted in a good will payment or offer of vouchers against a future booking but things might have gone to far for that to happen now if both you and Hayes have adopted entrenched positions. If the holiday itself once you got there lived up to expectations then unless you can demonstrate that you incurred additional expenses as a result of the changes then I would hold out too much hope of receiving any money from them. Of course, if you encountered additional problems in resort then that is a different matter.
SM
1) Wanting an apology from them and an acknowledgement from them that there customer service dept's handling of the problems left a lot to be desired?
2) An acknowledgement that you should have been given the opportunity to cancel and be given a full refund?
3) Recompense of additional expenses incured by you as a result of the change of airport?
4) A partial refund because your holiday was curtailed because of the new flight times?
If it's 1) then my advice would be to move on and let it go. You've given them ample opportunity to do this and they have resisted doing so - there's unlikely to be anything that you can do now that will extract this from them. Frustrating I know but there'e not a lot you can do.
If it's 2) then again, I don't think that there's much that you can do since you did still go on the holiday and accept the major change. Odd as it may seem, had you refused to accept the change and not gone on the holiday, you might have stood a chance of getting them to retrospectively accept that they should now refund you instead of expecting you to pay for a holiday that you didn't get.
If it's 3) you need to provide them with evidence of the extra expenses that you incurred eg the cost of phone calls to get this sorted, additional travelling expenses incurred in getting to Glasgow instead of Edinburgh, loss of pre-paid longterm parking charges paid in advance for Edinburgh etc.
If it's 4) then you need to quantify by how much your holiday was shortened but if I'm reading this right you were actually in the resort for longer than originally planned so I wouldn't hold out much hope for any partial refund.
However, if you are wanting compensation for the overall hassle then I think that they are likely to argue that 'these things happen' in that when any airline collapses it puts immense pressure on TOs and TAs to get things in place to ensure that in the first instance any passengers stranded in resort get home, followed by ensuring that those who are booked to travel out in the short-term do still get their holidays or are processed for refunds etc. People who are travelling out at some point in the future are going to slip down the priority 'to do' list and given that you waited a few weeks after Globespan had cone out of business before contacting Hayes I assume that you fell into this group?
It might be too late to do anything about this now but at the time a short, concise unemotional letter stressing how far short of their usual customer service standards this fell might have resulted in a good will payment or offer of vouchers against a future booking but things might have gone to far for that to happen now if both you and Hayes have adopted entrenched positions. If the holiday itself once you got there lived up to expectations then unless you can demonstrate that you incurred additional expenses as a result of the changes then I would hold out too much hope of receiving any money from them. Of course, if you encountered additional problems in resort then that is a different matter.
SM
I would have been satisfied at the time with a simple apology, but that was not forthcoming.
I did reluctantly accept the changes as we were meeting friends in the resort at that time, but given the opportunity 6 months previously I would have cancelled.
I was out of pocket in that I had to take a day off work because of the time I arrived back home costing me a days pay and a very expensive taxi fare from the airport home.
When I arrived in resort I lost a meal that was paid for due to the late arrival time, but not refunded.
I made a complaint to Hays Travel and the least I expected was for them to look at my complaint seriously, but I was met with an immediate response of not our fault, and Thomas Cook did not inform them of the change. I later learnt that Hays did not even contact Thomas Cook to find out what went wrong, they said as I was going to contact Thomas Cook it wasn't necessary for them to contact Thomas Cook as they would only get the same answers as me.
I mistakenly thought that part of the ABTA code of conduct was a requirement for the member to thoroughly investigate any complaint made to them.
I suppose all I am really looking for is the apology I should have had in the first place and an admission that their customer relations falls way short of what should be standard in this type of industry, and to highlight to anyone thinking of booking a holiday of this type what to expect if it goes wrong.
As for discount vouchers for another holiday there is absolutely no chance of me ever travelling with this company again, as for a goodwill payment that would have been nice made to a charity of my choice that would have been a winner all round.
I did reluctantly accept the changes as we were meeting friends in the resort at that time, but given the opportunity 6 months previously I would have cancelled.
I was out of pocket in that I had to take a day off work because of the time I arrived back home costing me a days pay and a very expensive taxi fare from the airport home.
When I arrived in resort I lost a meal that was paid for due to the late arrival time, but not refunded.
I made a complaint to Hays Travel and the least I expected was for them to look at my complaint seriously, but I was met with an immediate response of not our fault, and Thomas Cook did not inform them of the change. I later learnt that Hays did not even contact Thomas Cook to find out what went wrong, they said as I was going to contact Thomas Cook it wasn't necessary for them to contact Thomas Cook as they would only get the same answers as me.
I mistakenly thought that part of the ABTA code of conduct was a requirement for the member to thoroughly investigate any complaint made to them.
I suppose all I am really looking for is the apology I should have had in the first place and an admission that their customer relations falls way short of what should be standard in this type of industry, and to highlight to anyone thinking of booking a holiday of this type what to expect if it goes wrong.
As for discount vouchers for another holiday there is absolutely no chance of me ever travelling with this company again, as for a goodwill payment that would have been nice made to a charity of my choice that would have been a winner all round.
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