I wish i had found this site before i had booked with Dilos Holiday World.
I booked my holiday with Dilos in October to Tenerife only on the basis that they were the only company that could find me availability for my chosen hotel on my chosen dates, i booked 3 weeks before my departure and paid the the full amount 800 euros and they advised me to print of vouchers and hand these in to the hotel reception on my day of arrival.
Only out of pure chance i looked at my emails the day of my departure and noticed id had an email the night before from Dilos telling me, that the hotel i had booked was not allowing me to stay there due to my "Nationality", (im british and i booked with Thomson at the same hotel in August with no problems at all) ? Dilos said they had found an alternative hotel for me!
I panicked and tried to contact Dilos for most of the day and left answerphone messages and emails but i got no reply, until finally 4 hrs before my departure i received a call from Dilos telling me that a reservation had been made at another hotel and a rep would meet me at the hotel the following morning.
I was really angry with them as they had left it until the night before my departure to tell me by email!
Now i realise after reading other reviews on this site they didn't want me to cancel my booking!
After arriving at the hotel, i spoke with the rep and asked to be moved to a different hotel which was equivalent to the one id booked and paid for.
I warn all travellers booking with Dilos make sure that you confirm your booking with your hotel in advance before you travel.
Dilos ruined what should of been a relaxing, stress free week away.
Im now seeking legal advise, i will keep you informed.

Forgot to update all on my cancelled holiday to Tenerife. Well we are 1 week before Christmas and I have not yet recevied a penny from Dilos. In answer to a previous post I did contact my credit card company but because I kept waiting for my refund ( after Dilos promises ) I have left it too late.

Hi Bjp. Are you still waiting for a refund?

One of the earliest indications that you will have a problem with DILOS is:
1) You book a holiday and the deposit is taken from your credit card
2) You get a super invoice, receipt from DILOS, indicating that the balance will be taken from your credit card later (in my case 6 months later).
3) Almost immediately (in my case approx 6 months early) the balance of the holiday is taken from your credit card.
4) All enquiries as to why this 'error' has occurred are ignored, fobbed off.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

If you have it in writing that the rest of the money will not be taken until 6 months later, will your credit card not refund the money, or stop the payment.

A word of caution. Should your credit card expire before the date the payment is due then any claim by them will be rejected.

Credit card numbers change when a card is renewed/replaced. If they claim and do not get payment then YOU are in breach of contract.

fwh

fwh.... a good point.

Your's truly had his car stolen at the local wast recycling depot in summer 2005 - honestly.

My credit/debit cards, cash, all sorts stolen at the same time.

All replaced within a couple of weeks, then went on holiday to USA.

A client phoned me and spoke for 20-25 mins usinf most of mycredit on the phone.. I tried to top-up using the credit card associated with the phone. Unsuccessful. The cr. card associated with the top-up feature was specifically numbered and when the new card was provided IT had a different number.

So, beware. When your cr. card expires check the details with your mobile phone supplier - you might need to supdate details.

Oh, 307 Peugeot, Dark Blue, MM04 plate....anyone sees it PM me.

Keeping you up to date - Now passed 57 emails between Dilos, their lawyer and ourselves. Things are slowly progressing. Will update soon

Thanks alielle for the update.

Today, after returning to the UK exactly 14 days ago, I have received a full repayment to my credit card. I am delighted and relieved, and am particularly grateful to Dilos' solicitor who mediated this process.

Excellent news

I have had a similar problem with Dilos.
I booked with them in October 2006 for accomodation at a hotel at Xmas in Fuerteventura. When l arrived there the reception told me the accomodation was cancelled because the agent who acted for Dilos had not received any money from them. Fortunately the hotel had accomodation for me but l had to pay the hotel directly.
During my stay l made several phone calls which were always busy, and sent several emails to Dilos. It was near the end of my two week holiday before they finally replied to my emails, saying they did not know what had happened, but if l got a receipt from the hotel with my charges and fax it to them they would then refund my money.
I faxed them as soon as l got back home with the bill, and was told it would be refunded but could take 30 to 45 working days. 45 working days later, and still no refund, l sent around 40 emails over the next few months asking what was happening and kept getting loads and loads of excuses.
I finally found this forum, that's when l started worrying and thought l had lost my money. However someone wrote that they got in touch with the Greek Ministry for Tourism and with their help got their money back. So l went onto their site and filled in a complaint form. In two days they replied and asked for some details which l supplied. Two days later they had been in contact with the now famous Dilos, and my money was refunded within 2 days.
I got back the money l paid to Dilos for the accommodation, but no compensation for the phone calls, stress, time spent writing emails, stress, loss of interest on my money and more stress.
Anyone thinking of using Dilos should first read the comments made in this forum. And remember they are not ABTA registered. Your money is in their hands!
My credit card company did not want to know because over 90 days had passed from purchase.
How many people is this happening to? How many people have had to put it down to experience because they did not know what to do?
I believe l only got my money back because of this forum, which l only found by luck.

I too have been getting the "run around" from -- name removed -- and -- name removed -- at Dilos. I booked a hotel in London at one price and in the end the price had nearly doubled. I cancelled my reservation but the charge went through and I still cannot get a refund. My credit card company is now working on it. Dilos promises and promises. I plan to write any and everyone I can think of about this. DO NOT USE DILOS HOLIDAY WORLD for any travel reservations.
Gretta

-- edited by MarkJ to remove names of staff --

Had my own share of problems. ***Admin edit libelous comments removed - Glynis*

Booked a nice hotel in Canoa Quebrada, Brazil in August of 2006. The booking was made wel in advance, staying in Brazil in November.

Dilos almost immediately charged my creditcard, I didn't get suspicious at that moment but found it a little bit odd. Normally you get charged close to your holiday not months in advance.

I went to Brazil in the beginning of november. No problems for my booking with another company (Yeego). After five days I went to Canoa Quebrada and checked in at Hotel Long Beach Village. At that moment all seemed fine, they accepted my voucher and I got the key to my nice bungalow.

Just when I was unpacking my bags and getting ready to take a dive in the swimming pool I got a call from the reception. Everything was not as fine like I thought before but there were some big problems with the payment Dilos should have made to another party in Brazil.

I got on the phone with the handling agent in Brazil. They told me Dilos had not paid them but they would sort it out and for me there would be no problems during my stay. So everything looked nice again.

Slept at Long Beach Village for 2 nights and then disaster struck again. The reception of Long Beach Village told me they still had a problem with the payment and they handling agent in Brazil did not want to pay them.

I got on the phone with the handling agent. Now they were telling me not everything was fine and they were not accepting reservations from Dilos since september 2006. At that moment I got a little bit angry because the handling agent told me two days ago I wouldn't have any trouble during my stay.

A not so pleasant conversation followed. The person that told me everything was fine was not working that day so I had to take it up with somebody else. The handling agent told me his story over and over again. Then I got really mad at them and I cursed them for tellling me everything was fine while it wasn't. They hang up on me after me falling out to them.

Now I was in the situation where I had a room that was not paid for and the hotel did not want make a deal so I wouldn't have too much damage financially. They demanded I paid the room in full and all the services provided. Since they were not very helpfull two days before and now still were very straightforward, I decided to pay and check out immediately.

We checked out after packing our bags and walked away with our bags, looking for a new hotel to stay in. Luckily there were some hotels close by. Not as nice as Long Beach Village, but I did not want to stay there any minute.

We stayed at another hotel for one night and the next day I tried to get in contact with Dilos by email. They did not respond on the same day but a day later. The response I got was :

Dear Mr R

Thank you for all the below updates. We will contact the hotel directly and will resolve this confusion for which we will keep you updated via email, however please be so kind to fax as well to us the copy of the invoice that the hotel issued for you when you paid.

Kind Regards
****

So now I had to send them an invoice and they would resolve my problems. I already was very skeptic this would happen but I let my invoice scan to PDF and send them the file by email.

Since I needed to get back to Long Beach Village to get some paperwork done for the creditcard company I knew pretty soon Dilos was not getting in contact them. After some akward moments at Long Beach Village I got my declaration that I paid the bill myself. This paper was needed later on as evidence for my credit card compay.

A day later I contacted Dilos again, telling them they had not taking any action and since my stay was ending in two days I wanted my money back. They never contacted me again.

Back in Holland I contacted my creditcard company for a claims form. I sent Mastercard my invoice, declaration and the story above. My total damage was about € 450.

Since a claim takes about four to six weeks to handle I had to wait if would get my money back. In advance I got a chargeback. After six weeks I contacted Mastercard. They told me they chargeback was final, so my I got my back.

After all a good ending, but still they ruined a part of my holiday in Brazil. Dilos sucks and I hope they go out of business soon.

Please do not make libelous comments on the forums or your post may have to be deleted. For assistance for what is libel please Click Here

Please also refrain from mentioning staff by name.

Thanks

I havent checked out the site or this complaints forum since I got my money back, but the stories just keep coming in don't they. ( and thats just the ones who've found the site - how many more people are out there that we haven't heard about? ) Its so sad that this company can keep trading as they do and technically keep stealing peoples money. The saddest thing is you cant believe they can keep getting away with it but when you check the entry dates on the forum this has been going on for years! Surely there must be some sort of EU law that could put an end to this misery that they so carelessly cause?

Apparently a Classic Dilos Modus Operandus
A message from Australia
Don't ever deal with Dilos
In February 07 I attempted to book a hotel in London in mid March with them.
They took my credit card details, and a couple of days later when I emailed them asking for news on the booking I was told the booking was rejected from the hotel system as the dates were busy. Someone at Dilos (Name deleted) said they could either try again or check with another hotel.
I told (name deleted), thanks for your help but don't worry, I'll find somewhere else. And I did.
End of story? No.
Today in December 07 I discover that the full amount of around a thousand Euros has just been deducted from my credit card, nine or more months after the fact.
I ask anyone from Interpol/Greek police - is this stealing?
My information is that it is.
If it is; and this site indicates this has been going on for years and years, to many many people; what are they doing about it? Is it more than nothing? Or is Dilos better connected than we know?
Why is Dilos still operating?

I booked a London hotel with Dilos in June. I received an email saying that the hotel could only confirm with a rate higher than the one announced "due to high occupancy". I immediately cancelled, as the rates were lower if I booked directly with the hotel.

I didn't think about it until the end of November, when they had charged my credit card with EUR 502. I contacted them by email, and, of course, they (the same MS as mentioned earlier) were so sorry and they had "requested a cancellation of the transaction through the system". This was three weeks ago. After seeing this web-site, I do understand what kind of "business" it is.

I have forwarded all our correspondance to the credit card company, and I'll contact the hotel chain to inform them about who they are doing "business" with. Don't know if they care, but it's worth trying...

This morning I looked our online banking site and found, much to my surprise, that my credit card had been charged $623.86 plus a foreign transaction fee of $18.71 for a purchase from "Dilos Holiday World" that I never made. I rarely use a credit card and have it in my possession at all times; when I spoke with the Citibank representative I said I'd never heard of Dilos and had no idea how my credit card number was obtained.
Looking up Dilos on the internet I found this site, and reading about their questionable practices set a bell ringing in my head. In November 2006 my husband and I booked a Ryanair fllight to London and a friend recommended a hotel there. Wanting to make reservations on the internet, I found the hotel's booking was handled by - you guessed it - Dilos. I made the reservation and, of course, gave them my credit card number. A short time later I received an email from Dilos thanking me for my message and my credit card details and saying the price had increased since I had made the booking. (I found this correspondence in Hotmail). I decided not to make the reservation after all and they did reverse the credit card charge. I forgot all about Dilos until today. They didn't cheat me a year ago, but they've apparently been holding on to my credit card number ever since then just waiting to defraud me now. Caveat emptor.