Never, (repeat) NEVER, will I ever use the services of this tour operator again.
Nor will ANY of my friends and relatives afte their latest display of ignorance,
total incompitence, lack of respect to customers and downright money grabbing
tendancies.
End of May. School term time.. Need a vacation to suit the needs of
myself (fit & healthy), wife (not so fit and healthy but able to travel
IF the right arrangments and provisions are made) and a 15 year old
girl..
You would think, that when you find a 4 star hotel with rave reviews
by its former visitors, that behind the success, would be an equally
profficient and worthy tour operator? WRONG!
Found the hotel on the internet, via usual services and moreso, thanks
to the "Holiday Truth's" area, which did it for us.. We have to stay at
this hotel,,, no question about it.
What we DIDN'T realise at this point in time, is that messrs Thomas Crook
(sorry, COOK) travel, were the sole beneficieries of the success of this
4 star establishment, in so much as they have the hotel tied up to their
UK clientele. (Germany is the exception).
For starters, their web site is geared up, very effectively, to get you
to the point of getting the hard earned brass out of your credit card.
They do THAT with GREAT efficiency and planning and THAT is the ONLY
efficient operation I can credit them with. So,, before the booking is made,
and after a great deal of web site searching, I manage to find an 0870 (national
rate number) which SUPPOSEDLY, is linked to their "Customer Services"
(A contradiction in terms after just ONE attempt).
To cut the story short at this point about the "telephone" service,
let's just say I am now privvy to my forthcoming telephone bill for this
series of "service" numbers I dialled, hung onto whislt listening to patronising
pre-recorded voices and several repeated non descript tunes,,, and it AIN'T
PEANUTS!!
In all that time, I managed to speak to just FIVE individuals.
THREE who quickly decided that they were not the SERVICE agents
I should be speaking to and promptly cut us off and the balance of the other
two, resulted in NO promised, return call and the last one, who sent a confirmatory
email after our conversation, then vanished into the etha and never again, responded!
ALL I was attempting to do, was reserve (as was my right and medical priveledge),
a SEAT for my wife, that THEY call a MEDICAL seat, for the journey, outwards and
in.. I also required further information on what they loosely termed a "night flight"
arrangement? With no actual "hours" specified, it became obvious (but only AFTER
booking) that our "7 night" vacation, meant your first nights accommodation is
ACTUALLY, the very cramped seating arrangements on the Thos Cook flight out!
Yes, you're way ahead of me.. Of course,, the due departure time of this flight
was suppposed to be 10.30 at night, meaning a prior 3 hour arrival at Birmingham
airport, meaning a 1 1/2 hour prior departure to secure the car in the car park and
travel to the nearby airport. In turn, as it is already going to be a long day of packing
and preparation, a flight arrangment that takes you nearly another 4 hours through
the night to a country (Turkey) that was 2 hours ahead of us in time zone, followed
by a further 2 hour transfer, meant that we would have to be up for a mean average
of 23 hours before ANY possibility of getting our heads back to the pillow.
THAT, you can prepare for, even if unnacceptable to the body's routine,, BUT
WHEN you have arrived at aforementioned airport, collected your tickets and THEN
told, the flight is delayed for a further 3 hours and the best they can come up
with to compensate for your 24 hour + marathon, is to present you with a £4 voucher
to spend on refreshments (we actually found ONE outlet that was still open at that
time of the morning who was prepared to accept this "unnanounced" catering deal
and duly presented us with a packet of soggy biscuits and said "of course, I won't be
able to offer you any change for this?!" )
Think it could get any worse? HA!
We finally board the cattle truck and look for the, presumiably allotted,
medical seat (which forms a 3 seat across affair), just to find that a young
couple had already deposited their back sides on them and were not prepared to
move. the cabin mamager, embarrasses as he was, informed us that the plane was
absolutely chocka and that he was sorry, but we would have to accommodate a
set of the seats further back..
I don't know if the CAA are aware of the ACTUAL seating arrangements on this
illustrious cattle truck of the skies but you have to question the safety element
when the cabin crew go through their "safety" routine and get to the point about
"brace position" before landing?? BRACE POSITION????? YOU COULDN'T MOVE
YOUR HEAD MORE THAN 5 INCHES BEFORE HITTING FULL ON, THE SEAT IN FRONT!!
NEVER MIND, BEING ABLE TO ADOPT THIS IMPOSSIBLE POSITION!!!
Needless to say, the flight was abysmal in terms of space and amenities
(the only considerations of the cabin staff, bar one, was how much funding
they could extract from you in return for a pair of headphones to watch the
already out dated in flight movie and for that of your drinks in flight)..
and my wife, suffered in silence, all the way...
Thanks ONLY to ONE female TC rep, at the hotel and ONE male
cabin attendant, of some seniority, was the return journey any
less fraughtful!
Been back a couple of weeks now and despite the report we made
directly to TC, we have heard zilch..
Oh, they are quite prepared for you to call another 0870 number from
their bundle of reserved money making telephone numbers in an
effort to extract further expenditure from you on your return, whilst
attempting to pass on to them, your comments and complaint but
take it from me, you'd be wasting your time AND your money.
If you took 1500 quid from your pocket and set light to it in a public
place, in view of sufficient onlookers,,, they would come and lock you
up... Right?? In blissful knowledge that a comfortable bed and reasonable
food in a town's local nick, would be an exerience, more comfortable and
more humane in EVERY respect, in comparison to this nightmare of a
vacation that THEY,, coo about as if they are actually PROUD of their
operation??
What is more infuriating, is the comparisons of the actual vacation.
The hotel itself, is a 4 star with 5 star service and yet, the success of
this outfit, TC, are LIVING off the backs of the succcess of this
hotel. If they were to lose such establishments (and I rightly think they
SHOULD), they would be be in queer street before you could shake an
in flight packet of peanuts..
This is one tour operator, we shall stay well clear of...
YES, we know they are associated with several others and
YES, we have ALL their details as well.. So, what I should be saying
is,, we'll probably organise our next vacation around the place WE want
to go, at a time WE want to fly and stay where WE want to stay for a
period of days WE understand, IS at the holiday WE paid for!!