You haven't necessarily been told two different stories. You rang on the 11th when you were told that you should receive your tickets this week - a reasonable thing to say if the person you spoke to knew that they were going in the post that day or very soon after. You, quite reasonably, phoned again when you hadn't received them but this doesn't mean they were never posted - the Royal Mail doesn't have a blameless track record in this! At the moment you ahve no proff either way as to whether it is Thomsons or the Royal Mail (or whichever postal delivery service Thomsons use) that it is at fault.

Given that they hadn't arrived and you leave within less than a week, then surely the safest thing is for the TO to make arrangements for you to pick them up at the airport. I've picked up tickets at the airport a number of times over the years - it's pretty common when making late bookings - and never had a problem. You've no reason to think that you will either. Yes, it's an inconvenience having to leave home an hour earlier but my advice would be to stop worrying - the airport ticket desk can if necessary re-issue the tickets there and then - you are unlikely to encounter any further problems with your tickets and there's little you can do to take your complaint any further unless you do have further problems but the odds are that that is very unlikely.

SM

We booked a holiday for the last week in February this year. The tickets failed to arrive by the Monday prior to our going. I telephoned Thomson on an 0800 number given to me when I booked. Found the holiday on the internet and then telephoned to book.

Within an hour I had a call back telling me they were in the post but could be delayed because of the weather problems we had had. During the snow many staff had not got into the office. I was asked to telephone again on the Thursday if they had not arrived and they would arrange for me to collect at the airport.

Thursday morning I got a call from Thomson to check, but they actually had arrived on the Wednesday.

When I came back I rang the young lady at Thomson to ask who I could contact regarding a problem whilst on holiday. Whilst discussing this she told me they had a team meeting during the last week in February, where the problem of tickets arriving late was raised. I was told that they asked that tickets should be sent out earlier as the number of complaints about this was growing and causing many problems for customers as well as the staff.

Regarding my complaint I was asked to send it direct to her and she would pass it to the relevant person. Two days later I received an email acknowledging my complaint and advising me had been passed to the relevant department.

It is quite possible that the delays are down to Royal Mail as the tickets are sent 2nd class which is treated as non urgent. I should add they are posted out 7 to 10 days prior to the holiday. Not very much time for them to arrive.

fwh

Some years ago the counters for 'Tickets on Departure' at the airports only ever had a handful of people at them. Normally people who had booked within 2 or 3 weeks of departure.

Now these counters seem to be some of the busiest places at the airport. It's very easy to blame Royal Mail for this, however to me it seems something of a cop out.

If this is constantly being reported as a problem, rather than sending tickets out 7 to 10 days prior to departure, what about Thomson et al being a bit pro-acive and sending them out 10 to 14 days prior to departure ?

Surely that would be better than using Royal Mail as a scape goat for the holiday company's inefficiency and poor admin systems. For my lastest holiday I received tickets from First Choice 16 days prior to travel and a colleague at work has hers 21 days prior, so presumably they must be available, but just sitting around in someones In Tray or Pending Basket !

If this is constantly being reported as a problem, rather than sending tickets out 7 to 10 days prior to departure, what about Thomson et al being a bit pro-acive and sending them out 10 to 14 days prior to departure ?

In Singleg's case they were apparently sent out 12 days beforehand - within the 'window' you suggest. I don't think that either FWH or myself are making the Royal Mail into a scapegoat for Thomsons - I was simply pointing out that we don't have enough information to know which of them was at fault in this particular case and FWH was pointing out that Thomson appear to send tickets 2nd Class which means that the Royal Mail don't treat it as priority mail. Sending tickets out 1st Class would help as would posting tickets out 3 weeks in advance.

But this ticketing issue is one that seems to crop up time and again with regards to Internet and DIY bookings - I've never experienced a problem when booking through a local independent Travel Agent, only when booking direct with a TO. The TA I use has always forwarded the tickets on to me in good time and I wonder if this is because either tickets via TAs are sent out by the TO earlier or the TAs will chase them up much earlier than we tend to do ourselves?

SM

I personally would never book a holiday with Thomsons ever again and would strongly advise anyone reading this to do the same. Last year I booked a holiday in Tenerife but was unable to get the exact location; I was given the choice of a resort close by which I was led to believe was 10 minutes drive. I asked to see this before booking but the travel agent was unable to provide this as they had no brochures to hand, but I booked as the person sounded genuine. Later when I got home I looked for the resort on the internet, but was horrified to see that it was over an hours drive. I then returned the next day to complain and try and change the booking for something else. But, I was advised I would be charged with a late cancellation fee of 70% even though I would be booking another holiday.
As I was stuck with the holiday I complained to Thomsons in writing on my return. It took five months before I got a satisfactory reply which basically said I could have had a full refund if I had returned within 24 hours of the original booking. This I could not believe as this is exactly what I had done.
My conclusion from this is it looks like they are just trying to make as much money as possible tricking people into thinking they are getting what they expect or as close as possible by lying through their teeth. So be warned watch what you are booking if you going on holiday through Thomsons.

**Edit to remove potentially libellous comments - Admin**

very odd, most travel agents I've been in have their own copy of brochures that members of the public cannot take.
I find it strange that a travel agent didn't have one brochure that showed Tenerife or could access the information on their computer.

I also agree that tickets should be sent by first class post.....it's only a few pence more and would be good for customer relations.

Also I must sympathise with paulsmith, 5 months for a reply is far too long.

Hovis I think Paul means it took 5 months before things were 'resolved' as he says satisfactory reply. TO's have to respond within 28 days to any complaint.

Things were never resolved. My initial complaint went to the wrong department; so they say. But they lied to me when I first enquired about a refund, it was only months later they said I could have had a refund if i went back the next day, which I did do. So my advice never use Thomson Holiday company.

I hesitate to say this but my complaint is going along fine. I had an email requesting clarification of one of my points last week.

Whilst it was nothing disastrous - an observation/suggestion regarding a problem with the transfer protocol and a complaint about the attitude of a rep, I have no complaints at present with the manner in which it is being handled.

My complaint was lodged on 4th March this year.

fwh

fwh
I'm sure that partly the reason for your complaint going OK is that you would have have been concise, factual and unemotional when making your complaint.

We had the same ticket problems with Thomsons for our trip to Punta Cana in March,got the tickets on the Monday as we were due to fly on the following Monday,then on the Thursday we had a call from the travel agent thatanother set of tickets had arrived,and these were the ones to use.They take your final payment 8weeks prior to departure why dont they issue the tickets then????

I do not work for Thomson, though I have worked for a small private tour operator in France. All I can suggest that there is a time-scale in place for processing booking working up to the date of the holiday ie only sending out tickets at a fixed time before travel. This means that all bookings are dealt with in the same manner and in a pre-determined manner based on date of travel rather than date of booking.

I'm having the same problem and have been told by thomsons there were problems with all tickets issued on the 8th/9th/10th and 11th March . Mine were issued on the 8th and we travel good friday (10th). There is also a voice message to inform you of the problem on the extention I was put through to saying that all tickets are being reissued . Not holding my breath .

After ringing 5/6 times to to be told I should get my tickets last week ,this week , who knows Now told its too late to issue more and i'm to collect them at the airport . The guy assured there would be no problem but can you imagine the queue theres going to be at that desk if all the easter tickets were sent out over those few days . I am so looking forward to it NOT

Hi. I was the original poster of this thread. Despite being told to pick up my tickets at the airport, they did eventually arrive on the Saturday (I travelled Monday!). I got back from holiday yesterday to find another set of tickets in the post also! For the previous poster, I looked at the airport out of curiosity and there was no queue at the Thomson desk, so good luck - hope you get the same result. Bad form for Thomson though. It's very poor customer service all round and they really do need to improve.

Thank you singleg .One of the ladies I spoke to this morning at the Thomson agent where my booking is held in newcastle (Dont understand what thats all about ) has actually just rang me back and said there is nothing she can do until 3 days before and has a note in her diary .

Told her I had already managed to speak to somebody at customer services that has dealt with it .

Im still hoping to get my tickets through the post but I feel a little happier.

lyn

Lynn
Are you on the Newcastle to Majorca flight on the 10th April as we still havent received our tickets from Thomson.
Apparently they were posted on the 25th March so waiting to see if we do actually receive them,if not they said to ring back 3 days baefore we are due to leave and they will issue TOD.

No jojo . We are flying gatwick- sharm el sheikh.

The agent where my booking is held told me 3 days before but I managed to speak to a guy at Thomsons who told me that reissued tickets would take a min 14 days so they would not be reissued He assured me as we spoke that he had organised them for collection at the airport . will still ring 3 days before to make sure .Apparently the problems were with those issued early march . Allowing for the 14 days You may still be ok if your date was the issue date as opposed to the actual posting date.

lyn

Having said that I wouldnt be surprised if your's were originally issued around the same day as mine early March . I have been told that most were reissued when they realised the error . Sounds like that is what happened to yours because Ive always had tickets well in advance .

Sounds like an almighty mess to me