Daily Express Cruises - Another Hoover Fiasco ?

trisontana · 25 January 2005 at 9:30PM

I listen quite regularly to a BBC local radio consumer programme. Over the last few days people have been phoning in reporting difficulties that have been having with a £10 cruise promotion sponsored by the Daily Express . Last year that had to save up some tokens and then they could book cruise. This they did and they received the confirmation and the dates for that cruise. All seemed well and good but over the last few days they have been contacted by the company organising the holiday telling then that the cruise has been overbooked and they have either been offered another cruise in 2006 or vouchers worth £500 off a cruise this year. This is months after they had received the confirmation. Others have had a cruise to South America cancelled and one to the Mediterranean offered instead .

They are all asking why this sudden change when some of them were due to sail next month ? It looks as though the whole scheme might be a victim of its own success and they underestimated the demand and are in deep trouble.But it has taken the holiday company several months to wake up to this fact. I have done a search of the web and other message boards are reporting the same state of affairs. There seems to be quite a few disappointed people out there . So if you have booked one of these cruises , be warned your plans might be changed.

trisontana · 25 January 2005 at 10:53PM

I have just been doing some more digging around and it appears the the travel company organising this scheme is Rise Travel. I have found out that this same company organised a free flights promotion for BT Broadband and for the wine company E&J Gallo . In both instances there have been complaints about how the schemes have been run and the inability people have had in getting their tickets. The Guardian newspaper has also run a story about the whole thing. I think this is just the beginning of the story .

Reaper · 28 January 2005 at 4:56PM

I certainly think Rise Travel have a tendency to under estimate demand and then struggle to fit people in. However I don't think it is intentionally a scam. For just taking out a First Direct credit card Rise Travel flew me to Barcelona and paid for 2 nights accomodation. I kept expecting a catch or problem but there was none. So there are at least some satisfied customers around. Hope you all get your cruises in the end.

trisontana · 28 January 2005 at 5:18PM

I am not saying it's a scam , just a complete mess. They have had the same problems with BT , Gallo and Little Chef promotions. I would have thought that if someone like the Express are going to run a big advertising campaign , splashed all over the TV and their newspaper , they are going to get thousands of replies for a £1000 cruise for only £10. So , instead if hiring extra staff and a good computer system they just seem to be bumberling along. We often hear the excuse "we are a victim of our own success" . Well all I can say is that they should have thought about this before embarking on the project . It is called forward planning .

One other thing about this Express offer . Many people had their confirmation back in June for cruises starting next month. It is only in the last few days that the cancellations and changes have started to happen. What has happened between then ( when everything seems to have been settled ) and now ? I wonder if Rise did in fact book the cruises then or have only started the process now and found there are no places on the ships? Just a thought!

teabag02 · 28 January 2005 at 6:33PM

There are 1,000's of us who have literally been messed around since last August regarding the Daily Express £10.00 cruise offer. Check out Holidaytruths.co.uk - Cruises - Daily Express and you can read 100's of pages of individual fob offs. Watchdog are doing a case, and the Advertising Standards Authority are involved. This is just the tip of the iceberg, as no-one yet has gone on a £10 cruise, as they were due to start soon. We'll see, i am supposed to be going on a Caribbean cruise in October, i have spent pounds on telephone calls, and hours of time chasing Rise/MKM Promotions to fulfil what they promised, i could have gone on vacationstogo.co.uk and booked a 7 night cruise for next to nothing, i think they are just hoping a lot of people will get fed up of being given the run around - and you know what - they will.

trisontana · 28 January 2005 at 6:42PM

I bet the Express are wishing now that they never started this whole sorry mess. It could well harm their reputation , just as it did Hoover.

trisontana · 29 January 2005 at 12:09PM

The Holiday Truths web-site has just provided information about the financial position of the parent company (MKM) that owns Rise Travel and is running this promotion. This states that they are not going to make a profit this year . This is because they were depending on most people to take up the expensive add-ons such as upgrades and paying full price for a second person to go. This has not happened. A lot of people are going on their own and opting for the £10 basic package. So Rise travel have now found themselves in deep trouble. Hence all the cancellations , the offers of useless vouchers or trying to persuade people not to go on a cruise till next year .

This is the financial statement :-

http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200501261100468107H.html

trisontana · 8 February 2005 at 11:09PM

This story is going to be featured on Watchdog next Tuesday ( 15th Feb )

trisontana · 6 April 2005 at 1:44PM

The ASA have now come down heavily on both Rise Travel and the Daily Express regarding this shambles of a promotion. Here is a link to the ASA adjudication.

http://www.asa.org.uk./asa/adjudications/Adjudication+Details.htm?Adjudication_id=39579

As can be seen in that report the Daily Express, which usually likes to blow its own trumpet and go after other people, has been strangely silent in this instance.

This is now a hat-trick for Rise travel being censured by the ASA. Still nobody's perfect !

mike_the_bike_2 · 7 April 2005 at 11:34AM

Big deal...wrapped knuckles on Rise & the Daily Express ..but to any of them suffer a pecuniary losds as a result...I suspect not..

Sounds like a toothless organisation just going through the motions...And we all know what motions result in

trisontana · 7 April 2005 at 4:51PM

mike_the_bike wrote:

Big deal...wrapped knuckles on Rise & the Daily Express ..but to any of them suffer a pecuniary losds as a result...I suspect not..

Sounds like a toothless organisation just going through the motions...And we all know what motions result in

The ASA realy needs to be able to fine companies that breach its guidelines. As you said they can name and shame but that is as far as it goes. It would be nice if they could be the same as OFCOM who can impose financial penalties on errant broadcasters . One recent case was the half a million pound fine they imposed on AuctionWorld.

Daily Express Cruises - Another Hoover Fiasco ?

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