Thomson all-inclusive 'luxury' disaster holiday - can we do anything?

Hiya yes I have. I wrote to them as a complaint and made it clear that I was seeking some compensation/reimbursement. I only got comms back from them saying 'Mexico is humid etc..' and they just ignored my point about wanting some reimbursement.
Update - I have called them today and they said they can't talk to me over the phone because 'they don't have time' so they will email me straight away with the directors email address and I should email him with the complaint again to have it re-investigated. Still awaiting an email from them 4 hours later.

peachyprice wrote: »

Maybe you were in the worst room in the hotel, which they know they can get away with, as you found your holiday rep wasn't interested in getting you moved.

Too late now, I know, but you could have at least asked the hotel direct to show you another room just so ascertain what the rep told you was true.

There's probably a lot of ins and outs that I didn't bother going into in my post but i spoke to the Thomson people at the hotel because the hotel is run and owned by Thomson as well (at least in part I think) they are a hotel exclusive to Thomson and call themselves that in the name. So the Thomson people I spoke to onsite I thought were more than just reps. We had the manager from Thomson at the hotel come to our room and she said 'we could move you to another room but there's no point because all the rooms are the same as this.' She also said that we were not allowed to see any of the other rooms in advance of moving to them and the only way was to move room without seeing it in advance. But she made it clear to us that the room we would get moved to would not be any better. We were on holiday just come off a long haul flight and had already spent about an hour in conversation with various staff and managers about the state of the room so in the end we just felt trapped because we were already on holiday and had paid for it so we just didn't know what else to do at the time except put up with it since it's not like we could just fly back home.

jhe wrote: »

got to say that part of the world have often had rooms that have a musty smell, but mould and dirt is something else !
Thomson will drag there feet , you could go down- https://www.resolver.co.uk/complaints/travel-complaints -route and claim a figure for compensation

I agree! And honestly I am not the type to just complain about every little thing. I have been to Sharm el Sheikh so i know what to expect with all inclusive '5 stars' haha. Bit of dirt I can let go but when I am paying 3k for a luxury holiday I am not expecting to be unable to unpack my clothes and have black mould up the walls and growing on my clothes! It's hardly a romantic setting haha.
I will take a look into this resolver tool, cheers.

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

ABTA can offer you an arbitration scheme which results in an enforceable judgement. The advantages are that there is no hearing, you submit everything on paper, it is much quicker than going to court and for the Tour Operator, there is a substantial fee to pay, which may have the effect of getting them to look at the situation again.

Your problem is that according to you, everyone else, or at least those that place reviews on Tripadvisor, think the hotel was wonderful and Thomsons may use that against you. You on the other hand have photographic evidence that all was not well and that their Rep appears not to have taken your complaint seriously. Yes, Mexico can be humid, I was there in November and could barely cope with the humidity, it is on my list of places never to set foot in again, but despite that, I saw no mould anywhere in my hotel, so that isn't an excuse.

Thank you. I am going to see where I can get to with Thomson again first and have started the resolver tool that was mentioned by another forum user. We may have just been very unlucky to have ended up with a terrible room as it does seem that everyone else loved their holiday. I'm glad we took pictures of the room and our ruined clothes before leaving. If they don't give me a satisfactory response this time then I'll follow up with the ABTA scheme you have mentioned. If that doesn't get anywhere then guess I will give up but worth a try at least. Frustrating when you do loads of research before booking and then saving all year for a nice holiday and it turns out to be a complete waste of ££