No Customer Service at Thomson Holdays

Stanch · 20 June 2010 at 7:36AM

My wife and I, with a granddaughter, recently visited family in Canada.
We booked flights, hotels and car rental through Thomson at their shop in the Orbital Centre, Swindon. All was fully paid before we travelled.
When we arrived at National Car Rental, Toronto Airport we had to hand over a credit card and sign a form before we could take the car. On returning the car we were given a hand printer generated receipt which had the car rental charge of CAD 634.19. We immediately queried the charge but were told the figures were routine and the car had been prepaid. On returning home we found that we had been charged this sum on my Credit Card. We phoned the Thomson shop in the Orbital Centre, Swindon and they told us that if we had a complaint (sic) we should write to their customer complaints department. I tried to explain it wasn’t a complaint but the fact we had been charged by the car rental company when we had booked and paid for the car with Thomson. They then totally dumbfounded me by stating they had no means of contacting the car rental company or contacting their customer services department.
I emailed Thomson customer services with all the details and received an automated reply saying they would be back to me within 7 days. I have chased it every 7 days since; it is now well over a month since I first contacted them about it.
Meanwhile, I emailed National Car Rental in Toronto. They replied, within a couple of days, saying Thomson had reserved a car but had not paid for it.
I am currently at a financial loss of £421.39 which I am very unhappy about. This amount is far more than Thomson charged us for the car. At that price we would not have rented it.
I cannot understand why Thomson have not replied to us and their sales staff at the shop cannot help us.
We have now written to ABTA explaining all of this, but I have no idea if anything will happen or when.
How can a company trade with such blatant lack of customer service?
What can I do to get my money back?

vikingaero · 20 June 2010 at 9:43AM

Write a Letter Before Action to Thomsons Head Office giving them 14 days to reply.

Then issue a County Court Summons.

Don't wait, call them, etc. Do everything in writing from now on.

I'd also write to the Manager of the Swindon store telling them that their staff are pathetic and take no responsibility and why you won't be booking from them and you will tell all you friends not to. A little local bad press sometimes goes a long way.

pinkshoes · 20 June 2010 at 9:46AM

As above, send them a letter (yup, in the post, recorded delivery, NOT email!) saying that they have 14 days to pay you the sum of £421.39, otherwise you will be taking them to court to retrieve the money.

Companies usually pay up at this point!

withabix · 20 June 2010 at 9:53AM

I agree.

Don't wait for them, just hit them straight between the eyes with a 14-Day 'Notice of Court Action' letter.

It worked for me with Nissan! https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2392429

isplumm · 20 June 2010 at 11:17AM

Stanch wrote: »

My wife and I, with a granddaughter, recently visited family in Canada.
We booked flights, hotels and car rental through Thomson at their shop in the Orbital Centre, Swindon. All was fully paid before we travelled.
When we arrived at National Car Rental, Toronto Airport we had to hand over a credit card and sign a form before we could take the car. On returning the car we were given a hand printer generated receipt which had the car rental charge of CAD 634.19. We immediately queried the charge but were told the figures were routine and the car had been prepaid. On returning home we found that we had been charged this sum on my Credit Card. We phoned the Thomson shop in the Orbital Centre, Swindon and they told us that if we had a complaint (sic) we should write to their customer complaints department. I tried to explain it wasn’t a complaint but the fact we had been charged by the car rental company when we had booked and paid for the car with Thomson. They then totally dumbfounded me by stating they had no means of contacting the car rental company or contacting their customer services department.
I emailed Thomson customer services with all the details and received an automated reply saying they would be back to me within 7 days. I have chased it every 7 days since; it is now well over a month since I first contacted them about it.
Meanwhile, I emailed National Car Rental in Toronto. They replied, within a couple of days, saying Thomson had reserved a car but had not paid for it.
I am currently at a financial loss of £421.39 which I am very unhappy about. This amount is far more than Thomson charged us for the car. At that price we would not have rented it.
I cannot understand why Thomson have not replied to us and their sales staff at the shop cannot help us.
We have now written to ABTA explaining all of this, but I have no idea if anything will happen or when.
How can a company trade with such blatant lack of customer service?
What can I do to get my money back?

You bought via a shop - so why didn't go in there & demand a refund? You pre-paid - so report it to your cc company - I assume you have proof ....

Mark

isplumm · 20 June 2010 at 11:23AM

Hi,

I would suggest you get the cc statement, a copy of the invoice showing that you per-paid for the car hire - assume that you paid for all the insurance & that is not what the hire car company have charged you for, the thing you signed showing the extra charge - then go into SWindon & demand they sort it.

Mark

Stanch · 21 June 2010 at 11:28PM

Thanks for all your advice.

I have written to ABTA and sent them copies of all the relevant documents. I wonder how long they will take to come back with a reply....
I read on the Small Claims Court advisory that the Courts will not entertain a case unless a consumer body/ arbitrator etc. have failed to come up with an acceptable solution... So ABTA are our first port of call..

FYI We visited the Swindon shop the day after we found the credit card charge. We dutifully waited to speak to an assistant, she started to shake her head when I mentioned I had to sign a form before they would let me have the car... she said "we always advise everyone not to sign anything when you go abroad!!!.." What utter balderdash, where do they get these weird ideas from?... , then all three other staff members, in front of their customers , piped up with the same... It was unbelievable.., they certainly ganged up on us. I insisted they must do something to sort it out and that telling me to phone their Customer Services Department was not good enough. They then attempted to phone the number they gave me and then found that all they got was a recorded message!!!. They also stated they could not phone Canada as they were unable to make foreign phone calls. We left that shop realising that all the assistants and the manager there are only trained in selling, they have no mechanism or training to deal with problems that may arise, or, as they put it, any customer complaints. Presumably, they are on commision on Sales,and, there's no commision in sorting out problems.

A couple of years ago we booked a similar trip, but that time we booked via the Internet, and did it all through British Airways, it was totally painless and all went absolutely smoothly. I know whom I'll book with next time...

Rgds.

4743hudsonj · 21 June 2010 at 11:51PM

not sure where you got that stuff about small claims and arbitration services. Its most definitely not needed, it helps but as others have said, slap them with the letter before action and follow through with it.

They have had plenty of opportunities to resolve it so you wont be looked upon badly by the court.

Stanch · 3 July 2010 at 7:58AM

The Saga continues...
I received a phone call late last week from the shop saying that they had received notification from their H.O. that their had been an administration error and they would be refunding the amount we were charged by National Car Hire, Canada by cheque. Yesterday, I phoned the shop enquiring as to where was the cheque, on the third phone call I was informed they had not yet received the cheque from H.O. I inturn, informed them that, today, I will personally hand them a "letter of intent" to place the matter in the hands of the courts if I don't receive the cheque within 14 days.
Meanwhile, I have received a letter form ABTA saying they will write to TUI UK Retail Ltd "requesting their observations" and if we do not hear from ABTA within the next 21 days to contact them again. I wonder how long the process of going through ABTA will take?
It was the advice on their site that said the courts would expect any claimants to first try to claim using a third party arbitrator before they would act.
This now leads me to a dilemma...
I understand that there are costs to lodging the case with the Small Claims Court, something like £25 or £30. What happens if I receive the cheque after I have lodged the case but before the case is heard? How do I get claim for my legal costs in that instance?

Phew!... what a holiday this turned out to be...

Rgds.

Stan Chelchowski

Laz123 · 3 July 2010 at 8:57AM

Thomson Holidays, builttt with you in mindddd...

unholyangel · 3 July 2010 at 9:27AM

Stanch wrote: »

I inturn, informed them that, today, I will personally hand them a "letter of intent" to place the matter in the hands of the courts if I don't receive the cheque within 14 days.

Send it recorded delivery. That way you have proof of delivery that will prove in court (if it needs to go that far) that they have received your LBA and not acted upon it/acted in time.

Further, a solution to your latter question about court costs, you could always put in your LBA that if the refund is not received within 14 days, that you will expect any additional court fees to be met by them.

No Customer Service at Thomson Holdays

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