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Teletext Holidays (also known as “Truly Travel Ltd”) - Do Not Use them

dknnins
dknnins Posts: 13 Forumite
Travel date: September 2016
The Hotel Esplendid in Blanes, Costa Brava, Spain is the worse hotel I have ever stayed at. Please read this report carefully and do not get caught out as we did.
Terrible food. Breakfast was practically non existent and of dreadful quality. Dinner was almost the same but not entirely dissimilar. All the food was stodgy. How they can even imagine "humans" would want to eat this way beats me. The quality of the room was NOT to standard.
We went Half Board through Teletext Holidays (also known as “Truly Travel Ltd”) which was also a mistake as I can only use 2 words to describe them – VERY DODGY! They lied to us about a lot of things. They told us the hotel was one of the best in Blanes (LIE). We booked transfers through them which they booked through a company called “From2”. They told us the transfer time was supposed to be 1 hour, which is acceptable. But after paying for the holiday and receiving my confirmation documentation, it was printed that transfer time was 2 hours – Not acceptable. I questioned this and was told that this was the total transfer time including the return (ANOTHER LIE). The truth is that after flying in and landing at around 23.45pm, we went and found From2 and were then told to hurry through as the coach would be leaving at 00.30am. Beware, it’s an extraordinarily long walk! We got to the coach after walking for what seemed like ages. We got on and then sat there for the next hour whilst the driver waited for another flight to come in. It was totally disorganised. People were getting on the coach. People were getting taken off as was luggage. I just do not know what the hell was going on there. The driver didn’t even speak English so it was pointless asking him what was going on. When the coach finally got going over an hour later, we then faced the 2 hour journey to our hotel as other travellers needed dropping off at their respective hotels on the way.
We finally arrived at our hotel in the early hours of the morning. Tired and “dirty”. All we wanted to do was have a shower and go to sleep. But after having to pay a “Tourist Tax” which Teletext Holidays also did not tell us about, even after I asked if there was anything else to pay and was told no (YET ANOTHER LIE), nothing could prepare us for the next insult. And by-the-way, I have photographic evidence of everything I’m about to say. Beware, this hotel is publicised as a 3 Star. Believe me, it should be lucky to even receive a 2 Star at best. AND, absolutely not in the condition of the photos you see on-line. These were probably taken when the hotel was new.
1. There was a horrible smell of damp in the room.
2. The beds were metal “Camp beds”. Very, very hard horrible mattresses. You cannot sleep in those beds. They are so uncomfortable!
3. The door to the room was broken. Not secure. I think it may have been “kicked” in at some time in the past. A very cheep repair with filler had been applied. You cannot rest knowing that someone can come into your room at any second. You cannot leave the room knowing that your personal possessions are at risk.
4. The decorative state of the room, and even the rest of the hotel is awful. In the room there were huge cracks and holes in the walls. The heating radiator was covered with rust. The floor had small holes all over the place. In fact, the whole hotel looks like it’s in a “time warp” back to the 1970’s, which is probably when it was built and has never been updated. The walls are very thin in this hotel which means you can hear everything between rooms. You can also not get away from the noise coming from the hallways due to the doors being rubbish too.
5. The wardrobes were in a very bad state. Cracks in the backs. Mouldings missing. Unclean.
6. The balcony had damp, mould and dirt everywhere. There where holes in the side privacy panels.
7. The bathroom was disgraceful. The bath was rusty and there was mould around the edges. There were rust spots in the base of the bath and there were also minor repairs where there must have been some damage in the past and a cheep repair with filler was applied.
8. The air conditioning was not working at all. Very bad in the heat of Spain.
9. BEWARE – You have to pay for everything at this hotel. For example, they publicise that they have Wifi, Room safe, TV, etc. Paying for Wifi access I can understand, but what they don’t tell you is that if you want to use the safe, you have to pay. When looking around the room for the TV remote control, you will not find one. Go to reception to ask about it and you will be asked to pay a rental fee for it. What a joke.

I immediately telephoned the Teletext Holidays 24 hour helpline which of course is an international call charge from my mobile phone, only to get someone who sounded like I’d got him out of bed. He was of course, no help at all. I tried to tell him everything but all he kept saying was that I needed to call back in the morning. He was like a scratched record!

We did not sleep a wink that night and were definitely not able to take a shower.

In the morning I telephoned the Teletext Holidays 24 hour helpline again and explained everything again. Another international telephone call charge. I told the customer service operative that if they wanted us to stay at the hotel, then we had to be given better accommodation or we’d have to be moved to a better hotel. I’ve got to be honest, the lady I spoke with sounded quite understanding and said that someone would get back to me by 11.00am.

Whilst waiting for the call back I went down to reception and explained the predicament. When I told the young girl behind the desk what room we were in, she had a look of horror on her face. Obviously she knew the kind of room we’d been given!

At around 10.30 we were moved to what I must admit, was a better room. Not perfect, but none-the-less better. It was cleaner. Still had a couple of cracks in the walls and a minor bit of rust on the edge of the bath. The beds, although of a similar style to the previous room did have a bit better mattresses on them and at least were sleepable.

11.00am came and went and I got no call back from Teletext Holidays, so I called them again. Another international phone call charge. I spoke to another customer service operative and informed her that we had been moved, and although a better room, we would stay there under certain circumstances. Those being, that, I wanted us to be downgraded from Half Board to room only as I was no way going to eat that disgusting food, and that for the problems of the previous night and room, that I would expect a reimbursement of £200. I asked her if she felt I was being unreasonable, to which she replied no. The call was ended by her telling me she would speak to the complaints team and have them call me back.

The final insult:

I received a call from a man in the complaints team, and this is what I was told.
If I wanted to move hotel, I would have to pay to do so.
My only option was to stay…. AND that all they were prepared to reimburse was £20 and that the minimum they could downgrade us to was Bed & Breakfast which is publicised as “Free breakfast” anyway .

£20?????

For all the trouble they’d put us through and the downgrade, that’s all that was offered?

Well, I suppose, it just shows what the quality of the food is, if the Half Board package is worth only £20.

So, the question is:
Would I ever travel with Teletext Holidays (Truly Travel Ltd) again? – NO
Would I ever go to the Hotel Esplendid again? – Absolutely NO

I will of course be taking this matter further. But I can only say this. Travel with Teletext Holidays (Truly Travel Ltd) at your own risk. You can see how they have treated us. I would hate to see anyone else having to go through what we have been through. Also, go to Hotel Esplendid at your own risk or if you like that sort of thing.

Update: Since returning home, I took the matter up with Teletext Holidays (Truly Travel Ltd). Provided them with everything they required for their investigations, including all the photographic evidence. AND, despite making all that effort, you can guess, they’ve washed their hands of it.

Once again:
Would I ever travel with Teletext Holidays (Truly Travel Ltd) again? – NO
Would I ever go to the Hotel Esplendid again? – Absolutely NO
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Comments

  • Did you research Teletext Holidays before you booked with them?

    I guess not or you wouldn't have touched them with a barge pole.
    If you go down to the woods today you better not go alone.
  • Unfortunately, no I didn't, which is my loss :sad::sad::sad:
  • tamiami
    tamiami Posts: 537 Forumite
    Teletext holidays are operated from India by Truly Travel. Unfortunately instead of being a UK travel agent who have a conscience, try to help you choose the correct holiday and are bound by UK rules, Teletext are purely ruthless sales people who will tell you anything to get your money. They have no conscience and will lie through their teeth - no humanity whatsoever.
  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344
    First Post Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    I've no idea what your issue is or whether you have a question to ask as nobody will bother to read such an impenetratable wall of text, most of which is almost certainly irrelevant.

    If all you want to do is get it off your chest the Praise, Vent & Warnings Board is the place to do it.
  • dknnins
    dknnins Posts: 13 Forumite
    Maybe it is a bit of a vent. And I am sorry that maybe you personally do not read "walls" of text, but some people do. People who are interested in knowing the facts. If you do not want to read it, don't. I'm not twisting your arm. But please, don't knock what has taken me quite some time to put together in the hope of helping others not get caught in the same way. Isn't that the whole point of a Forum?
    But it is mainly my way of advising people not to use this company and why I am advising this, by providing as much detail as possible, so that people do not think I am just ranting on about nothing.
  • missbiggles1
    missbiggles1 Posts: 17,481
    First Post Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    If you'd looked on Trip Advisor before booking, you'd have seen that it gets poor reviews.

    https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g580331-d535614-Reviews-Hotel_Esplendid-Blanes_Costa_Brava_Province_of_Girona_Catalonia.html

    ETA
    One of them yours.
  • dknnins
    dknnins Posts: 13 Forumite
    Having said that, perhaps I should take your advice and post it to the "Praise, Vent & Warnings Board" also. The more exposure, the better.
  • dknnins
    dknnins Posts: 13 Forumite
    As I said previously. Yes, my own fault for not checking first.
    And yes, as you can see, one of them is mine. I'm want to get them as much bad exposure as I can.
    If I can't get them to refund more than £20, which of course is like extracting blood from a stone with these people, then I am sure as hell going to do my level best to limit the amount of business they get, however possible, from now on.
  • tamiami wrote: »
    Teletext holidays are operated from India by Truly Travel. Unfortunately instead of being a UK travel agent who have a conscience, try to help you choose the correct holiday and are bound by UK rules, Teletext are purely ruthless sales people who will tell you anything to get your money. They have no conscience and will lie through their teeth - no humanity whatsoever.

    Truly Travel are a UK company, and they are bound by 'UK rules'. They do have one Indian director who is resident in the UK. The other director is British.

    They're an OTA, not a full service agent. If want someone that will help you choose the correct holiday you need to pay more and use a full service agent.

    That said, they're not a company I'd touch with a bargepole, like I wouldn't touch any other OTA. They don't do anything you can't do yourself.
  • hollydays
    hollydays Posts: 19,812
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    edited 10 November 2016 at 7:22PM
    They used to have a good reputation-then they changed hands and appear to use a barely trained , lying foreign call centre.
    See this thread also
    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5266021

    Mse are still naming them as one of the companies to call and haggle with -bad advice.
    Mse asks people to comment on the haggling thread -so why not tell mse what you think
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