XL....MONEYSAVING IS NOT the be all & end-all-a lesson learnt

Lynsey

Sad for all the customers stranded, horrible experience.
Not sure what will happen, but the vibes for XL haven't been good for ages.
I hope the likes of Kosmar can be saved as I believe XL ruined this company. I hope it can be saved and return to how it was, a basic accommodation throughout Greece and the isles company. It would be great if the original operators came in and saved this company.

Lynsey

KayJay

I am confused. I'm lucky that our holiday in 5 weeks time wasn't with XL. I booked flights only and I booked with Olympic Holidays directly - we are flying with Monarch.

I paid by debit card and I am now very nervous since people are saying it's not looking good for Olympic/Monarch. I was actually advised by the operator at Olympic to pay by debit card as it was cheaper! I was going to cancel and then rebook using my credit card - but does that seem over cautious??

jayok

Pennywise wrote: »

There is a massive difference. The credit card company receives a much higher "fee" for processing the transaction which is why you often have to pay a c/c surcharge. Paying by switch and the charge is far less, probably just a few pence, hence no compensation. If you want compensation and protection from a debit card, then you'd soon find that you'd be paying the c/c surcharge on that as the banks would undoubtedly increase their fees for processing it.

Tell that to Ryanair

TRAVELMAN_2

Pingu,

Of course companies such as Co-Op can't compete with the likes of Travel Republic, etc...they DO NOT sell full ATOL packages-rather they are 'retail agents for ATOL holders' so just the flight is ATOL covered!

Could not care less where you book but no agent can afford to give you a full ATOL package at the price travel R. charge-they work on about a 3% profit margin.

As someone else posted earlier-'you make your bed now lie in it'....it's up to anyone weather they book with a non-ATOL agent or pay a bit more for a fully ATOL PROTECTED DEAL.

This was the point of the post-PINGU-that it's not all about moneysaving.:rotfl:

MidlandsMum

Hi, Travelman.
I'm an agent too, have been for 13 years. I've never used this board to court bookings, I'd prefer not to have to take my profit margin down that low!

I understand your frustration with customers who claim they know better but the way you are gloating seems very bitter to me. With everything in life I would say "Buyer Beware" and for some things in life the old saying "Buy cheap, buy twice" are very often true. I am fully supportive of your role as an independent agent, and I hope you understand that we are not talking only about our margins and incentives here but people's lives. The travel industry is going through a massive change and as an agent I feel my role is not to get stroppy about it, but learn how I can grow and move with the times. I'm proud to say that with my job there's not a day that goes by that I don't learn something new and as I'm moving ahead with my career I've been able to pass on my sales tips to new agents. I remember when I started, all I had was a basic version of easysell, a phone and a computer. There was one office copy of the gazetteer and there were no on-line review sites. If we as agents learn to work alongside the 'net and compliment it then we will find that there will be a place for us in the high street or call centre for years to come.

My Mum has just got back from Turkey with Thomas Cook. She said that Bodrum Airport is in a right state. Massive delays all over the place. I had to break the news to her that her beloved Kosmar is no more. She was quite disappointed but she will just have to save a bit harder for her second holiday a year, rather than grabbing a kosmar cheapie.

RIP Kosmar. It did exactly what it said on the tin.

casevlloyds

dmg24 wrote: »

Spot on, TRAVELMAN was never part of the MSE community, he posted as a salesman and nothing more.

There are some fantastic TA's (and many non TA's also ) that give up their time to post and help others on MSE, but TRAVELMAN is not one of them. If he has such a poor view of MSEers, perhaps we should all ensure that we avoid his company (Future Travel, also trading under several other names) in future?

Hey! Don't tar us all with the same brush! I also work for Future Travel (Instant Holidays) and I'm not blaming anyone for wanting cheaper holidays!

I quite often reply to the beat my quote thread and help people where I can.

As a point of interest I booked a lady from this site through the beat my quote thread a couple of months ago. She had a price for an XL holiday from their website. I beat the price by £150 so she booked with me.

By 2pm on friday afternoon I had re-booked her exactly the same holiday with Thomas Cook using the deeds of assignment process meaning she didn't have to pay again - we will arrange for her refund to be claimed and paid to Thomas Cook directly.

I wonder where she would be up to now if she had made that booking on the website?

Gaia_Angel

KayJay wrote: »

I was going to cancel and then rebook using my credit card - but does that seem over cautious??

Easier and probably cheaper just to get some insurance that covers the company going bust?

Alan_Bowen

The whole purpose of the ATOL scheme is to do exactly that, guarantee that if the operator fails, you will be protected. If you chose to buy each part separately there may be protection for the flight on its own, or as xl.com customers have found to their cost, there is no prtection at all.
If flights are not protected by ATOL and bought through an agent you will normally be offered a policy for £5 to guarantee your money(but the insurers wouldn't touch XL or Zoom for example) That leaves the accommodation which if bought on its own usually has no protection at all, this is what the insurers are considering at the moment but last Friday has made every insurer look again and wonder whether it wants to offer protection at all. Insurance would be a simple solution but be warned, many insurers will now pick and chose who to protect and that may of itself make people more wary of booking a company against whom insurers do not want to touch. That may help anyone

GlennTheBaker

Welcome back, TRAVELMAN. You threw all your toys out of your pram months ago and stomped off in a diva strop. Now you come back to smugly gloat and say 'See, I told you so'. Very productive.

Edinburghlass_2

TRAVELMAN wrote: »

This was the point of the post-PINGU-that it's not all about moneysaving.:rotfl:

and neither is it all about money making on the back of MSE but you were still willing to talk to MSE users a week ago.