thomas cook complaint

fourcats

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
Has anyone out there ever had a sucessful conclusion to a complaint raised with Thomas Cook?????? I have spent months trying to get someone to deal with my complaints but you can not get any reply to phone, faxes or emails. I have even tried emailing andrew talbot and manny fontenla-Novoa but no response!!!! I have tried rasing this complaint via the agents I booked the holiday with but they are not getting any replies either. They have also ignored my repeated requests for information held under the Data Protection Act. The only reply that I have just received from Thomas Cook is what appears to be a standard response to complaints raised at the time of holiday , should have been dealt with by the Resort team and if we were still not happy, should have discussed further with staff on resort.(which we did and completed a complaint form)
This letter has no bearing whatsoever on the complaint against Thomas Cook which is the fact that I and my travel agent requested prices for a specific hotel and extras which we were given a price and booked the holidays to only find when we arrived, the dining arrangements were not as we requested and neither for the second one (althougH they were finally sorted out for both holidays). I have contacted trading Standards with all the details who have advised me to go to Arbitration so this appears to be my next step.
This Complaint could have been dealt with so easily By Thomas Cook at the time and in the months since but they just ignore all correspondance and I can say I would rather not go on holiday than book with them again.It is not the mistakes or errors that are made that reflects on a Company but how they respond and deal with them.
I am aware that I am not the only person who has come up against the "Thomas Cook Wall " so this appears to be normal response and way of dealing with any complaints.
any suggestions from you "Experts" would be appreciated

swivellingmonk

Hi Fourcats.

I also complained to Thomas Cook after a flight home was delayed by 26 hours back in February.

They were actually very good about accommodation, food etc for the overnight, but they did not offer us the 2 phone calls each that we were due under EU legislation. I requested reimbursement of the £19 spent on 4 calls as in my itemised billing (2 each to cancel work etc) - have you ever rang the UK from Egypt at nearly £2 per minute??

Anyway, eventually they sent me a cheque for £5. I didn't cash it and wrote to complain - nothing.

I wrote to the only arbitration I could find - the Air Users Council. They asked Thomas Cook to reconsider. Again nothing.

I wrote again to TC (copied to the Air Users Council) asking them to respond to the AUC letter within 28 days or I would take them to the small claims court and charge them costs. Again nothing.

THE AUC asked them to respond again - nothing.

I will instigate my court claim against them within the next few days.

sturll

Fly with a crap airline - get crap customer service.

salduck

Can I suggest you contact ABTA? They will be able to help you take it forward and get responses for you!
Good luck

bagand96

Have you contacted ABTA, they can give you advice,. Holiday companies have 28 days to reply to any complaints as per ABTA rules. You can then go to ABTA who will advise you and can also chase up the holiday company on your behalf.

They also have a low cost arbitration scheme, if you are still in deadlock.... it can get complicated though. I had a situation where I didn't get what I requested on a holiday. Travel agent blamed the tour operator, tour operator blamed the travel agent, went on for ages. In the end had to take both parties to arbitration....

BRYSER

Hi Fourcats Had the same problem with TC two years ago - their customer service is a joke. Booked a hotel with a kids club in Turkey and it took them 10 days into the holiday until they admitted there was not one, among other things. The TC rep in the resort offered me £50 cash as way of compensation, but I told her that was an insult bearing in mind it was too late to move to another hotel and I only booked the hotel because of the advertised kids club. She advised me that I would probably be wasting my time complaining when I got home, but I was adamant. I contacted them on my return having completed a complaint form in the resort which I think is crucial as it adds more weight to your complaint. I phoned and wrote numerous times, got ABTA involved, but to no avail. It was a complete waste of time. In the end I got a cheque for £100 sent to me 10 months after the initial complaint and that was it. To be honest, by the time I took into consideration the amount of time spent writing letters, paying for recorded deliveries and phone calls and postage, I reckon it would have been easier if I had just accepted the £50 compensation in the resort. I trully believe that Thomas Cooks' customer service is one of the worst I have encountered and I vowed never to use them again. They are a joke. Sorry this will not probably help you, but it might save you any further stress and inconvenience. I really expected more from ABTA, but they were as much use as a chocolate ashtray!!

fourcats

bagand96 wrote: »

Have you contacted ABTA, they can give you advice,. Holiday companies have 28 days to reply to any complaints as per ABTA rules. You can then go to ABTA who will advise you and can also chase up the holiday company on your behalf.

They also have a low cost arbitration scheme, if you are still in deadlock.... it can get complicated though. I had a situation where I didn't get what I requested on a holiday. Travel agent blamed the tour operator, tour operator blamed the travel agent, went on for ages. In the end had to take both parties to arbitration....

Arbiration seems to be my next step but did it work for you? I may look into going via the Small Claims Court if not?

many thanks

thegoodlife

Oh dear, I am not feeling very good about complaining to Thomas cook now, my Mum has just come back from an all inclusive £3000 holiday in the dominican, she ended up in hospital with food poisoning on day five, she was ill the rest of holiday and off work on statuatory sick pay now. The infuriating thing is despite all the tests she had the resort doctor and staff continually avoided to tell her what it was she had, saying it was just something she has picked up. We know know from her three lots of tablets that it was serious food poisoning.
Any advice?

tmm_aka_tracy

We booked to travel to Turkey with TC in May 08, and paid for extra legroom, when we got on the plane, the seats were pathetic. Even the Air Hostess said that the seats werent good.

I wrote to them and emailed them and got no reply from either. I havent bothered to follow it up, but this thread reminded me how rubbish their customer service is.

We have just returned from Tunisia with them, and had no problems this time.

DoctorDee

Some years ago, I read in some colour supplement about the apparently superb Columbia Beach Resort in !!!!ouri Beach, Cyprus. Since my wife and I had decided to visit her parents in Cyprus, we decided to stay there.

I walked into Thomas Cook and asked about booking there - they gave me some prices and I commented that they were much cheaper than any other prices I had seen. I was told that this was because Thomas Cook was so large, and had such buying power. So I booked. A few days later, my confirmation turned up for the Columbia Beach HOTEL. I checked, and there are two similarly named properties side by side.

I wrote to Thomas Cook, who said that after consulting the store staff, I had requested the Columbia Beach Hotel... But - I had NEVER HEARD of the Columbia Beach Hotel. I walked in to the Thomas Cook store with Columbia Beach Resort written on a piece of paper which I gave to the store staff. The store staff covered their tracks because they had sold me the wrong thing, and Thomas Cook charged me an administration fee to change my booking.

I go abroad four or so times a year - I will never use Thomas Cook again. I advise you not to use them either.

jammieb

My partner and i are currently trying to claim some compensation for a 27 hour flight delay that we incurred returning from Turkey in July this year. We didnt even see someone from thomas cook for the first 12 hours or so of the delay as apparently they needed their sleep!!!

We got a response saying that they were dealing with our complaint and then nothing so 5/6 letters and numerous e-mails later we finally got a response saying that due to the fact that our return flight was carried out by a company called Jet2 not Thomas cook they would not be considering out claim. We booked a PACKAGE holiday with thomas cook so surely its their responsibility and it was a thomas cook plane with thomas cook staff so it just makes no sense to use.

We wrote back to them and explained this and now they have said they will reconsider and be back in touch within 28 days but i dont think we will hold our breath. Don't really know where to go next though!

Unless we get some kind of compensation we will never be travelling with Thomas Cook again, when i spoke to the woman in the Thomas Cook branch that we booked with she just laughed in my face and said it wasnt like we missed our holiday but i dont think thats really the point.