Thomas Cook... service, what service?

sammyhallett

Hi all... this is a bit of a long winded one which has left me out of pocket by about £150. Looking for a bit of advice...

Ok, I was ok holiday in Cyprus about 3 weeks ago and waiting for my plane. It was delayed by 3 and a half hours which itself was a pain in the !!!!, it was a sunday evening flight due to arrive in the UK very early monday morning. However, it got to the UK late monday morning meaning I couldnt go into work as I had planned to do so and lost out on a days wages.

To make matters worse, when I arrived at the airport, my suitcase had gone missing which enatiled another delay waiting for a little man to see what was going on. I was absolutely knackered at this point, wanting to get home, an hour of sleep and try and get to work on time. Well I was waiting longer for this bag to turn up when the guy came back and said 'its not on the plane, its probably still in Cyprus' he said this happens a lot and had already had 8 other bags to chase up from the night before!!

So i filled in the relevant paperwork and left the details in the hands of this bloke. He distinctly said 'Call this number if you've not heard from us within 2 days, your bag will come back on the next flight to the UK'

2 days passed and I heard nothing so I called and it sounded as though they hadn't chased it up. I explained what had happened, given them the relevent numbers and all of a sudden after checking some computers they located it in Cyprus. Why this couldnt have been done sooner I dont know. The man on the phone said it'll come on the next available flight and asked if I wanted it at my local airport or the one I flew into.. I said the closest and soonest. He said it may be saturday at the very latest. He said once its here i'll recieve a call to arrange a place and time for it to be couriered to me.

Well I know for a fact my local airport sees cyprus flights every wednesday and sunday so it could have easily arrived sooner. It didnt come home on the next flight at all, the bag didnt arrive until the following week but not without its problems!
I called again the following week to see what was going on and this time a lady said she had sent it to my home by courier that morning. I was extremely angry as I am not at home during the day as like most people am working. She wasn't helpful at all, she said 'well isn't there a neighbour you can leave it with?' I said no.. one was on holiday herself and the other i didnt trust. She didnt really seem to be bothered and the next day I came home to find it had been delivered to my neighbour. Quickly went round and got it back.

Now heres my problem, I missed a day of work due to their stupid delay and further delay with my suitcase. I lost about £60, then due to having no underweear, summer clothes and toiletries, I had to go out and spend more money to accommodate myself for over a week! I've had to spend around £150 for their mistakes and was wondering if its worth claiming.
Furthermore they didnt fulfil their customer service promises. I recieved no single phone calls and I had to chase up everything. I've got receipts and such to prove my losses.

Thanks! xx

Incapuppy

All your underwear, summer clothes and toiletries were in this one suitcase?

sammyhallett

Indeed they were. I dont have a lot of clothes because quite simply I cant afford them. I took all my summery clothes and personal bits and bobs.
I dont tend to buy a lot of things I dont need... just the way I am.

wallbash

Thomas Cook sold you the holiday . so I can see that they are somewhat responsible.

But It was the airline which fouled up ??

Also . booking a late Sunday return , and expecting to go to work early Monday morning .... no margin for errors .

Suitcase was sent by courier , can't fault that. You were not in , OK thats a problem , but again not 100% Thomas Cook's.

sammyhallett

Thomas Cook were also the airline operators... the fact is that they said they would call me to arrnage times and such for delivery but they did absolutely none of this. They completely failed to fulfil their duties of customer service.

Incapuppy

You won't want to hear this, but to me your claim sounds rather silly.

Your flight was delayed, this happens to a lot of people every day. Regarding the day that you missed at work - do you not have any of this year's holiday entitlement remaining that you could have used for this day? If not, then I see it simply as a case of 'bad luck'

What time was your flight due to arrive and what time did it actually arrive? How long did you have to wait for the 'little man' to arrive and sort things out? What time did you get home?

Did you take all your work clothes/underwear for the following week to Cyprus with you? If not, then you had clothes to wear. If so, then you must have been planning to do laundry the minute you got home? It sounds very much to me like you chose to buy replacement clothes rather than making do with what you had at home. Would it have been that dreadful to have to have worn some spring/autumn clothes for a few days? Or borrowed an item or two from a friend/relation/colleague? As for toiletries, well these are consumables and would have needed to have been replaced sooner or later anyway.

Sorry if that sounds harsh, its just my humble opinion.

sammyhallett

*** You won't want to hear this, but to me your claim sounds rather silly.

Its not at all, it was an awful this to go through and I was extremely upset at the lack of support from those who were supposed to help.

*** Your flight was delayed, this happens to a lot of people every day. Regarding the day that you missed at work - do you not have any of this year's holiday entitlement remaining that you could have used for this day? If not, then I see it simply as a case of 'bad luck'

I had 1 day of holiday entitlement left which unfortunately didnt process in this instance, as it was a day unable to attend and not booked off there was no other option. its company policy and is with most places unfortunately.

*** What time was your flight due to arrive and what time did it actually arrive?

Due to arrive home at around 2am, but with the delay, baggage loss delay, I didnt arrive home until almost 9am

***Did you take all your work clothes/underwear for the following week to Cyprus with you? If not, then you had clothes to wear.

No, this was a summer holiday and nobody intheir right mind looking to escape work for 2 weeks would do so.

*** You must have been planning to do laundry the minute you got home? It sounds very much to me like you chose to buy replacement clothes rather than making do with what you had at home.

I had work clothes and a couple of bits of underwear for the next day or 2, the rest I would have washed the day I got home. i chose to buy replacements for casual stuff, the weather was beautiful back home and again, nobody would subject themself to being unfcomfortable for a whole week. there was no other choice really.

*** Would it have been that dreadful to have to have worn some spring/autumn clothes for a few days? Or borrowed an item or two from a friend/relation/colleague?

Yes it would have been awful, it was far too hot.

*** As for toiletries, well these are consumables and would have needed to have been replaced sooner or later anyway.

Thats fair enough but electric razor, hairbrush, electrical personal items cost quite a bit to replace.

---

I can understand what you're saying but its certainly not a silly claim. I've not made a claim yet.

L.L_2

What caused the delay anyway?

I'm always grateful of just getting home in one piece despite any delay suffered.

wallbash

Yes I think we are being a bit harsh .
But we are trying to see both sides.
( and guessing the repose of Thomas Cook. )

sammyhallett

The pilot said it was a fault with the plane, some part had to be replaced which caused a backlog of delays on that plane for the rest of the day.
Believe me I was very grateful to get home in one piece. Its not the flight delay that was a big issue, just the case... they were just rubbish!

sammyhallett

wallbash wrote: »

Yes I think we are being a bit harsh .
But we are trying to see both sides.
( and guessing the repose of Thomas Cook. )

Yeah its helpful though... I'm a journalist and have done lots of research into this so I'm only too aware of the responses I might get. As far as I'm aware, i am entitled to some sort of compo for their slack actions.