Suing a holiday company, getting money back..

desperateforahome

Right this is a tricky situation, we booked a holiday with lowcost beds and paid for it hotel, transfers, insurance and flights, then the week before travelling we decided to change our hotel after reading very bad recent reviews, so we rang low cost to do this and they changed it over for us, we also changed resorts in doing this we changed from lloret de mar to tossa de mar (15 mins away from each other) and were informed we'd have to pay a bit more for the transfers which we agreed to....
When arriving at the airport to get on our coach, the caoch driver had us down for lloret and would not take us to tossa, we were in a bit of a pickle because we now had no hotel in lloret to stay in, so we argued and argued so in the end we had to go to lloret...luckily the old hotel still had us down so we stayed there for one night but were told to leave the next day, we spent all night ringing low cost holidays "emergency number" and "24 hour number" and no one answered once. Then 9am the next morn someone answered...we told them what had gone on and he said get a taxi to your other hotel, which we did it cost us 30 euros.

we were then worried about our return transfer so kept ringing and ringing low cost to check and no one answered, we got someone from home to ring them and they said someone hadnt sent the right paper work across but itd be fixed for the return leg.
However...it wasnt no one came for us, so we had to get yet another taxi to lloret from tossa to get picked up at our old hotel, 1 hour passed an no-one came so I rang the transfer company an thy said they had no-one down to be picked up.....
so when another coach came we had to beg and beg the spanish man to let us on otherwise we would miss our flight, 20 euros each later he let us on!! we made our flight with literally 5 mins to spare....

understandbly we were annoyed so i sent a 4 page letter of complaint with all our our receipts to low cost, it has taken them one month to reply and all I got was we appreciate our customers feedback?!!! what bout the compaint and the money?

I really need some advice on what action we can take, I would like to take legal action however can not afford to, is there anyone way we could get a solictor involved or any one else? as it ruined our holiday, and left us completely out of pocket....

I am absolutely fuming and their reply!!!! They addressed nothing in the letter!! after alreay telling us they would reimburse!
Just need some help anybody...im at my wits end....

isplumm

Hi,

I am confused by your post .... exactly what did you NOT get ....

1. Transfers? 70 euros in total?
2. 1 night in wrong hotel - did you pay for it? Why didn't you get taxi from old hotel to new hotel that night? As it was only 15 minutes away, I would have jumped in a taxi & gone to the new hotel that night ... problem solved?
3. Why did you get taxi to old hotel on day of departure ... why not go straight to airport?

If that is case, how come you wrote 4 page letter? The chances are they would have struggled to read it or understand it

You need to write to them on ONE page setting out briefly what happened & explain what you are looking for .... cost of transfers + some form of compensation.

I can not work why this would ruin you holiday? There was no transfer on arrival ... & nothing on departure ... but you didn't need the transfer during your actual holiday?

Mark

desperateforahome

Hi
I can see all the confusion as I am that angry I just wote really quickly.

First we paid over £100 for transfers then paid extra to change them.
When we got there they would not take us to new hotel, it was 3am, we were 4 young girls, really tired, and none of us had been there before. At that time we did not know it was 15 mins away so we went to the old hotel, we stayed there one night, however we had paid extra for the other hotel.
First thing we managed to get a taxi and found it would cost us 30 euros.

So we had paid extra for transfers and hotel neither of which were provided to upon arrival.
Coming home we were told to wait at our new hotel for the transfer which did not come, we then rang them and they said get a taxi to the other hotel.
(We could not get a taxi straight to the airport as we flew in to Barcelona and it was nearly 2hours from resort we did not have that money left at the end of the hol, and we were told to go to the other hotel)
After paying the smaller taxi fare and waiting at the old hotel for nearly an hour I rang the transfer company who said they didnt have us down on file to be picked up anywhere! So then we were stuck and had to beg the next coach driver going to Barcelona to take us, he then charged us.

So all the extra cost for taxis, paying the coach driver
the extra we paid for the transfers in the first place! And the new hotel.
The phone Bills...the fact that we rang their 24 hour number all night and there was no answer.

It ruined our holiday completely the middle bit wasnt too bad once we were settled but then we had to confirm the transfer with 48 hrs to go then the trouble started again, we had booked it as a package.

I had to write a 4 page letter to get it all in, including receipts that they had asked for?!

gizmo111

So what have you exactly asked the travel firm to reimburse - and how young were these girls?

desperateforahome

We did need the transfer it was 2 hours away from the airport and the transfers failed us both on arrival and on departure (departure It didnt come at all!) We had prebooked these and prepaid, but instead we then had to sort ourselves out, adding extra cost to us

desperateforahome

aged 18-22
We have asked them for the orginal transfer money back we paid for (as they werent provided full stop)
we have asked for all our extra costs back (Taxis, phone bills and the spanish man we had to pay)
and for some form of compensation...

But at the moment I would be happy with just the top two back!

Ruby_Moon

How did it ruin your holiday?
You had problems getting there and getting back but I guess the bit in the middle was good wasn't it?
So why would you want all your money back?

M4RKM

I'm sure you didn't "pay" the spanish coach driver, but actually slipped him some money he will have no recollection of having received, so i'd write that €20 off straight away...

4 pages is far to lengthy a letter to describe failed transfers, when you've kinda summed it up here, which would take 4 paragraphs.

Keep at them though, keep the complaints SHORT, and EMOTIONLESS. stick to facts that THEY didn't honour what was purchased.

the night in the other hotel, well, that you didn't pay any extra for, so you have no ground to complain there, other than the LACK of the correct transfer.

You may think you bought a package, but you could have bought a dynamic holiday from this company, and also, currently you are not suing them, just complaining to get your extra expenditure reimbursed.

I personally, can't see any ground for compensation, unless the newer hotel was significantly more expensive than the original choice, which you haven't mentioned anything along them lines, as when you changed, you only had to pay extra on the transfers.

I also don't think you can get your ORIGINAL transfer money paid back, because eventually, you did get a transfer FROM the airport to the ORIGINAL hotel, and from the ORIGINAL hotel to the airport (by means of a bribe!), so you DID get them, you just had to use some charm (aka €20) to let you on the coach. Now, if you had MISSED your flight, then you might have more of an argument.

Extra costs in the way of the taxi is an expense you should be due back, as they were not organised correctly, however I'm never a fan of trying to say I spent hours trying to call you and it spoilt my holiday, etc etc etc, but that's just me, I just don't let things like that get to me.


M

isplumm

desperateforahome wrote: »

aged 18-22
We have asked them for the orginal transfer money back we paid for (as they werent provided full stop)
we have asked for all our extra costs back (Taxis, phone bills and the spanish man we had to pay)
and for some form of compensation...

But at the moment I would be happy with just the top two back!

Write something like this ....

To whom it may concern:

We [name of people] took a holiday with you - booking reference no: [book ref no] departing [day / date of departure], arriving home [day / date of arrival home] to [new hotel name, town, country].

We originally booked [old hotel name], but this was changed to [new hotel name] on [date of change], with the included transfers being changed at the same time.

When we arrived at airport, we discovered that our included transfer was taking us to different hotel than booked - [old hotel name]. On arrival at [old hotel name] we attempted to contact yourself via the 24 helpline, but could get no answer. The next morning we paid for a taxi to the new hotel.

On our departure we discovered that there was no return transfer booked for us from [new hotel name]. You advised us [name of person] to get a taxi to [old hotel name], where a transfer coach would be waiting. Unfortunately this proved not to be the case and so we had to persuade a Spanish operator to allow us on a coach. We eventually made our flight with 5 minutes to spare.

We would like the following:

1. Reimbursement of taxi from [old hotel name] to [new hotel name] - 30 euros (receipt no1),
2. Reimbursement of taxi from [new hotel name] to [old hotel name] - xx euros (receipt no2),
3. Compensation of £25 per person for stress and worry caused by your mistakes.

Total: [put this in £ - convert the euros showing exchange rate used]

We are giving you 14 days to respond from the date of this letter [date of letter], otherwise we will seek to take this matter further.

**********************

You get the general jist - short, emotionless, clearly state what you want ... I haven't included Spanish driver costs - cause assume you don't have receipts ... also 1st night hotel, as I assume you didn't pay old hotel anything? I hope that you still have original receipts - keep them - photocopy & number photocopy.

If you have itemised bill for phone, then you could add that as a no4, otherwise just change No3 to include phone calls.

I don't how much it cost, but sounds a cheap deal, so don't expect much compo - if ANY!!

Hope this helps.

Mark

isplumm

desperateforahome wrote: »

Hi
I can see all the confusion as I am that angry I just wote really quickly.

First we paid over £100 for transfers then paid extra to change them.
When we got there they would not take us to new hotel, it was 3am, we were 4 young girls, really tired, and none of us had been there before. At that time we did not know it was 15 mins away so we went to the old hotel, we stayed there one night, however we had paid extra for the other hotel.
First thing we managed to get a taxi and found it would cost us 30 euros.

So we had paid extra for transfers and hotel neither of which were provided to upon arrival.
Coming home we were told to wait at our new hotel for the transfer which did not come, we then rang them and they said get a taxi to the other hotel.
(We could not get a taxi straight to the airport as we flew in to Barcelona and it was nearly 2hours from resort we did not have that money left at the end of the hol, and we were told to go to the other hotel)
After paying the smaller taxi fare and waiting at the old hotel for nearly an hour I rang the transfer company who said they didnt have us down on file to be picked up anywhere! So then we were stuck and had to beg the next coach driver going to Barcelona to take us, he then charged us.

So all the extra cost for taxis, paying the coach driver
the extra we paid for the transfers in the first place! And the new hotel.
The phone Bills...the fact that we rang their 24 hour number all night and there was no answer.

It ruined our holiday completely the middle bit wasnt too bad once we were settled but then we had to confirm the transfer with 48 hrs to go then the trouble started again, we had booked it as a package.

I had to write a 4 page letter to get it all in, including receipts that they had asked for?!

To be honest I am still not clear on what you paid for & didn't get or had to pay extra for ....

1. Transfers .... you should be entitled to the cost of taxis back,
2. 1st night hotel - did you have to pay the old hotel anything? If not, then no money due there ...
3. Calls - how many calls got through ie. answered - as I said in my previous answer, unless you can prove how much it is, then you will struggle to get money back.
4. Payment to Spanish driver - unless you have receipts you have no chance - so forget.

I know it is difficult, but you need to calm down & take out the emotion - if we are having issues understanding, then think what the TO felt like when they received your 4-page emotional rant - suspect they had no idea what you wanted!

Briefly tell them what happened, what you want them to do about (apology, monetary value, etc) and by when. Send it recorded delivery & wait.

Have you thought to contact your insurance company - maybe they can help?

Mark

delwynshd

Hi

The only thing you will get back is the cost of the transfers and what you had to pay out in taxis

Really what you should of done is just got in a taxi to the correct resort from the airport and back again

You would be able to claim the transfers that were unable to be used back as the wrong resort was booked

The taxis that you had to pay when there would of been given back to you also by low cost beds

Nothing else can be claimed from them unfortunately just the transfers!.

Thanks
Del