Thomas Cook Airlines - Rubbish Customer Service

cabbage

Hi

I will never book Thomas Cook again!

I booked via the beat my quote section on this site for a trip to Florida in August.

I was told on 30 April I could pre book some seats. On this date the seats in Premium Economy were not available to book.

About 6 days ago I emailed customer services - no response.

Tried again yesterday and managed to book some seats although we couldn't all sit together (3 of us). Each time I got to pay for the seats, the website came up with internal error. I tried different credit cards to see if that was the problem but it wasn't.

Tried to ring customer services 0844 855 0515 but they had finished for the day.

Rang this morning at 9am and after 2.5 mins of drivel was told that although my call is important, all operators are busy and then they ask you to call back later and hang up the call. Tried this 4/5 times all the same.

Tried another number 0871 230 2406 and after around 6 mins spoke to a person who said that they can't help me and I have to ring the original number. When I said I wanted to complain and what was the address she said it was on the web site. I asked for it over the phone. But she kept saying something like todashfor Gordon Street. After asking her to repeat it several times, I realised she was saying 2-4 Gordon Street. By this time I was ticked off and said "why couldn't you say 2 to 4 Gordon Street? at which point she said I would need to get the rest of the address of the website and hung up!

What has happened to Thomas Cook? It used to be one of the best travel agents around. Well known for excellent customer service.

Now I can't pre book my seats by phone, web or email as they make it impossible for you to do this. Will just have to take my chances and turn up on the day I suppose. The agent can't do this for me either.

Has anyone had similar experiences and how did you get round it?

stephb34

If you ring Thomas Cook airlines direct you can prebook seats over the telephone, but it is a very long job to get through. I think it maybe too early to book them online thats why it keeps giving you the error message the earliest you can book is 3 months before departure. Have you paid for premium seats on your original booking because if you havent you cant pick those seats and pay the extra you would need to upgrade the booking to premium seats first. Unfortunately the customer services department does leave a lot to be desired but it doesnt mean the rest of TCooks staff are rubbish.

cabbage

Hi Steph

Thanks for your message. What is the telephone number you need to dial for TC airlines? I've been trying the two numbers in my post above. I have booked PE seats and just had another try online just now and managed to book them! Still not all together but at least two of us will be with the third nearby.

What a palaver.

I agree with your sentiments that the Customer Service staff leave alot to be desired and I also agree there will be some excellent staff working there. I used to work at the Head Office in Peterborough for 11 years.

I do however, feel there seems to be a lot of complaints regarding TC on the forums (and other operators too) and I think something is fundamentally wrong with using call centres. Some are excellent, I've used Dell, Tom Tom and Apple without a problem but its down to your IT, staff and systems and if its not right it goes horribly wrong. The three mentioned above obviously got it right but not TC I'm afraid.

If you can't get hold of someone online, by email or by phone, how are you supposed to put things right or resolve issues. In this day and age its hugely frustrating when all forms of communication are ignored/blocked or unavailable.

littlemissbossy

I also had the same problem with "internal error", I rang customer services, held on for 50 mins only to be told "you could have used our website" arggh!

I'm not sure why you get that message, after 50 mins I was losing the will to live and was just relieved to get sorted out.

jeanniebeanie_2

Take a look here for alternative numbers;
http://www.saynoto0870.com/search.php

cabbage

littlemissbossy wrote: »

I also had the same problem with "internal error", I rang customer services, held on for 50 mins only to be told "you could have used our website" arggh!

I'm not sure why you get that message, after 50 mins I was losing the will to live and was just relieved to get sorted out.

I didn't even get to talk to someone and was repeatedly cut off after being told there's no operators available ahhhh!

lexilex

I had loads and loads of problems last year trying to prebook seats with Thomas Cook, their customer service is appauling.

I sent an email to one of the directors in the end, and it was sorted very quickly. If you want to email address send me a PM and I'll dig it out.

misslolley

I'm glad that I am not the only one with the internal error! I did manage to log in on Thursday only to find that my outbound flight said that I was departing from another airport - I was lucky to get through to customer service who said that it had been uploaded incorrectly to their system. As I wanted to see the seating plan I didn't book seats via the call centre - I am now beginning to wish that I had. My booking now says that there is a technical problem with my booking...and of course I couldn't get throgh on the phone the yesterday.

Which leads me to another 'rant' the opening times on the website are incorrect as it says they are not open on Saturdays, but in fact are.

Call me a cynic but I think they are trying to recoup loses after the ash problems - after all the extras cost more via the call centre and the phone numbers are all premium.

I note that a previous posting gives the link to the sayno website - I find that these numbers don't seem to get you through to the correct department, has any one else had thesame problem.

Lastly does any one actually know what the problem is with website?

cabbage

Hi Miss Lolly

I complained to the directors secretary and she said the problems with the call centre were due to them relocating to a different office.

I managed to book the seats eventually (after wanting to throw the pc out of the window) but I noticed that I needed to book the lead person's seat last as when you go through to payments it shows the last person you ordered a seat for. When I tried before I booked my daughter's seat last and got internal error. When I (by accident) booked mine last and I am the lead traveller, it worked!!!! Now this may just be a coincidence and they sorted their system out or my booking after I complained but give it a go.

Failing that, pm me and I will send you the email link to make a complaint. the more people that do, the more chance of them actually doing something.

Thomas Cook have gone down in my estimation and I will seriously think twice about booking with them in the future.

misslolley

Thank you Cabbage - My biggest gripe is that after they sorted out the problem of my departure airport showing incorrectly - The website now says when I try to log in that there is a technical error with my booking.

I nearly had heart failure! Went on to flythomascook where I made booking and all is ok with the reservation. Why on earth you cannot book extras, seats etc all through one site I don not know:mad:

Will contact you directly re email address

jillie1974

the call centre for the airline has been relocated. its been chaos for all involved. including Thomas Cook store staff who get all the agro from customers who cant get through on the phones at home and think store staff can get through on a 'special number' and for the staff themselves who are trying to help their customers.