holiday nightmare

julies59

my husband and i booked our holiday with thomas cook,we found a deal on apackage holiday to cuba and they matched it,however after paying £1200 we were told the visas were not included and have to get them ourselves,thomas cook offered to pay half,we had to keep phoning the agent ,on arriving in cuba we went looking for our rep and after 45 minutes of looking for the thomas cook rep were told we were with gold medal,when we got to the hotel in havana we were shown to our room and it was dirty and hadnt been cleaned,we went back down and the bellboy came back up with us in the lift 10 floors up,when we got in the lift it stopped and we were stuck for about 10 minutes till it moved again,the bellboy took us to another room,on our 3rd day we were transfering to valadero and at 8 went to the lobby to wait for our transfer,at 11 the receptionist phoned and told us a taxi would be coming to get us, at 1pm we rang again and were told the transfer was not booked and we would have to find our own way 152kl.we got a taxi and we asked him for a reciept as it cost us 100 dollars about £77 and he bought our luggage in but then left.we were told our rep would be at the hotel the next day but we saw no-one.we rang thomas cook and they hadnt heard of our hotel and wouldnt help us,on our journey back to the cuba airport the bus was doing over 100 miles an hour and the intercom kept saying warning you are exceeding the limit,the rep said she would come into the airport with us but after we all got off the bus she got on and drove away,on the flight home with virgin they ran oput of food and tried to offer us a dinner from the premier class the lid was off so it was obviously someone else reject we declind and they also ran out of fruit juice to drink.so we didnt eat for over 8 hours,when we returned we complained to thomas cook on 24th may after returning on the 6th may after 3 weeks we didnt hear anything so we rang them and was told they hadnt recieved our letter,we wrote again and rang again and the said they had got our first letter and to ring our agent,we did this and she siad the complaint was with gold medal,we rang them and was told the agent had to deal with the complaint,we have recieved no letters from anyone saying what is going on and have to keep phoning thomas cook,no gold medal say because we didnt have a reciept for the transfer they offered us £75 voucher to use with them,we declined the offer so what is the next best thing we should do,we suffered stress at the airport,getting stuck in the lift and the transfer not turning up also we suffered on the plane with no food,thomas cook keep saying the complsaint is with gold medal and not them even though we booked through them we had saved for 2 years for that holiday and it was ruined,any ideas

warehouse

Julie, whilst I sympathise fully can you please edit your post to make it easier to read? Like that it's an absolute nightmare to work through.

Pollycat

OK, starters for 10.
I've put in some full stops and paragraphs to make Julie's post more readable:

My husband and i booked our holiday with thomas cook, we found a deal on a package holiday to cuba and they matched it.

After paying £1200 we were told the visas were not included and have to get them ourselves,thomas cook offered to pay half,we had to keep phoning the agent.

On arriving in cuba we went looking for our rep and after 45 minutes of looking for the thomas cook rep were told we were with gold medal.

When we got to the hotel in havana we were shown to our room and it was dirty and hadnt been cleaned.
We went back down and the bellboy came back up with us in the lift 10 floors up.
When we got in the lift it stopped and we were stuck for about 10 minutes till it moved again.
The bellboy took us to another room.

On our 3rd day we were transfering to valadero and at 8 went to the lobby to wait for our transfer.
At 11 the receptionist phoned and told us a taxi would be coming to get us.
At 1pm we rang again and were told the transfer was not booked and we would have to find our own way - 152kl.

We got a taxi and we asked him for a reciept as it cost us 100 dollars (about £77) and he bought our luggage in but then left.

We were told our rep would be at the hotel the next day but we saw no-one.
We rang thomas cook and they hadnt heard of our hotel and wouldnt help us.

On our journey back to the cuba airport the bus was doing over 100 miles an hour and the intercom kept saying "warning you are exceeding the limit".

The rep said she would come into the airport with us but after we all got off the bus she got on and drove away.

On the flight home with virgin they ran oput of food and tried to offer us a dinner from the premier class.
The lid was off so it was obviously someone else reject.
We declind and they also ran out of fruit juice to drink so we didnt eat for over 8 hours.

When we returned we complained to thomas cook on 24th may (after returning on the 6th may).
After 3 weeks we didnt hear anything so we rang them and was told they hadnt recieved our letter.
We wrote again and rang again and the said they had got our first letter and to ring our agent.
We did this and she siad the complaint was with gold medal,we rang them and was told the agent had to deal with the complaint.

We have recieved no letters from anyone saying what is going on and have to keep phoning thomas cook,no gold medal say because we didnt have a reciept for the transfer they offered us £75 voucher to use with them.

We declined the offer so what is the next best thing we should do.
We suffered stress at the airport, getting stuck in the lift and the transfer not turning up.
Also we suffered on the plane with no food.

Thomas cook keep saying the complsaint is with gold medal and not them even though we booked through them.

We had saved for 2 years for that holiday and it was ruined.

Any ideas?

malkie76

Recorded letter to who you paid the money to detailing your issues and that you want a partial refund. Keep it short and clear, and try and format it to make it straight forward to read - must be less than one page!

delwynshd

Thomas Cook have booked your holiday with Gold Medal who tailor makes specific holiday requirements, they specialise in flight only mainly but do also put packages together

The lift episode shouldnt really be in your complaint you could say the hotel room was dirty but again the hotel took action and moved you to another room.

The transfers is something to take up on however you should of kept a reciept for the transfer you paid for locally they wont refund you on this unless you have proof of the cost.

Gold Medal should be able to find out that the transfers were not taken from Havana to your beach hotel, therfore the cost of this should be refunded to you. The transfer company locally would obviously know that you were not picked up.

The issue with food on the aircraft is a problem that should of been resolved onboard, were they able to offer you sandwich and snacks to give you at least something, im sure they would had some form of food onboard.

Thomas Cook are the travel agent you booked through, the complaint has to be passed to Gold Medal to investigate and get back to Thomas Cook to resolve the problem either by comp or refusal of any comp.

To be honest the only thing I say you have the rights on claiming is the transfers but you may find this will take a hell of a long time

Good Luck

Del

Pollycat

Ok, Julie.

There are lots of additional information that posters need to advise you plus lots of extraneous details that you have included which have no bearing on your complaint.

Did you book with a high street travel agent?
Was that TA Thoms Cook?

I gather that 'Gold Medal' is part of the Thomas Group PLC.

What did the documentation you received from the TA say?
TC or gold Medal?

What is the relevance of thr visa?
Did your original quote include the cost of the visa?
Why did you have to keep phoning the agent? Do you mean the Travel Agent?

Was there no Gold Medal rep in your hotel?
Did your documentation say there would be?

Maybe it was just a slip-up about your hotel room not being ready when you arrived.
Was the other room they gave you OK?
Lifts sometimes do break down - irrelevent to your complaint.
!0 floors up - irrelevant to your complaint.

Taxi transfer to Varadero - what explanation was given;
1. why it didn't arrive at 8?
2. why it didn't arrive at 11?
3. why you had to make your own way?

Did your documentation say that transfers between Havana & Varadero were included?

If you asked for a recept for the taxi journey, why didn't you get one?

What exactly did TC say to you when you said there wasn't a rep at your hotel?
You mention being picked up in a bus and a rep being on the bus - which company did this rep represent? Gold Medal or Thomas Cook?
If it was Thomas Cook, did you mention to her that TC had told you earlier that they hadn't heard of your hotel?

Bus doing 100 miles an hour?
Do you mean 100kph?
How do you know this for certain?

What did any of the other passengers say about the rep not coming into the airport with you?

Where you the only passengers who didn't get a meal on the plane?
What did Virgin cabin crew say?
Did you tell them that you thought the Premier meal they offered you had been opened by another passenger?

It sounds like you've been given the run-around between the travel agent and Gold Medal (but to be honest that's not surprising to me, because if your complaint to them was as confusing as what you've written on here, they probably gave up).

Do you have a copy of the letter you sent?
If so, can you post it here (removing personal details, like addresses/names etc).

What exactly are you wanting TC or gold Medal to do?

apt

Thomas Cook is both a travel agent and a tour operator. It sounds like you booked through Thomas Cook acting as a travel agent, and that the tour operator was Gold Medal. In that case Thomas Cook is correct is saying your case is against Gold Medal and you should be corresponding with them. However, a good travel agent should assist you in formulating your complaint/claim. As others have said you need to put your case as clearly and concisely as possible. Make it clear you are expecting a partial refund and in money not vouchers. If you get a reasonable offer accept it. Otherwise you can take your case to the ABTA arbitration scheme or the small claims court.

van22663

So sorry to hear about your holiday. The previous post above from APT says that your case is with Gold Medal. If you booked with a travel agent, then all complaints should be handled by the agent. Tour operators will not deal with clients directly if they have booked with an agent. Wherever you booked should be your first port of call.
Good luck.