Holiday significantly not as described..

ammonite

..I arrived back from holiday at the beginning of August, from start to finish it was a nightmare. I posted about this earlier and received some good advice from here.

The holiday in question (Thomson Dream) was recently featured on Watchdog, so it wasn't just me who had an issue.

We had a written complaint onboard the ship and wrote a 3000 word letter when we returned.

They were supposed to reply in 28 days (i think this is ABTA ruling?) but have breached this and it has been more like ~50 days since we received the acknowledgement letter that they finally replied.

They have basically offered us a voucher (an insult!) for the value of less than 20% of the holiday. At least 80% of the holiday was affected by various things that went wrong/incorrectly advertised etc.

I don't want to settle for the amount that they have sent to us. It was a 2 week nightmare (I'm not a big moaner, I enjoyed the 20% of the holiday! -never complained about anything before).

What do I do next? Do we write back refusing the voucher? Do we need a solicitor? There was at least 20 people in our party and hundreds (maybe thousands) more that have complained so it literally isn't just us.

Any advice would be much appreciated. I am actually less concerned with the money and more interested in them getting the ship taken off the sea it is a liability! But equally, we had a crappy holiday that we had saved for for 14 months and I would like a fair amount of compensation in cash (not a voucher)

malkie76

a 3000 word letter

I think here is where you've gone wrong - it's unlikely anyone would read such a length complaint letter, so it's unlikely you've been taken seriously.

Write a single page detailing in bullet points your issues and exactly why you believe you are entitled to a refund, partial or otherwise.

Remember if people could get refunds purely from complaining about little things then everyone would complain after a holiday to get some money back.

Do you have a genuine reason for complaint ? If you take the time to summarise your points in this thread people can help you out.

jamtart6

I did keep the letter as brief as possible but there were 9 major bullet points which I fully expanded on. They did address each one by a simple "we're sorry that X happened, we can understand your disappointment" - or just telling blatent lies which i have proof to show that they are lying!

We do have genuine complaints - I do not complain when food is cold once or if my bed wasn't made once!

• Raw sewage backing up in the toilet and onto the bathroom floor multiple times.
• Cabin flooded from above with mysterious brown water (photographs to prove)in the middle of the night - floods literally sodden
• 6 out of the 10 destinations were changed
• The ship listed at 30 degrees (sailed on a tilt) for almost a week before they realised it was a cracked water tank which had leaked and caused the listing.
• 2 complete power cuts with no notice, apology or explanation to keep passengers calm
• Water shut off numerous times without warning and being given one single bottle of cold water to have a shower with on more than one evening.

Plus a few more less pressing points but irritating nonetheless (on top of the rest of it)

Apart from that we had a great time :rotfl::eek: Well worth the £1400 we paid (not!)

Anyway, I wasn't alone with the nightmare ship so I know we have a genuine case for complaint, I just don't know how to proceed to say I'm not happy with the voucher we were given as I'll never be going on one of their ships again! (despite it being our 10th cruise with them).

malkie76

Sounds pretty nasty
I think the critical part here is that they didn't take you to the locations promised on the cruise - I think that for sure entitles you to a refund (assuming their T&C didn't say that they could substitute).

The rest of it is unfortunate but I'm not sure how you'd force a refund - however be sure to post your experience on trip advisor including the photos. Had you left the holiday mid cruise because the conditions were unacceptable then you'd have solid grounds for a refund. However, you stuck out the holiday, so clearly (in their eyes) their conditions weren't completely unaccepable. (it's like refusing to pay for a meal after you've eaten it saying it was inedible)

I'd write another (single page) letter asking for a partial refund based on the change of destinations - give them 28 days to refund, then start small claims proceedings.

jamtart6

Thanks for the help. We could'nt really leave the holiday because we could only fly home from the airport we flew into really. We did complain onboard but nothing was done about it so I guess we didn't find it acceptable whilst onboard. There are hundreds of messages on trip advisor and other sites with people experiencing similar.

Small claims, ok will look into that many thanks

greenface

I have used Edmunds & Co Solicitors .for a very bad holiday nightmare before with success . Contact them Pam & Roz will look at your horror and decide if you have a case to persue (I know Roz is retiring soon)keep at them because if you dont they will keep giving poor service.They charge a percentage of the money won . good luck

luci

Ros retired in July.

There is a topic on HERE with similar complaints on the early cruises on the Thomson Dream. Read back a few pages.

I agree, there is no way a 3000 word letter would have been read. Complaints need to be succint and to the point. You can expand in full later if they ask for further details.

moonrakerz

jamtart6 wrote: »

[*]The ship listed at 30 degrees (sailed on a tilt) for almost a week before they realised it was a cracked water tank which had leaked and caused the listing.

Having seen the bit on TV about the Thompson cruise - I must confess that it did look pretty grim ! (Having just come back from a wonderful Saga cruise)

However; a 3000 word letter of complaint - if it was as full of exaggeration as the bit I have quoted above - would have gone straight into the bin; if the reader stayed awake long enough to even do that.

IF a ship had a permanent list of 30 degrees it would be in imminent danger of capsizing. The ship would have been evacuated and every rescue vessel/helicopter for hundreds of miles would have been on the scene.

I certainly would have been on the upper decks wearing my lifejacket.

inmypocketnottheirs

A valid case for Trading Standards?

magsmartinleeds

My husband and I went on the Thompson Dream in June, 2010, we were not happy with the quality of the holiday or the state of the so called 5* ship, they mislead most of the passengers by advertising it as their New! addition to the Thompson Fleet, two letters of complaint were sent to them to which they basically dismissed out claims stating that most of their passengers were happy with their experience, we have now written to ABTA they have sent a pre Arbitration form which must be sent to the company with a 14 day reply notice to which Thompson must adhere to. The only problem I have is the form must include the compensation amount which is set by the complainant. I do know we paid too much for the holiday which was £2,800 for 1 week for two people, the food was not that bad, the entertainment excellent, however, the sewage and water problems were still in evidence with workmen all around the ship day and night, sewage smells, lack of water, reception staff not registering telephone complaints. The list goes on, if Thompson ignore this request then we have to take it to further Arbitration which if we lose will incur a cost of £105 even if we get nothing. Tui holidays never again!!!!

WickedWolfie

magsmartinleeds wrote: »

My husband and I went on the Thompson Dream in June, 2010, we were not happy with the quality of the holiday or the state of the so called 5* ship, they mislead most of the passengers by advertising it as their New! addition to the Thompson Fleet, two letters of complaint were sent to them to which they basically dismissed out claims stating that most of their passengers were happy with their experience, we have now written to ABTA they have sent a pre Arbitration form which must be sent to the company with a 14 day reply notice to which Thompson must adhere to. The only problem I have is the form must include the compensation amount which is set by the complainant. I do know we paid too much for the holiday which was £2,800 for 1 week for two people, the food was not that bad, the entertainment excellent, however, the sewage and water problems were still in evidence with workmen all around the ship day and night, sewage smells, lack of water, reception staff not registering telephone complaints. The list goes on, if Thompson ignore this request then we have to take it to further Arbitration which if we lose will incur a cost of £105 even if we get nothing. Tui holidays never again!!!!

Hum, at face value that arbitration charge is higher than the cost of a "small claims court" (ie county court) action .....I know which I would pursue!