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Furious about Credit Card fees on a Thomson Holiday Booking
Comments
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i usually book holidays with thomson at a thomson travel agent, the balance has always been due 8 weeks before departure for me, have recently paid the balance for our next holiday. for years now there has been a charge for credit card bookings but not sure what it is( i always pay by debit card)0
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You have learnt a valuable lesson:
Travel Agents are con artists. They have been conning the public for years and you are pretty much 100% guaranteed to save money by booking travel independently.
Well not necessarily. If you're going on a scheduled flight, it's likely you'll save money booking independently, but on charter flights they often sell the holiday below the cost of flights + hotel together.
Plus although they are making money, they are getting a better rate than you on the services, so again they might still be cheaper.
Also while a week in Benidorm is not exactly rocket science, things like round-the-world tickets, multi-stop trips through places like India, and others can all benefit from the services of a tracel agent.0 -
Really annoyed about a situation we encountered yesterday with a Thomson Holiday booking. We booked our forthcoming and expensive trip to the USA last autumn through Thomsons and after paying our deposits we were notified that the holiday balance would be required 10 weeks before departure -22.06.11. Then on the 18th June we received a ‘Final Reminder’ letter stating that we had not responded to the previous two reminders which had been sent, I must stress that we had not received any other reminders other than the ‘very final demand’ letter on the 18th June. I immediately telephoned the store, as the letter was rather strong and worrying, stating that our holiday may be cancelled if immediate payment was not received.
I was advised by an assistant that there had been changes in the Thomson Holiday system recently and now all holiday deposits were required 12 weeks before departure. She also said that it appeared from her system that the first two letters had not been sent and that just the final reminder had been sent out to us. She apologised for the inconvenience and I said that we would come into the store on the 22nd of June (exactly 10 weeks before departure) and pay the remaining balance of the holiday, to which she agreed.
We then visited the store after work on Wednesday 22nd June at 7pm. We decided at this point in time the easiest thing to do was to split the balance across two credit cards as due to the short amount of time between the receipt of the final reminder letter at the weekend and the trip to the store only a few days later. We are all busy professionals so due to prior commitments, none of us had had the time to transfer any funds to be able to use debit cards or to pay in cash, so we assumed paying via a credit card would be the quickest way to resolve the payment issue. How wrong we were! We were informed by an assistant that there would be a credit card charge applied to each card of £77.50!!
Standard these days. You pay a credit card + fee, or you pay with a debit card + no fee. I've experienced this with numerous travel companies. Not sure why you went in the store anyway, should have just done it by phone.A friend of mine works for Thomas Cook and she told me told that ALL managers have the ability to waiver credit card fees should they have a good enough reason so I don’t see how this would be any different at Thomsons. This was our first trip booked through Thomson’s and will be if this isn’t resolved to our satisfaction. We travel twice yearly and spend a lot annually on holidays, currency and insurances, so I would have thought our business would have been much appreciated in these tough economic and highly competitive times, especially within the travel industry! Has anyone else encountered a situation like this before and if so what was the outcome??
Credit card fees? I try and get a good cashback/rewards card to sweeten the pill. But yes, totally standard.
It seems you have grounds for complaint in not receiving the reminder letters for payment and I would suggest you complain, via email on their website, suggesting that the lack of notice made it hard for you to get funds to your debit card.0 -
You have learnt a valuable lesson:
Travel Agents are con artists. They have been conning the public for years and you are pretty much 100% guaranteed to save money by booking travel independently.
I dont use travel agents, but that is a bit over the top.
They offer a service and have to make a profit, (and offer more protection if booking a package) so hardly conning anyone0 -
Well not necessarily. If you're going on a scheduled flight, it's likely you'll save money booking independently, but on charter flights they often sell the holiday below the cost of flights + hotel together.
Plus although they are making money, they are getting a better rate than you on the services, so again they might still be cheaper.
Also while a week in Benidorm is not exactly rocket science, things like round-the-world tickets, multi-stop trips through places like India, and others can all benefit from the services of a tracel agent.
With the advent of things like ITA Matrix and Sky Scanner things like RTW tickets and multi cities are simple and have rendered travel agents all but useless.
Thomas cook airlines have now opened the gate for cheap travel to all the usual tourist locations in and around the med where scheduled airlines other than national carriers don't fly.
Charter flights will rarely, and I'm talking extremely rarely be the cheapest option Long Haul.
I would go as far to say that the only time you will get a half decent deal with a Travel Agent is when you book last minute as in - 5 days. Even then it would be touch and go.0 -
I would go as far to say that the only time you will get a half decent deal with a Travel Agent is when you book last minute as in - 5 days. Even then it would be touch and go.
Incorrect Mr Wang! (IMHO, of course!) Besides if you haven't used the services of a TA for a long time how could you possibly know this?0 -
Incorrect Mr Wang! (IMHO, of course!) Besides if you haven't used the services of a TA for a long time how could you possibly know this?
I keep myself in the circle by regularly keeping an eye on travel agents and also read extensively on travel.
The only travel Agents these days that tends to get any mention is STA.
Additionally it is worth pointing out that the independent (albeit government funded) Consumer direct lists Travel Agents as one of the most complained about services in the UK.
Therefore, I think you will find I am right.0 -
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It was due to be paid on the 22nd, so why didn't you have the payment ready anyway, such as cash?
Going in at 7pm on the final day for payment is only asking for trouble IMO.Tank fly boss walk jam nitty gritty...0 -
I can only base my opinion on my own research and I think you will find that you would not have been right on all of those occasions.
Anyway, I shall politely agree to disagree with you, and hope you don't take offence as a Newbie!
Words cannot offend me - I can feel the love from reading between the lines
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