Disappointed Parents

phil_in_swansea

Ok thanks for your opinions folks.

Nobjocki - unfortunately I wasn't aware they were booking, but I was a little surprised as well that they chose Benidorm (apparently it was the only holiday that fitted their dates and the girl in TC told them "old Benidorm is really scenic" !)

StephB - you don't work for TC by any chance do you? The response from one of their jumped up "assistants" after the holiday was 'well none of MY customers have complained about a building site!'. From looking on the internet it is clear the work has been going on since last year at least so I refuse to believe TC did not know about it.
fyi also - they could only book the trips free via the reps -plus they did try to no avail to get their room changed at reception.

But still, thanks anyway, regardless of the legal position I shall continue to pursue this as a complaint with Thomas Cook.

Doshwaster

phil_in_swansea wrote: »

Ok thanks for your opinions folks.

Nobjocki - unfortunately I wasn't aware they were booking, but I was a little surprised as well that they chose Benidorm (apparently it was the only holiday that fitted their dates and the girl in TC told them "old Benidorm is really scenic" !)

I find the first part of that hard to believe. There's a whole big world out there and yet this was the ONLY HOLIDAY which fitted their dates!

"Old Benidorm" pay be quite nice (I wouldn't go as far as "really scenic") but were they told what "New Benidorm" was like?

Yet again, this is a case of "Do Your Own Research" and not believe what you are told in a High Street travel agency.

kazwookie

The small print is there for a reason, no matter what age you are you should read it, however long it takes you, and if the sales staff don't like it tough, your right to read it before you buy.

fattybumble85

Doshwaster wrote: »

I find the first part of that hard to believe. There's a whole big world out there and yet this was the ONLY HOLIDAY which fitted their dates!

"Old Benidorm" pay be quite nice (I wouldn't go as far as "really scenic") but were they told what "New Benidorm" was like?

My grandparents are in their 70's and love Benidorm.
They've even seen them filming the TV series! I myself haven't been there but they say its not all 18 years old scrotes getting tanked up, some parts are actually nice.

bagand96

But still, thanks anyway, regardless of the legal position I shall continue to pursue this as a complaint with Thomas Cook.

Just to expand on what steph said...

Thomas Cook is a massive organisation with many brands and companies, many of which use the "Thomas Cook" name, although they are different individual companies. I assume your parents booked through a high street Thomas Cook travel agent - who are just that, travel agents.

There is also Thomas Cook tour operations, who sell the package holidays. They operate many brands, TC, Airtours, Direct Holidays etc but they fall under the tour operations arm selling complete packaged holidays.

You then have other anicilliary arms, Thomas Cook airlines for example. Then many other brands/companies that don't use the TC brand, for example flexibletrips.com. Now, because they are all part of Thomas Cook, and because they all use the TC name, doesn't mean its all the same thing.

Just because you book in a Thomas Cook high street agent, it does not mean you are booking a package holiday from Thomas Cook (the tour operator). They are travel agents that can sell all sorts, including rival Thomson or Olympic package holidays, BA flights to the USA, hotels in Tokyo etc...

The invoice and agreement your parents signed would have stated who the 'principle' was, in this case flexibletrips.com, meaning not a TC package holiday, therefore no reps etc.

It depends what your parents asked for, did they point it out from a Thomas Cook brochure? You mention free trips, I assume you mean these would have been eligible if they were on the Thomas Cook package holiday? You may have an angle there, but not sure, as again, I'm guesing paperwork was signed which would allude to the holiday not being a TC package.

stephb34

phil_in_swansea wrote: »

Ok thanks for your opinions folks.

Nobjocki - unfortunately I wasn't aware they were booking, but I was a little surprised as well that they chose Benidorm (apparently it was the only holiday that fitted their dates and the girl in TC told them "old Benidorm is really scenic" !)

StephB - you don't work for TC by any chance do you? The response from one of their jumped up "assistants" after the holiday was 'well none of MY customers have complained about a building site!'. From looking on the internet it is clear the work has been going on since last year at least so I refuse to believe TC did not know about it.
fyi also - they could only book the trips free via the reps -plus they did try to no avail to get their room changed at reception.

But still, thanks anyway, regardless of the legal position I shall continue to pursue this as a complaint with Thomas Cook.

Hi i do work for Tcook, thats why i was trying to explain about Flexible trips, please dont tar us all with the same brush as some of us actually care. Was it the Pelicanos they stayed in as yes there is building work going on at the rosaire hotel which is further down the street, how far in advance did they book the holiday, if it had been a TC hol it would have been on the errata notice at the time of selling the hol, but im not sure if flexi have this facility.
If reception wouldn't move them then i presume the hotel must have been full.
As for the trips the free trips are available from lots of sources not just the reps, but if they haven't been before they might not have realised, normally you get bothered every 100 yards by someone offering a free trip so they were unlucky not to bump into one of these sellers.
You probably have a case to claim about the building work, but i don't think you'll get very far with the non package or rep part, good luck anyway. We're never quite sure whos going to get compensation or not as customer services never fail to surprise with their decisions.

ferf1223

I'm not someone who has a lot of sympathy for these sorts of things - I really believe that people should do their research, ask questions and don't just go with the flow.

But in this case, it's the elderly thing that makes a difference to me...people who probably don't know that things have moved on - who remember the times when if you booked a holiday via a TA it was a package holiday, period...I can see people of a certain age genuinely not knowing any better and making assumptions that, in retrospect, they shouldn't have.

I'm not saying that that means they have more of a claim than a 20-something internet-savvy customer...but it makes me feel bad for them, because they just probably had no idea that they needed to ask questions.

I guess maybe a lot of people here don't have any elderly family they could see making a similar mistake or something.

poe.tuesday

maybe it's just me, but it would seem that the days have gone when you can go to a high street travel agents and be sold something that you want, something that suits your needs and that the expert travel agent assesses what would be best for you and ensures that your time is a magical one

if the TC travel agent had assessed the elderly couple then maybe, just maybe, they would have thought of the issue with the building work, the issue with the flexible trips etc and would have wanted to ensure that everything was a perfect as possible so not to cause any problems for an elderly couple who may not have been able to handle such things as building works etc

not that being old should mean that you get any different treatment, in reality, it sad that all the travel agents is interested in is that fast sell, when in fact, if they spent a little but more time, a little more skill then maybe they would be able to satisfy their customers who will return time and time again if they get a good, honest service and expert advice

stephb34

poe.tuesday wrote: »

maybe it's just me, but it would seem that the days have gone when you can go to a high street travel agents and be sold something that you want, something that suits your needs and that the expert travel agent assesses what would be best for you and ensures that your time is a magical one

if the TC travel agent had assessed the elderly couple then maybe, just maybe, they would have thought of the issue with the building work, the issue with the flexible trips etc and would have wanted to ensure that everything was a perfect as possible so not to cause any problems for an elderly couple who may not have been able to handle such things as building works etc

not that being old should mean that you get any different treatment, in reality, it sad that all the travel agents is interested in is that fast sell, when in fact, if they spent a little but more time, a little more skill then maybe they would be able to satisfy their customers who will return time and time again if they get a good, honest service and expert advice

My mum n dad are 69 and 70 albeit very young looking and healthy but they go to Benidorm 3 times a year every year for over 20 years they love it and won't go anywhere else so you can't really stereotype people.
The problem is a large percentage of said travel agents are under 21 and haven't actually done much travelling and sometimes haven't got much common sense but of course not all of them (stereotyping again lol) so can only take the info from brochures and the internet and you have to believe what your reading, if flexi trips hadn't mentioned the building work how could you know.
We are in a town in the country and 4 of our 5 staff are over 38 and we listen to what our 19 year old is selling people and our repeat business is very high, in fact Thomsons have just had a new manageress from a city shop who is pushy and doing the hard sell and they're losing their customers in droves people don't like it.

onlyroz

phil_in_swansea wrote: »

From looking on the internet it is clear the work has been going on since last year at least so I refuse to believe TC did not know about it.

Didn't your folks do any research on the hotel before they went?