Was I misled?

budgetflyer

Jason_..... wrote: »

I contacted Thomson to clarify which room I had and they said they would contact the hotel. Three weeks later they told me they had a verbal agreement with the hotel that the room I had been allocated was as I thought (two interconnecting rooms). Two weeks after that they emailled me to say that a mistake had been made and that I was only getting one room.

Now, if you had said that in the first place, then the replies would maybe different.

Jason_....._2

Sorry I'm new on here and thought a long and protracted post may put people off reading. On reflection the full story is probably important !!!!!

Incapuppy

Hi Jason

I'm not sure where you stand legally on this but could you perhaps confirm a few more details:

How soon after booking did you look after the website and realise that the room was different to what you had expected? Did you receive a written confirmation from the TO/local office detailing the room description?

Can you remember the date you spoke to Thomsons and the name of the person you spoke to? Did you speak to Head Office or did you call your local shop through which you booked?

Did you make it clear that you had fully expected two interlinking rooms for the price you had paid and that just one room would not be acceptable to you? Thomsons do not mention the two interlinking rooms on their website so did they say that they would have to request a room of that size of did they think they had made a mistake on their sales website/in house system?

When did you have final contact with Thomsons about this matter (five weeks after you raised your initial concerns)

I am only asking these questions to clarify matters and because there may hopefully be a chance that your telephone conversation with Thomsons may have been recorded (assuming you spoke to Head Office) or a local member of staff may remember the saga.

As much further info as possible will help those more knowledgeable than I to advise you where you stand in this matter.

Jason_....._2

Here is a more detailed timeline -

25/08/11 - A friend recommended a hotel. I looked at the hotel website and it looked great. She then told me it eas exclusive to Thomson in the UK. I phoned my local branch and asked for a 'Family Room' which they booked for me.

28/08/11 - I was looking at the facilities on Thomson's website and realised that their room description differed to the hotel so I emailed the branch for clarification.

01/09/11 - Received an email from the branch agreeing that the website is 'not 100% clear'.

17/09/11 - Received an email from the branch manager saying she had a verbal agreement from the hotel that I was being allocated the room I expected ie. two interconnecting rooms. I asked if they could send written confirmation.

30/09/11 - Did not receive written confirmation but an email saying a mistake had been made (did not say by whom) and that I would be getting one room. If I paid £1182 then I could get the room I wanted.

06/10/11 - Asked what had changed and was told by the branch manager that she could not comment. She did say that I could change my hotel for a fee of £140.

Various emails to and fro, no joy, so I asked for the head office details.

Nov 2011 - Wrote to the head office and received a letter saying they agreed with their branch manager that I had not been misled and they feel they had met their obligations set out in the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 but that as a goodwill gesture they would let me have the room for an additional £700 (it appears to be £728 in their brochure). They still refused to cancel the booking without penalty insisting I would forfeit the deposit.

Contacted ABTA who said they could not intervene but suggested arbitration.

So I've been unsure what to do. Do go to arbitration? Do I go to a solicitor (for a definitive legal position)? Do I approach the Credit card company (Section 75)? Do the Distance Selling Regulations apply?

Any new advice would be great.

photome

When you rang up thomsons didnt you expect the room that you wanted to be over £1000? Or didnt you have a price in your head.

Why didnt you go from the hotels website to thomsons website and check prices and room descriptions

you were offered it at £300, didnt you think then that there had to be a mistake?

Yes I accept it was confusing but I still dont see how you were misled, if the price had been similar it may be a different matter

Jason_....._2

photome, where did you get those figures from?

As mentioned a friend recommended the holiday. I phoned Thomson and they quoted over £3000 for the holiday. I didn't think this was cheap for two interconnecting rooms for 2 weeks.

Isn't it weird in your opinion that a 12yr boy and 10yr girl are expected to sleep together?

What do you think I was offered for £300?

And why don't Thomson use the same room names? Is that too much to ask?

Also once I realised the difference (3 days) why didn't they just cancel and refund me my deposit? If you make purchases, you often have the ability to cancel an order. I didn't change my mind and expect a refund 3 days before I was due to leave, they had plenty of time to sell the holiday to someone else.

stoneman

For what it's worth I think you were mislead and Thomsons are just expecting to you to roll over. These TA's get right up my nose. and they wonder why no one goes to them anymore.
just send them a letter before action giving them 14 days to cancel and refund or you will issue them with a small claims action. I am afraid that having had to deal with these shysters in the past that is the only way you are going to get this sorted. Protracted emails and letters might get them giving you some travel vouchers but that is not what you want. AFAIS you have emails stating that an error was made by them, so they have dug there own grave on this one.
As budgetflyer says, you posted originally on the 8th of Feb, let 1 whole page go past presumably reading the posts, but waited until the 17th. to give more details that would have helped people give more info to you sooner. Lesson learned for next time.

Incapuppy

Thomsons do use the same name for the rooms though, it was failure to clarify exactly what you were getting at the time of booking that has caused problems.

You ask why Thomson did not just cancel and refund your deposit when you realised. I have to say there is obviously a major difference in size and cost between the two room types. If it were me I would have addessed the problem immediately in person or at the very least in writing.

Did you make it immediately clear that you assumed that you had booked interconnecting rooms, anything else would be unacceptable and that you would require an immediate cancellation and refund of deposit if that were not the case?

How soon or how often did you follow this up, reinforcing the importance of this issue?

It has taken three attempts to get the full information from you regarding this matter; that is not a criticism, you are new to this forum after all but I can't help but wonder if you have approached this matter similarly half-heartedly? Did you really make your position crystal clear from the start or have Thomsons perhaps merely been under the impression that you wondered which type of room you were getting as a matter of interest?

photome

Jason_..... wrote: »

photome, where did you get those figures from?

As mentioned a friend recommended the holiday. I phoned Thomson and they quoted over £3000 for the holiday. I didn't think this was cheap for two interconnecting rooms for 2 weeks.

Isn't it weird in your opinion that a 12yr boy and 10yr girl are expected to sleep together?

What do you think I was offered for £300?

And why don't Thomson use the same room names? Is that too much to ask?

Also once I realised the difference (3 days) why didn't they just cancel and refund me my deposit? If you make purchases, you often have the ability to cancel an order. I didn't change my mind and expect a refund 3 days before I was due to leave, they had plenty of time to sell the holiday to someone else.

Apologies I was going by your figures in previos post about wanting £1182 and then £700, thats where I was getting my £300 ish from

As for the 10 year old and 12 year old sleeping together, I would think that it is quite common when on holiday, I assume they would have their own beds but in the same room so not actually sleeping together.

Holiday booking dont have the same cancellation laws as other purchases, thats why they didnt let you cancel

I do accept that this email does give you hope

17/09/11 - Received an email from the branch manager saying she had a verbal agreement from the hotel that I was being allocated the room I expected ie. two interconnecting rooms. I asked if they could send written confirmation.


What is that you want Thomsons to do now as it seems you havent done anything since November

nearlyrich

It's worth contacting the customer service department with a concise account of your issue and your expected outcome, I have just this week got a resolution on a travel related issue by being persistent and repeating the facts to increasingly higher members of staff at a hotel company. I had been mislead by their unclear website and by a member of the hotel staff around the booking of a promotional room, after being fobbed off by a couple of call centre operatives I eventually got what I expected. Good luck I would not be happy to pay so much for one room with not enough beds for the party either.