Holiday complaints process

pheonixrising21

Hello all,

I'm not sure if this is the correct board for asking for advice on travel agent complaints, but hopefully someone can point me in the right direction if not.

Myself and my partner went on holiday in Jul/August last year. We had several issues with the holiday, which I won't go into here. When we got back we sent a letter of complaint to the travel agent (a well know national/international chain). They initially apologised and offered a £100 voucher, which was nothing compared with what we feel entitled to, especially as they had not even conducted a full investigation (they hadn't even asked for our photgrpahs of the issues!). After much to-ing and fro-ing with them, we have still to receive the findings of their investigation, and they have stated that the £100 voucher is their final offer.

I have lodged a complaint with ABTA, but they have sent a letter which seems to suggest that they won;t get involved in this and we would have to go through arbitration, which is a process we would have to pay for at a cost of £108.

Are there any other courses of action we would have open to us?

Thanks in advance!

pinkshoes

Did you complain at the time of the issues whilst you were on holiday, and make efforts to have them corrected?

pheonixrising21

Yes, we complained to the rep whilst on holiday, and to the operator immediately upon return. They have acknowledged that there was a problem, but the £100 voucher they have offered is quite frankly far too low for the issues that there were. I have been back and forth to them several times, they won't even give me the results of their investigation as they claim them to be "internal documents".

I wouldn't mind so much if the £100 was in cash, at least I could spend it with another operator, but a voucher with them just means that we have to re-book with them to get anything, and quite frankly, I have little confidence in them.

Now that ABTA have said we should go for arbitration, I was just wondering if there were any other avenues open to us?

mattyprice4004

Several issues which you won't go into... could have been a small crease in the bed sheet and a crumb left on the side, or a hole in the side of the apartment and an infestation of cockroaches.

How are people meant to help if they have no idea what the problems were?

pinkshoes

I agree with the above. Can you tell us what exactly it is that wasn't right, and any solutions you suggested to the rep whilst on holiday.

whitelabel

Im a former holiday rep and a lot of experience in the industry from a management perspective and can give an industry insight on some things, but you will need to give more info.
Importantly;
How long was the holiday
Which country and type of holiday was it (1-5*, inclusive, self catering etc)
how long in to the holiday did you experience problems
How long in to the holiday did you report the problems
How long did the problems last in total
What did the rep/ accomodation provider propose to resolve the issues
did you make a written complaint at that time with the rep and do you have a copy
what were a summary of the problems without going in to detail eg cleanliness, availability of facilities, room size, injury due to dangerous equipment, difference in expectation to what you thought you were getting (details from a brochure or particular things said by agent selling it) and what you received etc
Did you book instore or online
is the travel agent you booked with, the same company as the holiday provider
was it a package holiday, or individual parts put together by the agent eg flights and accommodation and transfers separately put together by the travel agent
and lastly

How much did you pay ( you may not think it important, but it really is)


may seem a lot but just a short summary can help me and many others help you so much more and assess if their offer is reasonable or not.

pheonixrising21

Not sure any of the details of the issues are relevant here? Just want to know the process if deadlock is reached with the tour operator... The have admitted a fault, apologised and offered compensation. I don't think its enough and would like to know what the next steps are that are open to me.

I know you are all trying to help, but all I really need is the next step of the process, not really an opinion on whether this is a valid claim or not - that is for the people in the next stage of the claim to decide, surely.

Anyway, for the sake of arguements, and I hope there are no word limits on this :-)...

1) Holiday bought as a package, from a single operator
2) 5* Full Board Plus resort - only 4 worldwide and exclusive to one operator in the UK
3) Stayed at one of 4 resorts the previous year and booked another one based on this experience
4) Things wrong with room - Plug socket which comes out of the wall instead of plug coming out of it, hot-tub bath operating handle loose in bath, bath panel coming away from bath, ants in the bathroom sink on last day
5) Restaurant booking - 10 am daily, at just 4 terminals in the lobby. Huge queues, restaurants booked 3 days in advance - therefore little or no choice of restaurant for first two days, and who wanst to plan meals three days in advance when on holiday? What if we were not available at 10am? That would mean back to no choice for dinner 3 days later
6) Adult/family segregation - the resort took time to segragate into an adults only pool/family friendly areas for the pools and restaurants, but didn't do the same for accomodation - a bizarre notion and negates the segregation at the pools/restaurants
7) Forcing us to check in out luggage at the hotel over 12 hours before our flight, giving no alternative other than make your own way to the airport if you don't like it. This left us without our luggage for the entire day, meanign we were extremely limited in what we could do. Our flight was not until 21:45, with collection at 19:45, check-out at 18:00 (paid extra for that on booking). This severely limited what we could do on our last day and we even had to throw away a full bottle of sun tan lotion as we would not have been able to put it in our hand luggage (more than 100mls liquid). What happens if we had an excursion booked? When would we check in our bags - there is no way we would have had time to go through normal check-in at the airport as we only had 2 hours including the 40 minute transfer time.
8) Paid around £2,500 for the holiday, 7 nights in Crete
9) Complained to reps about baggage check-in, told to make our own way to the airport, tried to book a taxi but couldnt due to a general strike in Greece
10) Informed hotel staff about ants
11) Complained to tour operator immediately upon return, advising we had all relevant documentary edivience (the reps quite curt letter regarding baggage check-in, photos)
12) Acknowledgement letter received informing us that a full investigation would take place
13) after 28 days an offer of a £100 voucher and an apology - at no point did they even ask for our evidence, therefore no full investigation
14) Complained again, asking how they could investigate fully without seeing any of our
evidence.
15) They wrote back asking for the photographs and copies of letter. We sent them, and also quoted several points in law from ABTA's website which we felt they had failed, especially in terms of expectation (same brand previous year, but this year holiday was a closer location (Crete as against Mexico), lower board rating (Full Board agaisnt All Inclusive) and more expensive (£2,500 as against £2,100). They even advertise the brand experience as central to the holiday
16) They wrote back saying their decision was final.
17) Wrote to ABTA
18) ABTA say they don't get involved and sent forms for Arbitration which costs £108 (obviously that is payable by the operator if the decision goes my way)

I currently have little confidence that they even investiagted the issues with the hotel, and they refuse to give me any results of their investigation or even a summary of such, they just quote their feedback ratings, saying they are good to excellent.

My partner and I are looking to get married in 2013, probably abroad, maybe using this operator to get our friends and family out there, but until I have confidence in them (or at least their ability to carry out an investigation), I am not sure about booking again with them - unfortunately we have seen a very nice resort for our wedding and its exclusive to them.

It wouldn't be so bad if the £100 was a cash option, or even if they had disclosed the results of their investigation and what they had done to address the issues. At least I would be confident they had tried. A £100 voucher just feels like a fob off, and a way to get us to re-book!

Sorry its so long, but there were a number of issues and not just with the holiday but their complaint handling as well.

In summary, a £100 voucher on a £2,500 holiday is not enough unless accompanied by a full explanationas to why it is enough. I think a refund of 1/7th of the holiday (time spent queing to book restaurants, lack of choice for two days, baggage taken ffrom us far too early, limited facilities available due to lack of bags on last day, issues with rooms) is realistic and have told them that.

I don't think that realistic compensation or at least knowing what the results of their investigation is too much to ask for. I just want them to restore my confidence in them, either by giving what I consider fair compensation or explaining fully why their offer is fair and what they have done about it

Sorry its so long. Any help would be much appreciated!

ThumbRemote

I believe you can claim for loss of enjoyment for holiday. The process for this would be a small claims court claim against Thomson.

However, you need to be much more selective about what you're complaining about.

4) Things wrong with room - given Thomson bill these hotels as top of the range, these complaints might be valid. But did you report them to the hotel when you were there (you mention you did for the ants, but not the other issues).

5) Restaurant booking - how long did you spend queueing overall? This puts a proper financial cost on it. The issue of potentially not being available at 10am is irrelevant unless it actually affected you, ie you actually weren't available at some point.

6) Did this affect you? How? Was there noise from rooms near yours, and did you complain there? Also, whether they advertise the rooms as being segregated or just the pools/restaurants makes a difference.

7) Personally I think this is a ridiculous policy, and you have good grounds for a strong complaint on this alone. Certainly you should insist on a refund of the late check-out room costs, suntan lotion costs, etc.

peachyprice

pheonixrising21 wrote: »

7) Forcing us to check in out luggage at the hotel over 12 hours before our flight, giving no alternative other than make your own way to the airport if you don't like it.

tried to book a taxi but couldnt due to a general strike in Greece

Are you 100% sure that checking in at the hotel was not a one-off due to the general strike rather than usual policy? It would make sense that they made the arrangements in these circumstances to keep the airport operating.

hcb42

I actually dont see a lot of grounds for complaint here (other than 7), certainly not more than £100 for a one week stay. In particular to point about segregating couples and families, there is no requirements for hotels to do this ANYWHERE. Likewise I think some of the other points are minor. Is this buyer's remorse as it seems you just didnt enjoy this holiday, but actually based on your long post, not sure what you expect when travelling overseas ?

Wonderful100

Your next step would be small claims I guess.

I'm sorry but in the first instance I just don't think that you have a good case against the tour operator. They deal with such complaints all the time, their compensation level and write off of the situation clearly shows where they place the level of complaint.

I have been through the complaints process myself, the process with me was that the operator offered three lots of financial compensation(cash not vouchers) before the final offer.