Holiday complaints process

Hintza

pheonixrising21 wrote: »

10) Informed hotel staff about ants

Goodness me if you have lived in Africa at all then a parade of ants would be the least of your problems. Wait until you have had a Black Mamba in your room.

meer53

Hintza wrote: »

Goodness me if you have lived in Africa at all then a parade of ants would be the least of your problems. Wait until you have had a Black Mamba in your room.

On holiday in South Africa i once woke up to find a very large Preying Mantis on my leg ! Think they heard me back at home. :eek:

And in Florida we had an alligator visit us for breakfast one day !

I think the £100 voucher was a fair offer too. Nearly every holiday we've had, putting up with the local wildlife is part of the experience. Greece is renowned for it's casual attitude to health and safety, and booking the restaurant, there must have been a meal available for you as you were full board ?

The check out issue obviously was a problem for you but i really can't see why it ruined your last day ?

bris

You have been told to go through arbitration, so why don't you just do that. Or you could pick a figure and try through the small claims court, there is nothing else you can do.

pinreme

Why not just go for arbitration?

If you win you can claim the cost back. If you truly believe you have a case then what have you got to lose? If you don't really believe you have a case and are just chancing your arm then take the voucher.

ThumbRemote

Wonderful100 wrote: »

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.

Thomson have a vested interest in making any compensation payout as low as possible. The compensation they offer is always going to reflect that self-interest, rather than being an accurate reflection of any problems encountered.

I don't understand why ABTA have suggested arbitration though - the cost seems to be greater than the small claims court. Wonder who the arbitrators are and whether there's a vested interest here too on ABTAs part?

pheonixrising21

PeachyPrice - this was not a way around the the general strike (the strike was the taxi drivers). This was meant to be a premium service. I would not be complaining about it had I a) been informed about it before departure so I could plan or b) it be timed to coincide with out departure from the hotel i.e. bags taken 2 hours before we left not 12!

hcb42 - the fact that we were basing our expectations on the fact that this is a 5* resort, which should be of the highest standard. I have travelled overseas many times (at all levels of accomodation). At 5* star I expect high standards, especially when I purchase based on past experience of the same brand of hotels where the big selling point is the "brand experience"? While I understand that there are cultural differences between UK, Crete and Mexico (first experience of this brand), but I think it reasonable to expect a similar standard. Plus, there are only four hotels with this brand worldwide, sold as premium and exclusive, so it can't be that hard to maintain standards across them. And we paid more, travelled a much shorter distance (so accomodation was a higher proportion of cost). And with regards to the segregation of families and adults, I know it is not a requirement (I didn't state it was?), I just find it very strange that the the hotel would take on the trouble (of its own accord) to provide adults only pools and restaurants but not finish the job properly and provde adults only accomodation blocks - it just seems like half a job was done. In my personal opinion, if you are going to go to that amount of trouble then you do it properly or not at all. I would have been happy with either, but not the strange half way house they seemed to arrive at.

Meer53, yes there was a meal available for us. However, the resort advertised 7 restaurants. 5 were on the booking system and so were full when we arrived for the next 3 days. Therefore the choice was down to 2 restaurants. If a resort advertises 7 restaurants, I expect 7 to choose from. Now, I know restaurants get fully booked, but there are better ways to deal with popular restaurants. Even having the system to book for that night only would have been better as at least it would have been fair, i.e. everyone has the same opportunity to book. Having the restaurants fully booked in your absence is very unfair, especially having paid for a resort which boasts 7 restaurants to choose from. Again, I go back to the previous holiday at a different resort of the same brand. The restaurant system worked as such: you go to a restaurant when you want, if its full at that time, they give you an estimate as to how long you will have to wait. if you dont want to wait, you choose another one, if you do they give you a little buzzer and you go off and get a drink and wait. Works perfectly, gives full choice on all days and is fair for all. Also, where is the spontenaity when pre-booking 3 days in advance?

With regards to the last day being ruined, I suppose ruined would be a strong word, but it severely limited what we could do - i.e. having to be at a certain place at a certain time to check in the luggage (additionally to leaving the hotel!). Could we book an excursion on our last morning? No, as we had to check our luggage in and what it drive off to the airport instead. We had to make a choice between using the gym facilities and eating in the evening as we needed a change of clothes for each and couldn't fit both in hand luggage. Where would we put any last minute souvenir purchases? Again, no room in hand luggage. And of course, even if we did have room for souvenirs it couldn't be liquid due to security at airports.

Hintza - can I just ask what living in Africa has to do with a holiday in Crete? The issue I had with the ants is that they were in the sink, only the sink, nowhere else. I did not see a single other ant anywhere in the room. I'm not even sure I saw any ants anywhere else in the resort, indoors or out. Plenty of crickets, moths, butterflies and dragonflies

thumbRemote - thanks for actually answering my initial question with regards to the process. I think I will investigate small claims court.

One final question from myself. I understand you all have different opinions as to whether the £100 voucher is a reasonable offer or not, but what are your thoughts on the distinct lack of explanation/evidence of investigation. Do you think it reasonable that I should expect them to at least do a thorough job in investigating my complaint and give an explanation as to why they think their offer is fair? The fact that they offered £100 without even asking me for our photos shows this is a case of offer them something quick and they will go away. I wouldn't mind so much if they had done that.

In fact, the main reason for wanting to persue this complaint further is to resore my confidence in that particular tour operator. The reason being is that we are planning to get married next summer and the wedding will be abroad. Of course, this is to be a special day and one of our shortlisted venues is with this operator. At present I don't have the confidence that they can investigate a complaint properly so am reluctant to send our business for such an important event their way.

If I were to go through small claims court and lose, would I be liable for for their court costs or just my own? And if I am liable for their costs, what would constitute a loss? e.g if the court ruled that the £100 voucher was fair, would that be a loss, or would the court have to award nothing/less than £100 for it to be classed as a loss? I guess the same applies for arbitration as well?

lincroft1710

The problem in such a case as yours is that you have no quantifiable loss, it is basically a compensation claim. So at a court hearing you're at the whim of the person giving judgement. In their eyes a £100 voucher may be adequate recompense or it may not be.

Also would you really want a company, which you took to court and obtained judgement against, have the booking for your wedding. Even if you lost would you want them to have your custom. If you take them to court, do no more business with them.

ThumbRemote

lincroft1710 wrote: »

The problem in such a case as yours is that you have no quantifiable loss, it is basically a compensation claim. So at a court hearing you're at the whim of the person giving judgement. In their eyes a £100 voucher may be adequate recompense or it may not be.

The judge will look at the amount paid for the holiday, and what the issues were. They will then come up with a sum based on the 'loss of enjoyment' caused by those issues. Hardly a whim.

Personally, I think many of the OPs issues are irrelevant, but others - in particular the departure luggage and the meals booking system - may be worth pursuing. In any event, compensation will be in cash, not a credit voucher.

pheonixrising21, I understand that for the small claims court you don't have to pay the other parties costs if you lose, but you might want to check on that from a more reputable source.

lincroft1710

ThumbRemote wrote: »

The judge will look at the amount paid for the holiday, and what the issues were. They will then come up with a sum based on the 'loss of enjoyment' caused by those issues. Hardly a whim.

Perhaps I should have used the phrase "subject to the opinion of" rather than "whim". It will still be what someone thinks or believes though.

Wonderful100

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Thomson have a vested interest in making any compensation payout as low as possible. The compensation they offer is always going to reflect that self-interest, rather than being an accurate reflection of any problems encountered.

I don't understand why ABTA have suggested arbitration though - the cost seems to be greater than the small claims court. Wonder who the arbitrators are and whether there's a vested interest here too on ABTAs part?

Of course they do I know that, I just don't think that the complaint is very solid either.

I read lots of holiday forums and to be honest in strong complaint cases the operators don't usually come in with such a low offer.