Holiday Complaint

Soulfish

Hi Everyone,

Hoping everyone can help with an issue I'm having with Thomson Tailormade. Essentially we booked a 2 week luxury 5* all inclusive trip in December 2011 for our 35th wedding anniversary to the Bahamas. Total cost of the holiday was around £5,000 for two people.

A couple of weeks before we were due to leave we found via trip advisor that their were major building works going on at the property and the building we were booked into was closed. We contacted both Thomsons (who referred it to Hayes and Javis) and Sandals (resort owners) to find out what was going on. At this point we made it absolutely clear that we did not want to proceed with a holiday to a building site as my wife has a chest condition which could be seriously affected by building works (dust etc).

We were told by Sandals that we had been "upgraded" and that there weren't any problems, while Thomsons came back with the line that "normal booking conditions applied".

When we arrived we found that we had been upgraded to a room in the noisest part of the hotel. Added to this was the fact that we no longer seemed to have access to a concierge as typically the room we were in was a "Butler Suite", but since we hadn't paid for a butler we weren't given access to the services of one. This typically meant we weren't informed of anything, or what bookings had been made on our behalf.

We also found that building noise permeated the entire resort, rendering entire areas useless and taking entire pools out of action. Not only was one of the two main buildings undergoing major renovation works, but so was the pier on the beach. We immediately complained in resort to our rep who's only response was "you wouldn't have liked the old building anyway - it was tatty" and told us to speak to Sandals.

We then spoke (and communicated via email) with Sandals. After much complaining we were offered several minor forms of compensation - a free meal on the beach (useless when my wife would have struggled to reach any of the nearby toilets), a meal in the "expensive" restaurant (food that we didn't like or want) and finally an offer to move us to a different resort (after a weeks worth of complaints). The condition of the move however was that we would have to pay the airfare at a cost of over $400/each which was just unreasonable.

A Sandals assistant manager admitted to us the building works were causing disruption and yet they still declined to offer any other alternatives.

Shortly after returning my wife was also signed off ill for two weeks due to exacerbation of her chest complaint. We wrote and complained to Thomsons asking for a full refund and compensation. We believe our request was reasonable as not only had we constantly tried to rectify the issue before and during the holiday, but the holiday was to be a once off special occasion. We don't normally spend so much on a single holiday, and this was supposed to be a luxury treat. Our 35th wedding anniversary isn't something we can reclaim, nor is the two weeks+ annual leave we had to take something we can get back.

We were able to back our claims up with video, photo and written statements from other guests attesting to the poor conditions (in fact I know others that have settled with their travel companies for varying amounts), but we have just received our first offer from Thomson to settle the claim.

Currently they are offering a refund of approximately £1,000 and a £300 Thomson voucher (to be used within 18 months). Am I correct in pushing for a fuller settlement? I'm trying to get an independent view of what others feel would be a reasonable settlement, so that we're not too rash to take it to ABTA arbitration or the small claims court.

And on that note is it better to go to ABTA or the small claims court for this sort of claim?

Thanks for taking the time to read my mammoth post!

Edit:
I've tried including a link to the videos I took, but I haven't posted enough! They can be found at youtube . com / SoulfishYork

halibut2209

You will not get a full refund AND compensation. That is an unreasonable request and likely to annoy Thomson

somethingcorporate

Here is a direct link to your vids: http://www.youtube.com/soulfishyork

I agree that a refund and compensation is out of the question although I do not think a full refund is.

How did you pay? If you paid any on the credit card your company should be able to help - in future put at least a £100 deposit on the credit card and under s75 of the CCA they will be liable for provision of the service, in reality this gives you another route to pursue if things go wrong.

Soulfish

I should have put we felt the full refund was reasonable - we were asking for compensation on the basis of ask high, they can only come down!

somethingcorporate

Asking for both is being cheeky and it may get their backs up - it's not asking high, it is taking the mick and will do you more harm than good.

Equaliser123

Sounds as though the holiday was a complete nightmare. A full refund is not out of the question. Further, if you can actually demonstrate that your entire holiday was blighted, you may have a claim for loss of enjoyment / disappointment on top of the refund.

somethingcorporate

May being the operative word and without a legal background (or the services of a solicitor) I find it highly unlikely a large company would be bullied into paying compensation on top of a full refund.

Optimist

Equaliser123 wrote: »

Sounds as though the holiday was a complete nightmare. A full refund is not out of the question. Further, if you can actually demonstrate that your entire holiday was blighted, you may have a claim for loss of enjoyment / disappointment on top of the refund.

Indeed, a holiday contract is relatively unusual thing in contract law as you can actually claim for "non-percuniary loss"

All thanks to that most brilliant of appeal court judges Lord Denning

History was made in the Court of Appeal case of Jarvis -v- Swans Tours Ltd [1973] QB 233

Given the amount claimed the OP might find the services of a solicitor advantageous in this instance

meer53

They wouldn't offer a full refund as they did provide flights and accomodation, albeit not what you were expecting. I think £1000 is a bit low, i'd be asking for more and to forego the voucher !

Was anyone else there at the time making a complaint ? Might back up your case if there was.

Equaliser123

meer53 wrote: »

They wouldn't offer a full refund as they did provide flights and accomodation, albeit not what you were expecting. I think £1000 is a bit low, i'd be asking for more and to forego the voucher !

Was anyone else there at the time making a complaint ? Might back up your case if there was.

That's not the legal position at all. As Optimist says, "contracts for enjoyment" were established as a principle in Jarvis -v- Swan Tours.

The case has been followed a great many times.

fthl

True, but even with holidays I think it is extremely unlikely that they'd be a refund and comp. it just won't happen.

This is about as extreme as I've seen it get.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/727740/Holiday-claims-set-to-soar.html