Dissatisfied with holiday

AlisonHarrison

I paid quite a lot for a holiday with Thomsons and various things were unsatisfactory. They first of all gave me £25 which was actually less than the amount by which I was out of pocket following their foul ups. Then they gave me £50 voucher off my next holiday. This is nowhere near enough.
What is the next step?
Would abta deal with the complaint. (hotel rubbish, awful transfers which were their fault etc etc) I am thinking not as I thought they were in case the holiday company goes bust.
Or do I threaten court action?

photome

you need to list your complaints and give thomson a chance before court action

did you complain while there

do you have any evidence

Pollycat

AlisonHarrison wrote: »

I paid quite a lot for a holiday with Thomsons and various things were unsatisfactory. They first of all gave me £25 which was actually less than the amount by which I was out of pocket following their foul ups. Then they gave me £50 voucher off my next holiday. This is nowhere near enough.
What is the next step?
Would abta deal with the complaint. (hotel rubbish, awful transfers which were their fault etc etc) I am thinking not as I thought they were in case the holiday company goes bust.
Or do I threaten court action?

Not a good idea to threaten anything unless you intend to do it. It just makes you look silly and ineffectual.

What did their letter enclosing the £25 say?

What exactly do you mean by 'hotel rubbish'?
What was wrong with the transfers?

It's hard to know whether to suggest you accept the £25, push further with Thomson or take it to another body without more information about the holiday.

AlisonHarrison

Pollycat wrote: »

take it to another body .

What are the regulating bodies which deal with travel companies?

Is its a long story what happened and I just want to know what the next stage is.

I would quite happily take this to court but I wanted to know whether there was a regulating body for travel companies rather like the ombudsman for insurance etc.

agrinnall

AlisonHarrison wrote: »

What are the regulating bodies which deal with travel companies?

Is its a long story what happened and I just want to know what the next stage is.

I would quite happily take this to court but I wanted to know whether there was a regulating body for travel companies rather like the ombudsman for insurance etc.

It doesn't take very long to scroll to the bottom of the Thomsons Holidays home page in order to see that they have ABTA membership - that's probably your first step.

Racheldevon

I had issues with Thomson on two previous holidays involving being stranded abroad for up to a week each time. I didn't take it to the ABTA, but I did have to keep pursuing Thomson with letters, evidence from the airline etc. In total in took about 4 months per holiday but I got back the money for the expenses incurred, e.g., accomodation, food, phone bills to sort flights etc

mick_vandick

Would abta deal with the complaint. (hotel rubbish, awful transfers which were their fault etc etc) I am thinking not as I thought they were in case the holiday company goes bust.

You need to take it to ABTA Arbitration. It might be worth going back to Thomson first telling them exactly what compensation you want and give them a chance to either pay you or not. Arbitration can only be used when you and the holiday company have reached deadlock.
You are going to have to show that you took measures to mitigate your loss while on your holiday so i assume you complained there and got the rep to fill out a complaint form?
Once you have been through Arbitration you cannot then take them to court, it's one or the other.
http://www.abta.com/consumer-services/travel_problems/arbitration

cottonhead

I had a very bad experience with Thompson too. The holiday was not what it was advertised to be. I wrote to them to complain and they too sent me a £50 off my next holiday so I wrote back enclosing the voucher and told them that now they had insulted me even more. £50 is no good as I will never holiday with them again after what they did and I demand compensation for the terrible experience I had. They then wrote back enclosing a cheque for £700. So try that if you feel you do have strong grounds to complain.

Bob_the_Saver

I wonder if we'll ever find out what the problem was with the transfers, I thought they took you from somewhere near the airport to somewhere near the hotel.

Pollycat

AlisonHarrison wrote: »

What are the regulating bodies which deal with travel companies?

Is its a long story what happened and I just want to know what the next stage is.

I would quite happily take this to court but I wanted to know whether there was a regulating body for travel companies rather like the ombudsman for insurance etc.

Mick Vandick has given some good info about dealing with ABTA, especially about going to arbitration versus court action.

Personally, I'd do as Racheldevon did and continue your complaint with Thomson until you feel you can't get any further.