Wedding/ Holiday complaint. Advice much appreciated

jamieamelia

Hello all, please direct me to the right board if this is the wrong one, i only usually go on 'grabbit'

well, at the beginning of may i booked with first choice to get married in zante (greece) in september 2013.
I was told i needed to fill in a form and choose 3 dates that i would like to get married on and take it back in and that i would be issued with my dates and there should be no problem as the brochure was just released for next years holidays i was told i would not get an answer until october as thats when the dates for next year would be released. A week later i took in my request form. 8 weeks later i went in to pay second part of deposit and i asked when i would receive confirmation of my dates. I was then told that there was nothing on the system that said i had taken dates in... she phoned weddings and they had not received anything. so they then sent my dates again, i got a phone call a week later giving me some dates, but ones i hadnt chosen, they have offered me fri 13th (bad omen from the start) or 10th of september. i fly to greece on the 3rd of september and my flight arrives at 22.00 pm. you have to be in greece for 7 days before u are able to get married there, so if i am delayed by 2 hrs i will not be able to get married whilst out there and my guests will be there for nothing. I have now also been told that when u get there you are not guaranteed the date you ask for anyway and they wont confirm until you are there, so family members may miss it anyway. They said just because the dates were not sent off doesnt mean its why i cant have the dates i chose but its because people all over the world can book to marry there, when i asked why i wasnt told this until i booked i was told they cant know everything about everywhere they use as they sell so many holidays they cant know it all, since then i have had phone calls not returned, letters not answered, they are telling me there is no head office and it has to be sorted in store, my complaint is with the manager and it is her that wont deal with it. I have been shouted at by her on the phone today, i cant possibly trust them with my booking/wedding now but they insist i lose my £900 deposit if i cancel or pay £50 each if i change my holiday!! please help?? x

richardw

Pay £50 each and change the holiday.

jamieamelia

i don't see why i should have to fork out another £200 and lose the £150 wedding deposit when its them that have made all the mistakes and been so rude to me? surely the least they could do it wave the fee?
I dont have any faith in them as a company anymore. I would never reccommend them to anyone

mynameistallulah

richardw wrote: »

Pay £50 each and change the holiday.

I agree - a small price to pay for peace of mind.

claire16c

I dont understand why you are paying deposits when you dont even know the date of your own wedding?

Id rather book with someone indepedantly than deal with agents like that.

So I guess its up to you, to loose your deposit, or, pay the £50.

fawny

Hiya,

Sorry to hear this, i've seen a lot of people saying they are having problems with arranging their wedding when using FC & other tour operator. I personally think the problem is that they are tour operator they arrange holiday not weddings. I think for complete peace of mind you need to be using a local wedding planner who will be able to comfirm your time & date way in advance. I know it's for a different Greek island but have a read at this http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g227884-i1327-k5425309-Unscrupulous_Reps_Wedding_Co_ordinators-Lindos_Rhodes_Dodecanese.html If you contact this lady i'm sure she will be more than happy to give you the details of who to contact in FC! I don't know the minimum stay laws for Zante bu there is none for Rhodes now although FC keep saying there are so you will book a 2 week holiday!

Really hope you get sorted.

Pollycat

OP
Have any of your guests booked flights or accommodation for the dates you were originally thinking about?

You may have to factor that in when considering changing your dates.

Fawny
Thanks for the link to the TA thread.
I've been following that and have posted on there and also pm'd the lady who started it.

Truly shocking service and I agree with you that the OP should consider a 'proper' wedding coordinator in resort.

Tour Operators tend to state there is a minimum residency period before you can get marrried but that is not necessarily the case.
It's a blanket clause in the FC contract because it makes it easier for them.

The same person who posted the thread in the link given by Fawny also posted this thread about minimum residency:
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g227884-i1327-k5526949-Minimum_Residency_on_Rhodes_Legal_Requirement_for_Marriage-Lindos_Rhodes_Dodecanese.html

She took First Choice to task because she found out that their 'minimum residency' wasn't actually a legal requirement to get married in Rhodes (see her last post #13).

I know Rhodes and Zante are different islands but don't automatically assume that because First Choice say it is a legal requirement that that is actually true for the island you're getting married on.

Good luck with sorting this out, it's the last thing you need when planning your wedding.

angelil

Or...just get married on the 13th September?

jamieamelia

YAY!!!!!!! phone call today, the manager in first choice had been told by head office to issue me an immediate refund!!!! case closed and lesson learned!!!!!! xx

richardw

Great result, well done!

Pollycat

jamieamelia wrote: »

YAY!!!!!!! phone call today, the manager in first choice had been told by head office to issue me an immediate refund!!!! case closed and lesson learned!!!!!! xx

That's great news for you both.

In your first post you said you'd been told there wasn't a head office (that sounds a load of rubbish for a company such as First Choice).
So how did FC head office get involved to instruct the manager to refund you?
You mentioned letters not answered - who were you writing to?

Are you going to find a 'proper' wedding planner in Zante now you're not using First Choice's service?

Hope it all goes well for you.