Holiday cancellation

nmc123

Make_Peace_Not_War wrote: »

Hi NMC123 - I'm a newbie too and I can't believe the treatment you're getting on here!

It sounds like they screwed up a lot! Have you written a formal letter of complaint - there should be some form of complaints procedure on their website for you to follow. You should put who they are - name and shame! :-)

I have a prob too... but if that's the way people treat people on here I'm not sure I want to write about it to be fair...

Good luck with it :-)

PS Student or not we all deserve a break!

Oh yeh we sent them 2 letters. The first they acknowledged but completely ignored the second one. They also gave us a time limit ' we will reply in 28 days ' and we gave them a few days after this time period had ended and then contacted them via phone only for them to say ' they need more time ' which was were not told.They also said they had sent emails and letters which coincidently no one in the party had recieved.

bagand96

First things first. Who did you book with? You are allowed to name them here and it might give a bit more info and allow others to provide more specific advice.

Was it a package holiday with a tour operator? Or was it booked all together through an agent but "dynamically" packaged (i.e. they booked flights then matched hotels etc.)

Personally I would agree that the offer is insulting, £40 each off a future booking?! I would agree you are due some compensation for the inconvinience caused. Definitely due the refunds of taxis. the Turkish visa fee is debateable, but considering you only had to go to Turkey because of their c*ck up then its not unreasonable to expect it back as a goodwill gesture! The trouble with compensation due to inconvinience, its hard to put a value on it.

In terms of next steps, is the agent/tour operator an ABTA member? If so, you can escalate the claim with ABTA. And further down the line you could take it to arbitration through ABTA for compensation.

If it was a package holiday then they may be in breach of the package holiday regulations 1992 so it may be worth a read (they may not be in breach I've no idea).

EU 261/2004 is a tricky one as I doubt any airline is at fault in this, it looks like a tour operator and/or travel agent !!!! up.

I'd strongly suggest the ABTA route initially http://abta.com/go-travel/travel-clinic/complaints

nmc123

bagand96 wrote: »

First things first. Who did you book with? You are allowed to name them here and it might give a bit more info and allow others to provide more specific advice.

Was it a package holiday with a tour operator? Or was it booked all together through an agent but "dynamically" packaged (i.e. they booked flights then matched hotels etc.)

Personally I would agree that the offer is insulting, £40 each off a future booking?! I would agree you are due some compensation for the inconvinience caused. Definitely due the refunds of taxis. the Turkish visa fee is debateable, but considering you only had to go to Turkey because of their c*ck up then its not unreasonable to expect it back as a goodwill gesture! The trouble with compensation due to inconvinience, its hard to put a value on it.

In terms of next steps, is the agent/tour operator an ABTA member? If so, you can escalate the claim with ABTA. And further down the line you could take it to arbitration through ABTA for compensation.

If it was a package holiday then they may be in breach of the package holiday regulations 1992 so it may be worth a read (they may not be in breach I've no idea).

EU 261/2004 is a tricky one as I doubt any airline is at fault in this, it looks like a tour operator and/or travel agent !!!! up.

It was Thomas Cook ! and was a packaged holiday for 10 days i will definitely read them regulations. My initial plan was to ring head office and say that we don't believe what they have offered is sufficient to what actually happenned considering we don't want to fly with them again. If they offer no soultion i would then move to the ABTA as , as you said this is probably the next best solution . Oh yeh is see what you mean about the EU261, the only problem with the tour operators is that no one is taking the blame.

bagand96

I would speak to ABTA as a matter if course ASAP. As another poster suggested try holiday truths.co.uk as well.

Alan_Bowen

This sounds like a complete disaster, either they sold a holiday that didn't exist, and charter flights to Kos go on the same days each week from most UK airports so a half competent agent would know whether there was a flight on the particular day you thought you were travelling or, and I only mention this as a possibiity, you misread the tickets.

Assuming it is the first of these, waiting 6 months for a reply is ridiculous, they are in breach of ABTA'S Code of Conduct and appear to be in breach of the Package Travel Regulations as well. I do not see any claim under EU261 as there appears to have been no flight to cancel in the first place. Complain to the Legal Department, ABTA, 3rd Floor, 30 Park Street London SE1 and send a copy to Thomas Cooks HQ in Peterborough. If that does not get a response then I think arbitration through ABTA would get a very different result than an offer of £40 off another holiday

nmc123

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

This sounds like a complete disaster, either they sold a holiday that didn't exist, and charter flights to Kos go on the same days each week from most UK airports so a half competent agent would know whether there was a flight on the particular day you thought you were travelling or, and I only mention this as a possibiity, you misread the tickets.

Assuming it is the first of these, waiting 6 months for a reply is ridiculous, they are in breach of ABTA'S Code of Conduct and appear to be in breach of the Package Travel Regulations as well. I do not see any claim under EU261 as there appears to have been no flight to cancel in the first place. Complain to the Legal Department, ABTA, 3rd Floor, 30 Park Street London SE1 and send a copy to Thomas Cooks HQ in Peterborough. If that does not get a response then I think arbitration through ABTA would get a very different result than an offer of £40 off another holiday

We did question ourselves tbh when we were told that there wasn't a flight but we all checked out emails and no one had anything on there . Also, we went into the agents a week before to get our tickets printed off and they were saying that our fligth was definitely meant to be on the 2nd and everything was still the same. I think there is majority swaying towards the ABTA and this is definitely going to be my next step . Thank you for your advice

nmc123

Anyone interested, a year after we initially complained we have received £35 pounds each after appealing through the ABTA

littlereddevil

At least you got something but what a measly amount

needuradvice

@ nmc123 - Thats a joke! These holiday companies think they can get away with anything and that is not on!

My advice to you would be to contact them stating that your not happy at all. Make a call to the director's office. RECORD THE CALL! FYI, You don't need to inform them that they are being recorded. Make sure you get the person's name too.

Let them give you their final answer and if your not happy, tell them you will take the issue to the media and watchdog....ONLY THEN inform them that you have been recording their call. I'm sure they will crap themselves and resolve the issue ASAP.

johannalf88

I'm pretty sure that if you want to use the recordings other than for your own personal use (for note taking etc) you have to advise them at the start...