holiday from hell not sure what to do next!!

Nataliebella1987

this is my problem it happened in May last year and im not sure what i can do about it.

We booked a holiday to Zafaris as the lady at the travel agents said it was a nice place to travel to and because we had a short timescale in the dates we could travel we decided to travel there there was Me my partner My Sister her daughter aged 2 also her boyfriend, his sister, her son aged 2 and and there mum.

Bare in mind the lady who sold us this holiday said it was child friendly and she was aware of the ages of the children because they was with us when we booked it she shown us the brochure which didn't have much information in there or pictures but she assured us it was fine.

On the first day we complained to the Rep and she had an argument with us about the hotel basically trying to point out the good points and when we asked to be moved because it wasn't safe for us she said the only choice we had was to pay to be moved because it was more expensive at the other hotels or take a flight home which we would have to pay for and try to claim back when we arrived home.

The rooms where covered in ants and the cupboards where dirty and the fridge was rusty an we had no hot water so we complained to the 24 hour helpline and they sent somebody the next day to sort it.

During our stay at the hotel we found that it was very unsafe for the 2 years olds to be able to even walk around as there was holes everywhere which they covered up with wood rather than fixing them they stayed like that for the entire time we was there, sewerage of some sort all over the floor near the restaurant and there was no fencing around the edges just big drops all around the hotel so potentially the kids could just walk off the edge, the park was unmentionable there was rusty parts hanging off there wasn't a gate and after you left the park it led straight to some very uneven steep steps an and was very unsafe far to big for our children, The toddler part of the pool was too deep for them to play in and the gate leading to some very rouged Cliff tops wasn't locked so potentially Fatal for children of all ages, Plus the pathways had parts of it missing and parts sticking up so they could easily trip and fall down into the sea.

The food was horrible seemed to be the same everyday with a little bit changed and we lived on chips and rice and bread most of the holiday we ended up going out for breakfast because it was that bad and after complaints we found they changed it on the day we departed very dissatisfied every time we went into the restaurant we felt very unwelcome as the owner/chief not sure stared at us and made us feel like we wasn't welcome we spoke to other guests and they said the same an we asked the rep and she said that just how he is which isn't good enough when you paid good money to stay at his hotel!

All in all we couldn't let the kids play anywhere because there wasn't anything they could do and they had to be carried most of the time or in their pushchair which isn't nice for them or us when we was meant to be having a good time on holiday not at home the food was disgusting so we ate out sometimes or didn't bother eating lunch just brought chips for our lil ones.

We have images which correspond to our complaints which i will send in reply to your email and we would like our money back in full as we was left no other choice by the Rep to but stay and put up with it or pay more which was nearly the same as the holiday in total.

The reason there is a huge delay in complaining is because when we arrived home on the Friday we found out on the Sunday that our brother had died which was a devastating blow to our family because he wasn't unwell and was totally unexpected and as you can imagine we had a funeral to arrange which we had to wait for his body to be released by the coroner which took weeks and his home to clear out plus the emotional loss it was a very traumatic time for us all.


Thats is the letter i'm thinking of sending but unsure of the chances of getting my money back any ideas?

Thanks

mountainofdebt

Whilst I can understand that you were dealing with your loss, I think that to complain about a holiday that took place 10 months ago will get you no where.

Caz3121

you said there was little information but you went ahead and booked anyway. did you do any homework yourself eg Tripadvisor reviews before you travelled?

pinkshoes

Did you keep the receipts for the meals out you had?

DCFC79

Nataliebella1987 wrote: »

this is my problem it happened in May last year and im not sure what i can do about it.

We booked a holiday to Zafaris as the lady at the travel agents said it was a nice place to travel to and because we had a short timescale in the dates we could travel we decided to travel there there was Me my partner My Sister her daughter aged 2 also her boyfriend, his sister, her son aged 2 and and there mum.

Bare in mind the lady who sold us this holiday said it was child friendly and she was aware of the ages of the children because they was with us when we booked it she shown us the brochure which didn't have much information in there or pictures but she assured us it was fine.

On the first day we complained to the Rep and she had an argument with us about the hotel basically trying to point out the good points and when we asked to be moved because it wasn't safe for us she said the only choice we had was to pay to be moved because it was more expensive at the other hotels or take a flight home which we would have to pay for and try to claim back when we arrived home.

The rooms where covered in ants and the cupboards where dirty and the fridge was rusty an we had no hot water so we complained to the 24 hour helpline and they sent somebody the next day to sort it.

During our stay at the hotel we found that it was very unsafe for the 2 years olds to be able to even walk around as there was holes everywhere which they covered up with wood rather than fixing them they stayed like that for the entire time we was there, sewerage of some sort all over the floor near the restaurant and there was no fencing around the edges just big drops all around the hotel so potentially the kids could just walk off the edge, the park was unmentionable there was rusty parts hanging off there wasn't a gate and after you left the park it led straight to some very uneven steep steps an and was very unsafe far to big for our children, The toddler part of the pool was too deep for them to play in and the gate leading to some very rouged Cliff tops wasn't locked so potentially Fatal for children of all ages, Plus the pathways had parts of it missing and parts sticking up so they could easily trip and fall down into the sea.

The food was horrible seemed to be the same everyday with a little bit changed and we lived on chips and rice and bread most of the holiday we ended up going out for breakfast because it was that bad and after complaints we found they changed it on the day we departed very dissatisfied every time we went into the restaurant we felt very unwelcome as the owner/chief not sure stared at us and made us feel like we wasn't welcome we spoke to other guests and they said the same an we asked the rep and she said that just how he is which isn't good enough when you paid good money to stay at his hotel!

All in all we couldn't let the kids play anywhere because there wasn't anything they could do and they had to be carried most of the time or in their pushchair which isn't nice for them or us when we was meant to be having a good time on holiday not at home the food was disgusting so we ate out sometimes or didn't bother eating lunch just brought chips for our lil ones.

We have images which correspond to our complaints which i will send in reply to your email and we would like our money back in full as we was left no other choice by the Rep to but stay and put up with it or pay more which was nearly the same as the holiday in total.

The reason there is a huge delay in complaining is because when we arrived home on the Friday we found out on the Sunday that our brother had died which was a devastating blow to our family because he wasn't unwell and was totally unexpected and as you can imagine we had a funeral to arrange which we had to wait for his body to be released by the coroner which took weeks and his home to clear out plus the emotional loss it was a very traumatic time for us all.


Thats is the letter i'm thinking of sending but unsure of the chances of getting my money back any ideas?

Thanks

Should have done something sooner, yes your brother died but you still could have done something about it.

You could try complaining but dont get your hopes up, if you do complain keep it short and sweet unlike the post.

unholyangel

Doesnt necessarily mean all is lost but even with a death in the family....10 months is extremely long (i know grieving goes on for years, but I'm talking about how long it takes before people usually get back to business so to speak). Its still worth complaining to the tour operator (but please, when writing your letter of complaint...dont write what you've written in your OP....keep it as simple and straightforward as possible, if you have a lot of things to complain about then bullet point/list them to make it easier to understand what the issues were).

Was it booked as an actual package? Or was it essentially separate components (flight, hotel, transfers etc) booked as a holiday?

peachyprice

Where is Zafaris? I've never heard of it, is it somewhere that is usually a family friendly holiday resort?

bod1467

Hotel Zafaris?

Fire_Fox

Ten months is far too long to start complaining, regardless of you personal circumstances. Not everyone who went on the holiday is a blood relative of your brother, why didn't someone else write the letter of complaint? Do you have the name or job title of the person who sold you the holiday or at least the branch you used, also the dates which you don't list at all and the name of the rep?

If you really want to pursue this you will need photographs of the poor condition of the place. Also cut your letter down by half and shorten sentences: one is twelve lines long with just commas and others are six lines long with no punctuation at all. The letter rambles on loads so the key points are lost: consider bullet pointing the safety issues. You also have totally random capitalisation throughout which is confusing.

Saying the food is disgusting and horrible is your personal opinion it does not actually inform the reader. IMO you are on a hiding to nothing unless you are much clearer and more specific about your actual complaints about the food. I think chips are disgusting and can't imagine feeding such junk to young children, no offence but it sounds a bit like you just don't like foreign food. Lastly use formal language, they are not your lil ones nor kids they are children.