On The Beach - Holiday Issue

boontown_docks

Hi all, long time lurker but need some advice.

Just came back from a week away in turkey and had a nightmare. Booked with On The Beach a few days before we left. PLease note that OTB state they are an intermediary and only provide the service and our contract is with the 3 suppliers, namely:

Thmpson - Flights
Fiesta - Transfers
YouTravel - Hotel

We arrived and the following happened.

Booked a holiday with them that inc flights, transfer and hotel. It was 4* hotel and when arrived (Tuesday) our transfer service brought us to the wrong hotel, which conveniently is named similar to the hotel we booked. When we arrived we went to reception and it was not as the photos as I remembered, I spoke to the hotel reception and they said they would call them.

After speaking in their local tongue we were told we would be staying there instead. The other hotel was a couple of miles down the road and we were told they would not accept us as they were a sister hotel and were to remain there.

We called OTB that evening and spoke to their rep who said they would call us back within 30mins - This didn't happen. We were handed a rep meeting request for the following morning.at 10am.

At 10am we spoke to the local rep, who said this had occurred once or twice and that before he could move us he would need authority from OTB, as soon as he received an email from them they would move us. (Personally I dont get this as we booked the other hotel and they had our booking so should have moved us themselves.)

I called OTB and spoke to their rep back in the UK on a 10p 0845 number and explained and they said they would send a email and CC myself within 30 mins. This did not occur. After a number of hours and calling several times the message would be passed on the the relevant dept..

We stay another night now as nothing has been sorted and call the following day and get someone else and go through the same rigmarole, this was at 9am UK time. At 18:30 UK time we get a voicemail message (signal was poor where we were ) and then a series of messages saying they were trying to get in contact with us. These 4-5 messages were only a minute or so apart, maybe to look as if they were trying really hard to contact us. We called back and asked to speak to the woman who left the message to call her back, a message would be passed to her we were told......again nothing for that night.

Friday morning we call several times again during the day and no-one called us again and we gave up then. We saw the rep again and asked for a complaint form, he said he didn't have any, I got him instead to sign agreeing to our predicament which he did.

Over the course of the week we found 8 other couples/families that the same happened to whereby they booked the other hotel and ended up in the pit we ended up in. Either the owner has a con going on when people book his higher hotel he shoves them in the lesser hotel or alternatively OTB are advertising clearly the wrong hotel in the knowledge they are doing so.

There were significant differences between the hotels, notably
- their own star recommendation
- hotel booked was on the beach and private beach, ours was a mile away on the main road next to building developments
- food was not served during the day all inclusive, the booked hotel did
- entertainment at booked complex, none at ours
- cost to stay in booked accommodation is more than what we ended up in

We took the opportunity to visit the other hotel that we booked and it was wonderful compared to the one we ended up in.

We really feel aggrieved here that our holiday was ruined, we spent approx 40-50 on calls dialed and received alone to try and get this rectified and it didn't. The day we were leaving a couple booked in am and we told them of our plight as they were in the same situation and when we were leaving that evening they were being moved, the other 8 couples we met in the week before didn't.

We spoke to OTB when we returned and they said they wont entertain a complaint as we were no back in the UK and they cannot do anything as we are still not abroad. I dont think this is right. I still think they have a duty to us and also for Youtravel to say they need confirmation from OTB, then there has to be some sort of contractual obligation.

Can anyone advise what my rights here would be? My instinct is to do a LBA and then go to small claims court but I am wondering if a judge would entertain it whereby their T&C's would cover them. I would like the cost of everything back but think this is not going to happen because they will say the flights were provided and thus service provided.

Any help gratefully received

boontown_docks

Hi all, I know it is a lengthy read but would appreciate your advice.

rgds

boontown

visidigi

The difficulty here is its not a package holiday, it's a component holiday paid for centrally. This means that for each aspect of your holiday you will need to approach it individually.

The flights got you there and back, that means they can't be claimed. That leaves you with the transfers and the hotel.

How sure are you that the transfers were a mistake? Give the frequency of others I suspect not. Therefore this is sounding more like a coordinated effort to fill a hotel which is both cheaper and inferior. Your contract is with OTB in terms of the original booking - did you pay as a single transaction and was that payment to otb? Being back in the uk doesn't change your rights to complain, go back to them and ask for the complaints procedure and follow it. If it doesn't then resolve your complaint an lba is an option although courts etc frown on people who don't follow procedure and provide an opportunity to resolve.

boontown_docks

visidigi wrote: »

The difficulty here is its not a package holiday, it's a component holiday paid for centrally. This means that for each aspect of your holiday you will need to approach it individually.

The flights got you there and back, that means they can't be claimed. That leaves you with the transfers and the hotel.

How sure are you that the transfers were a mistake? Give the frequency of others I suspect not. Therefore this is sounding more like a coordinated effort to fill a hotel which is both cheaper and inferior. Your contract is with OTB in terms of the original booking - did you pay as a single transaction and was that payment to otb? Being back in the uk doesn't change your rights to complain, go back to them and ask for the complaints procedure and follow it. If it doesn't then resolve your complaint an lba is an option although courts etc frown on people who don't follow procedure and provide an opportunity to resolve.

Thanks for taking the time out Visidgi, much appreciated.

I did pay OTB and it was a signle transaction.

As for the transfer being a mistake, I do not think so, it was a concerted effort to divert people away as others had the same issue and were mistakenly dropped off there. I have the email address of 2 other parties who are also complaining as well exactly the same circs.

I will follow the complaints procedure and exhaust it but want to know what I should be saying and claiming for. I dont normally complain, hence my first post but this hotel was dire and it did spoil it as well as the cost of calls.

I suppose I would like the hotel and transfers refunded, also the holiday enjoyment that was spoilt because of it?

visidigi

Realistically I think you are aiming too high.

Transfers, maybe although they usually any overly expensive
Hotel, partial refund, although it wasn't as good as what you booked you still stayed there etc.
Loss of enjoyment, hmm tricky one to price and I'm not sure it's value ais that great as ultimately you did get a holiday of sorts.

I am puzzled why onthebeach have abta and atol coverage when realistically they don't offer any holidays or even sell anything themselves.

I must admit it does highlight the invisible value of a package holiday premium....

boontown_docks

visidigi wrote: »

Realistically I think you are aiming too high.

Transfers, maybe although they usually any overly expensive
Hotel, partial refund, although it wasn't as good as what you booked you still stayed there etc.
Loss of enjoyment, hmm tricky one to price and I'm not sure it's value ais that great as ultimately you did get a holiday of sorts.

I am puzzled why onthebeach have abta and atol coverage when realistically they don't offer any holidays or even sell anything themselves.

I must admit it does highlight the invisible value of a package holiday premium....

Thanks again for your input Visidigi.

I am not sure if it should be a partial refund for the hotel though as we continually contacted them daily and their comms was poor to say the least and they did move other people. ALso the Youtravel rep said they need an email from OTB and on two occasions on the phone their representative on the phone at OTB said they would send it but it never materialized. It is because of this failure by one or both companies that resulted in us having to stay there.

EB1989

Hi There,

You can try to claim compensation for holiday accommodation that was not as promised.

Firstly, complain to the provider as soon as you get home in as much detail as possible. Ask for an official complaint form if possible, and include photographs and videos if possible, as well as witness accounts from your family and other guests.

If they do not resolve it, try contacting a trade body such as the ABTA,which is the UK Trade travel association for tour operators, or the Travel Trust Association.

Failing this, you could use the small claims court.

Did you pay on credit card? If so you could try claiming under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

I got all this information from the Which? Consumer Rights website.

Hope it helps!

battleborn

take the company to court even if out of principle

Caz3121

boontown_docks wrote: »

I am not sure if it should be a partial refund for the hotel though as we continually contacted them daily and their comms was poor to say the least and they did move other people. ALso the Youtravel rep said they need an email from OTB and on two occasions on the phone their representative on the phone at OTB said they would send it but it never materialized. It is because of this failure by one or both companies that resulted in us having to stay there.

What was the price difference between the hotel you booked and the hotel you stayed in (you could select a random week to see what the % difference is) - it sounds very strange that the hotel you had booked said they would not take you....you had a confirmed booking....

visidigi

battleborn wrote: »

take the company to court even if out of principle

Uhhh how very constructive of you.

visidigi

boontown_docks wrote: »

Thanks again for your input Visidigi.

I am not sure if it should be a partial refund for the hotel though as we continually contacted them daily and their comms was poor to say the least and they did move other people. ALso the Youtravel rep said they need an email from OTB and on two occasions on the phone their representative on the phone at OTB said they would send it but it never materialized. It is because of this failure by one or both companies that resulted in us having to stay there.

Thinking about this some more the sheer fact the hotel they took you and others too miraculously had room for you all that makes me think you really need to get the lot back, there's too many coincidences in here for it to be a mistake. That is unless you travel we're booking the hotel on the beach were giving them to book and its otb's system mistake.

Get that complaints procedure and get started, if you need help come back here and between us we can ensure you're communicating the right thing in the right way...