£20 to book in Thomson shop.

savercol

Found the holiday we wanted on the net from First Choice, £1810. Went to a local Thomson/ First Choice shop to 'shop locally' and support the high street although the intention was to pay only £1810.
The manager wanted to charge £10 per person booking fee in the shop and wouldn't budge. Went home and booked via quidco and got £10 off.

photome

savercol wrote: »

Found the holiday we wanted on the net from First Choice, £1810. Went to a local Thomson/ First Choice shop to 'shop locally' and support the high street although the intention was to pay only £1810.
The manager wanted to charge £10 per person booking fee in the shop and wouldn't budge. Went home and booked via quidco and got £10 off.

You wanted to support the hight st by paying internet prices? even though the hight st store costs a lot more to run.

Having said that it does seem a little short sighted by the manager for the sake of £20

Hobsons_Choice

We booked our Thomson holiday yesterday and the manager of the shop waived the admin fee!
The price was matched with the internet price, so I guess it depends on the manager (or maybe on the price of the holiday)?

jhe

our local thomson/first choice superstore also charges £10 per person.
a small local thomson store we used to book at never charged in the past but note sure if thats the case now.
personally i would rather pay the little extra to book instore, if any problems crop up before travel the shop will deal with it instead of having to phone and be left on hold for half an hour or more at a time to try and sort a problem or query out

cottyh24

We found a Thomson holiday online but wanting to support the high street store we went down there with every intention of booking if the holiday was priced within £50 of the one online. The same holiday was £500 more in the shop than on their website and they wouldn't budge on price at all. I know that have additional running costs but surely not to that extent. Needless to say, we went home and made the booking via their website. There were only about 6 people looking to book holidays in the travel agents, although if they are undercutting themselves to that extent they only have themselves to blame if their stores are empty.

savercol

jhe wrote: »

our local thomson/first choice superstore also charges £10 per person.
a small local thomson store we used to book at never charged in the past but note sure if thats the case now.
personally i would rather pay the little extra to book instore, if any problems crop up before travel the shop will deal with it instead of having to phone and be left on hold for half an hour or more at a time to try and sort a problem or query out

The manageress did say how we had no come back online other than a long phone. Even more annoyed though now as I used my Natwest Debit card (normally use a credit card but costs more) and forgot to register for the 1% cashback, doh!

comeandgo

I think you should have paid part of your holiday by credit card, it gives you extra protection, even if you paid £200 and the rest by debit card

jhe

savercol wrote: »

The manageress did say how we had no come back online other than a long phone. Even more annoyed though now as I used my Natwest Debit card (normally use a credit card but costs more) and forgot to register for the 1% cashback, doh![/QUOTE
thats a shame you lost out on the cash back.
i only ever booked an online holiday once and had a big problem with the booking although i found an alternative geographical number to phone on, it was still frustrating spending hours and hours on the phone over several weeks until problem was resolved, each time speaking to a different person and explaining things all over again.
comeandgo, thomson package holidays are ATOL protected, if TUI go bust the travel industry is in big trouble.

savercol

Comeandgo, I knew someone would say that! Normally I do, hence going into the shop and paying £200 on card the rest in cash. It is a booking for Nov 21st This year so had to pay all in one go.

bagand96

By booking a thomson package your money is 100% safe through ATOL. No need to pay by credit card.

As regards to booking through branches... They have overheads that need paying (rent, staff etc) hence it costs a little more. Thomson do have the flexibility to match online but it depends on the staff.

"Supporting the local store". It's a nice sentiment... But they're all part of the same faceless multinational company.

visidigi

bagand96 wrote: »

By booking a thomson package your money is 100% safe through ATOL. No need to pay by credit card.

As regards to booking through branches... They have overheads that need paying (rent, staff etc) hence it costs a little more. Thomson do have the flexibility to match online but it depends on the staff.

"Supporting the local store". It's a nice sentiment... But they're all part of the same faceless multinational company.

Ever dealt with ATOL? Cover everything?

No.

Spend £1 of your balance on the CC and you're entirely covered.

Why put all your eggs in one basket and let the toothless ATOL fail to pick up the pieces?