Dont use hayes & Jarvis to book your honeymoon!

stu91

Hi,

Just thought id post this here as I needed to vent and warn people who are potentially going to use Hayes & Jarvis to book a special occasion or honeymoon or anything really. We booked a trip to Hawaii and New York for our honeymoon and spent a fair amount of money to achieve this. We went on the honeymoon in september and to this day Hayes & Jarvis have chosen to ignore our complaints regarding the problems we encountered on our honeymoon that completely ruined everything. So much so that I am trying to work out a way to redo the honeymoon holiday but book with a company that actually cares about its customers, rather than just steal their money... I would welcome any advice on companies that people have had positive experiences with that arent part of the TUI group so that I can hopefully make our honeymoon experience something positive to remember for my wife and myself.

Just a small note of what happened in my experiences with Hayes & Jarvis - Please note my wife is a nervous flier - we had a bad experience with AA in the past so I had to get the most direct flights to our destinations and avoid AA for the transatlantic journeys to reduce flight stress levels!

We had direct flights from Hawaii to New York Booked with H&J - they phoned up 2 weeks before we were due to fly to inform us that we couldnt go on the flights any more and we had to go on an alternative with 2 stopovers. This would also mean we lost a day of our honeymoon from New York. Had to argue with a lady for a couple of days to find out the cause of this and it turns out they didnt book us onto the flight (they messed it up) yet I was being talked to like it was our fault and we just had to deal with it. They begrudgingly decided to get us a different flight with 1 stopover in Seattle but it meant we had to lose a day from Hawaii and stay in two different hotels in New York which isnt the most ideal of solutions so not a great start having to lose a day in paradise when you spent 16+ hours flying to experience it in the first place. No apology from H&J - they even tried to charge me for the hotel in New York even though they created the problem.

So, thats done and we are due to leave in a day - I go online to check in to my flights and realise that my return trip from New York - they have booked a return flight with AA - not what we discussed or requested. Phoned up H&J to bring it to their attention and once again they tried to charge me to change the flight and I had to argue with them that it was made clear on the booking call that we would not fly with AA, they agreed to listen to the call and if this was mentioned then they would not charge me, ten mins later they phoned back to say everything had been changed. Not a great start and we havnt left UK yet!

We arrived at our hotel in Hawaii - we stayed at the Royal Lahaina Resort and when we arrived we were greated by hotel refurbishment works (oh joy! - cant believe Hayes and Jarvis wouldnt tell you about this going on would you) well they didnt so we had to grin and bear it whilst they drilled and hammered throughout the hotel for the length of our stay, to top this off the following day we noticed that the main swimming pool was shut because they were doing works to it - it would not be open for the length of our stay either so we were left with one pool to use which was the size of a jacuzzi and not something you could call a pool. Hayes and Jarvis, as a prestige holiday operator, should have notified us of this and given us the opportunity to change as the whole experience in Hawaii was thwarted by this going on. I sent pictures and an email to complain on the 11th September to Hayes & Jarvis and they said they would respond in 28 days - I have followed this up twice and they still have not been in touch 77 days down the line - they literally dont care after taking your money.

So thats everything you're thinking.... not quite!

We arrived in New York and had to stay in one hotel for one day and move to another the following day - not very relaxing but it was all they could offer. When we got to our main hotel we were given a dirty room at the back of the hotel directly near the kitchen vents so you could smell everything. Hayes & jarvis told me about the special rooms honeymooners would be given so they could enjoy views of nearby Madison square gardens etc but this definately wasnt it. I went to reception and asked them about it - saying we were on our honeymoon and they said had they been told by H&J that is was our honeymoon we definately would not have been put in that room, she arranged for us to be moved to a new room. H&J never tell anyone its your honeymoon, they literally dont care and promise you everything before hand and try to make you grin and bear it afterwards!

Then comes the piece d'resistance... I logged in to check in to our flights exactly 24 hours before we were due to fly to ensure I could check into seats that we next to each other so my wife would relax on the flight home - its normally a simple process. However, I could not do this as there were 'problems' online... I phoned BA and they told me that I was not booked on the flights and my travel operator had cancelled them. In short we had no way home at that point in time. I phoned H&J and it was 1am UK time so got through to the out of hours service to find out what was going on. The lady that answered said that she didnt have access to any systems and would try to help but I would probably have to wait until people got back into the office at 9am (4am New York time) If I can speak to the airline at 1am - why cant they sort it too? Well, this well and truly ruined our last night in New York as we were stressing out because we had no flight home and no hotel to stay in if they left us in the lurch. I received no phone call back and couldnt sleep all night so phoned them back at 4am New York time (9am UK to get it sorted asap).

I was told that the after hours service is a call answering service so please note this if you need any help out of hours as they cannot do anything to help you out at all - you have to wait until the offices open which therefore makes it a totally pointless service to have in operation.

I then found out through their poor administration they had not booked us on the flight home either so we were flightless and they had to try to sort things out. when they did get us a flight we lost more time in our last day in New York and we could not sit together as the flight was full, which was a terrible resolution for a nervous flier. I had to then argue my case with an obnoxious lady on the phone, who's job it seems is to just tell customers, "tough, its not our problem, deal with it" for a couple of hours before finally getting to speak with her manager to sort a resolution with a different flight home that had more availability.

All in all the experience with this company has been dreadful and I would hate to hear that anyone else has had their hard earned money wasted and what should be a brilliant and memorable experience tarnished by the incompetence that this company displays.

On a side note - I have complained twice to their CEO Peter Long and their customer services team upon arriving back from honeymoon and they have yet to respond to these matters.

If you think you are getting a prestige service and will be looked after by this company you are likely to be disappointed. Please do not trust or spend money with them they should not be allowed to wreck anyone elses experiences. I dont think I am alone in my views on this so please share any for the world to see how poor a company this really is!

If anyone can let me know of a good company to book with that would be most appreciated.

Thanks for reading,

Stuart

Gloomendoom

Sorry to hear of your bad experiences.

I would suggest arranging future holidays yourself. That way, you will be in control.

photome

As above
DIY

littlereddevil

Sorry to read your honeymoon was spoiled. I also don't rely on others to book me.

richardw

A great example of what appears to be a poor travel agent doing a bad job.

joerugby

Sorry to hear about your experience.

I haven't used a travel agent for years now. Booking direct can be scary at first but it works (most of the time)

claire16c

I've been to Hawaii several times, each time with AA. Last time I used my aa miles to sit in business.

Had a fantastic trip each time. And booked it each time on my own.

So if you're looking for how to redo your trip, book it yourself, and don't rule out AA, they have various routes to different Hawaiian islands I think you're mad to rule them out. They code share with BA and Alaska who are also fine.

If you go back, use VRBO.com to book a condo. Will save you a fortune and you'll have more room, condo owners also bring rates down a lot if there's any work going on.

And personally when it comes to Maui I don't like Ka'anapali all that much, the southern part of the island I find nicer and less built up, more beaches. Although some parts above Ka'anapali like Napili are nice. But if you stay on the west side you're a long way from Haleakala and road to Hana etc.

bluenose1

What a terrible experience, no wonder you are annoyed.
I for one would not use them after reading this.
Hope your next holiday goes more smoothly.

Tiggy_Wiggy

Oh what a terrible story. What a ruined honeymoon you had, and I'm sure you paid a premium too, I've always found H&J so much more expensive.

I know all the posts above have said to book your holiday yourself next time. But to be honest, whilst I have done that in the past, I find it's just too much hassle when you work full time and have other commitments.

I have used Trailfinders a number of times now and each time (the booking and the holiday) have gone smoothly. I would try them next time. And they don't charge a credit card fee either.

malkie76

As above - organise your own flights and hotel. Sounds like they were pretty useless at maintaining your peace of mind.

claire16c

Tiggy_Wiggy wrote: »

Oh what a terrible story. What a ruined honeymoon you had, and I'm sure you paid a premium too, I've always found H&J so much more expensive.

I know all the posts above have said to book your holiday yourself next time. But to be honest, whilst I have done that in the past, I find it's just too much hassle when you work full time and have other commitments.

I have used Trailfinders a number of times now and each time (the booking and the holiday) have gone smoothly. I would try them next time. And they don't charge a credit card fee either.

How is it more hassle than going on a trip to the travel agents?

In the time it would take me to drive, park, walk there and then sit and discuss all the options, I could just go on a flight website, pick a flight, book a hotel/apartment etc in minutes!

And see exactly what I was booking with no added on prices, sales talk etc

Yes you might need to do your research first which can take some time- but same applies to a travel agent holiday - you'd still need to go home and check the hotel reviews on trip advisor, prices etc I wouldn't trust them to put me in the best place/best value.

And then if anything goes wrong you can deal directly with the airline and no middle man trying to shift the blame.