First Choice - sea view room, a joke!

LizardLady

Hi,

Me and my husband had a two week holiday in the Riviera Maya in Mexico back in September with First Choice, all was well apart from the supposed "sea view" room we booked, we paid an extra £12 per person per night, we thought why not as it was our 2nd wedding anniversary and would of been romantic however it was definitely not sea view room! not wanting to waste some of our holiday and mood we stuck with it and I emailed then when I returned with a photo of the non view:

I have finally received my reply 27 days later, right at the end of their 28 day response time stating:



[FONT=&quot]Dear********,[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]


[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Holidays are a time we all look forward to, so I was sorry to hear that there were aspects of your trip that didn’t meet your expectations.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]




[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]We do state in our A-Z guide that If you book a room with a sea view, it may be partly blocked by trees or smaller buildings, or across a road, but you’ll still be able to see the sea. You would have been required to read this guide upon booking your holiday. Although the view from your room is partly blocked there is nothing else we can do in this instance however we do apologise for this.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]




[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]As a company, we think that it is important to say sorry to any customer who has found cause for complaint. I accept that this does not change what happened, however we really will try to take your comments on board to improve the quality of our service.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]


[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Yours sincerely,[/FONT]


*************
[FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]


I am furious as this is a big fob off, I find it insulting that they think it is fine to fob us off with the room they gave us as a sea view room. My husband took the photo I sent them, he is taller than me and there is a tiny thread of water on the horizon, I however am shorter than my husband so I could not see anything! only the trees, no water visible at all.

I have emailed back saying my case is not closed, it is just not good enough and I want a full refund, I could not see any water what so ever myself there for I was not providing with what I paid for.

Has anyone had previous experience with anything like this or have any advise please?

InsideInsurance

Unfortunately you really did miss the main opportunity of complaint which is when you first checked in. Ok, I dont tend to go through tour operators but have booked "panoramic view" or "sea view" rooms etc before, not been happy so contacted reception and without fail everytime I've been moved to another room without fuss.

Does the photo show things from your point of view or your husbands? Ideally you want worse case otherwise you are giving them ammunition to say that its a partial view and therefore meets their definition.

PeacefulWaters

"It's there, between the land and the sky".

http://youtu.be/0hxUNpJlbaI

whatmichaelsays

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

"It's there, between the land and the sky".

http://youtu.be/0hxUNpJlbaI

Came to this thread for this. Left satisfied.

LizardLady

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Unfortunately you really did miss the main opportunity of complaint which is when you first checked in. Ok, I dont tend to go through tour operators but have booked "panoramic view" or "sea view" rooms etc before, not been happy so contacted reception and without fail everytime I've been moved to another room without fuss.

Does the photo show things from your point of view or your husbands? Ideally you want worse case otherwise you are giving them ammunition to say that its a partial view and therefore meets their definition.

We did mention it to reception and they said the only sea view rooms they have are for premium members. We did not want to waste any of our holiday pursuing it further as we saved a lot for our trip, we are not one of those couples than can just go at the drop of the hat to places like this, we spent over a year saving so this is a big kick in the teeth, I could not see the sea, so I was not designated a sea view room. I have written back saying their reply is not good enough and am pursuing a refund.

LizardLady

"It's there, between the land and the sky".

If only it was Basil, then at least I would have someones face to stamp on!

London50

I am furious as this is a big fob off, I find it insulting that they think it is fine to fob us off with the room they gave us as a sea view room. My husband took the photo I sent them, he is taller than me and there is a tiny thread of water on the horizon, I however am shorter than my husband so I could not see anything! only the trees, no water visible at all.

I have emailed back saying my case is not closed, it is just not good enough and I want a full refund, I could not see any water what so ever myself there for I was not providing with what I paid for.

The "tiny thread of water" was more than likely the sea, First Choice gave a "Room with a sea view", nowhere does it state that persons within the room should or will be able to see the sea just that the room "has" a sea view.
As for a FULL REFUND after you have returned from your holiday and not raising ANY issue while you were there IMO you do not stand ANY CHANCE, First Choice MAY give you vouchers to a small value against a future holiday with them {normally timed so to be used within one year max. You should have brought your feeling up with the rep once you saw the room you were given not waited until your return as it MAY have given more chance of SOME cash return or a move to a room more to your request {30/60 mins out of your break away too move would not have had much impact for you} but IMO the thought of a FREE HOLIDAY {with the requested full refund} over rode common sense and First Choice know it.
Good luck if you try and push it further as I think you will find it will cost you more to take it to court than the overall cost of the holiday.

LizardLady

London50 wrote: »

I am furious as this is a big fob off, I find it insulting that they think it is fine to fob us off with the room they gave us as a sea view room. My husband took the photo I sent them, he is taller than me and there is a tiny thread of water on the horizon, I however am shorter than my husband so I could not see anything! only the trees, no water visible at all.

I have emailed back saying my case is not closed, it is just not good enough and I want a full refund, I could not see any water what so ever myself there for I was not providing with what I paid for.

The "tiny thread of water" was more than likely the sea, First Choice gave a "Room with a sea view", nowhere does it state that persons within the room should or will be able to see the sea just that the room "has" a sea view.
As for a FULL REFUND after you have returned from your holiday and not raising ANY issue while you were there IMO you do not stand ANY CHANCE, First Choice MAY give you vouchers to a small value against a future holiday with them {normally timed so to be used within one year max. You should have brought your feeling up with the rep once you saw the room you were given not waited until your return as it MAY have given more chance of SOME cash return or a move to a room more to your request {30/60 mins out of your break away too move would not have had much impact for you} but IMO the thought of a FREE HOLIDAY {with the requested full refund} over rode common sense and First Choice know it.
Good luck if you try and push it further as I think you will find it will cost you more to take it to court than the overall cost of the holiday.

I have not asked for a full refund of the holiday, I have asked for a full refund of the extra charge for the sea view room, I am not an idiot so do not speak to me like one. I did raise the issue with the reception who them themselves admitted it was not a sea view and said the sea views are for exclusive members only so there were no other rooms to move to to fulfill what we have paid for, as for no where stating that you should be able to see the sea from a see view room that is just ridiculous.

jumperabv3

LizardLady wrote: »

I have not asked for a full refund of the holiday, I have asked for a full refund of the extra charge for the sea view room, I am not an idiot so do not speak to me like one.

Can I ask how much was this charge?

LizardLady

jumperabv3 wrote: »

Can I ask how much was this charge?

It was £12 per person per night so cost us an extra £336! Silly now looking back on it annoyed I went for it but thought it would of been nice for our anniversary, I was wrong!

London50

I have emailed back saying my case is not closed, it is just not good enough and I want a full refund

Your quote

You should make things clearer in your OP then