Teletext Holiday Complaints

3littlegems

Hideous company!!!
I am 9 months in to an ongoing complaint of having no transfers booked. Still trying to get my money back!!
Thanks to the info the op provided i have just called Holiday Travel Watch and awaiting someone to call me back. I am at a complete stale mate with teletext and TTA (who are also nothing short of rubbish)
Never again will i book with them or any of their associates

Spovey

Good afternoon, I hope you are well.

I would like to let you know about the most appalling experience we had with Teletext holidays during our recent trip to Crete from 2nd – 12th August. I have never been so appalled by customer service and support.

We previously used teletext last year for a trip to Morocco, which was amazing, hence why we are so angry and upset by this experience.

When I booked the holiday over the phone, I was told that the price had gone up as there were no standard rooms available for the dates and therefore we would have to pay extra for an upgraded room, which we did. We were also told that because of this, it would be requested that had a room with a sea view. You can imagine our shock when we arrived to the hotel to be told there was no superior room, and we were nowhere near the sea and therefore a sea view was also impossible. This is all rather trivial in comparison to what happened next.

On the second day, we went down for breakfast, having paid extra for all inclusive (just over £1000 for the hotel alone) to find the food was anaemic, the pastries were uncooked, and the rest was freezing cold, no heat whatsoever. The cereals tasted stale and the fruit juices from the machine were pure sugar. We decided not to say anything and try the ‘restaurant’ (if you could call it that) again for lunch. I cannot begin to explain to you how diabolical the food was, it was either completely uncooked or mush. Again, everything was freezing cold, so we both ended up having a bit of lettuce and cucumber. For dinner, we went down again, hoping it may be different all together, only to find it was exactly the same as what we had for lunch. My partner (Greg) spoke to the waiter and explained that the food was cold, he replaced some chips for another batch and these were also exactly the same. It was extremely important for us that Greg had enough to eat as he is type 1 diabetic. Again, we both just had a small plate of salad. This is not good enough considering how much we were paying. We decided to go up to the reception area to complain and the lady on reception explained that the food is not made in the hotel, it is made in another hotel a long journey away and then transported in the car in thermal carriers. It is then put into a Banne Marie, which is only lit once the food is in there, hence why all the food was cold! It is unethical to serve food in such a poor manner and we were basically told to deal with it because it wasn’t going to change.

We then asked to speak to the manager and find out if we could change from all inclusive to half board, or self catering and be refunded the difference as we were using all the spending money we had bought out to explore the island on ensuring that we had enough to eat throughout the day. This completely ruined our holiday, meaning we had to get extra money out, which we couldn’t afford to do after spending so much on a holiday. After being in complete tears after the day, Greg decided to ring teletext and after numerous attempts, managed to speak to someone who said that they would speak to our hotel or try to find us alternative accommodation.

After hearing nothing back, this cycle continued for a few days with us ringing to chase what was happening. We were then told by teletext they could help to sort it if the hotel manager would approve a switch in board basis/refund. The manager refused to do so, was extremely rude over the phone to Greg and I, making me cry as he was extremely offensive and aggressive. We did not want to stay in his hotel. We then asked to move hotels and were told by teletext we could move to a 2 star place, but would have to pay £500 extra, which we most certainly didn’t have considering how much we had already spent from practically being self catering! When we returned to the hotel that evening, the hotel manager was there and was extremely aggressive, saying there was nothing wrong with his food and that he should chuck us on the streets, all because we had asked to change board basis as we were not eating anything in the hotel and funding our own food and drink for the 10 day holiday. He changed the locks on our hotel room and forced me to sign a letter (which I have a copy of) saying that we would no longer complain. Until I did so, he would not let us into the room which contained all of our belongings, passports money etc. This is bullying and horrendous and we felt like we had no help at all from anyone. We were stuck. All of the money we had saved up from working hard to take a break and have a lovely holiday may as well have been thrown straight into the bin.

I have reported the hotel to food standards agency and will not rest until this case is taken further.

I look forward to your response as a matter of urgency.

Sherridan Povey

Alan_Bowen

Spovey, I have replied to your duplicate response, as you can see from this, my comments just echo everyone elses's

Judit71

Hi,
Can I ask what happened so far as we are still in the resort and very unhappy with the hotel and teletext holidays. Regards Judy

dknnins

Travel date: September 2016
The Hotel Esplendid in Blanes, Costa Brava, Spain is the worse hotel I have ever stayed at. Please read this report carefully and do not get caught out as we did.
Terrible food. Breakfast was practically non existent and of dreadful quality. Dinner was almost the same but not entirely dissimilar. All the food was stodgy. How they can even imagine "humans" would want to eat this way beats me. The quality of the room was NOT to standard.
We went Half Board through Teletext Holidays (also known as “Truly Travel Ltd”) which was also a mistake as I can only use 2 words to describe them – VERY DODGY! They lied to us about a lot of things. They told us the hotel was one of the best in Blanes (LIE). We booked transfers through them which they booked through a company called “From2”. They told us the transfer time was supposed to be 1 hour, which is acceptable. But after paying for the holiday and receiving my confirmation documentation, it was printed that transfer time was 2 hours – Not acceptable. I questioned this and was told that this was the total transfer time including the return (ANOTHER LIE). The truth is that after flying in and landing at around 23.45pm, we went and found From2 and were then told to hurry through as the coach would be leaving at 00.30am. Beware, it’s an extraordinarily long walk! We got to the coach after walking for what seemed like ages. We got on and then sat there for the next hour whilst the driver waited for another flight to come in. It was totally disorganised. People were getting on the coach. People were getting taken off as was luggage. I just do not know what the hell was going on there. The driver didn’t even speak English so it was pointless asking him what was going on. When the coach finally got going over an hour later, we then faced the 2 hour journey to our hotel as other travellers needed dropping off at their respective hotels on the way.
We finally arrived at our hotel in the early hours of the morning. Tired and “dirty”. All we wanted to do was have a shower and go to sleep. But after having to pay a “Tourist Tax” which Teletext Holidays also did not tell us about, even after I asked if there was anything else to pay and was told no (YET ANOTHER LIE), nothing could prepare us for the next insult. And by-the-way, I have photographic evidence of everything I’m about to say. Beware, this hotel is publicised as a 3 Star. Believe me, it should be lucky to even receive a 2 Star at best. AND, absolutely not in the condition of the photos you see on-line. These were probably taken when the hotel was new.
1. There was a horrible smell of damp in the room.
2. The beds were metal “Camp beds”. Very, very hard horrible mattresses. You cannot sleep in those beds. They are so uncomfortable!
3. The door to the room was broken. Not secure. I think it may have been “kicked” in at some time in the past. A very cheep repair with filler had been applied. You cannot rest knowing that someone can come into your room at any second. You cannot leave the room knowing that your personal possessions are at risk.
4. The decorative state of the room, and even the rest of the hotel is awful. In the room there were huge cracks and holes in the walls. The heating radiator was covered with rust. The floor had small holes all over the place. In fact, the whole hotel looks like it’s in a “time warp” back to the 1970’s, which is probably when it was built and has never been updated. The walls are very thin in this hotel which means you can hear everything between rooms. You can also not get away from the noise coming from the hallways due to the doors being rubbish too.
5. The wardrobes were in a very bad state. Cracks in the backs. Mouldings missing. Unclean.
6. The balcony had damp, mould and dirt everywhere. There where holes in the side privacy panels.
7. The bathroom was disgraceful. The bath was rusty and there was mould around the edges. There were rust spots in the base of the bath and there were also minor repairs where there must have been some damage in the past and a cheep repair with filler was applied.
8. The air conditioning was not working at all. Very bad in the heat of Spain.
9. BEWARE – You have to pay for everything at this hotel. For example, they publicise that they have Wifi, Room safe, TV, etc. Paying for Wifi access I can understand, but what they don’t tell you is that if you want to use the safe, you have to pay. When looking around the room for the TV remote control, you will not find one. Go to reception to ask about it and you will be asked to pay a rental fee for it. What a joke.

I immediately telephoned the Teletext Holidays 24 hour helpline which of course is an international call charge from my mobile phone, only to get someone who sounded like I’d got him out of bed. He was of course, no help at all. I tried to tell him everything but all he kept saying was that I needed to call back in the morning. He was like a scratched record!

We did not sleep a wink that night and were definitely not able to take a shower.

In the morning I telephoned the Teletext Holidays 24 hour helpline again and explained everything again. Another international telephone call charge. I told the customer service operative that if they wanted us to stay at the hotel, then we had to be given better accommodation or we’d have to be moved to a better hotel. I’ve got to be honest, the lady I spoke with sounded quite understanding and said that someone would get back to me by 11.00am.

Whilst waiting for the call back I went down to reception and explained the predicament. When I told the young girl behind the desk what room we were in, she had a look of horror on her face. Obviously she knew the kind of room we’d been given!

At around 10.30 we were moved to what I must admit, was a better room. Not perfect, but none-the-less better. It was cleaner. Still had a couple of cracks in the walls and a minor bit of rust on the edge of the bath. The beds, although of a similar style to the previous room did have a bit better mattresses on them and at least were sleepable.

11.00am came and went and I got no call back from Teletext Holidays, so I called them again. Another international phone call charge. I spoke to another customer service operative and informed her that we had been moved, and although a better room, we would stay there under certain circumstances. Those being, that, I wanted us to be downgraded from Half Board to room only as I was no way going to eat that disgusting food, and that for the problems of the previous night and room, that I would expect a reimbursement of £200. I asked her if she felt I was being unreasonable, to which she replied no. The call was ended by her telling me she would speak to the complaints team and have them call me back.

The final insult:

I received a call from a man in the complaints team, and this is what I was told.
If I wanted to move hotel, I would have to pay to do so.
My only option was to stay…. AND that all they were prepared to reimburse was £20 and that the minimum they could downgrade us to was Bed & Breakfast which is publicised as “Free breakfast” anyway .

£20?????

For all the trouble they’d put us through and the downgrade, that’s all that was offered?

Well, I suppose, it just shows what the quality of the food is, if the Half Board package is worth only £20.

So, the question is:
Would I ever travel with Teletext Holidays (Truly Travel Ltd) again? – NO
Would I ever go to the Hotel Esplendid again? – Absolutely NO

I will of course be taking this matter further. But I can only say this. Travel with Teletext Holidays (Truly Travel Ltd) at your own risk. You can see how they have treated us. I would hate to see anyone else having to go through what we have been through. Also, go to Hotel Esplendid at your own risk or if you like that sort of thing.

Update: Since returning home, I took the matter up with Teletext Holidays (Truly Travel Ltd). Provided them with everything they required for their investigations, including all the photographic evidence. AND, despite making all that effort, you can guess, they’ve washed their hands of it.

Once again:
Would I ever travel with Teletext Holidays (Truly Travel Ltd) again? – NO
Would I ever go to the Hotel Esplendid again? – Absolutely NO

Teletext

Hi Dknnins,

We are really sorry to read your complements. Please can we have your TT booking reference number so we can look into this for you?

Kind Regards

Teletext Holidays

richardw

Teletext wrote: »

....We are really sorry...

.......Twaddle!

borrowers

Oh my word! We are still waiting to resolve our complaint with Teletext but it's 'only' been 2 months so I suppose we still have some way to go before we even get a first proper response! We travelled with Teletext many years ago and never had any problems, what a shame that seems to have changed.
Will keep an eye on this thread to see who, if anyone, get's any resolution. Cheers

Teletext

Hi Borrowers,

We are sorry to read your comments. Can we get your TT booking reference number so we can look into this for you and contact you directly?

Kind Regards

Teletext Holidays

scubajohn

QUITE SIMPLES DONT USE THEM. i wish more people would look closely, check Whos behind teletx ie which company , i do think the auto reply from teletx is funny my translation is keep sending letters ,give the shredder loads of work . i am surprized i used to believe MSE was inpartial