A holiday ombudsman?

wirelad

Hope somebody can help please,
I booked my honeymoon through A1 travel roughly 10 days before going on said honeymoon after the wedding.
I called up and quoted the ref number for said hotel and booked it. It wasn't untill 6am ish before flying to Rhodes that I noticed the hotel was a different hotel, we booked for mitsis Rhodos Maris resort but they had actually booked us into an inferior mitsis village beach resort across the road.
I have raised a complaint as I rang them from the resort but had no help what so ever. I was told I would receive an answer within 28 days but have only received a letter from them today which is about 36 days later and that was after numerous calls to chase up.
Basically they said it's my fault I didn't let them know earlier but there is nothing they can do. Is there an ombudsman that I can contact as I am definitely not happy with this response and feel I have been fobbed off. This same incident has happened previously apparently reading and speaking elsewhere. Is there anything else I can do?
Thanks kyle

Andypandyboy

There is a retail Ombudsman and I imagine you would be covered by that for a holiday.

paddyrg

Abta?.....

wirelad

The company is abta and atol protected so may try them.

Hintza

What are you wanting from them?

I assume they sent you all the information which you didn't check until just before departure? If you had checked it when the booking information arrived, I assume they could have sorted it out.

InsideInsurance

There is no Ombudsman but there is ABTA as others have pointed out. The below gives their advice on how to go about your complaint.

http://abta.com/go-travel/travel-clinic/complaints/complaints-just-got-back

Hadnt heard of the Retail Ombudsman before and there is nothing on their site that says they dont cover travel however unlike a "normal" ombudsman their decisions are not binding on the retailer

unholyangel

InsideInsurance wrote: »

There is no Ombudsman but there is ABTA as others have pointed out. The below gives their advice on how to go about your complaint.

http://abta.com/go-travel/travel-clinic/complaints/complaints-just-got-back

Hadnt heard of the Retail Ombudsman before and there is nothing on their site that says they dont cover travel however unlike a "normal" ombudsman their decisions are not binding on the retailer

You must have missed the half a dozen threads we've had on them here. In order for TRO to be able to deal with your complaint, the retailer you're complaining about must be a member of theirs. Their decisions are binding on retailers - but only retailers who are members and have agreed to be bound by their code of conduct (lol)

Now a setup like that isnt bad in itself. But the last thread they were mentioned, it transpired TRO had removed their members list as they were claiming certain retailers were members when they aren't. They also try to sound like an official ombudsman when really, its a business venture spearheaded by one barrister/solicitor (cant remember what he is).

All in all, the retail ombudsman have been subject to a series of gaffes one after another since their start up. Personally I wouldn't trust them to run a bath, never mind an ombudsman service.

InsideInsurance

unholyangel wrote: »

You must have missed the half a dozen threads we've had on them here. In order for TRO to be able to deal with your complaint, the retailer you're complaining about must be a member of theirs. Their decisions are binding on retailers - but only retailers who are members and have agreed to be bound by their code of conduct (lol)

That or it was just a TLA that I didnt recognise/ didnt look up.

It would only be a contactual bind, rather than legislative, even on their own members and personally would question how far they are going to take any breach of contracts where their members refuse to pay up.

unholyangel

InsideInsurance wrote: »

That or it was just a TLA that I didnt recognise/ didnt look up.

It would only be a contactual bind, rather than legislative, even on their own members and personally would question how far they are going to take any breach of contracts where their members refuse to pay up.

Given its not an official one, its funded by members and they don't seem to have any/many members.....I'd say they wouldnt be chasing anyone atm

Also what they said on their website (which apparently they removed after it came under fire here) basically marketed their company to businesses as a way to get rid of stubborn customers who wont accept what the retailer tell them.

I believe even MSE was blasted by members for reporting it as an official ombudsman when they're not - although I believe they did ask TRO for clarification on a few matters once it was pointed out to them but I don't think we ever got a response to any of the questions we asked.

wealdroam

InsideInsurance wrote: »

That or it was just a TLA that I didnt recognise/ didnt look up.

InsideInsurance, it really would be worth a few minutes of your time reviewing this thread:

MSE News: Retail ombudsman service launches today

.

InsideInsurance

unholyangel wrote: »

Also what they said on their website (which apparently they removed after it came under fire here) basically marketed their company to businesses as a way to get rid of stubborn customers who wont accept what the retailer tell them.

Obviously in insurance we dont get a choice about if we subscribe to the ombudsman or not and as such the FOS has no need to market themselves to us. Most of my prior clients were not the sort of companies that decided what to do with complaints based on the economies of the ombudsman fee.

Sometimes it really is good to be able to pass things off to the ombudsman and let them deal with particularly annoying customers who wont listen to logic, legislation, common sense or anything else... its £450 well spent!