teletextholidays - your a disgrace to the travel industry!

6179brett

The 1st mistake I made when booking my holiday was not to view the reviews on teletextholidays and the 2nd mistake was booking through them......
I was advised that the hotel that I originally requested, 'Sunsuites Amazonas' was not suitable for children (even though the reviews stated different) and that teletextholidays strongly recommend a new hotel with them which is in the same complex as the one requested. Having been assured that the new hotel has all of the pool side amenities, evening entertainment, location was the same, and that I had daytime flights (I have 2 young children), I booked the holiday. I paid the amount in full. This was the 3rd mistake. Approx. 1 hour later, I get a call from the rep and am told that due to the delay in them booking the flights, the flights had gone up a further £400 and if I wanted the original daytime flights I would have to pay extra. I was outraged and advised that I wished to cancel. I was then advised that I would have to wait 7-10 to get my money back as they had already taken the money from my account. The rep clearly understood my frustration and went away to look at alternative flights. I had a very small window for this holiday as it was a last minute holiday and my children do not live with me. Around 30 minutes later, somebody else calls and states by saying 'great news! we have found you alternative flights from Stanstead at 1am in the morning....'. I went mental! The original flights were from Gatwick, 15 minutes from the kids home, in short, we went back and forth for 4 hours, and I was finally told that if I wanted Gatwick, and the day time flights, then I would have to pay the extra or wait 7-10 days for my money back which in turn would mean I wouldn't get away that week planned with the kids. Yes, it could've been booked earlier, yet due to work this is impossible to do - So teletextholidays get an extra £££ out of me for their mistakes
The day before I travel, I get the hotel details..... They are exactly the opposite to what I was advised on, to the point where the hotel isn't even on the teletextholidays website nor even in the same complex. The reviews I found on the website were shocking. I immediately got on the phone to teletextholidays and guess what - if I wanted to change to the hotel originally requested, I would have to pay extra!! The hotel I originally requested, was still being shown as available and cheaper to what I’m now being told is the only option unless I handover more money or wait 7-10 days for a refund.
Upon arrival at the hotel of choice for teletextholidays, I and the children were immediately disappointed. The hotel had absolutely no resemblance to the what I was told, the rooms were a death trap, bathrooms the size of a porta-loo, camp beds as beds, and unsafe balconies. If you wished to use the A/C in the room, you had to pay a daily charge. At the time of booking I was advised that this fantastic hotel offered pool side snacks throughout the day – absolutely nothing. The bar consisted of drunken eastern Europeans who had great pleasure harassing young mums in front of the children, and groups of Dutch & German teenagers making the exceptionally small pool unsafe for small children. The food offered was un-edible, to the point where we ate out from the 2nd day onwards. The only safes offered to store valuables were located in the main reception area and are on show to the passing public and no CCTV is visible monitoring them.
In short, I was taken for the best part of £2000 for a week for 3 people and quite frankly we wished we booked at Butlins. Teletextholidays are a bunch of thieving crooks and completely mis-sold this family holiday – never again will I book with them or their sister company Truly Travel.
A full record of this has also been submitted to the BBC Watchdog TV program as it appears that I’m not the only person who has had a similar experience with this awful company!

richardw

Why does MSE Martin S Lewis recommend them ?

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-holiday-haggling-guide

"An oldie but a goodie
TELETEXT HOLIDAYS
Remember its old TV pages? Now the Teletext Holidays website is a good place to get inspired. Its homepage lists top cheap picks to get you started.

The site makes you specify a destination and board basis when you search, which makes it tricky if you just want 'anything cheap'.

While the filter and search options aren't advanced as some other sites', it's got a good range of last-minute and exclusive offers to choose from."