Teletext Holiday from Hell!

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

littlereddevil

What an awful holiday, i do hope someone can advise you

Alan_Bowen

What a pity you didn't ask about Teletext Holidays before booking, they are one of the most complained about companies on this board. Teletext appear to have a system monitoring complaints here and there may well be a generic 'so sorry, please contact me and I will move heaven and earth for you' response shortly from them.

Regrettably those who post suggest that nothing moves at all, did you book a package holiday, paying a single price for a holiday and have an ATOL Certificate which says 'package holiday' in the bottom right hand corner or is this a 'Flight Plus' holiday as shown on your ATOL Certificate? If it is the latter Teletext will wash their hands and tell you to complain to the supplier which will be another agency, sometimes in the UK, sometimes not.

Write to them setting out exactly what you are looking for by way of compensation, give them no more than 21 days to reply and if they don't then I suspect the only way to get them to act is to take legal action against them. If the company selling you the holiday was Truly Travel which is the case for most Teletext Holidays they are not members of ABTA so you cannot use their arbitration scheme, if you haven't done so already take a screen print of the description of the hotel and you should be aware that the ' we only have upgraded rooms at a higher price' rouse seems to be a regular one for this company, anyone would think the staff were on commission for that suggestion alone!

Spovey

I really hope someone can help too!

Spovey

Alan it is a 'flight plus' ATOL certificate.

Thank you for your help, really want to try and get this sorted as it was appaling

Alice_Walker

What is the name of the hotel? Did you do any research before booking?

Alan_Bowen

A Flight Plus ATOL Certificate means your contract for the hotel is not with Teletext, big surprise, you need to look and see which company is named as the supplier of the accommodation as legally they are responsible. Do you have anything produced by Teletext itself describing the accommodation which you based your purchase on? Have you compared it to Tripadvisor or other reviews of the accommodation as you surely cannot have been the only ones to complain about the food. Please name the hotel so we can see if other real tour operators use it and how they describe it.

Dia_Pita

Hi Spovey, sorry to hear you had such a bad experience and I hope it has not put you off Crete. To help others avoid this hotel please name and shame.

nirajn123

I tried booking through Teletext in the past (as it was recommended site at one point on MSE), but the random increase in holiday prices when called - only to be shown same low price online afterwards was enough to convince me that these guys are not to be trusted. Sorry - too late for you, but I wouldn't touch this site from a bargepole. Their prices are always misleading (and in your case even the package too) - needs to be reported to ASA.

consumers_revenge

Make sure you write the hotel up on tripadvisor too as well as explaining your story. Lost revenues works wonders and bed rep may well get you some help too.

Good luck and sorry that you had such a crappy time.

hollydays

nirajn123 wrote: »

I tried booking through Teletext in the past (as it was recommended site at one point on MSE), but the random increase in holiday prices when called - only to be shown same low price online afterwards was enough to convince me that these guys are not to be trusted. Sorry - too late for you, but I wouldn't touch this site from a bargepole. Their prices are always misleading (and in your case even the package too) - needs to be reported to ASA.

They are still on mses list of companies to haggle with...
Having had dealings myself, I found communication virtually was impossible.
Constant phone calls , broken promises and lies.
I've just added a " beware" Post on mses 'haggling ' thread.

They are indescribably appalling.