Group Holiday Deal Help Please

Funkyscottie

Hi,


I'm wondering whether somebody could give me some advice please, theirs a bit to this story so I shall try to be a clear as I can. I also apologise in advance if I've posted this in the wrong place.


I saw a deal on Groupon which would be a Bucket List tick; 2 nights in Iceland including flights and boat cruise to see the Northern Lights, £169 each.


As I'm a wheelchair user, I contacted Groupon just to check the hotel would be accessible, who inturn gave me the number of the holiday agency who would be dealing with the trip; Bargain Late Holidays/Jetline Travel.


It's at this point, I need to add into the mix that I have a slight speech impediment. 9/10 people can understand me straight away and the rest don't take long to 'tune in' so to speak. When I called the company, I was passed around from pillow to post until somebody could understand me as they were all foreign (and I hate saying that, I'm not racist, foreign people struggle to understand me on the phone, fact!). So I finally speak to someone who can understand me and he apologises, saying that hotel (which was a 3 star, another important point) wasn't accessible but they have another offer on Groupon, same deal; 2 nights, flights, cruise but in a 4 star hotel for £229, which I considered to be worth paying the extra.


I called my mate at work, he was up for it, checked he could get the time off and I bought the 2 Groupon Vouchers. I then called Bargain Late Holidays/Jetline Travel back and redeemed the vouchers which was a mission trying to give information over to someone struggling to understand me but by using the Phenetic Alphabet I got it all sorted. Paid an additional £70 each for better flights to give us longer in Iceland. I also stated again that I was a wheelchair user and needed the hotel to be accessible (I don't need an accessible room, just need to know if a, I can get in the hotel and b, they have a lift) to which he replied, none of the 3 hotels listed on the offer are accessible but I shall put you in a nicer hotel which were his words. I took him at his word, accepted, booked it, paid the additional charge for better flights! Booked! 2 best friends going to Iceland to see the Northern Lights and checkout the Icelandic nightlife!


Here's where I went wrong. I then googled the hotel and found out 2 things; 1, it's awful and 2, it's a 3 star when I've paid for 4. So essentially I've ended up with the first offer I was enquiring about but have paid for the second. My friend then came round after work and I was telling him all this, etc. We googled the choice of three 4 star hotels included in the offer, each are lovely and each are accessible. Basically, I've been conned!


My friend (who's able bodied) then called the company to complain a try and get us in the proper hotel that we've paid for and was told that because I agreed to it verbally over the phone and everything's paid for, they can't change it, to which my friend wouldn't accept, long story short, the person my friend spoke to said that all calls were recorded and he'd go away, listen to the call and come back to us by Monday and it's now Friday which I why I'm asking for advice. Thing is, the calls aren't recorded as legally they have to state this at the beginning of each call which they neither did for me or my friend. I then put all this down in writing on Tuesday and e-mailed them asking them to respond via e-mail to avoid the speech complications and I've had no acknowledgement back.


So where we are now is, it's a Bucket List tick for both me and my friend so we are going, even to we can't change the hotel. But I feel like I've been misled and conned. As someone who travels on a regular basis and generally books flights and accommodation separately – I now feel incredibly stupid for allowing this to happen.


Sorry for the long post.


Scott

richardw

You aren't the first or last to feel this way about Groupon, which is why I and many others avoid them, lesson learned I guess.

leylandsunaddict

This has nothing to do with Groupon. Its down to Bargain Late Holidays.

Funkyscottie

Agreed and that's who I'm trying to deal with but having no joy whatsoever.