TUI Holiday Mis-selling? Help welcomed!

Skyhigh

I'd appreciate your views, and suggestions on this scenario we're having with TUI where they're now trying to charge us £200 to "upgrade" for 4 days to eat breakfast in the hotel we've booked.


Long story short:

• Last weekend we went into a TUI store, found and booked 1 week at Disneyland Paris for Sept - Disney New Port Bay Club Hotel
• Package included free half-board meal package (great!)
• We signed TUI contract, which says "Half board"
• 3 days later, I try to book Character Dinners, etc, via Disney website - booking ref doesn't work
• I go around the houses with TUI and Disney - TUI hasn't sent use the Disney booking document!
• I get the document, which also includes Disney holiday terms (hadn't seen these before) - and under Half Board it says "Counter Service breakfast"
• Researching online, in 2017 the changed it so if you get Half Board free, you no-longer eat in the hotel, but must go into the park and get a jam roll or omelette burger
• If you *pay* for the Half Board and it's not give free, you get have the full buffett in the hotel.
• We weren't told this, if we'd have known, we wouldn't have booked it.

Other points:

• We asked in TUI if we got to eat in the hotel - they said yes. Staff now deny saying this.
• We asked, as our daughter has a medical condition which means she really need to eat in the hotel (for facilities and also dietary requirements) - plus, to be frank, we expected a *normal* breakfast too. But we checked.
• Mother-in-law also asked the same store the question (she got a quote independently, as they want to go with us), was told would be eating in the hotel also. TUI also refute this.
• Staff agreed that "not all staff" knew about the change.
• Staff point out that we were wrong to assume that breakfast would be in the hotel (I pointed out, this is common practice and they should have told us).

What's your thoughts on this?


Stores stance is:

• Tough. You signed the contract. It's you fault for assuming you'd be eating in the hotel.
• We won't offer any other option.
• "It's not that far to walk" (24 mins to nearest counter)
• "Still counts as half board as you get a breakfast"
• "Even if we gave you a bowl of coco-pops, that would count"

Current "plan of action" is:

• I've asked Disney to confirm their view on this in writing. Over the phone they confirmed TUI should have told us of the difference and they tell people this when booking direct.
• If you add our package to basket on MagicBreaks (different supplier), message clearly tells you the change to breakfast.
• They didn't show us the Disney terms which said "counter service" and lots of other requirements, only TUI. To me this falls under Unfair Terms by EU Law.
• New Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations (2018, as of 1st July - lucky us!) also comes into play I think, as holiday was not as described.
• Common definitions of half-board I can find, where they refer to breakfast typically mention *in hotel* and *buffet style*. It's a market standard from my view
• Might get Amex to dispute the transaction, but to be quite frank I don't want to go down this route or even the legal route. I've asked them constantly to give me options for a resolution, but they're not forthcoming.

We are just going round in circles on the phone, with their staff getting fairly irate with me*, so I've booked an appointment to talk to them in-store in the morning - ideally with the manager - to try and get a resolution we're happy with.

gettingtheresometime

I've just had a look at the Disneyland site & even on that site it does state that the free half board deal means that the breakfast might be served at one of the restaurants located in the park.

I agree with you that it would be reasonable to assume that breakfast would be in the hotel but I suppose it's horses for courses.

I think you got a choice of either dealing with the situation as it is or paying the £400 .....if the old skyhigh charm can't get it changed for free by appealing to either Tui or Disney's better nature

Skyhigh

Unfortunately we didn't look online or in a brochure - as typically we prefer talking to someone in-store and booking in person. I know this sounds odd and in retrospect "research research research".

I've tried charm, I'll be trying it tomorrow morning again - and giving them a chance to make things good. And all the way along thanking them for their help and time discussing the matter too.
(e.g. we may be open to them paying the "book cost" as Disney suggested and splitting the cost just to get put to bed)

That said, we've been met with a stoney response so far or what amounts to "put up or shut up"

gettingtheresometime

Skyhigh wrote: »

Unfortunately we didn't look online or in a brochure - as typically we prefer talking to someone in-store and booking in person. I know this sounds odd and in retrospect "research research research".

I've tried charm, I'll be trying it tomorrow morning again - and giving them a chance to make things good. And all the way along thanking them for their help and time discussing the matter too.
(e.g. we may be open to them paying the "book cost" as Disney suggested and splitting the cost just to get put to bed)

That said, we've been met with a stoney response so far or what amounts to "put up or shut up"

Even though I understand why you thought that the breakfast would be in the hotel, my point is that under the meal plan section of the Disneyland site it clearly states the position.

Yes I'd be annoyed that the shop staff didn't know of the situation but there again my opinion of the knowledge base of these people isn't that high.

You may try to sweet talk tui on social media - the staff on social media ime are a lot more helpful than the person in a shop

cubegame

Don't see what you can do. You went blind into a contract. We see this sort of thing time and again when people insist on using travel agents instead of booking direct.

On the plus side, an omelette burger sounds like the best thing ever.

Westin

The OP has researched well.

I think that the TUI retail staff should have provided you with the correct information on the HB offering, especially given your prompting. I think your case is well made.

TUI may well concede given your well laid out counter argument but I also think that you are wise to have in mind a 50/50 compromise agreement. The store manager may well have authority to address and correct issues up to a certain limit prior to which approval might be necessary from HQ. Your compromise might help reach agreement an closure today rather than have it drag on in a game of she said, I said.

I wish you well with your meeting this morning.

hollydays

cubegame wrote: »

Don't see what you can do. You went blind into a contract. We see this sort of thing time and again when people insist on using travel agents instead of booking direct.

On the plus side, an omelette burger sounds like the best thing ever.

Or the worst thing ever..

Skyhigh

hollydays wrote: »

Or the worst thing ever..

If it were just two adults, maybe. But it's still a limited option compared to what was expected. Not with our 3yo though.
It's also a minimum of a 24min walk (2km) to the nearest counter - reportedly with very big queues to wait in - again, not good for a 3yo.
Earliest counters open is 08:30, hotel is 7am, we rise at 6am and usually eat at 6:30.

ABTA also appears to come into play, specifically from the ABTA website:
"Legal protection means your travel company is responsible for making sure that you get the holiday you paid for. If something isn’t provided or isn’t as expected, and your travel company or its suppliers is at fault, they will need to sort this out for you – either resolving the issue, offering an alternative or providing a full or partial refund. In some instances you may be able to claim compensation."

We'll see what comes of things in an hour or so.

Thanks for the comments!

photome

Skyhigh wrote: »

If it were just two adults, maybe. But it's still a limited option compared to what was expected. Not with our 3yo though.
It's also a minimum of a 24min walk (2km) to the nearest counter - reportedly with very big queues to wait in - again, not good for a 3yo.
Earliest counters open is 08:30, hotel is 7am, we rise at 6am and usually eat at 6:30.

ABTA also appears to come into play, specifically from the ABTA website:
"Legal protection means your travel company is responsible for making sure that you get the holiday you paid for. If something isn!!!8217;t provided or isn!!!8217;t as expected, and your travel company or its suppliers is at fault, they will need to sort this out for you !!!8211; either resolving the issue, offering an alternative or providing a full or partial refund. In some instances you may be able to claim compensation."

We'll see what comes of things in an hour or so.

Thanks for the comments!

I think hollydays was referring to an omlette burger

cubegame

Wish you luck on the outcome but next time..... Book direct!

Skyhigh

photome wrote: »

I think hollydays was referring to an omlette burger

Me too.