Compensation

sazzlet

Hi, I wondered if you could advise. Me and my family recently travelled to Lapland to visit the big man. We went with a company called Santas Lapland and (as it was a last-minute decision) stupidly didn't check all the reviews before we went (if you google them you'll see what I mean!) Needless to say it was a very disappointing holiday. Butlins in the snow doesn't even quite sum it up - no magic, limited christmas feel and lots of reps dressed in pantomime elf outfits. However, the big problem for us was that the company failed at the main event. They sold the holiday on a VIP trip to santa, where he would 'magically' have the original letters from the kids so they knew he was real. We went to great lengths to ensure this happened smoothly, and followed all the instructions that the company gave. Imagine our horror when we got to meet Santa and he addressed our kids by the wrong names - and had someone else's letters in his hands. My eldest son (then 7) now no longer believes in Santa and my youngest (5) who has ASD was totally underwhelmed by the experience. Both were very disappointed in the whole holiday TBH and it wasn't what they expected from a magical trip to see Santa at the North Pole.

I have had a lengthy email conversation with the company who have agreed the letter mess-up was their mistake but won't take any responsibility for the disappointing holiday. They are only prepared to offer 5% of our total holiday cost by way of compensation. On a £5K holiday this works out at a measly £240. They also offered a small gift for each child 'from Santa' which we declined as it's now March and this seems inappropriate. I have referred the case to ABTA as the company have refused to go any further with negotiations. What do you think is a fair amount of compensation and how can I go about getting it?!

mr_stripey

We had a simarlly disapoiniting expeience with Tui on a Lapland trip a few years ago. Although the resort and hotel were great, the "santa village" was a half arsed attempt with some fairy lights stung up over a couple of sheds. Instead of staggering the visits, about four coach loads of Tui customers turned up at the same time resulting in us waiting in -19°C for over two hours!
Ended up having a heated discussion with a "rep" - who was dressed as an elf about their lack of organistaion - which caused a bit of distress to the kids who didn't want me rowing with Santa's elf!
When we got back, my son said "the real Santa is a Twinlakes anyway" (Twinlakes a kids theme park in Leicestershire)!

I did complain to Tui but they weren't having a bar of it.

Can laugh about it now! - I definatley wouldn't recommned Tui on this occasion though.

Caz3121

sazzlet said:

I have had a lengthy email conversation with the company who have agreed the letter mess-up was their mistake but won't take any responsibility for the disappointing holiday. They are only prepared to offer 5% of our total holiday cost by way of compensation. On a £5K holiday this works out at a measly £240. They also offered a small gift for each child 'from Santa' which we declined as it's now March and this seems inappropriate. I have referred the case to ABTA as the company have refused to go any further with negotiations. What do you think is a fair amount of compensation and how can I go about getting it?!

I think to work out what is fair would be to look at all the elements included in the price and which were provided
I would guess flights, accommodation, transfers etc take up a large bulk of the holiday cost and were unaffected which is likely why the compensation offered appear low as a % of the total cost
It looks like they also advertise; thermal clothing, igloo experience, reindeer sleigh ride, sleigh ride search for Santa, Husky sled ride, snow & ice fun activities as well as private meetings with Santa. The latter was an issue, were there any other elements that were not provided as advertised?
It may be that the refund offered is 100% of that element cost although with a package you don't see a full breakdown to be able to confirm
What do you think would be an appropriate amount?

bradders1983

The letter thing sounds like a simple admin error which could happen anywhere, especially when dealing with hundreds of them.

sazzlet

bradders1983 said:

The letter thing sounds like a simple admin error which could happen anywhere, especially when dealing with hundreds of them.

Hi Bradders, I understand why you might think that - but we gave the letter to the 'elf' just before we got on the sleigh to go to santas house (I understand he gave it to the driver who would have passed it to santa) - so not exactly difficult to get right. 

sazzlet

Caz3121 said:

sazzlet said:

I have had a lengthy email conversation with the company who have agreed the letter mess-up was their mistake but won't take any responsibility for the disappointing holiday. They are only prepared to offer 5% of our total holiday cost by way of compensation. On a £5K holiday this works out at a measly £240. They also offered a small gift for each child 'from Santa' which we declined as it's now March and this seems inappropriate. I have referred the case to ABTA as the company have refused to go any further with negotiations. What do you think is a fair amount of compensation and how can I go about getting it?!

I think to work out what is fair would be to look at all the elements included in the price and which were provided
I would guess flights, accommodation, transfers etc take up a large bulk of the holiday cost and were unaffected which is likely why the compensation offered appear low as a % of the total cost
It looks like they also advertise; thermal clothing, igloo experience, reindeer sleigh ride, sleigh ride search for Santa, Husky sled ride, snow & ice fun activities as well as private meetings with Santa. The latter was an issue, were there any other elements that were not provided as advertised?
It may be that the refund offered is 100% of that element cost although with a package you don't see a full breakdown to be able to confirm
What do you think would be an appropriate amount?

Hi Caz, yes that is exactly what they've tried to do. However, the flight was delayed (which we have to go separately to EasyJet about - surprised to find a budget airline on a 3-day trip for £5K). I agree that we wouldn't expect a full refund as we had (albeit somewhat disappointing) the other experiences they advertised and the hotel was fine. However, as they sell the trip on the main event, I would value it at more than 5% (Bearing in mind that we were only there for one full day and less than two half days either side) Other companies charge around £1000 for the santa visit alone so I would expect at least that, along with some kind of compensation for the poor attempt at 'magic' from the rest of the trip (especially as the originally promised reindeer sleigh ride to visit santa was replaced with a tacky plastic snowmobile-sleigh ride a week before we went and we almost cancelled the trip but were assured it would be 'just as magical'. It really wasn't. It was a conveyor belt theme park attraction). I think £1500 would be fair, considering they have caused my son to lose his belief in santa, which, after all, was the main purpose of the trip. Any thoughts welcome! 

sazzlet

mr_stripey said:

We had a simarlly disapoiniting expeience with Tui on a Lapland trip a few years ago. Although the resort and hotel were great, the "santa village" was a half arsed attempt with some fairy lights stung up over a couple of sheds. Instead of staggering the visits, about four coach loads of Tui customers turned up at the same time resulting in us waiting in -19°C for over two hours!
Ended up having a heated discussion with a "rep" - who was dressed as an elf about their lack of organistaion - which caused a bit of distress to the kids who didn't want me rowing with Santa's elf!
When we got back, my son said "the real Santa is a Twinlakes anyway" (Twinlakes a kids theme park in Leicestershire)!

I did complain to Tui but they weren't having a bar of it.

Can laugh about it now! - I definatley wouldn't recommned Tui on this occasion though.

mr_stripey said:

We had a simarlly disapoiniting expeience with Tui on a Lapland trip a few years ago. Although the resort and hotel were great, the "santa village" was a half arsed attempt with some fairy lights stung up over a couple of sheds. Instead of staggering the visits, about four coach loads of Tui customers turned up at the same time resulting in us waiting in -19°C for over two hours!
Ended up having a heated discussion with a "rep" - who was dressed as an elf about their lack of organistaion - which caused a bit of distress to the kids who didn't want me rowing with Santa's elf!
When we got back, my son said "the real Santa is a Twinlakes anyway" (Twinlakes a kids theme park in Leicestershire)!

I did complain to Tui but they weren't having a bar of it.

Can laugh about it now! - I definatley wouldn't recommned Tui on this occasion though.

It's awful how companies can make promises they don't deliver. It's a once in a lifetime trip at these prices and in my opinion daylight robbery. I don't know how they can sleep at night, ruining kids dreams like that! I know plenty of people who have gone to lapland with other companies who have had the magical experience that you would expect and the kids have remembered it forever. Such a shame. 

Aylesbury_Duck

£1500?  Now that's laughable.

You don't have any particularly quantifiable losses, so your case is based on how different the actual experience was compared to what was promised.  If you can itemise that and demonstrate where you paid for one thing and got something demonstrably less, you have a case for something perhaps a little more than £240 but I actually think that sounds reasonable.

You can hardly claim compensation for a seven year old no longer believing in Santa, given that Santa isn't real in the first place.

bradders1983

Have i just read that somebody wants £1500 because they made a child no longer believe in a fictional being adults lie to their children about?

Stop the world, I want to get off 

heatherw_01

I am sorry but personally I think that £240 plus kids gifts is plenty of compensation for the issue you had.

A mistake with a name can be easily made and the compensation seems very good.