Complaint letters

Thomask

Hi

We've had a fairly poor travel experience to put it politely. Won't bore anyone with the details. I'm not great with writing letters of complaint so if anyone has any letters they're particulary proud of I'd be very gratful if you could post them here or PM them to me. They'd make a good template to work off.

Think there may have even been a thread with copies of people's complaint letters? Am particulary after letters of complaint to travel agents.

Thank you!

bagand96

What I would say is stick to the facts; and don't put much emotional waffle in between as they may try and use this against you in the future.


For examle last year I had an experience where my party ended up split into 2 hotels at opposite end of the resort. In my complaint letter I put along the lines of "... this meaning we had to walk xxx or get a taxi twice a day to meet up, this was not the idea of a group holiday etc etc"

Later on, when the complaint went to ABTA, in their defence case they wrote "Mr xxxxx states the party met twice a day, therefore the distance could not have been siginificant as to ruin the holiday as much as he claims.."

Just stick to how and why they did not fulfill their contract with minimal emotional stuff. A very useful forum for you will be http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk Read the complaints sectioon and post your complaint there, they can be very helpful...

Crabman

Good advice above you may find these useful:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/guides_to/holidays_package.shtml

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/after_you_buy/making-complaint/template-letters/

http://www.howtocomplain.com/info/cl-template.shtml

Thomask

In a nutshell, some of my party (including females) were given a hotel room with a large window that wouldn't lock. Despite trying to resolve the issue with the hotel staff / owner we didn't make any progress. We were threatened, sworn at and abused. As you can imagine we generally felt pretty unsafe. Shortly after my wallet was stolen from the room. A police report was obtained.

My complaint will initally be directed at the travel agent (Flight Centre).
It was booked in New Zealand, and like anywhere I imagine, consumer's acts state the customer must recieve what they pay for and it must be 'fit for the purpose'. We obviously expected our room to be lockable.

We contacted the agent as soon as the issue arose. We tried phoning and emailing. We also called their emergency assist line. We could not make contact with the branch or head office and the emergency assist line (who are actually a different company) directed us back to our agent.
Having contacted the agent so early into the problem and not having heard back we became pretty annoyed.

Surely it's the agent's responsibility to put matters right at the time the problem occurs. They clearly failed to do this and left us in an unsafe situation. As a result, our [already short] holiday was basically ruined as we couldn't venture out from the hotel and spent many hours trying to talk to the staff there. Another day was spent with the police obtaining the police report etc.

Do you think we hold a strong case? I plan on claiming the cost of flights and accomodation back from the agent. Including other travel booked at the same time, in excess of $20,000NZD was spent with this agent!

baby_bronagh

hi
i realise that your in the initial stages of your complaint but if you have problems in later stages check your home insurance to see if you're covered for legal advice. this happened to us a couple of years ago when the holiday was so bad that we flew home after 2 days . our insurance co. took on our case and we won a full refund before it went to court.
hope this helps

Thomask

I don't have home insurance however I have Travel Insurance with Directline who offer legal advice / assistance (?) up to £50,000 with no excess!
I wonder if this just means a telephone number you can call for advice or whether they'd act if necessary?

Also, I'd need to make a claim through Directline. If they didn't suceed in obtaining any money, would it still be classed as a 'claim' (and poss. effect future insurance premiums etc)?

Thomask

I suffer from learning difficulties and struggle with writing.

If any kind soul feels like writing a letter I could send to the travel agent I would be so thankful!

In addition to the above, significant points worth mentioning include:

- Lack of contact from the agent during time of crisis. No calls or emails returned. No calls from the Area or Risk Manager as promised by one of the Travel Agent's staff.

- The fact even the hotel staff (incorrectly) directed us back to the agent to sort out the problem. Yet no contact from the agent.

The main point I'm trying to get accross is the AGENT is liable. They are responsible for fixing a sitation and making it safe. They clearly failed to do this and instead left us unable to leave the hotel, in fear and without any support what so ever. Basically a ruined holiday.

I plan on claiming the cost of flights and the hotel. I would like a mention that if they decide not to pay this, further action will be taken (poss involving my insurance company).

Also the fact in excess of $20,000 had been spent with them as part of the booking!


I hope someone is able to help me

Thomask

Bump..............

Thomask

I really need to send this within the next 2 hours.

As an incentive, I will give the person's whose letter I use a voucher for a FREE Chinese meal up to the value of £10.00! I understand these can be used all around England (about 20 restaurants to choose from!)

Thank you

Thomask

Bumping thread as my offer still stands!

Thank you

bagand96

Have you tried the HolidayTruths forum to see if anyone would help with writing a letter.

I think you will get a far better response there, as that site is dedicated to holiday's and deals with loads of holiday complaints. Also, (and of course no offence to all the great people here at MSE), the people over on HolidayTruths will probably far more experienced and qualified to be able to advise you...

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk