awful holiday, compensation, how much?

Cariad_3

We returned from a 10 day holiday under canvas and the experience was terrible.
Accommodation filthy, broken bed, rusty fridge etc etc (had to disinfect everything)
Site toilets/showers nearest to us were poor. We did complain to the couriers and apart from replacing a few basic things like blankets , bin we were told that the bed and fridge could not be replaced due to stock shortage. (I ended up on pain killers for my back for 5 weeks as it triggered a back complaint) I asked the courier to contact the area manager but nothing happened.
On return I wrote a letter of complaint, sent photos and they have just replied. They have accepted our complaint and have sent us a £150 voucher for another holiday with them.
Our holiday cost approx £1,000 but we paid for it with Tesco Vouchers so obviously this reduced the amount we physically paid out of our personal finances. Not sure if this makes a difference.
Question- is this a reasonable settlement? If not, how much is? Personally I would rather have the cash. Advice gratefully received.

bylromarha

Did you have tesco insurance? they recommend you take this if you buy your holiday with cc vouchers to avoid the cash v vouchers issue. i have found that all of the many insurers i contacted would not cover cc vouchers and would not give you any money back if things went wrong.

However, this is no reason for french life to bail out of the situation with a £150 voucher for another french life holiday. I would return the voucher and say it's not suitable as your holiday was completely ruined, you don't want to use them again so the voucher is useless (and no doubt you can't use the voucher alongside more cc vouchers!), and ask for what you do want.

This worked for me with National express...on a smaller scale I grant you, but I finally got what I considered adequate compensation when I returned their first offer with reasons why it was unacceptable.

Good luck. Let us know how you get on.

Cariad_3

Thanks for your reply. No, we did not have Tesco insurance as we already had our own personal holiday cover.
How much would be reasonable to ask for , would welcome your thoughts.
Is £300 too much, considering my husband & I did not have 1 decent nights sleep throughout the holiday because of the broken bed, on return to U.K I had to go to my GP for stronger painkillers for my back complaint and the nearest shower block too us was ancient and so small that in the shower cubicles you had to dress outside of them.
There a list of other complaints which mainly covered poor quality of the accommodation.
I've read a few sites on the web and they comment about asking for reasonable refund, but I have no idea what is reasonable.
Personally, I would like a complete refund but realistically I know this isn't going to happen.
Can someone please give me some advice?

MrSmartprice

Never accept anything other than cash for compensation, holiday or otherwise.

There is no theoretical limit to what you can claim. In the case of a totally disastrous holiday you could claim back all that you paid, plus compensation for distress, disappointment, discomfort, and loss of paid holiday leave.

In practice, once they have agreed that there is a problem, you start haggling. Initial offers are usually derisory (like with the vouchers) and the offers get realistic by about the 3rd one. Then you have to decide whether to accept it or sue them.

Another bit of advice: Never take up an offer of the ABTA arbitration service. They say it is independent, but remember who ABTA are! Even if they find in your favour, you get on average about 50% of what the Small Claims Court would award. And by using the ABTA scheme, you cannot then sue! Use the Court if you cannot get an agreed level of compensation.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

saveapenny

If you go to http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=49 they will beable to help you more and there is a number for a very good solicitor who deals with claims agianst holiday firms.
For everyon its worth downloading the safe and sound leaflet off the site too and ALWAYS take it with you it explains your rights and what you should and shouldnt do
http://www.holiday-truth.com/ss/