Hi Di39,
Stick with it. A similar thing happened to us several years ago with Thomsons. We accepted £100 per person in resort. If we had waited and complained when we got home, which friends of ours did, they recieved £300 each. As the holiday was £400 per person I say they got a better compensation.
Hope that helps.

see my posts on the airtours complaints. i had a battle with them last year and it was resolved in the end (7 months later). if you don't want the voucher do what i did and return it with a letter stating you would never use it. i did this and they gave me a cheque for the same amount as the voucher. i returned this and they were adament they would not increase the offer. i then sent copies of letters recieved and posted to airtours to ABTA who then sent them a letter saying i was considering ABTA's arbitration scheme and within days airtours offered me double!
if you feel you have lost out on your hard earned trip then persue it. it takes ages but may well be worth it. these tour operators need to realise they can't treat us this way. let us know how you get on. ali

Why not contact Ros Fernihough - Travel Law Solicitor who helps so many of the members of HT who have a problem.

For the cost of a telephone call you can get expert unbiased advice.

She can be contacted on Tel :- 01922 621114

Download the Safe & Sound booklet - Link at the top - Just as you need a passport, you need a copy of this with you when you go on holiday.

We can only give our own opinions

fwh

thanks for all your advice, I did previously contact ros ferinough but if she takes on your case then it costs you money which is a bit worrying especially if you lose the case.

diane.

It is a matter of choice if you employ a solicitor to handle your case. They do not work for nothing and I would not expect them to.

Dependent on how much you are trying to recover then it can be cost effective.

Here on HT we can only give you our opinions. Some members who have persued a claim are able to give more help having been through the process.

Irrespective of the lead times that a TO may be required to follow as with any claim for compensation it does take time, and patience.

I have been persuing a claim since June of last year on a personal matter. I have got a court ruling in my favour. I know that I will be paid out eventually, but I am also aware that for various reasons I should not expect any success until at least this time next year.

fwh

How disruptive was the decorating and building work? Was there lots of noise and dust from construction work, or was it painting and general repair work?

Whilst there is no excuse for Airtours not informing you before departure of the work IF they knew about the work, it could well be that the hotelier did not tell Airtours of the work as he thought that it would not cause too much disruption to holidaymakers.

What compensation would you be happy to receive from Airtours? If it is a realistic amount based on the cost you paid for your holiday why not propose this to Airtours as a settlement compromise.

As an observation, and with the risk of being shot down in flames for my comment, I think you did get a bargain holiday for £250 each.

first of all airtours did know about the work as they had sent out letters to some people because I was told this by other holidaymakers who had received them. Also there were spanish men painting on our balcony for at least three of the days and it could not be used for most of the holiday. As for getting the holiday cheap well I don't know how some people are fixed for money but a thousand pounds is alot of money to some people and it could be that this is the only holiday they would get for years to come and for me this could be the case for all anyone else knows.

Diane.

Diana

I don't think Traveller meant what he said to insult you, and I agree with you a thousand pounds is a lot of money for some people. I think what he was trying to say is that a foreign holiday for 4 people for £1,000 (£250 each) is a very good deal as I have to admit I thought the same when I read your post; again I do not mean this in an insulting manner, most flights are not much cheaper than that, let alone accomodation as well.I would be very surprised if you will get more compensation than you have been offered. I hope you take my comments in the manner they are meant and if they have offended you in any way then I will appologise now.

Traveller - I appologise for speaking on your behalf. but I understood what you meant by your comment

Rgds Jackie

di39 - no offence intended.

JackieUK-Tenerife - speak away! Thank you for the summary.

Hmmm!

Why do these T.O.'s want to "unpackage" a packaged holiday when it comes to determining compensation. So, accommodation was 45% of the cost (to them) - dippy dee.

You bought a package. The Tour Operator is responsible for the supply of all services both supplied directly and indirectly by their sub-suppliers (the hotel). They are at fault for not informing you of the decorating. They are at fault for not ensuring entertainment was provided - as per brochure (contract).

They may offer you vouchers - you may elect to refuse and demand cash - you would be within your rights to do so. The question is simply "How Much Compensation?"

It matters little to me how much your holiday cost - you simply did not get what you expected (and paid for) and the level of enjoyment was consequently much lower.

I'd request £100 per passenger - in cash. Skip the voucher - there WILL be time limits applied and the voucher is only good whilst Airtours exists. I'm not saying they will cease trading - but a voucher is a risk.

To justify the £100 per pax claim consider the following: you book a holiday with a Tour Operator based upon their brochure description and, of course, the price. There are many bargains to be had if you look hard enough, but you chose this holiday based upon the hotel, the entertainment - the whole package.

You paid you deposits, then your final balance. You followed your side of the bargain to the letter.

You arrive to find the hotel is not what was described; refurbishments and lack of entertainment must have involved you in extra costs - you probably spent more time out of the hotel than you would otherwise have done. You PAID for entertainment in other venues. Yet you'd already paid for this in the package.

In effect, the product you paid for was not delivered in the contracted state.

If you could return the product to Airtours you'd be within your rights to demand a 100% refund - they are in breach of contract.

Clearly, you cannot return the "product". You probably raised a complaint with the rep. in resort - what reaction did you get from Airtours at that time ? If the answer is "wait until to return to the UK" they've made no effort to resolve the issue early on in the holiday - their choice.

Airtour's suggestion that the flights account for 60% of the cost is irrelevant - they needed to fly you to the hotel as part of the overall package. The fact that they imply that element was OK is irrelevant.

Good Luck, let us know the outcome.
Mike

Hi Di

We pursued a complaint with another tour operator, we were placed in a totally different resort. The tour operator offered us £200.00 for the 4 of us. I felt this was an insult and pursued via ABTA. We were offered £500.00 in the end, I hope you complained whilst you were there to the reps and gathered lots of evidence to pursue your claim, we did and I think that was why our claim run smoothly.

Good luck Diane

Kind regards

Kazee

thanks for that, mike hit the nail right on the head for me. It doesn't matter what the holiday cost it was the fact that we did not get what we thought we were going to get. and no I did not take offence to those other posts I just thought that they were missing my point! I now intend to write back and tell them that I do not think £45 is acceptable and I will say I have spoken to abta, by the way can anyone tell me how to contact them. I do have photos and the compllaints form from resort so I will just see what happens.

Diane.

abta web site is http://www.abta.com/. goodluck