thanks for the reply piesbari and well done for getting the money from de,i will be going online to fill in the claim,the only correspondence that i have from de is a letter of confirmation that a cruise was allocated to me for the med,after this i did get another letter telling me about the so called "hurricanes"and thet the cruise had been cancelled till further notice and to be "patient"i cant find the letter stating that i would definately be going on a cruise by the end of september 06,but you probably guessed this didnt happen,they sent me a booklet of offers but i never used these,i have the origonal newspaper stating the "offer" and thats about it,i also phoned the "helpline afew times and got the recorded message and i once spoke to some lady but since then nothing until i stumbled onto this forum and heard of peoples success,heres a question for you or anyone how much information do i need to stake my claim?i will ceartainly try to annoy the de from here on in!
congrats to all those others who won the day
bao-lou

I'm so pleased you eventually found us bao-lou. I had my cruise round the Med a long time ago (though my original confirmation was for the Caribbean) but, as you can see, there are still people like you waiting. Don't give up as people are starting to get results, either a cruise or cash, and you will find plenty of support on this forum.

Hi bao-lou and welcome to HT!

You are doing pretty well if you have the original offer from the paper and a letter offering you a cruise. I doubt you would need much more than that to make a successful claim.

All the very best of luck and keep us posted on your progress.

luci

wow thanks to al those who have left messAGES OF SUPPORT i aim to submit a claim to the small claims court asap,i really thought that this was dead and buried a long time ago... how wrong i was !ive been in touch with a representative from ros fernihough called pam who was very helpful(ros doesnt take on the DE cruise offers) and her advice will be very useful,thanks luci,i still have the origonal offer,the t & cs from the paper,the letterr saying that they have had problems 'cause of the hurricanes(yawn) an dthe letter saying what my cruise itineary was going to be,the only thing that i cant find is the booklet of "special offers" though i didnt use any of these (as i remember that if they were used this would nullify the origonal offer of a cruise) fingers crossed..watch this space,
and watch out DE ....bao-lou is back

ps.. the one letter that i havent got is the one stating that i would definately have a cruise by september 06... but i9 wont worry too much about that
bao-lou

That's what we like to hear - real fighting talk. Just remember the old schoolboy motto - nil illigitum carborundum - don't let the bastards grind you down.

progress report:....i have written to DE via recordered delivery on monday 28th of april asking their response to my claim from them for a cruise that they did'nt give me and i am now eagerly awaiting their reply,i have given them two weeks to reply from the date of postmark and ive stated that if i dont hear anything then i will be lodging a claim via the small claims court,thanks to redo for the statement that can be used from page 246,lets hope that i dont have to use this....watch this space!!!
thanks
bao-lou

good luck.

has anyone else had any joy from the DE?

Just adding my support and encouragement. It's never too late to be compensated for something you were promised and never received!

Hi there, everyone. I've been following this forum now since the beginning but have never posted before. It's been greatly encouraging to see that, even after all this time, people are still fighting for what they were entitled to all long - a cruise! After writing many pointless (and unanswered) letters to the Daily Express, I've finally decided to fight too ....

I submitted a claim online via the Small Claims Court and the Daily Express have until the 1st June to reply. Here's hoping I don't become the first person to be rejected! Thanks to everyone who has posted on this forum so far - it's great to know that I'm not alone. I'll post an update when I have news!

Hi cleve and welcome to HT!

All the very best of luck with your claim and look forward to your updates.

luci

update from bao-lou,
I registered a claim through the small claims court after receiving no reply from the DE,
I have now received a reply for the first time in over 3 years and the following is a complete transcript of the reply from DE,
Thank you for your recent enquiry in connection with the above:(Daily Express cruise promotion)
We have investigated your claim based on the information you have provided to us.
Unfortunately Express Newspapers is unable to validate your claim for a cruise against the information supplied to us by MKM/Rise Travel.Please note that not every reader who applied for a cruise in 2004 will have legitimately qualified to receive one.
Thera were a number of steps to complete over and above the collection of the vouchers in the newspapers.
Any cruise allocation letters that you may have received from MKM/RiseTravel did not constitute full and final confirmation of any cruise application.
I regret that the board of Express Newspapers has therefore decided that it cannot take your application for a cruise any further.Our decision in this regard is final and we will not enter into any further correspondence in relation to this offer.
We understand that this is not the outcome you may have hoped for and we do sincerely apologise for any frustration this promotion may have caused you...............
How effing arrogant of them! Ithink they have replied to me before they have got the notice of a claim through the court,If they think that they can fob me off in such an arrogant way they have another think coming!!!!I have complied with their promotion all the way,has anyone had a simmilar letter from DE and what is the next step from here?All advice will be gratefully appreciated.
Would anyone like to comment on this?

I thought the only "steps" you had to complete was to collect the vouchers and send them in with the £10. What more did they want, a signed letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury?

Hi bao-lou.
I received the same standard letter, just ignore itand carry on with your claim,this is what I did. Result DE settled my claim in full for a cruise to South America 3 days before the County Court hearing. They did want to include a 'gagging' clause into the acceptance but the Court would not accept this.
Good luck, PIB

thanks for the comments so far,its amazing that they can send out a letter so soon after the threat of court action,they didnt respond to any correspondence including phone calls from me before but now i know that it seems to be their usual practice and of trying to "bully" people in to dropping the pursuit of their claim,thier arrogance has made me even more determined to get some form of "closure" and i really hope that people like me who "stumbled" back into this after all this time will follow the same route as all the other people who have had a succsessful outcome,i am really looking forward to the next stage,perhaps i might just get that letter from the "archbishop of canterbury".How far have you got PIB and Tristona in your claim?
thanks from bao-lou

I am not pursuing a claim against the Express, I am just an interested bystander who cannot for the life of me understand the attitude of "The World's Greatest Newspaper" (sic). I would like to express my true feeling s about the DE, but I have had my posts deleted when I have done this in the past.

thanks,I and many others cannot understand the "worlds greatest newspaper" its the arrogance that gets to many people,after we are all British and most of us will not put up with this kind of attitude,I also understand that the forums are monitored and anything defamatory is deleted because of possible legal implications,but you can still add your comments in a very strong way and please do,
as all support is fantastic,keep watching!

If it wasn't so frustrating you would have to laugh at their reply. The problem is that most of us are English and often accept what we are told rather than fighting, unlike our European neighbours. Of course, we on HT will fight to the bitter end when we know we are within our rights.

i might just get that letter from the "archbishop of canterbury".

While you're about it, perhaps you should also include one from the Chief Rabbi and the Chief Imam to make sure you cover all bases.