hayley/john

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luci

HI
going with DH in October,Booked online ,but didnt received info that I should have got after 24hrs, I rang up and confirmed my e-mail address,still didnt get the info,but I didnt worry as I had printed it off myself. Started to worry when I didnt receive my confirmation after 10 days as stated I would. Rang again, waited forever to speak to someone, to discover my e-mail address was incorrect on their files,to be fair the women I spoke to e-mailed me back the confirmation straight away. Tonight I rang to pay my balance, and it was an automated service, but after confirming my ref. no 4 times ( nearly shouting down the phone by this point) it informed me I would have to ring Customer services as the ref was not recognised. I rang CS to be told they are closed, gone are the days of open 8 til 8.
Will try tomorrow, lets hope all runs smoothly from now on.
M

Just want to bring something to people's attention that you may find useful. I've just booked next years holiday wiht DH online, they clearly say at the top of the web page "no hidden extras" I beg to differ! As I was carefully checking through my booking before pressing confirm I noticed on the bottom left hand side a tick box that said "no your seat your choice +0.00". As I didnt quite understand what it meant I clicked on holiday breakdown at the top right hand corner to find that an extra £60 had been included for me to prebook my seats! I saved myself £60 by ticking the box but it was very unclear and confusing (and sneaky) the way it was done. If you have a look on the website you will see what I mean. Think they were trying to be a bit naughty Anyway I hope this helps anyone looking to book a holiday and in all fairness I have just got a very good deal with them so they are worth a look, just double check everything.

Just to second what Karen said - when I received my confirmation, I too noticed that I'd been charged for 'your seat, your choice' but it was a pleasant surprise, being that I was happy with the total price I paid. At the breakdown it cost us £28 in total (2 adults) for this privelege. However, having read more of the details I'm unable to avail myself of this service until 7 days before departure unless I fork out another £6 pp for priority seat booking which can be done in April. Something tells me the £28 I've already paid will be a waste as I imagine all the good seats will be taken by those willing to pay the extra £6 each.

I noticed that it said inflight meals were included - not sure whether there was an option to cancel these at the time of booking or not. We enjoy a meal on the flight, so I didn't bother checking.

As Karen says, check everything to see what's included in your price and what's not.

Hi All

Just to follow up on my earlier post about a duplicate booking with dh.
They have since cancelled the duplicate holiday and transferred the second deposit I paid onto my current booking as requested. It all took about a week and they never sent an email to tell me they had done this but I am happy to have it all sorted now! The first guy I talked to on the phone didn't seem to know a lot and left me a bit confused if I would ever see the money again but I called back a couple of days later and spoke to a girl who was very helpful and put my mind at rest.

Anyway it is off to Gambia in 10 weeks and 3 days with Dh so hope everything else goes smoothly!!

leanna xx

Oh Shirley thats even more sneaky! I find it really annoying that they try and get more money out of passengers just to sit together. I absolutely refuse to pay it on principle. As for in flight meals I think if you book long haul you have to take them but if its short haul then you dont, im sure if im wrong someone will correct that but thats how I understood it.

my mother in law paid a low deposit balance for the rest of the depoist is due shortly. when she phoned today to pay the remaining deposit it was a automated service which asked for her ref number and would she like to pay the full amount of £1500 when she said no she was cut off. she is panicing now as she has been unalble to pay the the rest of the deposit. she has been trying all day.
can anyone help with how she can pay.
regards tracey

Has she tried calling the customer service number and picking the option that lets her speak to someone? I'm sure they would be able to help.

I paid my deposit balance over the phone a few days ago and spoke to somebody. Apparently the automated service didn't recognise my booking ref so it gave me a number to call to pay (spoke to a person). Sorry, I haven't kept the number but my advice would be to make up a ref number when prompted and then they will tell you it's not recognised and provide you with an alternate number.
Good Luck!

I paid the rest of my deposit yesterday by calling customer services Tel no: 0871 664 7944 and choosing the option to speak to someone.

The phone was answered after only a few rings. Usually you are waiting for ages before someone picks up the phone.

Ed.

panic over i found her a couple of phone numbers to try (she had tried lots to no avail) and she got to speak to human and paid the rest of her deposit today. she told the person she spoke to that she had been worried she may not have been able to pay on time and therefore loose her holiday. the lady said this wouldn't of happened if it had been paid late and she shouldn't of worried.
i wouldn't be 100% that was true though.
thanks for all the replies.
regards tracey

Glad to hear it's all sorted

Just booked my holiday next year with DH this will be about the sixth time i have used them. I am saving over £600 on a holiday to Turkey for 5 adults. Included in the cost were inflight meals and a 20kg baggage allowance, which i would of paid extra for with the tour operator i was comparing it with. This is also departing on the same date and same flight in July.

hi all, i have booked long haul premium with direct and when i called thomas cook airlines this week to book some specific seats, i was told that sitting together is included in the price of the premium package and we should have only had to pay the £6 each for the specific seats, direct holidays have charged £20 per person seats together on top of £140 each for the actual premium upgrade which i now need to try and get back (no doubt this will involve a 25 minute hold on a 10p a minute phoneline) just to make everyone aware, if this hapens then you are entitled to a refund...i am sure i am not the only one to find myself in this situation.

I just wanted to make anyone pricing a FAMILY holiday with Direct Holidays aware of the following as it could save you money:
Because of the way Direct are offering good discounts on ADULT prices, (but not on childrens) you may find you can get a cheaper price by searching as an all adult party.
I discovered this by chance, as our kids are over 12, so some accomodation counts them as adults. I was searching for 4 Adults and for 2 adults & 2 children and discovered I was getting consistently cheaper quotes for exactly to same accomodation when I searched as 4 adults.
The only problem is that you can't book it online as the website wont accept the child DoB in an adult booking. However, if you phone they should price match it - they did for us and saved bout £100

Same thing seems to apply to Thomas Cook prices, but I wouldn't know agreeable they are at price matching.

Hi
I have just come back from the travel agent (Thomas Cook) after trying to book a holiday to Sunrise Island View. I had got a good price with direct holidays on the internet but they wouldn't price match even though it is in the thomas cook group they wouln't even match a price from the Thomas cook website. In fact the difference was about £500.

I have never booked a holiday online before only with the travel agent and wondered if anyone could give me some advice, mainly cause of the huge price difference. Is direct holidays a good company and has anyone any experience of booking online?? I have read quite a few people's views and they all seem quite happy.

Also on the quote it doesn't say anything about inflight meals so would these be automatically included? Do you get the use of a resort rep?

I would appreciate your advice.

Thanks Elaine

Hi Elaine

I will try and help you a bit

I have never booked a holiday online before only with the travel agent and wondered if anyone could give me some advice, mainly cause of the huge price difference. Is direct holidays a good company and has anyone any experience of booking online?? I have read quite a few people's views and they all seem quite happy.

I have used Direct Holidays for years and thankfully have never had any problems, I have used their online system many times and again not had any problems, so I wouldn't worry about that.

Also on the quote it doesn't say anything about inflight meals so would these be automatically included?

A hard one to answer as it should tell you somewhere on the booking system if your meals are included.

Do you get the use of a resort rep?

Yes you get the full services of an in resort rep, you will also get met at the airport.

Graham

Thankyou for your reply it has really helped me make up my mind.

I think i will go ahead and book so Egypt here i come!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Elaine

Hi Elaine,
I will second what graham said. I have used them more than once and have booked again with them for next summer to Turkey. You get exactly the same holiday i.e. flight, reps, trips offered etc as you would had you paid more and booked with Thomas Cook. I would have no hessitation in recommending you to book