Ouch Karen Do you need our help here in the complaints forum or shall I move your post to our Travel Agents/Tour Operators forum as a warning?

More details would be good, like what excuse they gave for not relocating you and why they won't give you the money back.

There is an alarm bell ringing in my head about this company. Their website says they are part of Hays Travel Ltd but based in Fleet in Hampshire not Sunderland where Hays are. I wonder if they are in fact just members of the Hays Travel Independance Group which is not the same as being owned by the company. And the reason I say this is that our old friends Purple Holidays and their related company Pinewood Travel also used that claim and also had an address in Fleet. At least the sunshine have a different office and the website is registered in Fleet (not Greece like the other two!) so there is some difference but they may know each other.

Hi,

I'm Chris Clarkson, the Marketing Director for sunshine.co.uk

I'd like to point out we are unable to deal with individual cases on a public forum, so can't offer anything in way of comment to the OP.

We take Customer Service very seriously, our livelihoods depend on it. Many of our previous and current customers have posted about this on Holiday Truths in various threads.

sunshine.co.uk are indeed part of the Hays Independence Group, and we are based in Fleet. One of the conditions of being under the Hays IG is that we display their address as our trading address. We have no connection with any of the other companies mentioned.

You can find much more information on the "about" page on our website.

Admins, I hope it's OK to reply to this post. I did try to PM to ask, but obviously as a new user don't have PM privileges yet.

It's fine for you to post Chris. Nice to have the TO/TA's assisting our members with their problems.

Hi Glynis. Thanks for offering to move post but am suffering from 'information overload' so have had to pass this over to a solicitor. Just wanted to post this warning as I would hate it to happen to someone else. At least we were two grown-ups - heaven knows what we would have done if we had had the children with us.

Re more details as to why they didn't relocate us: apparently we were told there wasn't any accommodation available whatsoever on the island, as it was 'peak season.' Furthermore, when I questioned the General Manager of sunshine further on my return, his explanation was that maybe it was because it happened on a Friday, and the staff just wanted to get home.' !!!

You can see what I'm dealing with!

With all due respect I would not advise you to post further on this topic if you are in the process of taking legal action. I welcome the fact that sunshine.co.uk have posted here and it is right that they do not discuss the matter.

It may be that they are willing to post an email address and invite you to contact the Chris Clarkson direct to discuss resolving the issue. OTB and TR do post a dedicated email address that members of HT can use for such purposes. If you can resolve things without the trouble and expense of solicitors then it better for everyone.

Whilst new members cannot use the PM system HT moderators are able to over ride this to enable the parties concerned to do so..

fwh

I don't think you have really given yourself time to sort this out amicably before contacting a solicitor.

Yes, I understand that this was a horrible situation that you found yourselves in but it could turn out to be an expensive business now you have brought a solicitor in.

Pippa

Karen's story was featured in the Leicester Mercury this Tuesday, 17th August. Sounds like a nightmare.

Can't post links, but if anyone wishes to read the story, Google 'Leicester Mercury' and search under Karen Walker to bring up the feature.

Here's the link:- http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/holiday-hotel-closed-summer/article-2533133-detail/article.html

Hmm.... so a refund of £525 was made. We have no information whether a complaint form was completed in resort or whether that £525 was cashed and accepted

From that articale, they flew out on the 22nd July for a fortnight so would be returning on 5th August. That doesn't leave a lot of time for sending letters and waiting for a response from Sunshine before Court action can be taken.

Going to the papers to get the story published is not going to help matters either in my opinion given the fact that the OP is going to take the matter to court.

Mark

fwh wrote:

With all due respect I would not advise you to post further on this topic if you are in the process of taking legal action. I welcome the fact that sunshine.co.uk have posted here and it is right that they do not discuss the matter.

Why don't people listen when some good words of advice from a wise head have been posted.?
In fact, why is HT allowing a discussion on this issue, if solicitors and the media are already involved.?
We are NOT legal experts.!

Sanji

Why shouldn't HT allow it? If the OP chooses to go about things in an ill advised manner it may serve as a useful lesson to others in future. It was the OP's decision to start this thread. Hopefully once the dust has settled one of the parties will be able to update us.

In the meantime Chris, glad to hear you're not connected to Purple etc but, going off thetopic of this thread, surely you know something about them, got any snippets you could leave on the Purple thread??

Hi Steve,

other than the fact they are Hays IG members, I know nothing about them. They did recently open retail premises in Fleet.

Chris

I would say she has definately not had time to try to settle this amiciably. 12 days from returning to having an story published in the press is not time enough to have made a proper attempt at a resolution. Without knowing whether the refund was accepted it is difficult to comment further.

Also surely if the compensation has been accepted then that's the end to it?

I have just booked my airport transfers in Orlando (with INVALID URL and it turns out they are through sunshine.co.uk, hope we don't have any problems!

I've booked a number of different accommodation only with Sunshine.co.uk in various locations and so far, have never had any problems.

I booked a week trip to Tenerife with sunshine.co.uk for 23 july 2010

What a nightmare we had.

We got delayed by 2 hours so missed the all inclusive that was 50 pounds down straight away. We arrived at 11pm on 23rd to find the so called 4* was under building works. As soon as you walked into the hotel the dust just hit the back of your throats. We booked 2 rooms as there 2 ladies over 40 and two teenager boys(sons) we got a 2 rooms at 11pm but there was no way we were staying in there they were thick with dust and even had silver fish on the bed. Anyhow we went to reception to sort this out after being given 7 different rooms and it was 3.30am they gave us a room that was cleanish but only slept 2. Yes you got it the teenagers where on the floor.

I asked for the manager the next morning and always in meetings. So i called Sunshine uk "no answer" then i found out that youtravel is a part of sunshine they sort the accomadation out. Well let me tell you they did nothing. We ended up staying in the grounds of the resort but not in their hotel no air con and again 4 beds in one room no privacy what so ever.

I split my toe on tiling that they didnt complete.
I call youtravel every day to try and sort this out but they didnt want to help full stop. I sent emails on my account on the website to sunshine but yes you get it they didnt answer. on the day of flying home i had a meeting with the manager of the hotel after trying all week. he offered us a extension of a week. We took that as the building work had stop and i wanted a holiday that i paid over 2.000 for. I spent the first 4 days hardly able to walk cous of thepain in my foot and having to handwash clothsas we only pack for a week. I also had to pay 365.00 to change the flights. At the end of the day we got 2-3 days holiday and i am not impressed. Complaints have been sent to sunshine.co.uk so i await the replies. As with sunshine they pay the flights, accomadation and shuttle out . But it will be sunshine i take to court as they took my holiday cost out of my bank what do you think?

I am sorry to hear about your problems.
I am understanding this correctly. You booked through sunshine who then booked your accommodation with youtravel? Any complaint you had will have to be taken up with youtravel, as your contract is with them. As far as I know youtravel are a bedbank and nothing to do with sunshine, who are part of the Hays Travel Group. Sumshine are only the agent. They should help you with your complaint by sending covering letters etc along with your complaint letters to youtravel.

Did you fill in a complaints form in resort? By accepting another weeks holiday you might possibly have negated your complaint about your accommodation. The fact that you did stay which meant you had to change your flights, I don't really think you have any comeback on anyone for, as it was your choice.

I'm sure other people will have other input into your problem, which may help you more (or correct my mistakes!)