But surly i should of be informed about the building work out there. Even youtravel did nothing to help me and told me nothing could be done till i returned back to the uk. Yes i filled out a complaints form, i have video footage and pictures of all the work going on and pictur of split foot. So what do you think happens to the cost that had to changing the flights?

thanks for your imput

Yes, you should have been informed about building works. Sunshine would only known about them if youtravel told them and in turn youtravel office would only know if someone told them (presumably a rep). How long had they been going on? Which hotel were you staying in? Did you ask to move hotels?

I really don't think you will get anywhere with reimbursement of the flight cost. It was completely your choice to extend your stay. Did you change them direct with the airline, or through sunshine? Whichever way, the airline will have charged in the normal way.

Whether you can try to make a claim for personal injury, I really don't know. Have you spoken to your insurance company about this?

Sunshine paid h Travel for my flights because shine or youtravel were not helping out there i changed them with h travel.

Yeah we got a extension however we still had problems. So because youtravel/sunshine never informed us of the building works i got 3 days holiday for nearly 3 grand!! Dont seam right that they can get away with this. Just had my complaint letter back todays post took them 3 weeks.

Yeah they are going on about that we took the free week after only having problems for one night which is a lie. Our problems went on all week and then 3-4 days of our free week.

There was 3 issues with my complaint and i can see on their websit that they have sent the letter to 3 people flights, accomadation and the shuttle people.

There has to be some thing i can do im out of pocket big time i did all the running around phoning sunshine, youtavel and sit with a 53.oo phone bill.

But the lies in their reply is bad saying they had no other complaints lol i have footage of peole complaining the whole first week

There's no doubt you SHOULD have been told about the building work and the fact that you weren't may mean you can claim some compensation from them but the fact that you have accepted an extension by means of a 'free' week courtesy of hotel management becos' of the problems you encountered during your initial holiday fmay mean that any compensation will amount to pretty much nothing if anything at all.

If I'm honest I can't see them paying out for your flights becos' it was your decision to accept the hotels offer to extend your holiday and in doing so you re-arranged your flights.

It would perhaps be a good idea to copy your footage and send it in to Sunshine/You Travel to prove that others had complained whilst in resort, don't forget tho' they may have decided not to bother following up their complaint whilst home so Sunshine/You Travel may well be telling the truthsaying they've had no complaints!

There is a mixed bag of things in the complaint from misspazz.

First it is not the fault of Sunshine that flights were delayed - that does happen. All the AIs I have been in have a cut off point for food and drink, anytime between 11.00pm and 01.00am in my experience. Some places I have stayed have arranged for some food for late arrivals but never the bar.

Yes you should have been informed that the hotel was suffering from building work I agree. From what you say an attempt was made by the hotel to sort things out and you were not happy with it. Your complaint about the manager not being available "when you wanted to see him" whilst frustrating, was probably genuine, if he was also trying to sort out the problems caused by the building work. Not satisfactory from your viewpoint but understandable.

When you did get to see him his offer of a free week was quite commendable. Many would have offered nothing and simply left you to sort it out with the TO/Agent when you got back.

I cannot comment on your injury. Questions of where it happened and what kind of footwear you had on would enter into any claim you made for compensation.

Your acceptance of the extra week would, in my opinion, absolve the hotel for compensation for the poor conditions of the rooms. They did try to rectify things, perhaps not to your satisfaction but it was your choice.

A claim for the extra flight costs would, again in my opinion, not succeed. It was your choice not to take the flights you paid for originally.

You say they have sent letters to three people. Flights, accommodation provider and transfer/shuttle. I assume that these concern your complaint. If they have not yet received a reply from them then Sunshine cannot go any further in resolving your complaint until they do.

The use of words such as lie does not help anyone. Strange as it may seem people often say they are going to complain and never actually follow it up.

I cannot answer for Sunshine or any of the others involved in this. I only express my opinion based on what you have said. TOs under their code of conduct are required to acknowledge complaints within 28 days. They then have a further 28 days before they are required to reply. If they are waiting for third parties then things can drag on for a considerable length of time before a complaint can be resolved no matter how much pressure is applied.

fwh

Thanks again for all the help on this i guess i will reply to this letter that has came from youtravel

at the end of the day if i was told there was building work going on at this hotel i would of liked the chance to cancel or change date or even hotel. Youtravel just left us and helped in no way. The only help i got was after spending most of my week at the reception was 4 hours before we were ment to leave the manager kept his appointment with us.

We still had problems, i split my toe open yes only wearing flip flops as was on holiday! but it was on tiling that they didnt finish. They proved this by after complaining to them they put the metal edging and hazard tape after i complaint.

I hear what your saying about taking thee free week may have stopped me getting any where here. But we still only had 3-4 days holidays and by paying for the flights again.

I never ment to say they told lies i should of said they aint told the truth there saying i only had problems the first night in fact it was the whole week.

Thanks again any way

Dealing with or taking legal action against youtravel may not be that easy. Although they have a UK 0871 phone number all the "real" numbers are in Greece. Their website is registered to an address in London but the building is a multi occupant office and this company does not appear in the Royal Mails list of known occupants, although at least one name that may be an IT host does. The website owner is a Greek name and the phone number shown for the London address is actually in Greece.

Going back to the point of whether sunshine are liable, I'd say they were but by taking the extra week and rearranging flights with someone else you messed the case up too much. Even if they are acting as your agents to deal with youtravel they have a liablity. Presumably it was their choice and implied recommendation for you to deal with youtravel. So, they acted in the business of an intermediary agent and seemingly didn't do a very good job of it. Under the Supply of Goods and Services Act that makes them liable for their choice. Basically your claim would not be that the hotel was rubbish but that their advice (what your agent is paid for) was rubbish. Unless of course you asked them to book that hotel via youtravel without them suggesting it.

Just back from a holiday to Spain booked through Sunshine. We originally booked to go Turkey but this fell through thanks to Goldtrail. Sunshine instantly refunded the money we had paid them for hotel and transfers etc. Because of this service, I then re-booked a holiday to Spain through them, they even gave me some money back through the their "price promise" as I found the price cheaper on another site. I had no issues during the holiday, transfers were excellent - booked a shared shuttle and received a seven seater both ways with no delays. Accommodation was excellent and I would have no hesitation using them for future holidays.

Sorry to hear about the bad times these 2 OPs have had after booking with sunshine and hope things work out for them both.

I booked a week's holiday to Egypt with Sunshine in April 2009 with no problems at all - the room we were initially offered was a double with an extra single bed when we'd booked a room with 3 singles: the hotel changed our room straight away, no problem. Wouldn't hesistate to use sunshine again

I think we were just unlucky. I dare say if there wasnt building work going on then we would of been ok. There customer services were shabby and no help to us atall.

Thank you all for all the help with your comments. I,ve had their replies which im still not happy on.

I am now finding out that sunshine/hays travel and youtravel are all part of the same company. I am going to small claims and i belive thats who ever took my money out the bank which was Sunshine for the first holiday total and then the extra flights they are the ones im taking to small claims.

I may lose however how can companies get away with selling you some thing thats not what it is. Hadi been told there was any building work going on then i would of changed to a different resort or date. This building work had been going on 4 weeks before we even got there. So yes ok they might not of been told like some one above stated. But at the end of the day surely thats there duty to make sure things are what is advertised?

So Any help would be gratefull do i take Sunshine to small claims court for the whole cost sunshine took from my bank, holiday and extra flight costs plus expenses.
or do i just claim for 50%
or for just the extra flights i had to pay
i am really unsure,

And am i right in thinking its sunshine as it was down to them as i paid via their site from their advert

thanks again

I am now finding out that sunshine/hays travel and youtravel are all part of the same company

- really, who told you that?

earlier in this thread the marketing director of Sunshine confirmed their trading link with Hays but they are independent, and youtravel are Greek owned - their Greek registration details are shown here http://www.youtravel.com/termsandconditions.asp - and are used as subcontractors by many agents.

Your claim is against sunshine (do not even mention the other companies on the court papers) but working out how much is difficult. I'd go for 100% of the cost of the original booking (the hotel was unusable and therefore the transport was wasted) but not the extra flights or the injury. And then add reasonable costs for chasing the claim, recorded letters etc.

It just that i sent my letter of complaint to Sunshine whom took my money for holiday and extra flights. They then forward it on to the shuttle people and youtravel. Both have written back both say sorry no refund. They didnt send anything on to monarch but i understand that some times there is delayed flights.

But as i say from the start if i had known of building work then i would not have went there. They are also saying in more or less words that they didnt know of building works. However these building works had been going on for some time. Also when out there we became friends with other customers who used different travel compaines. They were informed in fact they gave me a copy of a email from their travel company dated 2 weeks before there holiday started stating that there was building works going on but due to finishon the 1st July but had been pushed back till 24th July. There holiday dated started 23rd and still going on.

Yes maybe i shouldnt of taking the offer of the extra week from the hotel manager who saw me 4 hours before i ment to leave for the airport. I was led to belive that my travel company would sort the flights and they did but at my cost.

So when do i start my small claims i have written to sunshine three times. The first was when i was on holiday i put the complaint into their websit on my account (no one but them and me could see). Once i returned home i wrote a full complaint they have answered by sending me 2 letters both stating the same thing apart from one for youtravel and one for the shuttle stating thank you for your complain logged on our system on the 5th August ( which wasnt that date it was 25 July) and then go on to say your correspondence had been forward to you travel and the other shuttle and sunshine acts as a booking agent for youtravel at all times! Then like i stated above i recieved 2 letters from sunshine where they have forward me their replies from youtravel and shuttle. I have since replied to sunshine re: youtravel about the faults of the holiday and that was i wasnt happy with the letter stating that all this would not of happened if i was sold some thing like advertsied but it wasnt what i paid for.
I havent heard from that letter yet. Do i make that the last letter and just file at the small claims court
Also am i correct in thing i claim just for the oreginal holiday cost and expenses or do i claim for that and the extra cost for the flights too?

Thank you once again for your help

When sending a letter of complaint you must give them a reasonable time to investigate the points you raise. I have already pointed out that under the code of conduct they have 28 days in which to reply/acknowledge. Having done so they do have a further 28 days. This does not mean that the matter can be settled in 56 days. The 28 days to put it in simple terms is the period allowed between letters. Some matters can take considerably longer dependent upon the various parties involved doing their bit. Your holiday would appear to be what is termed a "dynamic package" where various elements are put together for you. The regulations for this are not the same as when you book a "package holiday" with a Tour Operator. That is the reason why Sunshine are trying to negotiate with various companies on your behalf and the delay awaiting these companies to reply.

It is a matter of choice for you when you start legal proceedings. How much do you claim is again for you to decide. There has been some excellent advice given already which I would suggest you take into account if you decide to go down the legal route. It has already been said that accepting an offer of an extra week has diluted your claim and you need to take that into consideration.

If you do decide to take legal action then I suggest that you have a look here.

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=142919

This sets out how you should go about it. I would point out that in the case detailed it took many months. In the case of Mark he was able to do his own but before doing so he spent time on HT looking for advice and took into account the various views expressed when he submitted his claim.

One thing you need to consider is that any comments you post here on HT are public and therefore calling Sunshine liars is not very helpful. They can, if they wish, submit your comments made here in HT in evidence. Judges do not take kindly to such accusations being thrown around.

Finally keep away from the emails. The correct procedure is in writing sent recorded delivery. Emails can and do get lost and are difficult to track. Recorded delivery enable you to track online to confirm it has been received by the other party.

fwh

Thank you for your comments again.

I understand that they have 28 days to reply to a complaint and a further 28 days if they need to. I was asking how many letters have to go back and forwards before i went to small claims.

I also understand now taking the free week given from the hotel manager will make it harder but again i still had problems and it still was not what i paid for.

As for saying sunshine lied yes that i should not of said that that was very foolish of me and in the heat of the moment. How ever i have addressed their reply where they have refused any complaints and that there was no building working going on. Which i will prove with photos and video footage.

I am not stating that Sunshine is a poor company i am just upset that a holiday i paid for what was not what i paid for and they were unwilling to help me. This is the first time that i have used Sunshine. I am just really upset that after me calling them non stop they didnt pick up and once they did they gave me youtravels number. I spent the first 6 days of my 7 day holiday calling youtravel, sunshine to get help. They would not move me to another hotel or help me. I spent a number of hours at the hotel reception to get help and to speak to the manager each time he was in a meeting. Which i have to say 4 hours before the end of the holiday i got to see him.

Thank you once again for any help

I have never booked through Sunshine but last October in Sousse it was the Sunshine rep, Rob, who came to my rescue when I had an accident and was doing battle with the clinic and my insurers. He was absolutely superb and saved my sanity.

Hi hopefully you can help me i booked a holiday with sunshine holidays because you can cancel the holiday up to 14 days before you travel.
i booked it under a month ago and i changed my mind so i asked if i could cancel the holiday,i was told i still had to pay for the flights so i cancelled the flights with thomas cook, emailed sunshine holidays to let them know this, to be told i still have to pay for the flights before i can cancel the holiday,why would i pay for something that has been cancelled i belive i was miss sold this holiday and would like someone to help me,they want me to pay 475 pound for flights that are cancelled,they are going to take money from my bank next month.
could someone please give me any advice on what i can do.

What made you think that you could cancel your holiday up to 14 days before travel at no cost? As far as I can see from their website there would be costs involved in cancelling and whilst Thomas Cook might have cancelled your tickets, I very much doubt that this means that they would refund the cost of the flights. I would think that the reason why Sunshine expects you to still pay for the flights is because Thomas Cook still expects payment from Sunshine for these flights.

The fact that Sunshine appears to give you up until to 14 days before departure to pay the balance of the holiday, does not mean that you as long as you cancel more than 14 days before departure that you don't have to pay off that balance. There T&Cs make it clear that there will be cancellation charges and that this includes payment for non-transferable/non-flexible tickets which I assume is what your flights with Thomas Cook were?

Which hotel was it you booked with Sunshine? I know some online booking sites such as Booking.com give the option of free cancellation for accommodation but I didn't know that Sunshine did.

They've put together 2 separate components for you. 1 is your flight & the other the accommodation by the sound of things.

How much deposit have you paid?