When are you going on holiday?

Sorry typo we booked in April 2011 and we are going in November 2011.

Tour operators automatically transfer bookings to the alternative hotel they choose, just so you actually still have a holiday, if you choose to accept it. If they didn't availability might go before customers had made their minds up, so I would view that as a good thing.

Just a bit from FC T&C's.
Major changes to your holiday
Occasionally, we have to make major changes to the flight or accommodation making up your holiday with us. If we tell you about any of these changes after we have confirmed your holiday booking, you may either:
- accept the new arrangements offered by us; or
- accept a replacement holiday from us of equivalent or closely similar standard and price, if one is available; this can include the choice of a replacement holiday from another TUI Travel Group company. Should you choose this option the terms and conditions of your holiday will not change and these conditions will still apply to your booking.or
- cancel your holiday with us and receive a full refund of all monies paid.

http://www.firstchoice.co.uk/fcsun/page/booking/tandc.page?lang=en&accommInvSys=FIRST_CHOICE&flightInvSys=FIRST_CHOICE&depDate=2009-09-10

I would ask them about the alternative hotel that you have in mind as it would appear that this should be covered under the above. In case the hotel you have chosen is unavailable I would have a second choice ready just in case.

As a hotel deciding to close is not under FC control no compensation is payable, unless the one they offer is of a lower category.

We stayed in Samana last Xmas for 2 weeks. I will say it's in a nice area and the hotel was lovely but there wasn't much to do there and it was very quiet. Which hotel are you meant to be staying in?

Hi Mdollar,

We were booked into the Bahia Principe Cococayo. However we have been able to change our hotel to a Riu in Puerto Plata, I've included the latest developments below:

Thank-you for your comments so far; I thought I would give you an update on the situation as I went with my partner to FC yesterday.

When we arrived we were sat in front of the manageress, we asked to see the letter which they had sent out to customers affected by this matter and discovered that the distance from our original resort (Puerto Plata) to the new resort Samana was in fact over 4 hours transfer.

We indicated to her that we wished to change to a Riu hotel in Puerto Plata as moving us to a completely different resort would have: changed our holiday completely making the excursions we wished to take impossible due to the availability and the distances involved. She then attempted to convince us that the other resort was better, which may have been the case, but considering she had to look it up on a map it made me very sceptical. Despite me and my partner making it explicitly clear where we wished to now go, she then proceeded to tell us that there was no availability and we would have to cancel our holiday, unless we were going to agree to the hotel in Samana. At this point my partner became quite tearful, we were very bluntly barked at by the manageress 'There is no point getting upset, there is nothing we can do about it, it's not our fault'.

She eventually found the Riu which we had spoken about on the system. At this point I made it clear to her that the facilities offered in our original hotel compared to that of the Riu and the one in Samana was significant to say the least. I indicated to her that despite initially being told there was a healthy range of hotels to choose from the selection was extremely small: 4 in this case.

I further made it clear to her that the price of the Riu was some £110.00 cheaper than our original accommodation on their internet site. I know and accept that holiday prices go up as well as down after bookings are made and that there is no recourse for this. I asked if they would be willing to honour this new price as we were now being asked to sign a new contract and that booking reference was to be changed to reflect the new accommodation. I was told there is no way they would match that price and refund us the difference as the in-store system actually said it was over an above by £50.00 what we had initially paid, in addition to this I was then told FC do not trade in-store on their own internet site prices. This as many of you will know is complete bull, I asked her why this was the case when we originally booked the holiday on the basis of quotes from their site, taking them into the branch and booking the holiday, the subject was promptly changed.

I then asked her if she wasn't willing to match the price, what our options were regarding a full refund or credit note. Regarding the cancellation we were made to feel like we were inconveniencing her, she attempted to convince us both it would make matters very difficult, it would take at least 15 working days to receive a refund. Further to this because I had pre-booked seats I was told that this would then become obsolete and when re-booking I would be charged again for the seats. This was a difficult thing to swallow because due to a previous issue with seats it meant I would have paid for them a 3rd time. I then asked about an instantaneous credit note, I was told this would not be available as they only provided credit notes for services already paid for, this confused both of us even further as we had paid the holiday in full months ago. As I previously indicated the issue with the seating together option, FC offered us either a partial cash refund or a credit note. I have no idea why they were not willing to even entertain the idea. I told her that we felt we had little choice but to accept the new accommodation at the higher price, to which point she promptly booked it with head office and hand wrote a contract stating that we accepted the new hotel on the same price as our original holiday (this and neither has the new contract been signed yet).

I have written a very long and very stern letter to TUI and will in addition to this be calling them today to tell them about the situation and ask them what they will be doing to rectify the situation. I am not digging for compensation but throughout all of this not even one apology has been offered and because of the fact holiday from work etc is not easy to organise at the drop of a hat. We couldn't take the chance of cancelling and re-booking 15 working days later only to find the holiday we were looking forward to all year is no longer possible due to availability.

Just wondering what your thoughts are on all this.

Thanks

Docash19831983

I'm glad you are kind of sorted out docash1983, but I think the treatment you experienced from the women in the FC shop was very poor and I don't blame you for writing to head office, barking at your wife when she was almost in tears is appalling behaviour. I hope you took her name and mention it in your correspondence. They are supposed to be customer orientated. It's clear she was not going to let the booking go whatever happened even if she sold you a holiday you did not really want, hence no credit note & the implication that cancelling would be a huge problem for her & you, particularly in relation to the costs associated with the pre-booked seats.

I know it was not their fault that the hotel you booked was no longer available, but there are ways of dealing with things not to further upset a customer, who already feels let down & is spending a considerable amount of money with their organisation, thus ensuring they have a job.

I had to reschedule a holiday with Cosmos earlier this year, I paid the standard per person ammendment fee, however my new holiday was cheaper than my old as I was now travelling off peak and I was due about 90 GBP refund. They did this to my CC more or less immediately, so some companys can obviously operate off of live computer prices even if TUI can't.

I'm positive that as long as you're still on the same flight, resort airport and dates etc as your original booking - the agents / Tour Ops system should just let them alter to your other hotel as a change of accommodation by amending the booking.

It shouldn't be necessary for them to cancel and re-book so don't understand why your seats should be an issue?

I would ask them to explain exactly what they had to do with your booking to switch your accommodation....

The agent incidentally would be credited automatically over time by the Tour Ops system for a cancelled booking but it takes up to 3 billing cycles for the funds to be returned to your payment processor. It still shouldn't stop the agent booking you another holiday had you decided to change your booking completely.

She's just panicking you will go somewhere else and she will lose the commission because you're peed off with her attitude - no wonder!

Abysmal customer service

Shell
Limassol, Cyprus

Thanks Shell,

Unfortunately things have gone from bad to worse. I have spoken to someone directly at TUI and they are mounting a full investigation.

I sat in front of the woman whilst she had a two min conversation with a rep at TUI, she got off the phone telling us we were entitled to nothing. We have learned that she lied to me and my partners face about the cost of the new booking and compensation she said we were not entitled to. I know this because I was fortunate enough to speak to the agent who informed her of these entitlements.

I was on the phone yesterday for 8 hours in all sorting this mess out and re-booking my seats. It has been a shambles beyond comparison. With everything that has happened the complaint letter (now in TUI's possession) is 7 pages long.

So, it's a case of "watch this space"

Please make sure to keep us posted with the outcome and - good luck with it.

Shell
Limassol, Cyprus

I wouldn't have sent a 7 page letter as you will be lucky if they read the first 2 pages. A complain letter should be concise and to the point, not rambling, with the main issues as bullet points and a note stating that full details can be provided.

luci

Thats fair enough, believe me it would have been difficult to condense down there really is that much that has gone wrong. It was set out in date order from start to finish. If they dont read it I will be able to establish this from talking to TUI management who are allegedly calling me this week to discuss things.

Hi guys I thought I would update you on developments. After sending in my complaint email as instructed to by TUI head office on the 5th October, I then contacted them for an update on the situation, which I received on the 13th October stating:

Dear Mr"¦"¦

Thank you for your further email.

Your comments are currently being investigated and therefore unfortunately I am unable to confirm the exact date of our response to you.

I can assure you that your comments will be thoroughly investigated and a
appropriate response will be sent to you in a timely manner.

Kind Regards,

On 14th October, I receive a call from First Choice; it's the manageress of the shop I had complained about. She told me that she had received my complaint on 5th October, so it seems as if it was sent to the gentleman who assured me it would be investigated by his superiors to being passed directly to her.

She proceeded to briefly address the entire complaint with me declaring that she had done nothing wrong and that if she had she would have ignored the issue and not dealt with it at all. She quite happily stated that I had misunderstood or misinterpreted everything that was said in the shop, particularly had misunderstood or misinterpreted everything that was said in the shop, particular about trading on the internet price, cancellation and credit note issues. She then told me what she meant by her various comments in-store to which I explained I took her words as statements of fact, and that she should have explained her position, as I am not a mind reader.

She then went onto clarify her position regarding the compensation we were owed, claiming that she had not been told by TUI we were owed anything and that the person from TUI who told us we were had lied to us not her. As you can see this is all getting very confusing.

She has now said that she wishes to continue to offer us the customer service which she believed she was offering us before which I had to hold myself back from laughing. She said she would be reviewing my compliant yesterday and would get back to me today. She has said that she will also be making a formal complaint against the individual at TUI.

I seem to be going round and round in circles with this. I have asked to speak to an area manager to have the matter investigated by an impartial being. I do not understand how TUI can tell you the matter is being dealt with yet pass it straight to the person whom you are complaining about. There is clearly no accountability in all this and the manageress is clearly not going to reprimand herself.

I have recorded all conversations with TUI and the manageress at first choice. What do you think my next steps should be, any advice would be welcome.

Thanks

Docash1983

I do hope you advised them they were being recorded!

I am not a liberty to ask there permission as I am not intending to allow these calls to be heard by a third party. The calls were taken on my home telephone and personal mobile, which permits the above by law.

I would assume that TUI have passed the complaint over to their local office (your travel agent) for their comments on the situation in the same manner they would with an overseas office.

I don't for one minute think that TUI would expect that local office to then get on the phone and contact you directly as they indicated they couldn't tell you exactly when they would be able to respond to you. (Officially, it's 28 days by ABTA code of conduct).

If you are on speaking terms with someone at the TUI office, I would be of a mind to contact them and ask why the agent in question is telephoning you when you were expecting to receive a full written reply from TUI Customer Services after they have made a full and complete investigation of the whole facts.

Tell them you want to receive all contact in writing only.

After 2 written replies, if you are not satisfied with either their explanation or their findings, you can decide whether to take your complaint further with ABTA.

Shell
Limassol, Cyprus

You are at liberty to tell them, but you are not obligated to do, if as you say they will not be heard by a third party. Sorry, I presumed the reason for recording them was to be able to use them if you took the complaint further.

Thanks Shell,

I contacted TUI directly yesterday and got through to customer services. I asked to speak to the gentleman's superior, I was promptly fobbed off with we dont deal with complaints at head office. I dont really understand what exactly is going on.

No sunaddict, I am happy to keep them for my personal use, I am happy to declare that I have the recordings to them as well, purely as a threat but not to disclose to any other third party. In all honesty they will have recordings anyway of the conversations, so if it went any further I would be asking to use their recordings not my own, as they undoubtedly would be of better quality.

I've just read this thread and it's easy to see what this manager is playing at, her attitude is obviously figures-driven rather than customer-driven, what area is this shop in out of interest?

I had an issue with a Thomson shop manager this year and more specifically her attitude towards a problem with our booking, I simply demanded the name and contact details of her area manager(as is your right as a customer,it's in their own rules and regs as a company) and was immediately fobbed off by this manager who basically told me all i could do was email my complaint to that shop and they would see it was passed on,so in other words address my complaint to the very person i was complaining about and trust her to pass it on to the very person who's job it was to discipline her!
so instead i contacted a different shop in the same area, explained my concerns about this process and the manager there gave me the option of either contacting the area manager via him or taking my details and assuring me that i would hear from the area manager more or less straight away,so to be safe i opted for both.

Sure enough my email not only found it's way to the area manager, i also received a more or less instant phonecall from her,she was EXTREMELY understanding as well as professional,gave me an apology on behalf of TUI,promised to investigate fully and at the same time worked to fix the original problem,which she did more or less instantly,despite the original shop manager telling me i had no options to do so. Since then i have had a detailed apology from the area manager concerned aswell as one from the shop the complaint was made against,and also had a follow up call to ask if our holiday was satisfactory and offered us a decent discount code we could use for our next booking if made in the next 12 months.(no compo as we weren't out of pocket at all).

This area manager's name is Hayley Chambers and her area includes Peterborough and a large'ish area around it.