hi re volcanic ash
booked holiday with first choice
going end of july
if and i hope not we cant get will we be covered and get full refund
paid with debitcard
thank in advance

hi re volcanic ash
booked holiday with first choice
going end of july
if and i hope not we cant get will we be covered and get full refund
paid with debitcard
thank in advance

First Choice are ABTA and ATOL protected so if you cant go because of such an event you will get your money back or be able to transfer to another holiday.

Worth noting only Visa Debit cards have some form of cover, but this wont be needed.

If your holiday gets cancelled by First Choice due to volcanic ash you are covered under EU regulations for a full refund or free transfer.

thanks so much
for your quick reply

Anyone got experience of traveling with First choice and using kids clubs or the crèche services?

Looking for a holiday for the Mrs 30th birthday and would like to have activities for the kids to do during the day so the Mrs can get a kind of relaxing holiday. First choice seem to be the best for this. Wondering how long is kids club? Is it the same every day and from country to country and resort to resort or does it vary? We would be going at peak season in August 2011 and the First choice website says you book Kids club when you get there with the rep. Worried about getting there and being told its full cus its peak season, can this happen? Crèche needs to be booked in advance of going on holiday. Once again anyone know the durations of Crèche and if it varies from place to place as above?

Lots of questions I know I will pop into a First choice travel agent soon and ask these question, hope they have the answers.

One last question First choice holidays for next year seem to me to be very expensive like £900+ pp to Majorca ( I priced a holiday to Majorca for my entire family of 4 earlier this year for just over £700 for all of us ) It seems that its cheaper to get some First choice holidays through a third party, anyone know any good ones?

Many thanks

hi help please
booked holiday with first choice
at a whopping 4 grand
got balance of 700 to be paid by 31 may i did ring them few months agoe as was stuggling for deadline
the guy said
dont worry we will give you extra few weeks
so rang today to arrange this was told 48 hours yikes
should i ring back
anyone know policy
will i lose the money as i have broke the contract
thanks

I would have thought that if they choose to stick to whatever date they gave you, then they are quite within their rights to cancel your holiday if the payment isn't received in time. I know they cancelled a friends flights last year because of this.
Maybe you should have clarified the extension date at the time when you asked them about it?

hi thanks
they told me to ring back week before final payment due which i did to get told a different story
its so annoying grrrrrrr
but thanks for your reply
be first and last time i book with first choice if they
dont help me out here
thanks

Phone back using a non 0871 number and ask to speak to a supervisor. Explain that you previously contacted them when you realised there would be an issue and the advice given. Then state that when acting as per the advice you have come up against someone else who has come up with a different story.
Maybe the supervisor/manager can process the issue further than the call centre op is able to.
Not sure if it will help with FC, but I met a blank wall with an insurance company recently and although the phone operators did their best, I was eventually told all avenues had been exhausted and I needed to pay money immediately, whereas once I got the manager and explained the situation, he was able to make amendments here and there adding goodwill discounts etc due to their mistake to bring the extra required amount back down to zero.
When I used to book direct with the EclipseDirect website, I always had problems and then had to deal with the FC Finance department direct. They were always helpful, but that was a few years ago now

The Manageress in our First Choice Shop is brilliant she really is Last year we needed to pay outstanding deposit balance on one holiday, but at the same time there was a Cruise we wanted to book. So she extended the payment of final balance deposit on first holiday by four weeks. I suppose in the end it boils down to discretion?

Dear all,

I have booked a dream holiday for my family this winter, I'll cut the sob story but I have been extremely ill and feel privilaged to still be here, hence the dream holiday.

Paid a 'reduced' deposit of £300 to First Choice then a further £200, which was going spare a few weeks later but with a further £1050 due in a week.

Subsquently all manner of things have gone wrong with cars, machines etc.. plus husband lost his job..

We are determined to do this holiday and have arranged to sell some shares etc.. however to my dismay they won't arrive as cleared funds into my bank in time to make next payment, it will be nearly two weeks late..my bank won't stump the overdraft and I have no other avenues.

Despite a young girl saying on the phone this would be ok.. I am very concerned as £1550 is an awful lot of money to loose as not refundable, if they cancel/void it as I am over my date... I have nothing in writing.

I booked this holiday by phone and whilst I am in Somerset I am dealing with office in Scotland

Please help/advise.

If you do speak to anyone, make a note of their name and position, if you do not feel they are high enough ask for their supervisor to confirm the advice they are giving you.

The calls should be recorded and form verbal agreements but I had a recent experience with a well known company on the car insurance front where the lady on the phone made amendments to my policy agreed the price and took the money, only for the company to later turn around and say she wasn't authorised to apply the discounts she had applied. First time I had come across this and the supervisor eventually sorted it out at no extra cost to me, but I did not have the original Lady's name or position and so was at a severe disadvantage.

The dealings I have had in the past with the FC finance department have all been very satisfactorily dealt with, but I did phone head office to speak to the finance department itself. It used to be such fun, I would bag a bargain on the eclipsedirect website; the system would fall over during the payment stage; I would then have to phone the next morning and chase through the company to try and find and get my holiday at that price. Naturally nothing was set in stone until the deposit payment had been taken, hence my dealings with FC finance chivvying them up.

You should be OK, but if you are still worried phone up and ask for a supervisor for piece of mind.

Hi kgiles and welcome to HT!

I hope you are feeling better now and manage to get away on holiday.

Have you bought travel insurance yet? You will need to declare your illness to the insurance company and have it accepted for cover otherwise it may invalidated you policy. Remember to declare all pre-existing medical conditions for everyone travelling.

luci

hi is this the correct section to get advice please on a complaint i am dealing wiht regarding a refund from first choice
thanks

bestfriend22uk,

We have a Holiday Complaints Forum that may suit you better with lots of experience in there.

Darren

Hi All,

Not really sure if this is the right place to post this dilemma - if not, sorry and any help in the right direction would be really appreciated.

Find myself today in a bit of a quandry, have just checked the reviews for the hotel we are due to go to in Tunisia in October which we booked last Friday. 4 reviews have been posted in the last two days from people who have had substantial amounts of money stolen from their locked safes in the hotel rooms, some as much as 1000euros!! Obviously, I'm sure you can now understand my predicament and I'm not really sure as to what to do as this clearly isn't an isolated one-off incident!

What would be your advice? Do I ring First Choice and see what they have to say? Do I try and cancel the booking and go away somewhere else, will this cost me? I really don't know what to do to be honest and would really appreciate any advice anybody may have.

Thanks a million,

Jess

If you cancel now you will probably lose 100% as it is so close to departure.

If you booked through a travel agent, I would print out the reviews you have read and take it down. See if they will change your accommodation. You may have to pay an amendment fee and any difference in the accommodation cost. I'm not sure if you can do this close to departure, but it's worth a try.

Let us know how you get on.

luci

Hi Luci,

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! I rang First Choice last night and they said they weren't aware of any thefts but that they would look into it and get back to me by Friday as the reviews have only just been posted, complaints may not have been made yet.

They were very helpful though, assuring me that if there was a problem, we would be offered alternative accommodation at another premier hotel or the chance to book a holiday somewhere else.

So I guess at the moment I just need to hang fire and see what they can find out, will let you know if I hear anything else!

Jess

For those interested, First Choice confirmed to me today that the Winter 2011 Tropical brochure will be available from 16th November so I assume bookable online from the same day ...