Hi everyone after a bit of advice. Had some trouble over the summer with a holiday. Booked at Going Places but the Tour Operator was Thomas Cook. Am now in the middle of arbitration with Going Places.
Briefly, there was a problem with our room allocation and it boils down to Going Places. Thomas Cook tried to recitfy the problem in resort, and they did their best although the solution was not ideal. Anyway, Going Places are saying its all Thomas Cooks fault if the solution was not ideal.
My question is, Going Places sold us the holiday, supplied by Thomas Cook. But we gave our requests to Going Places and handed our money to them, signed the paperwork with them - they sold it us. So are they therefore liable for the holiday and any problems??
For example, in retail if someone sells you a product that is faulty or not fit for use, they cannot wriggle out of it by saying "Suppliers problem, we only sold it you". By law as the seller they have responsibilities and liabilities. Is it the same with travel agents? In my eyes Going Places sold us the holiday. Due to an error by them it all went t*ts up, although in resort it was Thomas Cook that had to deal with it. But they still sold it, and in my eyes they have responsibility for that. Am I right or wrong?
Booking through a travel agent would add a second contract, it being most probably a verbal contract, but a contract nevertheless.
I would seek redress from the Travelagent.
Mark
They offer a holiday operated by in effect a company contracted to them.
It may be, as in your case that the sub contractor has not been correctly briefed on what they should be supplying.
As you have said the TO did attempt to try to rectify the problem.
It is not their fault if they cannot do so to your satisfaction. The circumstances may be such that it is impossible for them to do so. Because of the wrong instructions given to them, for example you wanted to stay at hotel A - They may have no vacancies there. If they have not been advised correctly then they could have let the room to someone else and have no others available.
Even if they are at fault your contract is still with the booking agent. Any damages you recover from them they would seek to recover from the TO
fwh
But we gave our requests
Requests can cause problems. Are these a verbal requests to the travel agent, or are they formal requests that are mentioned in the travel company invoice?
If you do not have them acknowledged in the invoice, you could be on a hiding to nothing - sorry.
Peter
I would say Going Places are the ones to rectify any problems you have...I work for a window manufactures and only a couple of weeks ago we had a gentleman phone us about a problems he thought he may have and we couldn't deal with him because we had supplied the Frames to another company who fitted his windows... Even though we will put right and problems that there might be we did not sell this gentleman the product...and need the company to directly contact us on his behalf... I would have thought this was the case in all if not most cases (whatever the product/service/business)
For example, if you booked and paid for an Inland View but requested a Sea View and didn't get a Sea View then you have no recourse as a Sea View is an upgrade that you have not paid for. It is just something you get if the hotel is not full and totally at their discretion.
I work in resort for a TO and have had many, many instances of TA's promising/requesting certain views, certain room types and all kind of weird and wonderful things that are sometimes impossible to deliver in resort.
Most TO's have a disclaimer in the back of the brochure stating that special requests are just that and not guaranteed.
If, however it was a specific, bookable product, service, view or whatever and you have been invoiced for it - as Peter says, then you may have some come back against the TO as long as Going Places informed them.
TA's make a big thing of promising you much in the shop or over the phone but in reality, a lot of them have no idea of the reality in resort.
Louise
If the former it would be on your invoice and you should get exactly what you paid for and it should have been up to the TO to provide this for you in the resort and offer a suitable alternative and if it wasn't in the end provided then the TA would probably be jointly liable for failing to make sure that it was provided. It always pays to check out the details on your invoice - on a holiday in Tunisia I was offered a free up-grade to sole use of double with a balcony but when I got there the room was lovely but without a balcony. The hotel reception were unco-operative but first thing the next morning the Thomas Cook rep insisted on a change of room because my invoice clearly stated what I was entitled to. I ended up with a lovely double with balcony and seaview as stated on the invoice.
But I often travel with my mother who has some mobility difficulties and we always put in a request for room with easy access to lifts and for our rooms to be nearby etc. I always research the hotel carefully first and ask about steps etc but in the end this is always no more than a request, neither TO nor TA can guarantee this and all they say is that they will forward the request to the hotel. I always follow this up with with direct contact with the hotel, preferably by email and we've never had any problems to date but I wouldn't have any come back with either the TO or TA if the room turned out to be at the farthest end of the corridor because it was only a request and not a guaranteed facility that we had paid for.
SM
Requests can cause problems. Are these a verbal requests to the travel agent, or are they formal requests that are mentioned in the travel company invoice?
I think I caused confusion the way I worded that. There were no special requests with the booking. When I said requsts I meant we walked into the travel agent and said "X amount of us want to go to Ibiza at this time". They offered and subsequently sold the holiday with Thomas Cook.
Basically the way I see it is that the contract was with the travel agent, and they have made a mistake.
When I said requsts I meant we walked into the travel agent and said "X amount of us want to go to Ibiza at this time". They offered and subsequently sold the holiday with Thomas Cook.
Check your confirmation invoice that you received prior to going on your holiday and shortly after booking it.
Do all holidy elements described on the invoice match those of the holiday received? If not then you should take issue with the Tour Operator.
It is important that you check the confirmation invoice when received and if something doesn't match against what is booked that this is raised before you go on holiday.
It is going to be extremely difficult to rectify something after a holiday that could have been rectified before you started it. Similar to you having to give a rep in the resort an opportunity to rectify any problems before you have a valid claim for compensation.
Mark
Check your confirmation invoice that you received prior to going on your holiday and shortly after booking it.
That is just the problem. We never received a confirmation invoice from Thomas Cook. The only documentation we have, and ever saw is from going places. This invoice was produced by Thomas Cook in resort and indeed matches the holiday thye provided. It does not however match the holiday that was sold, and was on the Going Placed paperwork. Had we received it we would have identified the matter and rectified it before leaving the UK.
Going Places received this invoice but didnt pass it on to us. They now maintain that they did post it, but we never received it. in fact there were 2 (being a large group booking) on different dates. Whats the probability of 2 being lost in the post??!!
Thomas Cook say they provided the holiday that was booked with them by Going Places. Going Places say they booked the holiday we requested not the one Thomas Cook provided. that is why its a big mess and that is why we are claiming from Going Places. This invoice matter is one of the main points in our case against them.
On the basis of what you say here ie that you walked into Going Places and asked for holiday in Ibiza for X amount of people, then unless you ended up somewhere other than Ibiza and/or there weren't enough beds for your party, then it sounds as if you did get what you asked for until you can provide us all with information to the contrary. To extend your analogy re other retailers, if I walk into a shop and say I want a washing machine without stipulating exactly what I'm looking for in a washing machine and they sell me one, as long as it washes my clothes I've no come back if it doesn't have eg as fast a spin speed as I would have liked and the clothes come out damper than I would have liked. If it washes the clothes clean then it's fit for purpose as a washing machine even if it's not fit for my purpose - it's not the machine which is faulty, it's my fault for not stipulating exactly what sort of machine I wanted. So tell us what your holiday spec was and in what ways going places failed to deliver it and then we might be able to give you more specific advice in return.
SM
If you give a little more info, members may be able to steer you in the right direction.
You say Thomas Cook tried to rectify the problem in resort so presumably you saw your rep to put it in writing and you have a copy of the complaint? If you didn't do this, both the TO and the TA will deem it that you were 'not really that bothered' at the time and it will make your claim more difficult for you to uphold.
Louise
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=81371&highlight=
Thanks for everyones help. As I said were now mid way through arbitration. I know it might not be the best solution but none of us have the time money or resources to pursue this through the courts.
Basically I just needed to clarify that the contract is with the travel agent because they sold the holiday.
Hi all. the detailes of the case and problems can be found on an earlier thread I posted here. Thanks for everyones help. As I said were now mid way through arbitration. I know it might not be the best solution but none of us have the time money or resources to pursue this through the courts.
Basically I just needed to clarify that the contract is with the travel agent because they sold the holiday.
It would have been of help if this had been posted with the original query, or we had been told that the facts were elsewhere for us to read
Topic locked to avoid duplication !
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