Hassie give Ros Fernihough a call on 01922 621114 she is travel law lawyer who assist our members she will give you free advice.

Let us know how you get on.

Hi Hassie,

That's good advice from Glynis, but for information which hotel have you booked, please?

I have looked at the FC website and for information of others, the Premier classification has a lot of added extras included in the price, such as seats together and meals on the flight etc.

Peter

Hi Peter,the hotel is the Marina Royal Palace in Duni.
thanks Glynis for your advice Ros is an excellent solicitor ,she won a case over the opening of the Flamingo Oasis for us a couple of years ago.Thought maybe this was a bit trivial to contact her about,it is just the principle of the booking.

Pam her assistant will be able to a assist you Hassie - she won't mind.

yep, Pam's a treat.

What paperwork do you have Hassie ? When you booked via the internet you will have seen what was displayed but it's likely to be difficult to prove the text on the page as appeared then as they've clearly changed it since. Did you print out the page image ?

Mike

Hi Mike, I just have booking invoice they send you .I did print out the premier info and sent it to them with my letter but anybody could do that as you only need to click on the champagne bottle and it brings it up.My complaint is it was advertised as a premier and at the time didn't say this applied to next year.I have phoned them again this morning and they said the guy who sent me the letter would ring me back.Watch this space !!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the update Hassie.

I'm not too knowledgeable on this aspect - however, I guess the company will argue that the contract you entered into is defined in the invoice they sent - this being the first paperwork generated. During the booking phase you were asked for payment for having seats together although you realised such an expense is waived when booking a Premier package.

You still proceeded.

To your credit you did write to F.C. asking why you were charged for the seats being together and they explained in their response.

I guess you cannot force them to raise the status of this hotel to Premier before the due date (it may be related to building work or improvements timed to be completed by then) but you could argue the following:

(1) you've not received the product the advertisement offered and hence wish to either cancel will full refund of costs plus a reasonable payment for loss of interest on the money that you've paid so far

or

you require a partial refund to reflect the lesser quality of the hotel cmpared to the presumed quality had it really been a Premier. You'd need to identify what such differences and costs are and claim accordingly.

(2) you could request a full refund of the cost of seating together and an assurance of course that you will be seated together.

I think the latter is probably best if you wish to continue with the holiday anyway.

Just a point, check why the hotel is not now a Premier but will be in summer 07. Is there, for example, a problem that's being fixed now ? Is there likely to be building work in progress when you are staying there ?

Good luck,
Mike

If you go through the procedure of booking this hotel for a holiday in the middle of September 2006, it still has the Premier Service symbol on the hotel detail page.

It's not until almost the last page that it states that Premier Service does not come into operation until May 2007 (together with the routine warning about children and passports).

The key points are whether this endorsement was there when the holiday was booked over the internet, and was the status of 'Premier Service hotel' mentioned on a confirmatory invoice, either printed out at the time, emailed, or sent through the post?

Peter

Sorry didn't answer earlier had to go to work.
The said endorsement was not put on the web site until after I wrote the letter.I have not yet received the promised phone call from the customer services .I also have a F.C Premier brochure Aug 2006 - Oct 2007 which lists it as a premier ,this is one of the reasons I wrote to them.It seams to me holiday companies can advertise what they like and then change the goal posts.Thanks for all your help and advice will keep you updated.

Hi Hassie,

They can't change the goal posts, and your local Trading Standards might be interested in this, as well as Ros Fernihough.

Peter

Hi,we have had our tickets now and non of the extras have been included.Haven't got the time or energy to carry on ringing as the last person (who wrote last letter) never got back to me.I will just learn from this experience .But perhaps this will help others to check before booking exactly what is offered on these premier hols .Thanks for all your input,Hassie

Hi, have just read this post - am sorry to read that you've given up chasing them --------- know what you mean though - we had an issue some years back and you do get to the point where you're just too worn down / out to keep chasing. I think that's why customers get so many non descript letters to start off with!

Whatever, have a great holiday now

Hi Hassie1

I appreciate that you are totally fed up with the procedure, however holiday companies bank on people giving up, hence why the dont answer letters or send you mundane compensation vouchers!! You were mis sold a holiday and If I were you I would take them all the road.

Don't give up yet dechmont00 it took me about 9 months to sort things out but it was worth it when I recieved a cheque for £900 plus don't let them get away with it.

chazy x