Hello. Me and a group of friends returned from Ibiza a few weeks back. 14 of us travelled out at the end of June for 2 weeks. The holiday was booked in January, the accommodation being 2 x 1 bedroom apartments (4 in each) and 1 x 2 bedroom apartments (6 people).

The holiday was a jmc holiday, booked through Going Places.

When we arrived at our apartments we had a problem. We had been given a 2 bedroom apartment and 2 studios. The apartment was great for the 6, but the studios were rediculous for 4 people - they only had three beds in for a start. And more to the point we had paid more for apartments.

Initially thinking it was a small hotel oversight we complained to reception who said "thats whats been booked". So we asked to speak to jmc (Thomas Cook), and the hotel put us through to their resort office. Thomas Cook also insisted thats what had been booked.

Next stop was to ring Going Places. They agreed with us that apartments NOT studios had been booked, and said theyd help sort it out. They agreed to fax the hotel proof of this. When the rep arrived, although helpful he said without our invoice there wasnt much he could do until the next day when the invoice could be faxed from Thomas Cook head office. (we hadn't travelled with our invoice - stupid yes). Unfortunately the Going Places fax wasn't worth anything apparently.

So 8 of us spent the first night in cramped studios. Next morning we met the rep first thing and he had an invoice, on jmc headed paper. This stated 2x STUDIOS and 1 x 2 bed apartment. At this point we realised why we didnt have the invoice with us - WE HAD NEVER SEEN IT! The invoice was addressed to Going Places, and its their job to forward it to us (standard procedure). However, they obviously hadn't done this as its the first we'd seen of it.

So, basically Thomas Cook had provided us the holiday that was booked in their eyes. We were informed that the fault was with Going Places. However the rep agreed that the rooms were rediculous and said they'd managed to find another hotel "10 mins down the road" and could move us as goodwill gesture. HOWEVER, as the 6 adults in the 2 bed apartment were unaffected, they could not be moved.

So we faced an impossible descision. Either stay in the awfully cramped studios with no room to move for 14 nights, or split up the group which would ruin the holiday. We were being pressed for this descision quickly. We decided to move, after seeing the rooms again we couldnt live 4 in each for a fortnight.

the new hotel was great, although 10 mins down the road was in a car, it was a half hour walk. This left us a 6 Euro taxi ride apart from our friends and did ruin the idea of our big group holiday. It effectively became 2 groups of people, and we spent loads on taxis and phone calls for arranging where to meet etc etc...

Our rep did write us a compalint form stating "travel agent mis allocated rooms, jmc moved affected adults to new hotel"

On return to the UK we marched into Going Places as soon as possible ready for a fight (after all it was their fault right?). Wrong. As far as they are concerned (and our paperwork backs this up) we had booked APARTMENTS not studios. they couldnt understand it. To be fair to them, all the staff in the branch were aware of it and remembered the day it kicked off. They remember our phonecall, and the communication between them and Thomas Cook. According to Going Places they had said to our resort office "Give them the rooms they are asking for, and we'll sort out the money afterwards". As far as they are concerned thats what heppened, they didnt know we'd been moved and couldn't believe Thomas Cook had split us up the way they did.

Going Places said to us to put everything in writing, take it to them, and their branch manager would also write a letter and send it off to Thomas Cook together with ours. This was done on Friday 14th July. We have heard nothing since. The 14 day acknowledgement of receipt has been and gone, and this friday it will be 28 days. So now they're in breach of ABTA.

We paid £5000 for a holiday that was ruined. We feel we've been fobbed off (because were young) and no-one seems to want to admit fault. Friday will be the magic 28 days. Tomorrow I'm going to Going Places to see whats going on but doubt I'll get anywhere. My plan is to write another letter, enclose my original letter and send it to Thomas Cook directly, Going Places head office and ABTA.

Does anyone else have any other pointers or advice for me? Sorry for the really long post. Any help appreciated.

Thanks