Hello everyone this is my first post & would welcome good advice. Please bare with the story I've tried to compact it the best I can.
We booked our holiday with Thomas Cook this year to a hotel we have stayed in for the past two years, using Thomas Cook.
We really looked forward to going, as we have made friends with the management & staff.
The holiday was in Cuba.
We flew from Manchester & all was ok, we arrived at Cayo Coco airport & gave our names & destination to TC staff outside,& directed to a coach.
Whilst travelling on the coach a tour guide gave me a letter, I started to read it & was horrified to see that TC were not letting us stay at our hotel, due to Health & safety reasons, with no explanation, & that they were upgrading us free of charge to a 4* hotel.
We were not happy, & on arriving at the 4* refused to check in.
The TC rep came on another coach, & we told him we wanted to stay at our usual Hotel.
He said it was TC's policy for us not to stop there & he could do nothing, I asked what the problem was & he said that British guests were complaining of bad stomachs & all the British had been moved, & that Cuban guests at the same hotel were not unwell, & we were not to visit the Hotel & should be happy we were given 4* for free.
We told him we wanted to stay were we had booked as we wanted to talk with our usual Hotel about wedding plans for next year. He said it was impossible to move us & we would have to stay, I asked how long as TC known we could not go to our booked Hotel & he said at least 4days.
I told him TC had not notified us before leaving the U.K. about this as we would not have come on holiday.
We could not fly back as he said TC was the only carrier at the airport & the plane seats were full.
We had no choice & had to stay there, & were allocated a bungalow. I asked reception for the phone number of our usual hotel, & they said they would ring for me, they tried & said unobtainable, they gave me the number & told me to ring from my room. I tried ringing from the room but could not get through, after unpacking & showering, I made my way back up to reception & they told me my phone was switched off, & they would switch it on.
I eventually got in touch with my usual hotel, & spoke to the manageress, who invited us down Sunday, we had landed on the Thursday, when we got to our usual hotel we were welcomed with open arms, all our friends were there, & invited for a drink around the pool.
It was then to our amazement we saw other Brits, drinking, eating & using the facilities, I asked what was happening, to be told that some Brits had complained, about bad stomachs, & other things & demanded to be moved, the manageress said she was happy for us to stay, but TC had used our money to pay the other hotel, she said the hotel had invited the health dept down from Havana twice & they found no problem with any tests.
We returned to the other hotel, saw the rep & asked to be moved, he said no, TC's policy is you cannot go,I told him we had seen other Brits there & he said they are finishing their holidays there, I said so much for a health & safety issue, & being told there were no Brits there.
We had a horrible time at the so called 4*, we had small ants in our room & bedding, ripped sheets(not changed in the fortnight we were there) all the drawer bases were broken, the air con leaked all over our daughters bed, & when reported the maid wanted to put fresh bedding on it, we ended up using a spanish phrase book to tell them we wanted a dry base & matteress, we had a open whicker basket for used loo roll with a open plastic bag in it, after 3 days we had no bag at all & used some we brought with us.
We reported all this to the rep,& he told us to tell the hotel customer services.
The last 5 days of our holiday, we came back to the room & found faeces, all around our basin, in my partners underwear & the room floor, from a animal, we reported it & they sent two maids who swept it up, shrugged & left. We again went & complained, & I told them the faeces was rat faeces, they said no there were no rats.
We went back to our room later & our daughter saw the rat, it run into the bathroom, I went back to complain 7 they told us to leave our room at ten the next day for 2 hours & they would fumigate, & that it was not a rat but a lizard? I told them my daughter has seen it, my partner said if it's a lizard will fumigation kill it, they said no, as the island is a nature reserve & they cannot kill wildlife.
We had a terrible time & filled in a complaint form, & the rep signed it, even admitting on it that TC knew 4 days before we flew we would not be in our usual hotel.
We came home & complained straight away, TC took their time with replies but,in the second reply sent a voucher for £359.00 & I returned it recorded, stating that it was unacceptable, & reiterated to them that under the Travel & package regulations if they had let us know before flying we would have cancelled & had a full refund.I also told them if they did not respond after 14days i would start court proceedings, the 14 days has gone & I've heard nothing.
I have also complained to the credit card company under section 75 & am still waiting to hear from them, I have sent everything recorded.
My question is how do you think I stand, & what kind of compensation should I be looking for, the fortnight cost £3,300.00 we have never had to complain before & including this year, over the three years with TC we have spent £12000.00 with them & they treat us like this.
Why dont you give Ros Fernihough, Travel Law Solicitor a call on 01922 705134, she will be able to offer you advice.
Kath x
I do beleive that TC chose not to inform us & thought, oh well let them get there & then notify them of the change in Cuba, if I had found at the airport when we arrived I would have not got on the coach. I don't know what they think they are doing, & I don't see how they can choose were to put you, it was not our choice, & we tried to get it amicably sorted whilst there, I will not be stopping going after them, even if I have to stand outside the local shop with a placard warning people how they treat you.
I don't have much to add really but to say that TC or any TO do not offload folks lightly and that where I work (not TC) we ALWAYS inform guests prior to travel so that they can make a choice, go or cancel with a full refund. Sometimes this is just days before the holiday as hotels don't often keep us informed of closures, pool out of action, renovation work etc etc.
Thankfully we don't have to offload guests very often but if we do, they are given as much notice as possible and a chance to decide what to do - as you should have been.
Also, the other Brits in the original hotel - were they from TC? If not, that won't really help you as TC had obviously taken the decision to not send their guests there. They must have had some serious complaints to take such action and possibly they were being cautious about the possibility of mass sickness among guests which no TO wants.
I have to say that if you were my guests and that desperate to be at the original hotel, I would have let you go but have you sign a disclaimer in case you did get sick!
Anyway, you must keep on this. Best advice came from Kath. Contact Ros.
Louby
In my case though we particularly booked the hotel again, to see our friends & take gifts that help them out, which is part of our holiday & they help me extend my Spanish language, they are like family to us & it is not like being in another hotel, & just lazing around, we spend a lot of time with our friends.
The TC rep told us straight away when we asked him that TC knew for at least 4 days before we arrived in Cuba, & signed our complaint to this effect, that they would be putting us in a different hotel, at no time did they notify us of this fact before leaving the U.K. nor did they let us know on arrival at the airport in Cuba.
If we had been notified we would have not accepted another hotel or another holiday anywhere, we would have cancelled under the 1992 T&P regulations & waited until we could go to our usual hotel.
The other Brits at the usual hotel were TC customers, I have been in touch with one of them on Tripadvisor who is letting me use her review, she said that a lot of the people complaining about the stomach upsets, were still the first into the buffet & the bar, so obviously not that unwell. She said that they were not unwell while staying there, & if TC thought there was a major problem, why did they leave the other Brits there?
The Canadians use our usual Hotel a lot & they were still going there, & not having any problems.
I would have quite gladly signed a disclaimer & gone to our usual hotel, & we have never had problems there, like we did at the so called upgrade hotel TC deemed to put us in, TC just chose not to notify us, & reading reviews on TA, they have done the same to other repeat guests of our usual hotel.
TC may think a holiday is a holiday, but it is not to us, when we purposely chose to visit our usual hotel & never got there.
I feel that a lot of different Brit tourists used Cuba as a holiday this year due to price increases in Europe, I can definitely say we saw some in the hotel TC put us in, & it was just one big drinking binge to the majority, I personally feel a lot of people bring on their own stomach problems, drinking alcohol all day in the heat & at night & getting dehydrated & blaming the hotel.
By all means pursue your claim but whilst you may have been content to sign a disclaimer others may not and it sounds like TC have suspended if not cancelled the contract with your chosen hotel.
Your comment/views about the drinking habits of others is not something for debate here on HT.
fwh
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