It's a pity you removed so much from the posts as you'd inadvertently taken away some of the tell-tale signs of a set up!

Another oddity, the latest satisified new member has a username of greece which presumably has some personal context. But the holiday was Spanish and the user has never posted on the subject of Greece. One of the earlier one-post wonders also has a user name which Google will show is linked to Greece (in an expert capacity) but was also buying a Spanish holiday and has never posted in the Greece forum.

But I'm not sure about fwh saying the setup comes from the firm itself. Following the earlier outbreak I had some email contact with the director (Glyis is aware of this) and I've got a feeling that he is honest but still finding his feet in running a business so is possibly not in total control of his staff. It might be them trying to boost their own ratings within the company.

And I wouldn't call Stockport town centre an exotic location although the area does have it's fair share of car chases!

hey
can anybody tell me if two 17 years olds can book with holiday gems without someone over 18?

Probably, most of the things they do are not by the book anyway so you'll probably be ok!
Just be prepared to pay more than their website quotes!!!

MT

DO NOT BOOK A HOLIDAY WITH HOLIDAY GEMS!

Holiday gems were absolutely USELESS at solving our travel problems, offering us no options at all, and appearing to take a MALICIOUS DELIGHT in pointing out that if we wanted to make a change to our booking (in this case change a hotel) we would be charged a 100% CANCELLATION FEE.

Whilst a sharply drafted set of terms and conditions might appear to be helpful to a business, unwavering enforcement of such terms leads to a loss of good will.

We will not be booking a holiday with Holiday Gems again, and I sincerely hope you won't do so either!

Can we have a bit more detail? like how long it had been booked and why you needed to change hotel? We may have our doubts about some of the goings on there but this is just a rant that doesn't help anyone.

And for the record, the post you made on reviewcentre has been deleted - did you say anything different there to scare their lawyers?

Hello Steve,

I have posted on trip advisor too, in more detail so please refer to that post for more on the circumstances. In reality though, the circumstances of my wanting realistic alternatives are irrelevant - the way in which the company employed the terms of its contract, and the gusto with which they did so could be applied to any cancellation or transfer scenario, and it is for that reason that a generalised warning to all is appropriate. So, I hope you can see that it wasn't a rant, but I wanted to make a post that flagged up the 100% cancellation fee to all in a forthright manner.

To reiterate then: Please, if you want to be certain to avoid the scenario I have found myself in, DO NOT BOOK A HOLIDAY WITH HOLIDAY GEMS.

With regard to Review Centre, I was informed very politely that my post (which is identical to this one) was taken down and have given the site administrator reasoning related to the reinstatement of the post, which i expect will occur. To clarify further, I was actually offered the option to have the comment reposted in full, on the basis of providing reasoning and contact information, and I have taken it on that basis.

I have also given the administrator of the review centre my email address, and permission to pass it on to Holiday Gems. I hope that they will contact me. In fact, I know from the experience above that these sites are monitored by their reps, so I would imagine that that is quite likely. Perhaps a constructive solution will be reached.

Best wishes,

Jono3000

So, you want to cancel a holiday in Sharm even though the FCO is not advising (and so far never has) that cancellation is necessary.

From what we know of Holiday Gems they seem to be agents not tour operators and will follow the actual operators conditions - and most will not allow cancellation because of "disinclination to travel". It's a standard tour operator clause and nothing to do with any agent who sells their tours.

If the FCO changes it's advice, the operators will cancel the bookings themselves at which point refunds will be paid by the operators.

If you have booked seperate flight + hotel then it's likely that the airline and probably hotel will not allow cancellation under their own rules. If the FCO changes advice, the airline would probably cancel and refund, although the hotel might not. At that point your insurance would cover any losses.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But it was interesting that your post lead me to reviewcentre because they seem to be full of the same sort of suspicious posts praising individual staff that we picked up on here last year. Which is why we don't like reviews, postive or negative, that don't give detail!

Sorry, Hurghada not Sharm, but advice is the same. And very latest advice from FCO is that Red Sea resorts are calm and curfew is not being enforced.

Thanks for the information, Steve.

My actions and attitude are based on the very real concerns I have about the situation in the Middle East. In Tunisia and Egypt, many have died and many more have been injured. There are signs that this will be repeated in Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia. It would be extremely crass and naive not to explore options in the face of this, especially in the light of the fact that the FCO's stance is beginning to look rather isolated in the face of American, German and Dutch complete withdrawals.

I do not want to cancel my holiday at all. I have not made a decision to do so. I was however surprised that there was no flexibility at all - for example to transfer without losing all money spent - and by what I perceived as the delight of the person on the other end of the phone in my realisation that Holiday gems would not lift a finger to help. I think that is very, very poor service indeed, because in my view, it shows a disregard for the safety of its customers.

This contractual pincer movement, whereby there is no circumstance where they will help is in my view something which people shoudl know about, and should consider very carefully before making a contract with holiday gems. Standard or not, it transcends the specific circumstances of my trip.

I should point out that the Holiday Gems contract has a "Force majeure" clause which, if cancellation is brought about down their end due to the unrest, exempts them from having to pay any money back. Many insurance policies have the same exclusion, unfortunately. Mine does.

Best,

Jono3000.

The condition is not specific to your trip - thousands and thousands of people in just this country will be in exactly the same position.

If the FCO adviced against travel the tour operators will not hide behind a force majeur clause for a relatively local problem like this, it would destroy their reputations and ruin them in future. On the other hand, giving customers their money back even though 97% of it has been passed on would destroy any agent now! Take this problem to any independent agent whose sold a packaged tour and they'll all give the same answer, possibly with a more sympathetic front but in the end it will still be NO!

Thanks for the opinions Steven.

You are quite right, many will be in the same quandry.

Holiday Gems told me that the force majeure clause would apply in the case of the FCO advice being issued, and seemed quite happy about it, because it meant that they would not have to refund us a penny.

If in the event of a change of FCO outlook, Holiday Gems chooses to modify its behaviour, then that will be a a good thing. However, that is its choice, but at the moment it has not done so; the clause is in the contract and, as with all of the other clauses they can choose to enforce it - in fact, they said that they would. If it is the case that the Force Majeure clause is considered onerous even to the party which relies on it, then perhaps Holiday Gems should speak to their lawyers - to get the terms redrafted!

I don't wish to be rude to you, but you seem to have a lot of insight into the thought processes of Holiday Gems and of tour operators in general. You seem to be defensive of their position, which i quite understand, if in fact you occupy either of the aforementioned positions. Are you connected in any way to Holiday Gems? If you are, please do be honest and identify yourself.
In the meantime, I think it is necessary to highlight the problems with HOLIDAY GEMS, so that people looking at this site can review the risks with which I have been confronted and decide whether they want to use them or another operator.

-100% CANCELLATION FEE FOR CANCELLATION.
- 100% CANCELLATION FEE FOR TRANSFERRING, because this is deemed to be a cancellation.
- NO REFUND if the FCO says that it is not safe to travel.
- RUDENESS.
- CALLOUSNESS regarding very serious situation.

The % of fees charged usually depends on how close to departure date you want to make the amendment/cancellation. It is the same with every tour operator/travel agent.
As regards the Force Majeure clause, I agree with Steve, they are not going to hide behind it IMO. If they are acting as an agent and their suppliers refund them, they then have to refund you. If they are acting as the principal and refuse to refund, speak to Global Travel.

LOL at the thought of Steve being connected with Holiday Gems.

OK - Apols to Steve! (I have looked back at the thread, so yes I see what you mean.)

Thanks for your opinions too.

Hi,

I'm pleased to say that we have all got together and talked about this, and our problem has, to my knowledge been resolved.

I am pleased that our problem has been resolved, and hope that I need say nothing more about it.

Special thanks to Jason!

Best wishes,

Jonathan.

Glad to hear you got sorted Jonathan

That's one hell of a turn around Jono!

I presume that Jason is Jason E****, the managing director who once threatened legal action against me over a post in which I described him as honest after someone else accused him of something! And even included my joke about Stockport in his objections! Be very wary about posting anything about this man.

Someone should tell HG not to threaten legal action unless they have intentions of following it through or you end up looking a tad stupid.

Good grief what a massive turn around, I can smell something odd and I dont think its tomorrows roast

Hello all,

Just to confirm this lot are still up to their old tricks and there appears to be a few suspiciously positive reviews floating around to counter the negative which, rather stupidly I checked after rather than before we attempted to book a last minute trip to Sharm with Hoilday Gems on Saturday night for £750.

I got a call from them yesterday morning advising that the cost of the flights had increased by £50 per person, plus, on top of this, there was a baggage fee of £35 per person, bringing the total cost to over 950 quid!

I travel a lot for work and was pretty incredulous when I heard £35 for a 20 kilo bag but was given some guff about how 'that's quite cheap really - some companies charge up to £45'! The operator told me the flight price increase was because of 'so many people's flights being changed due to what's happening in Egypt', and the baggage fee is 'clearly stated' in the terms and conditions (it isn't) - when I asked her if she always reads the T&Cs on the internet I was told 'yes, of course'.

A quick check on the web whilst I was on the phone revealed they were still advertising the price we'd agreed to pay online and Thomson only charge £20 per bag if you book direct. Given we were starting to smell a rat, and hadn't accepted the additional fee for the flights we've cancelled and I've advised the credit card company in advance in case they try to charge us any 'cancellation fees'.

We were both deeply miffed as we spent ages trawling through trying to find the best deal - felt like a right pair of suckers.