Thankyou to the person who recommended this site. Hopefully I will get the advice I need.
I returned from Bulgaria on Friday 4th Aug 06. Bulgaria is lovely but during my stay my son walked into a large window pain in the resturant, the window was not marked with any stickers and did not stand out at all. I don't believe the pain was safety glass and the rep was extremely unhelpful, she just wanted me to say he had been running which was not the case.
Two hours after the accident stickers were placed on the windows surrounding the resturant and we were left to get on with things.
My son sustained injuries to his hand, steri stitches which a Scottish nurse supplied, I have her name and address and registration number. He had various cuts and grazes also and of course shock. I have the name and address or a witness and I have pictures, to be developed but I have taken plenty.
A doctor did arrive and finished off what the nurse had started but by this time she pretty much had things under control. It ruined the rest of our holiday, my son was then restricted in what he could do and the antibiotics made him sick, really sick!!
I have contacted the travel agent who asked me to put everything in writing and forward it to them and they will deal with the airline for me. I have done this, was that the thing to do?
Should I contact a solicitor or not? Compensatin doesn't bother me but I'm really angry at the way in which we were treated and the fact that nobody but the tourists seemed in the slightess bit bothered about my son and the health and safety issues. It was a disaster waiting to happen and could have been fatal.
I don't know what to do!!! Can anybody help?
Donna, this is terrible, I hope your son is ok now.
Why is the Travel Agent ddealing with the airline - do they mean the Tour Operator ?
You need to speak to Ros Fernihough, Travel Law Solicitor, on
Tel :- 01922 621114 first thing tomorrow, she will give you the advice you need.
Let us know how you get on.
Kath HT Admin
Why is the Travel Agent ddealing with the airline - do they mean the Tour Operator ?
You need to speak to Ros Fernihough, Travel Law Solicitor, on
Tel :- 01922 621114 first thing tomorrow, she will give you the advice you need.
Let us know how you get on.
Kath HT Admin
Hi again Donna,
Welcome to the site. You will find it great improvement on the other one and we cover holiday destinations all over the world, including a great Bulgaria Forum.
Back to your complaint. Sometimes we have to ask questions to enable us to clarify things in our own minds. Like Kath I am not too sure what you mean by this -
As far as I am aware you travelled with Balkan Holidays, in which case you flew with Balkan Holidays Air perhaps? This is a charter airline and a separate company to Balkan Holidays the travel company. Your complaint will be against Balkan Holiday the tour operator, not the airline unless you also have specific complaints about the airline of course.
After that it gets complicated and involves issues of health & safety, duty of care, and lack of support by the Balkan Rep, and I recommend you contact Ros Fernihough as Kath suggests.
Peter
PS Please look in on the Bulgaria Forum and also do us a review on the Bravo Apartments http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/reviews/bulgaria/sunny-beach/bravo-apartments-and-studios/
Welcome to the site. You will find it great improvement on the other one and we cover holiday destinations all over the world, including a great Bulgaria Forum.
Back to your complaint. Sometimes we have to ask questions to enable us to clarify things in our own minds. Like Kath I am not too sure what you mean by this -
I have contacted the travel agent who asked me to put everything in writing and forward it to them and they will deal with the airline for me.
As far as I am aware you travelled with Balkan Holidays, in which case you flew with Balkan Holidays Air perhaps? This is a charter airline and a separate company to Balkan Holidays the travel company. Your complaint will be against Balkan Holiday the tour operator, not the airline unless you also have specific complaints about the airline of course.
After that it gets complicated and involves issues of health & safety, duty of care, and lack of support by the Balkan Rep, and I recommend you contact Ros Fernihough as Kath suggests.
Peter
PS Please look in on the Bulgaria Forum and also do us a review on the Bravo Apartments http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/reviews/bulgaria/sunny-beach/bravo-apartments-and-studios/
Sound advice Peter.
The only thing I can offer to this is the Tour Operator's (TO's) duty of care to their clients. The rep. really should have become more involved when the accident occurred. Whilst local laws in Bulgaria may not require safety glass and identification stickers the TO should be aware that it's clients are from a country that expects this level of security/safety. They should ensure at the very least that stickers are placed uponthe windows.
I hope you have pictures taken before and after showing, ideally, that the windows did not have such stickers before yet did after.
This seems to me to be an admission of their requirement by the hotel and as the TO is fully responsible for his agent's services and standards, ultimate responsibility rests with the TO.
Any costs you suffered as a result of the incident should be recovered from Balkan Holidays. A modest amount per head (in your party) for distress and inconvenience seems appropriate as well (£50) but I suspect that without legal action threat you'll get absolutely nowhere.
Check with Ros as Peter suggests.
Good Luck and glad your son's OK.
Mike
The only thing I can offer to this is the Tour Operator's (TO's) duty of care to their clients. The rep. really should have become more involved when the accident occurred. Whilst local laws in Bulgaria may not require safety glass and identification stickers the TO should be aware that it's clients are from a country that expects this level of security/safety. They should ensure at the very least that stickers are placed uponthe windows.
I hope you have pictures taken before and after showing, ideally, that the windows did not have such stickers before yet did after.
This seems to me to be an admission of their requirement by the hotel and as the TO is fully responsible for his agent's services and standards, ultimate responsibility rests with the TO.
Any costs you suffered as a result of the incident should be recovered from Balkan Holidays. A modest amount per head (in your party) for distress and inconvenience seems appropriate as well (£50) but I suspect that without legal action threat you'll get absolutely nowhere.
Check with Ros as Peter suggests.
Good Luck and glad your son's OK.
Mike
Thankyou all for your good advice. I did contact Ross's office and they put me onto a specialist solicitor who seems to think I have a really good case so we'll see what happens.
I have written to Balkan Holidays via the travel agent and forwarded a copy of my complaint to ABTA.
An apology for the unprofessionalism of the rep/Balkan staff would be nice and an explanation for the lack of care with regard to health and safety, and if I do manage to get compensation a treat for the kids is in order, especially for my son.
I've calmed down but I still want Balkan to be inconvenienced as we were. Petty but true!!
I have written to Balkan Holidays via the travel agent and forwarded a copy of my complaint to ABTA.
An apology for the unprofessionalism of the rep/Balkan staff would be nice and an explanation for the lack of care with regard to health and safety, and if I do manage to get compensation a treat for the kids is in order, especially for my son.
I've calmed down but I still want Balkan to be inconvenienced as we were. Petty but true!!
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