Hi
My niece booked with this company, she's going to Sharm-el-Sheikh in May. She said they were really good. Not sure about the prices but she got the hotel she wanted which with another company was not available.
Hope this helps.
Debbie.

I just booked a holiday to Costa Brava through these people. i had visited their site and left too much info on there like my phone number. they called me and I thought I was getting a good deal.
later on I went back into their site and the holiday she had booked for me was £500 cheaper than I had paid.
So i Emailed a quiery about a cost break down.
I got a snotty Email back saying they don`t do breakdowns
and that at the time off booking I seemed happy.
I only wanted to know what I had been charged my hard earned cash for.
As travelling with three children on my own I had already paid well over the odds for my holiday.
looking at it I think I was charged twice for flights..
But once you give them your card details or deposit you dont seem to have any comebacks
Its my kids who are losing out, through their greed...

they should give a breakdown.... what if one person doesnt go and you wanted to cancel just that part...take print out off site....phone them back and say you believe you have been accidentally overcharged and can they run through the details with you again...ask to speak to a supervisor if they are funny with you....phone your credit card company and tell them you believe you had been overcharged...tell them you went on site but you couldnt book on site but had to phone....you didnt phone them but they used information left on the site to contact you .....they overcharged you as you asked for a specific holiday advertised on the site and was charged a higher amount than advertised.....it may be that they can do a disputed payment....you will need the print off as proof....you also have a cooling off period when you buy online or over the phone...but not sure if it covers holidays

I phoned ABTA and they said deal done, once she has read the deal and I have paid no comebacks. and with holidays you dont have a cooling off period, not without losing more money.

When this name first came to my attention, it was because they were advertising low price holidays and using 0871 premium rate numbers for enquiries so that when you phoned the outcome was that after a long call you found that the holiday was no longer available at the advertised price etc etc..
I even reported them to Trading Standards in their area as the web site made no reference to the higher phone charges.

Later reports showed some satisfied customers and it looked like they were cleaning up their act.
Meanwhile, some, supposedly reputable, Travel companies (OK Thomson/First Choice! etc)followed their lead with the 0871 usage.

Unfortunately, as with all travel companies, they are there to sell their product at the price that is best for them, not for you.
As I am a pushover for pushy sales people, I always ask for the info and explain "I am taking it to look at it and then confirm I can get the holiday dates, check hotel reviews etc, and if they can't hold the quoted price for that short period of time, then quite honestly I don't want to deal with them."

The good ones I have dealt with have all worked with me and I have ended up with cracking deals, others I do not touch with a barge pole etc.

Just because the icelolly website shows the lower price does not mean that it was ever available or is even now, so you do revert back to the fact that "you were happy with the holiday and price at the time of booking", so chalk that part up to experience and plan a new stategy for choosing the next holiday, meanwhile concentrate on enjoying this one!
On our last Caribbean holiday, we made friends with a family who used a main TO. They had exactly the same holiday as us but we paid over £200 less per person: we did NOT let on, just agreed that they had got a good deal. They enjoyed their holiday at least as much as we did ours, possibly more because of the upgrades they had bagged etc! I did point them to alternative places to select their next holiday for future guidance as they might get a "wider choice!".

I don't see any reason why you should not ask icelolly for an "official detailed invoice" confirming that they havent charged twice for something due to the large discrepancy in price from that advertised on their website, but do not hold your breath waiting as their definition of detailed probably does not match ours.

If you do want to get into dispute with them, check the forum for Ros's details as she could offer you correct legal advice

I think if you book more than the 50 odd days in advance there should be a 14 day cooling off period, its a big purchase and something you pay for well in advance and don't see what you paid for many after.

If my memory serves me right, this company was started by Bob Geldoff who at the time said he wanted to make it as easy as was possible to book holidays without the hassle other companies put people through if they had holiday problems.

icelolly.com are a directory only. They do not take bookings. Read the small print on the T&C;'s

They are NOT members of ABTA, TTA, ATOL themselves. It is misleading. They are simply a directory of travel companies who pay to advertise/subscribe on their site.

They make money from the companies who advertise/subscriptions to be in their web directory (along with the high call charges). So you'll only see deals from companies that subscribe. It's similar to those car insurance sites. They only compare a select few and its' not always the best deal out there.

In T&C's
'We provide links on our site to the websites of other companies, whether affiliated with us or not. We cannot give any undertaking, that products you purchase from third party sellers or from companies to whose website we have provided a link on our site, will be of satisfactory quality, and any such warranties are DISCLAIMED by us absolutely. This DISCLAIMER does not affect your statutory rights against the third party seller.'

I agree about Icelolly being a directory. But I booked through sunsave. But strangely got the snotty reply from Icelolly. work that out!!

I just booked through ieclolly 5 days ago the company they forwarded me to was Sun 4 you. The holiday I got was for two people to costa brava 5 nights bed and breakfast for £260 26th of sept, £20 more just than what was on the website. However im worried now, I was told id receive confirmation which I should, of my booking through e-mail and haven't yet. I sent 4 emails asking where my money had gone to and only one reply saying "It takes time for confirmation and to book it, we will get IN TOUCH WITH YOU" that made it very reasuring ( as if) even through ive paid anal would'nt anyone then think its booked. To make madders worse the travel flight company they told me id be flying with (Ryanair which they provided a ref number for- even tho they said it wasn't confirmed yet) hasn't heard of my booking as I went on their website to (manage my booking) to be reasured from them ive been booked. So now I don't know what to do, I think really its like (somethings not right) because they are now not answering my calls. Giving them till tommorrow then il proberly go to the plolice if i can. Has this happened to any one else?

**Edit to remove potentially libellous comment - Admin **

Was it Sun 4 you direct ? Did you actually paid the full amount ?

Ryanair only provide flights sales direct to the customer. If an agent has booked you on Ryanair, they have used your card, without your knowledge, permission to pay a third party. This is not what Ryanair want. It's in Ryanair's T&C's. Once a booking has been made with Ryanair it will be instantly confirmed and you should get your ticket straight away, even via email.

Check with your debit/credit card issuer to see if any money has been taken for the booking. Ask the card company who the transactions are made to. I expect 2 transactions, one is a bed bank company and one is the airline.

If money has been taken, call the person who made the booking. Say your account has been debited and you want your hotel and flight confirmation sent immediately via email and hard copies by post (including a copy of your card receipt). If they start to get snappy again with you simply say you are not happy, to find out they have "used my (debit/credit) card and supplying my personal details to a third party (the flight company and also ryanair) without my consent or knowledge".

Don't get too upset, I'm sure you will get your documents and flight tickets. The police won't do anything i'm afraid, but if the agent are ABTA members you could report them to ABTA if it gets worse and you don't get any confirmation.

It is not a good way for a company to do business.

Hello thanks for your update, yes I have paid the amount in full. They did tell me over the phone two payments would be took out but only one was.I have been phoning all day to speak to someone but theres no answer even tho they told me its an emergecy number. I checked again with Ryanair again to manage my bookings and they sitll haven't heard of my booking. I was told I would receive confirmation in up to 72 hours at the latest but its now been over 100 hours. I emailed the head office of sun 4 you telling them and asking for the documents you said I should have. Honestly don't know what to do, i'm gonna wait another 24 hours for an email back if not then I will be complaining to ABTA and taking things further cause I honestky don't think the service should be like that. keep you updated..

Just come back from my holiday to costa brava...paid £1685 for two weeks half board for me and three kids.
most people paid a lot lot less.
with sunsave via Icelolly.. stayed in Bon Repos Calella.. Bon Ripoff more like it.. No entertainment not enough sunbeds by the dirty pool.
A child cut his foot on one of the broken tiles, the medical box was poorly suplied.
beach was ok but very coarse sand and sea was choppy not suitable for paddling or poor swimmers.
local bars ok but same entertainment every night. bar staff are very stand offish cant blame them as they come under a lot of abuse as people take their frustrations out on them.
suitable for teenagers or singles not enogh to do for people with kids.
Would never go to this resort again .drinks are very expensive here as are the supermarkets.
cheapest supermarket down by the railway station.
Good luck to those who go here hope you find it better than I did. :((

Hi Sue - sorry to hear your hol wasn't what you expected but hope you managed to make the most of it.

Just wondering whether sunsave made out that the hotel and resort would be better than they were/suitable for children? There are some great review sites, including this one where you can ask specific questions beforehand so that you know what to expect and also lots of reviews on both hotels and resorts so you have an idea of what you'll be getting

Have to say that just over £200 each for HB a week isn't bad at all though is it? At the end of the day, you get what you pay for IMHO

stear clear from them!!!

dont use them, so many hidden costs ice-lolly isnt the provider it just a base or advertisment for the likes of sun4u direct and other companies which if you search on here alll have bad reviews!!!

the price your see isnt the price of the hoilday, that offer when you phone WILL be out of date!

Lucy-lulu,

Sorry to see that your first 3 posts are all of negative feedback but i work for a company that advertises through both icelolly.com and teletextholidays.co.uk so maybe i can shed some light on how they operate.

These are purely holiday marketing websites and there are numerous companies that advertise through them and they do produce signifcant results and profit margins if the companies get their advertsising right.
All offers displayed generally will not include any baggage charges or resort transfers as these are classed as optional extras as some peole don't take any luggage or just 1 bag, some prefer to get a taxi themselves so that is the reason why the price you end up paying will always be more if you decide to take the extras.
In regards to the way companies are advertising their prices, teletext and icelolly have really clamped down and have excluded lots of companies in the past becuase of some were selling with false prices but they do employ what we call the "traffic police" and there are penalties for agencies who constantly have out of date or incorrect pricing.
Teletextholidays allow you to update every few hours and icelolly update once a day so these are not live prices that are being shown.
Sometimes it can take a few hours for agents systems to match up all the flights and accommodation and construct the offer, by the time this goes up on the webiste the data could be quite a few hours old so if there were only a couple of seats left at that price, by the time you see it and come to book it quite often they could of changed, especially if they are with easyjet and monarch.

Having spent a few years working in this environment i can honestly say that the company i work for are probably one of the most honest with their pricing and availabilty but they can change at any point as agencies don't have the facility to hold prices or seats, just doesn't happen anymore i'm afraid.

There are still companies that advertise with little profit margin and then sell the extras at huge costs to make a half decent profit, thankfully, i don't have to work in that kind of pricing as i don't think we would ever book anything and have very high advertising costs, how some of them survive advertising this way i don't know.

Thought the above explanation might help, it makes me cringe when we do test calls and see other companies advertising cheaper than us as we know they will never sell it at that price.
I'm not saying the company i work for is perfect, but i am sooo glad we don't have to work like the others and we are still very sucessfull and have been in this area for the last 8years.

Thanks

yes helps abit, the extra costs weren't baggage or transfers though! i'm glad to hear some companies are ok, and yes ok its not teletext or ice-lolly at fault - more sun4u direct, i cant comment on the other sellers via ice-lolly and tele-text but people should be made aware to realllly look into them first and ask about all extra 'hidden costs' we were only told the full actual price on probing and bringing up the fact about extra costs we had heard about on here and that was then they told us it was actually going to be more expensive!!!

And the offer we had looked up had been the same for the last 2weeks on teletext and about 3 and abits week the price was the same on ice-lolly as we found the one on ice-lolly first .... so even if it takes a few hours... that should have changed as a week is alot longer then a few hours!!

Hi,

It is up to each company to provide accurate data and as seen so often before, this is not always the case with the one metnioned and a few others i have to say.
It's unfortunate that you had to stumble across this lot because we do test calls on them and other and quite often come out with the same response as you have so i don't blame you in anyway for feeling the way you do.
I can pretty much gurantee that on every call the optional extras are always given with ourselves but i do know of some companies that say it is what it is and only after given them your details do they start to advise of all the extras.
As far as our company is concerned, we don't see why you should have to hide behind the extras as when people say they can get cheaper with xyz travel, a good majority will end up calling us back saying that they are glad they didn't go with the other company as although advertised cheaper they ended up being more expensive because of their high charges and add ons.

Some of them really frustrate me and the levels of service given by some of them on the phone just screams out loud "useless" but hey ho, if everybody was the same then there wouldn't be competetion.

Sorry that your experience wasn't a happy one but i can assure you that there are some good companies and although small ourselves, we take over 20,000 people a year, not alot but certainly enough to keep us financially, very healthy and honest with our customers.

Thanks

icelolly.com have cheap holidays but u have to ring .can u tell me when u ring do they add more onto the holiday price.ie cases .transport ect thank you