First Choice has taken the decision not to put customers into the Kos Aqua Beach Club this summer, and will now be taking legal action against the developer. For full details of the statement, please click here:

http://www.firstchoice.co.uk/info/latestnews2.html

For important advice from Travel Law Solicitor, Ros Enough, please click here:

http://holidayforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=73371

Hi All

I have just sat in my local First Choice travel agent for 4 1/2 Hour trying to sort out a holiday for the 19th July. What a nightmare. We are now going to the Club Caleta Dorada in Fuerteventura. Would not have been my choice but there was very little left flying from Scotland as the kids broke up for holidays yesterday. They offered £150 per person and 20% compo and still the manager had to give me a £200 discount because I refused to pay any more or leave her shop until they found me a holiday. I am so Hacked off but a least now I can relax and look forward to it. I still think they should have covered the cost of the new holiday and the 20% compo should have been mine for all the aggro. The girl on the other end of the phone said she had 40 calls in her queueing system. So keep trying. I now will never know what the Aqua beach clubs where like as I will never book another First choice holiday as long as I live.

Good luck to you all
The Cooksons

Hi all, we have sorted our holiday out. Not that I am excited about this one, after a family vote we have accepted the Pegasus Tropical, there was no kids dens so we have 3 jacuzi rooms. I was out voted and the children did count, at least here they have nearly everything that was at the kabc, even though at one point my son said as long as there was a pool he was ok.

The good thing to come out of this is that we can use the compensation to book another holiday to Tingaki s/c later in the year so I will still get to Tingaki this year

We fly now at 9.55 from manchester on 5th July. Hope everybody else is getting sorted out, without to many problems, it seems they are offering Turkey to a lot of people.

Earlier in all this fun and games (err I don't think so...) someone posted that they were only 1/2 booking Pegasos Palace as they maybe were afraid that his would happen.
I'm sure however that PP is great and the reviews have all been good.
Still think FC should be brought to bear on this. What a fiasco. We were going to book Kos ABC for next year if the reviews from you guys was good but family vote after all this debacle says no - we're going to book with another operator to somewhere else.

So sorry for everyone going to Kos ABC. My heart really does go out to you all. Especially those that had so little notice!

First was Corfu, then Kefalonia and now Kos - FC - I am not impressed!

Not sure what is happening about the Petition that was started on the Kefolinia website, but really do think we still need to make FC aware that we are not happy bunnies!

Most of us have to save for a year for 1 or 2 weeks of sun and relaxation, and it is something that we take time over when choosing our destination and hotel. I know each and everyone of us booked on an artist impression - but for heavens sake, when you book a year in advance, you would think they could get the hotel finished - especially when they take our deposits so early!

If I can, I will work out how to get the petition to FC regarding the ABC debacle on here - or if anyone else knows how, please feel free to do so. Or you can pm me and I will let you know exactly where it is.

Sorry to ramble, especially as I am not a Kos casualty but a Kef casualty - but I really do think tour operators need to think about the customers. Without us, they wouldn't exist!

Best wishes to you all and I hope you all find a holiday that suits you.

Wendy

PS Am also gutted that England are out so really not in a good mood. But come on Murray!!!!!

Hi all,

When I got through to f/c they said I would have to go through my travel agents Thomsons. However, they were unable to get through.

How come we all knew this was going to happen, but that useless lot didn't. It was like predicting England wouldn't win on penalties. They were so predictable - the bloody place wasn't built. Surely they could view the same pictures as us.

I am absolutely gutted, after yesterday when I thought Sukay and Janenmick were actually going. I didn't come back to the web site until midnight and was gobsmacked. Didn't sleep at all and haven't been able to eat either.

Hope everyone gets somewhere nice soon and stuffs f/c for as much as they can get. If they are offering the levels of compensation I've seen, then they know they are in trouble.

Paula

Hello all, as Sukaay said we all have now moved to the Pegasos Tropical in Turkey. I Assume that they have opened the Tropical and laid on a new flight from Manchester, as there was not originally a flight on Wednesday. Lets see how it goes and then consider our options when we get back. If anyone needs any help or assistance please PM me.

what is the currency in turkey? can you use euros?

foxy.. currency Turkish lira its in a bad way at the moment you should get decent rates for exchanging hard currency's euro/sterling/us dollars

wizard

hi there all what a sham this as all been .we are the barnsley team which were due to travel on the 5th july ,we are now going to pegasus tropical in turkey i,ve looked at the vidio and it looks great we got 20%discount and we now leave 10oclock in the morning instead of 8 at night.apperently there is going to be 2 flights outthere on the 5th if they can fill the places ,so look forward to seeing you all that have changed to the tropical. would like to say to those that are going to furtuaventura calata it,s not bad we went there about 8 years ago when they were just started builing on the island and apperently it,s just got better and better,i,m sure you will have a great time.

can any one tell me what compensation they have got for all this trouble we have had ,are they just giving the 20% refund or as anyone else got anything else ,because i paid part my holiday with a voucher which i got from last years hol so they have not refunded 20%of any of that which i,m not happy about.please let me know .

I really do feel sorry for all of you guys. I can't believe FC have left it right up till last minute. I really am gobsmacked all of their miss information how can they tell us all those things like it was ready apart from the landscaping, directors had been out there, staff training there a week before, the promises were endless.
FC should feel totally ashamed for what they have done to their customers, I think it is absolutely appalling. they shouldn't be able to treat people like this.
Anyway on a happier note I hope everyone enjoys where they are booking for their new holiday
If anyone books Pegasus Tropical 20/7 see you there (sorry for going of topic)

edit re-worded wizard

Foxy, it seems can spend anything you want in turkey, we took lira but could have easily spent Euros or sterling.
Anyone going to pegasos palace or tropical you will have a fab time because we did after being cancelled from KABC with 13 days to spare I feel really sorry for you all who were going in the next few days.
good luck with any holiday you chose, I was going to book Kos on the basis od all your reviews but will not even be thinking of it now as don't want to go through all of this again next year.
Sam xxxxxxxxxxxx

When you say you won't consider going to Kos now I hope that specifically means KABC which really isn't actually Kos at all, (unless you step outside of course).

Please do visit Kos at some time by all means, don't allow First Choice's ineptitude put you off the place itself.

I was there a week ago and enjoyed it greatly in Tingaki and had no problems at all travelling courtesey of Olympic Holidays, who I have to say still try to support local accommoation owners and long may they continue to do so.

As for Turkey I seemd to get the idea that they would rather accept anything rather than their own currency (Lira) this is entirely because their currency has very little value, due to the state of their economy, which for years has suffered from galloping inflation. Certainly Euro's and even good old Sterling seem to be widely accepted.

Net Detective I purely mean the Kos Aqua beach club been to Kos 3 times before and it was lovley , will most prob go to KABC in 2008 when good reviews have been posted but won't book for next year waiting to see if its open like I did this year, couldnt go through the whole waiting game again.

I am reading this and can't believe it! I am due to go on 5th July and nobody has informed me yet! I even had it confirmed from First Choice last week that everything was ok as i am travelling with my 12 year old daughter that she just gone into remission from cancer. I can not believe how low they have got. They knew last week that I wouldn't be going there even when I said I really needed to know. I cant go to certain countries especially Turkey as Rachels immune system is still too low. Do people realise that they do need injections for Turkey? A friend of mine went on a day trip from Kos to Kussadasi and caught Hep. and has had to have a complete liver transplant. I know the risk is low but it does happen. Have they informed you??????

I work for instant holidays and when i did a search for availability there was hardly anything available unless of course you wish to travel from london gatwick which i certainly dont we chose a 4* in cyprus which i have since found out that is a 3* and mainly a thomsons complex so firstchoice reps will hardly be there when my collegues rang to change it they didnt even offer pegasus tropical which is where i would prefer to go as i am taking my 3 year old daughter and would like kids clubs i am so annoyed now so am now going to attempt today to get my holiday changed again to pegasus, or cancel it with full refund and compensation.
will let you know how i get on

Good Morning everyone, I hope that most people are getting their holidays sorted and I hope you are all making notes so you can put a very firm case to first choice for additional compensation.

I sat in fc shop from 12 until 6.20pm yesterday trying to get an alternative sorted ( 4 adults 2 children 26th July ). After going through all the alternatives with a fc kids club ( by far the best organised we've experienced ) we turn to Thomsons Superfamily - NOTHING. So back to the fc brochure! I finally found Elia Latchi Holiday Village, near Paphos Cyprus ( pg 58 fc Cyprus April edition ). It looks lovely and after using the fc girls internet and investigating decided on that! The girl sat on the phone with the 0161 number ringing and ringing and ringing - it rang for 1 1/2 hours before finally being answered. The lady on the other end worked it all out and the holiday was £5334 - now we paid £3050 for Kos and I said I was paying no more so they head office discounted it by £1540 ( our £150 per person & 20% ) so that still left £744. Here there was a little stale mate because I refused to pay anymore for something that wasn't my fault! I stood my ground and so did everyone else. The manager in the shop then discounted the holiday by £474 but that still left £150 which I was told by both the manager and fc head office I would have to pay. I told them to sort it out amongst themselves because I was leaving. I left for an hour and had a cup of tea and calmed down then went back, the manager had talked to head office and they weren't budging and she said she couldn't go down any further either so I paid the £150 stating that I felt pressured to as the holidays were running out fast, I got her to write a note on the system that I was paying begrudgingly and accepting the holiday under duress and would be making an additional claim for compensation.

My advice to people is to push as far as you can but please be wary of the holidays slowly running out, find a few alternatives before you go and push for those. I saw an internal email not meant for the public eyes and it stated that people travelling from 5th - 29th July were to be offered the Pegusus Palace/tropical and nothing else!

I know I've rambled but maybe it will help someone else to get a holiday they want. I didn't want my compensation to be eaten up with a new holiday and hoped I would get some cash back and that is what I am going to be pushing for now. I also got 2 free child places and thay refused to honour those so I shall be pushing for some money back for those too as I have had to pay £818 for my children on this new holiday!!

I'm looking forward to Cyprus and hope we have a great time as I think we all deserve a wonderful holiday. Good Luck everybody and I shall let you know how I get on with my complaint.

Emma x