Hi

We've had a fairly poor travel experience to put it politely. Won't bore anyone with the details. I'm not great with writing letters of complaint so if anyone has any letters they're particulary proud of I'd be very gratful if you could post them here or PM them to me. They'd make a good template to work off.

Think there may have even been a thread with copies of people's complaint letters? Am particulary after letters of complaint to travel agents.

In a nutshell, some of my party (including females) were given a hotel room with a large window that wouldn't lock. Despite trying to resolve the issue with the hotel staff / owner we didn't make any progress. We were threatened, sworn at and abused. As you can imagine we generally felt pretty unsafe. Shortly after my wallet was stolen from the room. A police report was obtained.

My complaint will initally be directed at the travel agent (Flight Centre).
It was booked in New Zealand, and like anywhere I imagine, consumer's acts state the customer must recieve what they pay for and it must be 'fit for the purpose'. We obviously expected our room to be lockable.

We contacted the agent as soon as the issue arose. We tried phoning and emailing. We also called their emergency assist line. We could not make contact with the branch or head office and the emergency assist line (who are actually a different company) directed us back to our agent.

Having contacted the agent so early into the problem and not having heard back we became pretty annoyed.

Surely it's the agent's responsibility to put matters right at the time the problem occurs. They clearly failed to do this and left us in an unsafe situation. As a result, our [already short] holiday was basically ruined as we couldn't venture out from the hotel and spent many hours trying to talk to the staff there. Another day was spent with the police obtaining the police report etc.

Do you think we hold a strong case? I plan on claiming the cost of flights and accomodation back from the agent. Including other travel booked at the same time, in excess of $20,000NZD was spent with this agent!

I don't have home insurance however I have Travel Insurance with Directline who offer legal advice / assistance (?) up to £50,000 with no excess!
I wonder if this just means a telephone number you can call for advice or whether they'd act if necessary?

Also, I'd need to make a claim through Directline. If they didn't suceed in obtaining any money, would it still be classed as a 'claim' (and poss. effect future insurance premiums etc)?

In addition to the above, significant points worth mentioning include:

- Lack of contact from the agent during time of crisis. No calls or emails returned. No calls from the Area or Risk Manager as promised by one of the Travel Agent's staff.

- The fact even the hotel staff (incorrectly) directed us back to the agent to sort out the problem. Yet no contact from the agent.

The main point I'm trying to get accross is the AGENT is liable. They are responsible for fixing a sitation and making it safe. They clearly failed to do this and instead left us unable to leave the hotel, in fear and without any support what so ever. Basically a ruined holiday.

I plan on claiming the cost of flights and the hotel. I would like a mention that if they decide not to pay this, further action will be taken (poss involving my insurance company).

Also the fact in excess of $20,000 had been spent with them as part of the booking!

I hope someone is able to help me

*Admin edit to remove posts from another website - sorry but it's copyrighted to that site -Glynis*