Lost Holiday and Money - Tour Operators and Travel Agents, Holiday Forums

Lost Holiday and Money

RogDC

2011-07-27 10:19:29

Here is warning about Thomson Holidays
I would like Thomsons to be aware that this is being placed on as many sites as possible to let people know how customers are treated by Thomsons Holidays

EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS

On July the 7th I booked a holiday on line with Thomson Travel to commence on 11th of August.
I tried to print out the reply back but could not print the file I was emailed. As my wife and I had a very busy schedule for next few days we decided we would try printing it out later when we had more time.
As we thought we would have plenty of time, we were not due to go on holiday until August!

On 10th July I checked my emails and was faced with an email from Thomson's saying your holiday count
down is 4 days. I was shocked to see that the wrong date had been allocated 11th July.
How this error happened I just don't know!

I immediately contacted Thomson's by phone and spoke to a gentleman called B***, who said he was only obliged to give his first name! I explained that the wrong date had been allocated but his reply was. " If you do not take the Holiday in three days time, you will lose all of your money." I explained that we were both working in July and could not possibly get the time off at this short notice. He did not want to resolve the issue and again said we would loose the full £1287 paid, which I found astonishing.
I then contacted Thomson Customer Services by email and they responded by assuring me that someone would get back to me. Here we are a week later with no response from them!

I would like to point out this is over a 3 day period - It looks as if Thomson travel are just not interested in
their customers and to take £1287 without doing a thing in return is just unbelievable!
My wife and I are just about to retire and have saved up for this long awaited Holiday for our 40th Wedding Anniversary. Only to find we have no holiday and lost £1287 which is a lot of money to us!

Be very very careful when booking on line especially with Thomson Holidays as I would hate this to happen to someone else!

I will be placing this warning wherever I can!

Roger C

Edited by Glynis HT Admin 2011-07-27 13:17:49
edit to remove personal name.

shirley h

2011-07-27 13:46:13

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

Hi RogDC and welcome to Holiday Truths. I can understand how frustrated, upset and angry you must feel. I'd be gutted it I was you. I'm wondering how this error could have occured as you booked on-line. Can you be 100% positive that you input the correct month as I've never heard of this happening before.

I've always felt that Tour operators should give a little time (I'm suggesting up to 30 mins or so) after taking payment, for customers to check for any errors they may have inadvetently made on their booking because however careful we are mistakes can prove very costly as you have found out.

I'm not saying that it was your fault in this instance but feel a little leeway would help. I'm sorry I don't know what to advise you with regards to a satisfactory outcome to this.

Really sorry to hear of your dilema.

steve8482

2011-07-27 15:15:45

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

We've had complaints before about dates being changed by what appear to be badly designed websites but only with Jet2 and one of the smaller online companies (can't remember which). I can't recall a complaint about Thomson's site doing it. As you say you have no chance of getting time off in July I assume you never checked anything for that date before deciding on August? Which resort, hotel and departure airport did you book?

RogDC

2011-07-27 15:46:17

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

I booked to fly from Bristol Airport to the Mediterranee hotel in Kafalonia. I still cannot believe thomsons did not give any refund at all!

Helen T

2011-07-27 15:54:52

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

It does seem that Thomson's are looking at this, as though it was you that entered the wrong month, and that it wasn't a mistake on their behalf. If that's the case then I can see them holding firm with their no refund stance. I know it won't help you now, but just for the future, when I book online I save the page with all the details on, so if there is ever a comeback, I have some evidence of exactly what I booked. Whilst I understand that you had problems in printing out the booking information you received from Thomsons, couldn't you open the file to check the details either?

steve8482

2011-07-27 16:10:19

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

this is very odd - according to their website they only fly Bristol- Kefalonia on Thursdays but July 11th was a Monday! Making a mistake is one thing but then booking something that isn't technically possible is stretching things a bit, there's more to this than I originally thought.

Does your confirmation give the flight number and times of what was supposed to happen on July 11th ? Have you ever managed to print the dodgy file (what exactly was the problem with it?). And can you go into the Manage Booking section of their website with your booking confirmation number and see what it says there? I'm wondering whether the mistake is in the countdown email and the booking is correct, stranger things have happened!

shirley h

2011-07-27 17:05:09

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

...and what about your tickets? Did they arrive and what dates were on them?

shirley h

2011-07-27 17:09:28

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

Just reread the original post for some clarifications but I'm even more confused now.

Rog, you say you noticed your email on 10th July and phoned them immediately and you were told that you needed to take the holiday in '3 days' but if they'd booked it for 11th, you're talking about the day following the phone conversation.

Sorry to waffle but it's hard to advise without specifics.

Glynis HT Admin

2011-07-27 18:34:07

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

The 11th (Monday) would be 3 days to the Thursday, which would tie in with what Steve discovered.

hippyjak

2011-07-27 18:45:28

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

Mmmm - August 11th is on a Thursday

RogDC

2011-07-27 18:45:52

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

Count down was reported on 10th July and travel time was 14th July - sorry for confusion but I was really stressed at the time!

RogDC

2011-07-27 18:48:20

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

I did not receive any tickets as there was no time, as dates allocated did not allow time for tickets to be issued

hippyjak

2011-07-27 18:51:39

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

Have you been able to open the original mail/file that you couldn't print? What does it say on there?

RogDC

2011-07-27 19:08:19

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

Surely Thomson travel are not there to just grab peoples money, without first trying to resolve the problem . if indeed there was a mistake they should try and help and keep their customers happy! and surely to take all the money I find terrible! especially as we saved up for this special occasion. Our 40th Anniversary will never be remembered as a happy time and my wife is very very upset!!
I have used Thomson several times in the past and I think the way they handled the situation should be made public! I am very disappointed in them. I have lost all my faith in them!

shirley h

2011-07-27 19:17:31

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

Rog, I feel bad for you and your wife and I agree that the tour operators should do more to help when genuine mistakes have been made. it's certainly something to make you lose faith in the holiday companies. It seems as though, without any proof that it was their mistake you're going to have to put this down to experience unfortunately.

Hopefully your post will serve as a warning to others to double check and save all details before entering them on the website and check the confirmation as soon as it comes through. This way there'll be proof if the mistake is theirs.

I'm not sure if you're still persuing them but if you are, I wish you the best of luck.

Glynis HT Admin

2011-07-27 19:19:17

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

Strange then that, according to Thomson's, you not only chose the wrong month ie July instead of August but also a different date ie 14th instead of 11th. I could understand one but not both. :que

RogDC

2011-07-27 19:26:47

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

Hi Shirley h
Thanks for showing your concern, the answer is yes I will carry on to get results, if not only for me but for other people it could happen to! I am currently working on something to put on You Tube. This will reach millions at a press of a button!

hippyjak

2011-07-27 19:35:40

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

If you purchase something online don't you have a cooling off period - Im sure your rights are more protected than usual high street shopping.

Does this apply to holidays??

steve8482

2011-07-27 20:19:59

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

Rog

you probably did receive tickets - in the file you didn't print.

I'm afraid your first post points a big finger at you - you typed the wrong date into that and posted it without noticing. Sad, but it suggests what went wrong with the booking. I'm guessing you put in a date and clicked the wrong month which meant you asked for 11th July, the system then automatically altered the day to the nearest Thursday (the only day of the week it's possible) before displaying availability and since the font they use is quite small you didn't notice it wasn't what you thought you'd asked for and you carried on with the booking. In which case Thomson have done something for the money - they provided a holiday you didn't show up for.

The link supplied by hippyjack may be seriously flawed. We've been told many times on this site that the Distance Selling Regualtions don't apply to travel and holidays so I was a bit surprised to read that unofficial site. Just in case previous advice was wrong I found the DS Regs here http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2000/2334/contents/made and regulation 6(2)b is quite clear - most of the regs including the right to cancel within 7 days are excluded for accomodation and travel.

I really don't know what to suggest here. Without any real evidence to show anything worse, IF I'm right about what happened then all they've done wrong is not design a screen to be as clear as it could have been. And they will say that several hundred thousand people have used it without problem. Screen design is covered by the Display Screen Equipment Regulations but I'm pretty sure they only apply to workplace usage, there may be something in the outer reaches of the Disability (ie eyesight) clauses of the Equality Act but that would be clutching at straws. The bottom line seems to be that you need a goodwill gesture from someone senior at Thomson - posting abuse on Youtube will not get that.

Edited by Glynis HT Admin 2011-07-28 10:39:19
Edit Hippyjack has expressed their wish to have the link mentioned above removed. They have posted a new link further along in the thread.

steve8482

2011-07-27 20:22:16

Re: Lost Holiday and Money

and since when has mention of a well known video hosting website been banned here.....???

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