Bad news I'm afraid. If you're email has been forward to Fortress Mytravel in Rochdale you'll be lucky to get a reply at all. If you write direct, enclosing copies of all evidence and send it recorded delivery you might get an acknowledgment in 28 days and an answer (but not necessarily to the question you raised) some time later. There's no point in complaining to them about delay and rudeness, that seems to be compnay policy.

The only answer (and this is a bit desperate) is to write to the real head office in Germany where you might get a bit more courtesy. But don't hold your breath.

What was the nature of the complaint?

They have 28 days from the acknowledgement in which they are required to reply.

They may then write that it is under investigation and get another 28 days. It can be a long slow process.

It may be frustrating - in your case there are two companies involved so that does not help. As you booked with Thos Cook but went with Airtours there is the additional problem that they also have to await a response before they can reply themselves.

By law your contract is with Thos Cook and should in the future you take legal action then it would be against them. Airtours were sub contracted by them and they have a separate contract in effect which Thos Cook would claim against.

May I suggest that when you do next contact them that you do so by registered/signed for service. This would also enable you to track that they have received your letter. Emails can and do get lost, or not even arrive and it can be difficult to prove.

At that point you could try to apply pressure by applying a time limit before you take legal action. Typically it would be 14 days.

You must however do so as failure on your part would indicate that you are not really serious.

fwh

Hi, do not trust Recorded Delivery, It is far better (although dearer) to use registered mail. Tonyt.

The days roll by and still no sign of a response from Thomas Cook or Airtours...

Steve, the complaint was about the accomodation not being up to standard.

Cheers.

Going back to my original post - whilst your contract is/was with Thos Cook the holiday was through a third party- ie Airtours.

Thos Cook having received your complaint then have to take up the matter with Airtours.

They will reply via ordinary mail - not email. We seem to be having a major problem at present due to industrial action.

What post I am getting is now 3 hours later than normal, and much delayed.

I am not defending either party in this but circumstances at present add to the problem. I again suggest that you use the Post Office and signed for service. It can be tracked online and the proof accordingly is valid in any legal action.

Email - that much promoted system does not work as well as people suggest. They get lost, systems go down - even your own email system may reject them as S P A M.

Bombarding someone with emails may even slow the whole thing down or confuse things.

Even when things work well it would be unusual to get a settlement in under 56 days from the acknowledgement of your original complaint.

fwh

Since Thomas Cook own Mytravel Group which includes Airtours it's not exactly a third party, it's just complicated by their own internal organisation. But I do agree that there's no point in firing off lots of seperate emails, they get so many complaints it will just confuse things. And given that the take over caused so many redundancies at Mytravel there may not be much goodwill and co-operation between the two parts!

If the reply from Thomas Cook came from a real person's email box, rather than just a vague customer services address, you could click reply and send a note pointing out how long you have been waiting.

But I'm afraid that if you just wish to register a complaint and get a proper explanation you're probably wasting your time, you only have to read the various posts on this site to see that's not the way they do business.

I have sent a second letter to Airtours. The first was in September.
I'm still waiting for reply.

I finally got a reply after waiting a month, but it was just a standard fob off that didn't actually respond to any of the points I made in my complaint. Thomas Cook/Airtours also seem to be playing pass the buck with it.

I wrote back pointing this out, but obviously no response or acknowledgement has been received. To be honest this sort of nonsense probably annoys me more than the reasons for the original complaint!

I finally got a reply after waiting a month

This is standard practice in most cases. Having replied/acknowledged the 28 day clock restarts.

fwh

Still no reply from Airtours, my first letter was sent in September, then another one followed in November. I also e-mailed them. They haven't got the decency to reply. There is NO customer service with them at all.

Presumably I've still got another week or so to go before I can even hope they will get around to replying...

It's December now and my first letter was written in September. Three months is a long time to be waiting for any response at all.
What a way to do business. They don't care much about their customers do they?

Maybe its me but I give 7days then pass it to my solicitor he seems to get replies.

Why not give Ros Fernihough, a quick call Tel :- 01922 621114

She or a member of her staff will be able to advise you the best way forward.

For the price of a telephone call you will know what to do.

fwh

You have my total sympathy I have been battling with Airtours since January 2007, they fail to reply in time scales and don't ever answer the questions, the phone lines are poorly manned and every one is rude. Calls are never returned. I have now passed everything onto ABTA to deal with on my behalf. They have recently been taken over by Thomas Cook and that is just complicating matters more. I hope you have more luck than I am having.

I chased them again pointing out that it was well over a month and that they just seemed to be being evasive and hadn't answered any of my points. They actually responded this time saying that my file has been re-opened for further investigation and therefore is currently with Airtours.

And so it goes on...

They did the same with me.....and here we are a full year later and no further forward. I have even been onto the managing directors office of Thomas cook (who now own Airtours) and even they didn't return my calls.

Surprise surprise, further to their promising reply of December I have heard nothing. I gave them a month and sent another reminder - still nothing!

They really do treat people with contempt and obviously just hope we will get bored and go away. I can see why some people star crusades against particular companies and I would certainly advise potential customers to avoid Thomas Cook if at all possible because they have demonstrated absolutely zero interest in customer satisfaction or resolving problems.

I'm wondering if there is any point trying snail mail now, or will they just ignore that as well?

Cheers.

i had the same slow response problem with airtours a few years back after 18 mths of being fobbed off i took them to small claims court myself and won, although didnt get as much as i had hoped for as the airtours representative tried to put words into my mouth obviously used to dealing with problems and i wasnt ,so i wish i had taken a travel solicitor with me now, so i would advice you to contact ros and get some advise from her shes bound to get things moving quicker for you