Well I gave up after 1hr and 5 mins...then I phoned the general enquiries line and got through almost immediately. She promised to email the dept asking them to call me back urgently.

Got a call back at last this afternoon...even more unhappy now with them. I've posted on complaints forum about their response.

Ive have friends working for Direct Hols customer service and they are going through alot of changes right now, including redundancies. Im not excusing bad customer serivce, as its not acceptable. However give the guys a chance, there doing there best and after all they only work for the company they dont run it. The changes happening since the merger are pretty big including the relocation of departments to different sites of Thomas Cook all over the UK.

Goldeneye
If that is the case then maybe they should not have been taking bookings during the merger e.g all the companies that are going to be under the Thomas Cook Umberella, and then perhaps things would not have been so difficult for the poor said staff what about the customers??? It dosent justify they should be treated like dirt[/i]

Fiona

Im not going to make excuses for them, as i said in my post there is NO excuse for bad customer service. I never said anything about treating customer like dirt as being acceptable. As for taking booking or not taking bookings that some thing the Thomas Cook Group, his name is easily found on a google search. as im not sure if i can post his name here, but the name is very easy to find.

Goldeneye
I'm not having a go at you personally, so please do not think that! I am so disgusted with this crowd as I too am in a dispute with them over a missing payment, and the customer service team are useless manned by little girls with stars in their eyes playing at being reps, when it comes down to issues they have not one iota how to deal with it and try to fob you off onto another extension for another 45 min wait (if you are lucky!) which costs the client money to phone on top of what they have already paid in hard earned cash.

I worked in the travel industry a few years ago, and was taught excellent customer services standards.

Fiona

I have booked with thomas cook and after reading about all the flights changed between thomas c and airtours/DH I checked my holiday on the web site every few days and the flight got moved by 6 HRS, but it turned out to be a better flight time taking off early afternoon. I wont be getting up until 8am now instead of 3am.

mines been change by 30 mins later than original, but I'm not away till June 2008, will keep my eye on it though

I've book my holiday for next year with DH supposed to be flying out on Friday flight to Dalaman from Edinburgh. Since the merger flight no longer appears on the website.

I have asked if my flight has been cancelled or still going ahead but keep getting fobbed off with an answer.

I was told that there was no changes to flights as yet but would be told nearer the time and be given flight nearest my dates. This might be okay and suitable for some people but I only booked this holiday as I have used this flight for the past 7 years and it suits my work timetable.

If it is changed to another day I do not have the extra holiday days to cover this.

I have booked holidays with DH for years now and never had a problem with them.

only wish I had known sooner before I went ahead and booked with them,
there customer service is rubbish

Hi Fiona

I didnt think them merging with TC would have caused all this problem

I've always thought DH were a good company and I've not had any problems until now.

I feel a bit ripped off actually.

Lynn

Hi Lynn

Your story sounds familiar! I've been posting on this forum and complaints forum re my flight to Menorca next year, I won't go into details, you can have a read back if you like.

Have you spoken to the operations department 0844 800 7700 then options 1,1, then 3. This will take you through to the department that deals with flight changes. Be warned though-getting through to them is a nightmare - your best chance is if you phone bang on 9 am when the lines have just opened.

I too have been being fobbed off by them since the 1st Oct, but I think I'm finally getting somewhere with this (see my latest post on complaints forum). My advice is be persistent with them when you finally get through don't let them fob you off. Also try to prepare yourself for the call with as much info as possible, perhaps try to phone reservations beforehand to see what they say if you ask to book a flight for your original date. If they admit that the flight isn't operating next year then you can use that to back up your case. Don't back down because once they've admitted the flight is cancelled they have to sort this out for you. If they cannot offer you a suitable alternative then they should give you the option to cancel with a full refund of monies paid so far.

I have to say that now I've got through all the barriers and am finally dealing with someone there that can see sense they appear to be doing all they can to help me.

Hope you get it sorted.

Regards

Nic

Hi Nic

Thanks for advice I will keep trying.

I think that is terrible that you are giving an 0871 number originally to call when this cost 10p a minute I spent over 2 hours holding on various call to get a reply before I realised this a few more call and it was be more expensive than the holiday

Lynn

got my new booking code delivered by post a couple of days ago.my flight times havent changed but have changed from my to tcx flight.still cant pay anything to my holiday online yet!

to confirm flights try http://www.mytravel.custhelp.com or alternatively just reply to the invoice e-mail you have requesting info.
I have had response in 24 hours

Mark

try e-invoices@direct-travel.co.uk

Markas
I did email from the invoice link thanks for advice, received a reply very promptly.

Flights back on the website so I hope everything is going to be okay

Tried e-mailing the link
e-invoices@direct-travel.co.uk
my e-mail failed to reach destenation?

That domain belongs to the Direct Travel Insurance company, which is unconnected with Direct Holidays.

David

that e-mail address came from a reply I sent using the e-invoice I was originally sent.
I initially replied to the invoice (asked a question regarding flight) and a response came back with that address.
I then replied to that, and got an answer within 24 hours.
I gave this info to others on another site (INVALID URL and it has worked for them as well.

Mark