I am new to this site today so I apologise if I have posted in the wrong place,
if so please move this post, and I promise I wont do it again
The reason for my post is to ask if anyone here has experienced a similar issue
to one I have encountered recently with Thomas Cook.
I have been looking for a holiday and came across what seemed to be a very good
deal on the Thomas Cook website yesterday morning.
After entering my search criteria (departing airport, destination etc...) I was taken
to the search results page, and shown a list of holidays matching my selection.
(This was just before 10am)
However, if I tried to book the holiday at the time, I was told that there was a problem
with the booking system, and that my booking could not be completed. I suspected that
this may be a temporary "glitch", and thought id try again later that day.
When I came home from work yesterday, I went back onto the website, and again
entered by search criteria, was redirected to the results, and found the same holiday again.
However, still, I couldnt book the holiday because of an "Unexpected Booking System Error".
So, I thought id give Thomas Cook a call, and provide them with the "Holiday Locator ID" that
the website provides you with.
After waiting on hold for nearly 30 minutes, I was told that the holiday was available for booking
only at a higher price. Obviously, this wasnt what I was expecting, and I wasnt prepared to pay
the higher price.
I spoke to one of the supervisors who was working at the time, but didnt get anywhere with
regards to getting the holiday at the advertised price.
The supervisor told me that the holiday was no longer available at the advertised price (which was STILL
being advertised on the website). The explanation for this was that the website wasnt "live", and therefore
the prices advertised on it are not neccessarily correct, and the holidays might not neccessarily be available
for booking.
To me, this seemed completely ridiculous, and I requested that a member of management call me in the morning.
I had to call them to speak to someone, as I hadnt received the phonecall I had been promised.
Having spoken to this manager this morning, he only confirmed what his colleague had told me the night before,
and that the website was not "live", and that they were not willing to offer me the holiday at the price that I
had seen it advertised.
To be fair to them, they did offer me a discount of 5%, but this wasnt good enough for me considering the efforts
I had gone to, and even with the discount, it was still more than they had been advertising it.
The incorrect advertisement wasnt removed from the website until this morning.
And so, disappointed at my loss of a good deal, I started searching for another holiday, reluctantly on the Thomas
Cook website.
Guess what I found!?
The holiday that I had been told was previously unavailable at £739 pp!
And it is now being advertised at £702 pp!
And guess what - you still cant book it!
A phone call to Thomas Cook shortly after I noticed this was again a waste of time. I was told
that I could have the holiday, but at a "considerably different price" (the words of the Thomas
Cook employee ironically).
It seems that Thomas Cook are advertising holidays that simply dont exist!
Has anyone else experience this with Thomas Cook or any other agent for that matter?
From a legal point of view they seem to think they have themselves covered, and I understand why they feel safe!
Their terms and conditions do clearly state that prices and availability are liable to change, but from what I have seen,
I see this is a deliberate attempt to mislead customers - possibly through ommission.
After speaking to the manager earlier, he confirmed that when a user of the website encounters
an "Unexpected Booking System Error", it is recorded, and someone at Thomas Cook investigates it.
But what makes me laugh is, if their website can tell me on one page that the holiday cant be booked,
why cant the previous page (with the cheaper price)!?
Does anyone have any advice on where I could go next? Trading Standards? The ASA?
I'll let you know how long it takes for them to remove this mistake!
