It is nothing to do with a duty of care. Reading the various postings again I am more convinced that the problem here is the agent. The OP told them what they wanted and would seem to have been assured that is what they were getting.

Reading some other topics here on HT the problems are not all being caused by the TOs but rather by over enthusiastic staff that are engaging mouth instead of brain. Sales men and women are just that. The way in which they are trained encourages them to tell the customer what they wish to hear. That is how you get the sale.

It is interesting reading what those of our members within the travel trade have to say. They obviously do not fall into that mould - but then good sales people tell it as it is. Rather lose a few sales and make more from truly satisfied customers who will recommend them than go for the quick fix.

I believe in this case the sales rep was more interested in commission and simply said what the OP wanted to hear, rather than take a few more minutes to carry out a proper check...

fwh

The way in which they are trained encourages them to tell the customer what they wish to hear. That is how you get the sale.

I agree, and with the rest of the post. It's the same sort of dishonesty that's revealed time after time on BBC Watchdog in exposés of training in a variety of industries, from double glazing to energy companies.

Peter

I'm sure there are many TA's out there who do a great job but there are still plenty who promise the moon and then leave it to the reps in resort to sort out.

Only this week I have dealt with a very angry couple who booked an allocation on arrival holiday to Cyprus. Their TA told them they would be in a 4 star hotel. They are in 2 star self catering.
Another couple, again allocation on arrival, told by their TA that they would be in Paphos. They are in Limassol.
How about sea view room promised in a hotel in the mountains? Yes, I've had that.
Pool view in a apartment accom that doesn't have its own pool.
Interconnecting rooms in a hotel that doesn't have any.
Too many to detail.

It is now standard for me to ask who our guests have booked their holiday with as 9 times out of 10, it is with a TA who have been economical with the truth or has promised things that don't exist.

Louby

I think, fwh, that your first sentence sums up JPR99's frustrations with the travel industry.

Where a corporate response is to suggest, in this post-McCann world, that a 6yr old sleeps down the corridor from its parents then I am afraid it is entirely a duty of care issue - or in this case complete and total lack of it.

It was a FC high street shop man! Its not some independent thats involved and therefore the coimplaint of JPR99 about the complete lack of corporate responsibility demonstrated by FC is wholly justified.

How anyone can defend it and hide behind incompetence of an agent, and a FC agent at that, defies beleif!

Any company is only as good as the worst employee and that does not only apply to the travel industry. Before I retired I spent much of my time putting right what had been done wrong. Employees who made unrealistic promises because they wanted to make targets. But then if you base your pay structure on how much someone sells then you can expect that.

Slightly off topic but from time to time we get posts asking how someone can get a job as a holiday rep. Without offending anyone I do wonder how many have a genuine interest in travel and customer service rather that being seduced by the glamour of the job.

fwh

I think programmes on TV like Club Reps or Trust Me I'm a Holiday Rep glamourise (sp) the job and make folks think that all we do is party every night, spend an hour a day in our hotels and have a jolly jaunt to the airport once a week.
Far, far from it. They don't see the mountains of paperwork that go with just one weeks arrivals, the targets, poor pay, late nights, lack of sleep, sheer ignorance, bad manners and nastiness dealt with on almost a daily basis.
At the end of the day, its a customer service and sales role and at the start of every season many leave after just a few weeks when they realise its not as easy as they thought.
100's apply to be reps every year hoping to be part of this lifestyle that they think is so wonderful, not knowing the reality.

I could add loads more but I don't want to turn the original thread into a rep bashing! Its a great job if you are suited to 6 days a week, 12 hours a day and poor pay. Fortunately I DO enjoy it. Its never boring thats for sure.

Louby

Hi
Thought I'd pop back with an update. First Choice have not acknowledge my complaint letter as yet - though having spoken to customer services they assure me they have sent a letter and are investigating. On look at the booking invoice we signed, there are several acronyms egTWIN3 PH SH and something else I can't quite remember - so I think when my husband read it and signed he assumed (wrongly) that one of them meant something about rooms that connect. The customer service agent re confirmed that we got what we booked for, and was non-commital as I would expect about whether FC would understand why we felt so misled in the FC shop when we booked. I have also received an evaluation letter on the case from Ros which I'll work through - though presently my ID that they require is sitting with the solicitor managing the sale of my house so it may take a while to get that all filled in as Ros needs it. I also spoke with the branch of FC to check that my hand delivered letter had been forwarded to the appropriate place, and they confirmed that it had but Im' concerned I've received no written acknowledgement. I was a bit worried when FC customer services asked me why I'd filled out a complaint form in kefalonia - and told him that was what I'd been told to do. He thought it was irrelevant as the FC office in Kefalonia had acted properly - I just don't know what he meants I acted on what I was told to do while I was away. Other than that nothing to report - I'm not holding my breath and have now reconciled myself to not getting the money back as I feel it will come down to my word against the branch, so anything i do get back of my 4900 euros will be a bonus. Having said that, when I think about what that money could have been used for I get rather angry. Thanks for continued interest I will let you know what the outcome of the investigation is. JPR

I've seen his happen before and as the family concerned couldn't afford to pay for another hotel they were each forced to take separate rooms each taking one child. While I would agree this is not ideal its an option that the TO would probably expect you to take in the circumstances.

I think that's really interesting information - though clearly I think that if you've paid for reasonable accomodation (and I do think £4300 for a 2 week holiday should give you some expectation of something reather nice) then the TO should not expect any family to muddle through in this way - the circumstances (in our case) were entirely of someone else's doing and so it seems incredibly unfair that the expectation is people should just put up with it.

The tour op has 14 days to forward an acknowledgement of your complaint letter and 28 days to respond, in accordance with the ABTA code of conduct.

Sometimes people don't always put their booking reference number on the letter or fail to give the departure dates & full details of their holiday, which leads to either a short delay in the letter being logged into the customer complaint system as they have to manually try to locate the booking in their reservations system - or, failing to find the reservation results in the letter being returned to the sender asking for more details.

Not sure how long it was since you sent the letter but it may give you and others an idea as to what the tour ops are up against.

If the letter is sent via the travel agent (it's better to if you booked that way as the agent will chase up the response on your behalf), then as a rule - all the correct information is included in the covering letter drafted by the agent.

I don't understand why you were asked why you completed the complaints form in resort as this is standard procedure and is a valid part of any holiday complaint. Failure to do so, leaves the holidaymaker in a poor position from the outset when trying to make a claim on their return.

Cheers
CwB

I think that's really interesting information - though clearly I think that if you've paid for reasonable accomodation (and I do think £4300 for a 2 week holiday should give you some expectation of something reather nice) then the TO should not expect any family to muddle through in this way - the circumstances (in our case) were entirely of someone else's doing and so it seems incredibly unfair that the expectation is people should just put up with it.

I totally agree its not reasonable and I would be taking it further if it was me. I only pointed it out so you could be prepared for that as a reply.

Both last year and this we have needed interconnecting rooms as we need a carer due to disability. It is usually a nightmare to get the TO's to put this in writing and if you don't have it, you don't have a leg to stand on when you get to the hotel. Having just discovered that our booked hotel is being refurbished and people are being relocated I think we are in for a fun time this year, we leave in just 2 weeks and the TO can't say which hotel or if we can have our interconnecting room or even one next door. We are not people just booking references it seems.

After handling post tour holiday complaints over the telephone with a big tour operator in UK prior to coming to live in Cyprus, you may be very surprised to know how many people telephone the complaints department with the surname Smith or Jones etc and can't tell you what date they left the UK on their holiday or what date they returned, let alone remember which hotel or resort they stayed in!

Amusing I know, but it probably explains why so many people say they've been on holiday to Cyprus and stayed in Pathos

This is one of the main reasons to make your complaint in writing during your holiday. One should at least hope your accommodation/resort rep will get the paperwork right!

To the OP, just keep plugging away at it and don't let it drop. Quite clearly, there has been a fault here somewhere. The problem is finding out just where it started.

Good luck!

Will be interesting to hear the outcome too.

CwB

You should of completed a complaints form in the resort.No tour operator takes a request on a booking as a guarantee that what you request would be available.It is up to you to prove that they were negilent on their part.Also you would have to prove it spoilt your 'holiday'I had this many years ago with really rubbish accommodation and I was moved as I kicked up a fuss.Ithink all you will get is a letter not admitting anything remember they'll have their own legal department.Also because over the years so many tourists have complained over nothing and compensation was paid out this has effected how complaints are dealt with by tour operator's etc.You could go to the small claims court where you could represent youself but they'll just turn up with their solicitor and then it's your cost.

We had this exact situation last year in Kenya, also with First Choice. We managed to get switched to another hotel two days after arrival as our paperwork clearly detailed that we had booked connecting rooms. On our return, we managed to get some decent compo from them in the end but only after I had to enlist Roz's help

Keep on at them for sure but you may be in for a bit of a battle. Has Roz been able to offer any advice?

When we talk of Travel Agents in my case to find a really good agent that I can trust is imperative! It is not for me to get the cheapest although my STAR can do this for me and will always point me in the direction if it is cheaper and best for me to book part of that myself. ie Flights to Australia/New Zealand for a Cruise holiday to OZ/NZ. I booked cruise only as the Cruise company would only offer me flights to Heathrow then Singapore to Sydney and finally to Auckland. The cruise company would only do Qantas and wanted also another £140 to allow me to travel from Sydney to Perth even though Qantas was making no charge.
Ali my Agent advised me to book my own flights with a consolidator and I did these flights through Trailfinders. She would have to charge me a fee and also although I did email her the costings she could not compete with it.
There are good Travel Agents and I know that mine part of the (Scotland's Cruise Club) but they also do all type of holidays package and tailor made. She is worth her weight in GOLD to me and I trust her totally and know that she will always do her best for me as well as giving me a price that is lower than I find elsewhere. Rather I do my research and get the best price and then call her.
She also alerted me to the fact that if certain Cruise Company drop prices then I can get that price drop applied to my booking. I have had many price drops in the cruises I have booked over the past 2 years. Just been on X Summit and got 2 drops one for the over 55's and 3 price drops for my upcoming cruise one of £800 which I used part of to upgrade to a higher grade of balcony. She did not need to tell me when I mentioned that the Americans can get it and she said it can be done here too.
With Cunard I got a 7 cat. upgrade. A trust is built up between an Agent and I have never met Ali as I live now in England and they are based in Ayr. I think the normal Package hols and they do property and much more these days. I never ever would book with a local shop now as I find that a lot of the young staff know little about what I am looking for. I do a lot of research on the Internet and Trip Advisor at Hotels etc and know what I want and for me price is not everything. What each of us want is the holiday we booked or at least think we have booked. It is difficult to trust what is said in Brochures these days but not as bad as many years ago.
I have booked holidays to Paphos after researching the hotels myself and then booked with Olympic Holidays on line with a good deal at the Paphos Amathus Beach Hotel 5* getting exactly what I wanted. Used them also to book Alexander the Great Hotel in Paphos. I sent an email to the Hotel saying that I wanted a room on a high floor (not high rise Hotel) mid position as I knew that the rooms at the end were much smaller I was travelling solo and they could easily have put me in a smaller room. I got exactly what I requested by making sure that the hotel knew what I wanted. I didn't need to see the Rep. and just recently stayed in Venice for one night pre cruise again I telephoned the hotel to confirm my booking as it was with Travel Republic Westin Europa Regina. Asked for a non smoking room with a view of the Grand Canal. Reservations said that T/R rooms booked with aI think something like GTA or something of that nature only had rear rooms without views.
I got an upgraded very large beautiful silk lined walls room with a to die for view of St. Marks Cathedral and had breakfast on the beautiful terrace.
I am obviously an experienced traveller but I have learned over the years to make a request directly to the hotel prior to arriving and found this is almost always a good strategy. I would encourage others to try doing this.

I do feel very much for your predicament and I think that Ros will certainly give you all the help she can at obtain the best outcome for you. Good luck.

Sorry if this is a bit off topic again Luci but it is just my view and experience and if someone can learn something from it then I am delighted to be of help.
If you want to remove the T/A name I have no objections to this as it might appear that I was touting for business for them. Far from it I am a loyal client who is treated extremely well and appreciated for the money I have spent with them over the years. Yes I cruise 3/4 times a year now and I do spend a lot but I always know that I never spend more than I need to. It is a 2 way street.

Sue