Hi Guys,
Im just wondering if one of you could give us some advice regarding a complaint with Thomsons Holidays. In case you dont know myself and my girlfriend have both worked for Thomsons in the pas as Holiday Reps and ive worked for other companied aswell and i feel like because of this we are being fobbed off. But anyway i better tell you the problem first so i can see what you would all advise.
We recently went on a holiday to The Gran Ventana Beach Resort in Playa Dorada, The Dominican Republic. It was the 5th time we had been on holiday to the Dominican and we both worked there for 6 months aswell. Normally we go to the ruis but due to the bad reviews recently and the bug we decided to try somewere different and booked this hotel paying a little bit more than the Ruis.
The Outbound flight was great even though there was a slight delay due to people being late to board the flight and only joining when their luggage was in the process of being offloaded. We arrived and fell lucky getting a coach full of people going to the same hotel so no other dropoffs and were quickly allocated the room and checked in. We had no major problems with the hotel or holiday apart from the entertainment team which ill get to later, oh and it resembling the set of shameless in the sun but thats a personal opinion and Thomsons cant do anything about who books the hotel. The main problem came when we were leaving and involved the inbound flight. The reason ive put this in is though that people can see that we had a good holiday and its not that we are being melodramatic or petty.
On boarding the outbound flight back to manchester we took our seats and taxied and took off. Imediatly as the plane was in the air we were informed that the in flight seatback entertainment system was not working in some seats and that the toilet in the middle of the cabin was not working and the only one available to people on ab was at the rear in row 48 unless you were sat in the premium cabin. We were sat in 7 a and b 1 row behind the premium cabin and low and behold our seatback system was not working.
We spoke to a male steward asap and he said he would reboot our screens but this did not happen. After twenty minutes the Drinks service was coming around so we spoke to them and the Stewardess said that she would reboot or bring some magazines for my gf to read as she had a load from the previous flight. She reset the screen in front of us by accident so we pressed the call button. 4hours later the cabin supervisor came along and asked if wed called and we pointed out we tried to call 4 hours previously and no one came and at this point she had a little strop and pointed out that lots of people have been calling. That was the last we saw of any of the crew. Halfway through the flight the lights were turned off just as i began to read and the reading light would not work as its connected to the system and i couldnt sleep as behind me 2 kids were using the games and beating the screen for want of a better word.
The flight from the Dominican is 9 hours and with nothing to do it feels longer. Addto that the customer service of the crew and i felt we had a reasonable reason to complain. Add to that the fact that i felt concerned about the entertainment teams attitude around the teenage girls on complex. See the reviews for what other people say.
Today i recieved our 3rd letter after making a complaint the day after we returned, both previous letters stated that they were investigating the claims made in our letter but today we recieved there answers.
Basicly they have sent us a cut and paste letter. Each of the concerns are adresssed with out any clear actions. Every concern ends with Your comments have been passed to ( inserted posistion ie. cabin crew managment, maitenence, in resort team ) for any necessary onward actions.
The letter ends with a thanks for giving feed back as it is invaluable comment.
The letter is not even signed and i cant help but feel that we have been fobbed off as we are ex employees. From working for them i know that this would be a loss of facilities with a minimum £25 pounds each compensation but we havent even had a offer of a £10 voucher.
I would like to say that this is not about the compensation though and i wouldnt care if we got nothing as log as i know we have not been fobbed off.
So what would you all do or reccomend or whats your opinions????
Sorry for boring you and thanks in advance.
Shaun and Lianne
personally i would write again and thell them that if you dont receive a satisfactory response you will seek legal advice.
in the meantime, why not give ros fernihough (travel law solicitor) a ring on 01922 705134 and ask her advice.
good luck
kath x
We have an ongoing complaint with them which started in March this year. They never fully answer specific points. They were still telling us that no-one else had complained even after they had already compensated one couple. They have not responded to the court summons and the paperwork has just been sent advising the court of this.
All I can say is keep pushing them to reply. If they only gave reasoned responses to earlier correspondence they could save themselves a lot of trouble.
I think this problem with the seatback screens is quite common. It has happened to us twice, once with Thomson and once with another airline. They try rebooting but it doesn't work and after that they wash their hands of it. It never occurred to me to pursue it though. I think that is why you got that attitude from the cabin crew - it happens all the time so they don't care.
Add to that the fact that i felt concerned about the entertainment teams attitude around the teenage girls on complex.
I'm afraid to say that in my experience this is very common in many of the hotels in the DR, I wish more people would report it to the management, but, and there's always a but, the behaviour of some of the older teenage girls left a lot to be desired.
In one hotel I witnessed a 13 year old girl engaged in sexual behaviour with one of the staff, when I told her parents the father threatened me and told me I had a filthy mind, maybe shameless has invaded the DR. ( I did inform management of this staff member but he was only warned off not sacked)
Unfortunately this happens far too often and i've had it many times on long-haul flights, so now I take sufficient gear (laptop / books) and presume they will not work!
I also would write again. For the poor in-flight experience I would have thought £20-£25 per person likely to be offered (probably offered as a travel voucher).
I'm sure I was awarded £20 per person when the seatback entertainment did not work on a Virgin flight to Florida. I got this some years ago and did not have to fight for it, as such, it was given after my first letter. They make such a big deal about in flight entertainment in their brochures when you go long haul, its very disappointing if it doesn't work, especially if you have been giving it the 'big sell' to your kids.
On another note I have a problem and I havent even gone yet. Its about luggage weight. We booked for a cruise on the internet and when tickets arrived said 25kg luggage weight, so emailed them to ask if 25kg case, 5kg luggage or 20kg and 5kg, they emailed back to say 25kg and 5kg. Lovely, then received an email to say no its 20kg and 5kg, go into local shop and they say no 25kg and 5kg. Now we just dont know. Carol
just to add a note that wether its 20kg or 25 kg, thomson have just advised me that no one piece can weigh more than 23kg (health and safety reasons).
Do you mean 32kg? That is the H&S amount not 23kg.
yes it is definitely 23kg, but you can take as many cases as you want
First Choice have had the 23kg rule for the last couple of years, now they have merged with Thomsons and have now applied this to all Thomson holidays.
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