DH are playing silly beggars with me. I paid for my hol a week last Sunday by the automated payment system. I made a mistake with the amount, partly because of the recorded message, which resulted in them owing me money. My sis also paid for her hol at the same time and had an e-mail confirming the payment the following morning.

I phoned in the morning to say that I hadn't received acknowledgement of payment and told them of the overpayment. The girl agreed that there was a refund due to me, although she'd have to send the request to another dept. I was told that the dept had a max of 48 hrs to read the e-mail and then another 5 days before the money'd be back in my account. Fair enough! yesterday, 10 days on, still nothing, not even an e-mail, so I telephoned again to be told, she didn't know where my e-mail had been sent to and that she'd chase things up, including the overpayment. I thought I'd at least have had an e-mail confirming my payment today- still nothing. I'm going to have to give them a piece of my mind tomorrow.

i should of read the small print when booking with D/H we booked with the £30 per person deposit, 8 weeks later they phoned up wanting the rest £120 per person, on my original invoice it said my next payment was June. not january. another £480 just after xmas was a lot to fork out for so they say the deposit is £600!!!!!!

little legs,
I am afraid all the holiday companies ask for the remainder of the deposit 8 weeks later when paying a low deposit.
Its not just Direct Holidays.

Angie

I'm going to have to give them a piece of my mind tomorrow

Well, I did try to give the Guy on the end of the phone, a piece of my mind but he didn't want to know. IN fact by his attitude, I could just imagine him lying back in his seat, chewing gum and rolling his eyes I explained everything to him and he just kept telling me 'you should hear something in a couple of days'. The couldn't care less atitude continued when I told him that's what I was told on Wednesday (and I even named the advisor). It was like talking to a brick wall. The bottom line is, they have over £60 owing to me and still no receipt that I've paid my balance. I asked for his full name and had the usual bull about only being able to give his first name due to Data Protection. I told him I was leaving it in his hands but if I didn't have the money back and a receipt in a couple of days that I was going to write an official complaint. He almost put the phone down before I'd finished speaking. Oh, they can be so ignorant.

Does anyone have the address of the apartment that might be able to sort this out for me please? Thanks

Shirley H - have you asked to speak to a Team Leader? When I had problems last year with DH I got fobbed off several times but finally got somewhere after demanding to speak to a Team Leader/Manager. Once I got through to someone that could actually help they were really good.

Hi can i just say ,that it seems that direct holidays are only one of the few who are taking a bigger deposit on holidays ,i booked 2 holidays last year for this summer 1 with thomson and 1 with thomas cook and both times only have had to pay £50 deposit it was not classed as a low deposit they have just reduced the amount. cheers col

NicJW, thanks for that info. A good idea. I didn't think about asking to speak to a team leader, which is not like me I think I've ben fobbed off in the past with 'sorry, he/she's not available or I am the team leader' that I've given up asking. If I don't hear anything by Monday I shall do that.

uptoncol,
When we booked our holiday with DH back in September, there was an offer on and we only paid £30 dep pp with nothing else to pay until the balance was due.

Phoned again yesterday. I still didn't ask to speak to a team leader as she seemed to know what she was talking about The girl said that a cheque had been issued and that I should have had it yesterday or today. Well, my mail's come and it wasn't there. I also asked about a confirmation of payment e-mail, which she said she'd sent. I told her that 2 different people had told me the e-mail had been sent and she said that she'd just sent another one whilst I was on the phone to her. That was strange because the last guy told me it would take a couple of days to send one Anyway, the e-mail still hasn't arrived and I've double checked that they have the correct address.
I'm at a loss what to do next. I want to write a letter but don't think they will act on it unless I address it to someone personally. Does anybody have a reliable name of someone with authority there please? I'm starting to worry whether I'll get my tickets in time now, as they're so inefficient.
Thanks

I've good news and bad. The good news? I've had my overpayment refunded. The bad news is - still no receipt of payment. DH are the pits!! Spoke to someone else on the phone today, who had exactly the same couldn't care less attitude of the last guy (could have been the same one).

He said a letter had been sent but could take 7-14 working days to arrive. I said I'd waited 10. Besides 14 days seems excessive to wait for the arrival of the letter. He said it's down to problems they're having with the system, yeh, right! I asked if he could send me an e-mail whilst I was on the phone, as I had my laptop in front of me and could check if it came through. 'Sorry, anything done on the phone has to come by post not e-mail'. I asked why I'd been told on numerous occasions that e-mails had been sent? No explanation, he just repeated the statement. I'm going now, before a swear word or two slip out.

Hi Shirley,

I know its to late for this holiday but if you do decide to book with Direct in the future (if they havn't put you off for life) I would book it through the TC website, that way you can pay through their site and check "my bookings" and pay top ups, final balances etc, so no expensive phone calls.
Did you take the name of the person you spoke to?, although I think you will be okay as you can check your bank statement and keep that as proof you have paid.
Have a great time anyway, after all the hassle.

Cazx

Shirley
I paid on the 9th feb over the phone because of your experience and have not had a confirmation of the balance being paid but I got a new invoice with no mention of my paying off the balance! only difference was the new invoice did not have a pay by date on it!! I bet i will have to do some more chasing to get a receipt! From now on I am getting our local Travel agent to price match my holidays then they can have all the stress of chasing things up! They will not price match Direct holidays though! At xmas when we went with thomas cook we did not get our tickets and i had booked the holiday almost 12 months earlier so i was so mad with the attitude that we could pick them up at the airport ! I said i had not booked a late deal and expected the tickets but it was no use they just said piclk them up at the airport!!! Sucks how they treat people!!

I will book through co-op travelcare and they often beat the TC web price by a couple of hundred pounds, I have even had TC direct beat the web price by £300.

The first for me, I have complained before I have even go on holiday. Sneaky company changing their T&C and trying to make out the T&C were same whyen i booked last may.

Strange thing is I didn't book the holiday over the phone, but on the internet. It was on the DH site though and not TC. I'm not really worried that they'll say I haven't paid (I've got proof), but I'm a bit worried that the tickets won't arrive either, as happened to you Violet.

I got the first names of all the people I've spoken to but they're not giving me their surnames. Don't think it's going to do me any good anyway. I think they're all as bad as each other.

Hi All

Thought this might help someone
Phoned to pay the rest of my deposit for my holiday was given 0871.
It was an automated service I hung up and phoned 559 7000
and told them i would not give my bank details to a machine
the man took my payment and was very pleasant.

Glenburnjany

the man took my payment and was very pleasant.

They often are when they're taking your money. It's when it comes to giving anything back that the problems start. Sorry, I shouldn't be so cynical. Hurray!! I've had confirmation today - 13 working days after they last said they'd sent it. It was an ammended invoice but it did state at the bottom All monies received

I can relax for a while now, at least until the tickets are due.

DH and TC really take the P having you pay at least 10p a minute to give them money with a 0871 number. I got a letter saying we having been trying to contact you, you need to pay us some money call this 0871 number.

Ofcom banned shared profits from 0870 number, pretty thick lot if you ask me, didn't they think the companies would change to a 0871 number to carry on the rip off of keeping you hanging and lining their own pocket at the same time.

Lucky we have that handy web site with alternative numbers.

DH are at it again! Just had a letter from their Ops Dept informing me that my flight for this years holiday has been cancelled. I half expected it really after last year . Just a bit peeved as we originally had a nice 12.20 pm departure, now we've been put on the 05.50...not great with two young children. I could have booked this flight originally but chose the better time and paid an extra supplement to do so. Just phoned them to say I want my supplement back but was told they do not keep historical records of flight supps and the new flight is now the same supplement so they will not give me any money back...How convenient for them!

If you click on "whats included" on their site, at the bottom of this page it does state if a low deposit has been paid a top is required 8 weeks after the booking was made, so I think its a lesson we should all learn - read the small print!
We are all excited when we find a good deal and unfortunately get a bit carried away with their low deposit offers.
Edit; this was meant to be further down the page under "deposit worries".

Just had to contact direct holidays about making a change to my booking . I only paid a low deposit at the time of booking last April .My confirmation didnt state that anything else was due before May 2009 and I havnt paid any more since. I checked with the lady and she said that No I didnt need to pay any more before the final balance .

Good news and very happy with the service I just received .Spoke to the administration department as I needed to cancel off my sons Ex girlfriend . I had thought that we would be responsible for her deposit balance but we wernt and didnt loose what had already been paid for her. Just a £25 admin fee . confirmation and new invoice received almost immediately by email.

I was aware of what their site says in relation to the top up but I have a feeling this may be on there just to cover themselves . Of course if you prefer to pay it they wont be turning it down .