Well, I booked my 10 days in Egypt via HolidayGems and then found this forum. I had a "oh no, what I done" moment. Anyway, to date, I have had absolutely no problems with them whatsoever. After I booked online I had a courtesy call confirming the booking and an email. Within a few days my ATOL receipt arrived by post. Once it got near my departure date, I called them to find out when I would get my tickets and accommodation vouchers etc. They said they were being posted that day. Lo and behold they arrived bang on time. To this point, ( I haven't had the holiday yet, I leave in just over a week) I genuinely cannot fault them. I have used On the Beach a couple of times for my previous holidays and found them a bit hit and miss. If you ring them you may get someone helpful, you may not. I'd never book online with them as they usually contact you a few days laters cancelling your holiday unless you pay more as the flights were no longer available or some other excuse. Because of their unreliability I decided to use someone else this time, hence Holiday Gems. Definately had a bit of a flap once I read the reviews here but so far things have been spot on! Assuming nothing goes wrong between now and my departure thats their fault then I will look to use them again as long as they keep up the service I have recieved so far, if that service drops then I'll find someone else.

Hi folks

Eventually got a response from Global Travel Group/Holiday Gems (24/03/2010)....Needless to say not very satisfactory. More or less accused me of not reading terms and conditions and of lying that I had been in fact offered an alternative flight from Glasgow International which I definitely was not. Have gone back to them as I did not have a problem with terms and conditions ....only that they hadn't been followed. Have not as yet had a response (surprise surprise) and do not believe that I will have.

I am pleased that thankfully they have not got it wrong for some others. I really do not wish people to have bad experiences.

However, having advised my friends and family...some of whom were witness to the call I had from holiday gems when they changed my flight. I can say that none of them will be using them no matter what prices they proport to have on their websites.

Therefore I bid you all farewell and happy holidaying unless I do get a response.

Well, I obviously spoke too soon. Not sure where I stand here as yet as I have to speak to people in the know but here is where I am at. Obviously, the blimin volcano has ruined my holiday. Can't blame anyone for that, just have to take it on the chin. However, this is where I get a trifle annoyed (read hugely p***ed off), Holiday Gems, who are supposed to be ATOL members have told me that I will get the costs of our flights back but not the accommodation as the agent they used wont honour it, so we are £750 out of pocket. We contacted our credit card company, and they washed their hand of it, so I contacted our travel insurance and although they told me yesterday that we were covered as they considered it adverse weather as opposed to an act of God, they have now said they since have had a directive from the underwriters not to say this and that they will not be covering us (Insure and Go for anyone interested). Not quite sure how any of this this works as I was under the impression that an ATOL member would have to cover the entire cost as it was booked as a package. We have an ATOL receipt that clearly lists the flights and accommodation. So how can they worm out of it? I am going to speak to ATOL on monday about Holiday Gems and also the financial ombudsman as I think the credit card company are trying it on too. Will update with further news as and when. Anyone 'in the know' who can offer advice, then I will be glad to hear from you.

Steve_t38

Just for your info.....Holiday Gems do not class booking a holiday and a flight as a holiday package and I quote from the letter received from them regarding my complaint "An on-line order was placed on ...... and this should not be confused with a "package holiday booking" as claimed". Seems to me to be another get out clause but I don't expect anything more from them!!!!

Therefore anyone out there booking a holiday should confirm with the holiday companies that they are booking a "holiday package" and will get refunded in full for flights and accomodation if anything should happen before they book. I would also ask for this in writing if possible.

Sorry to hear that your holiday has been spoiled. I hope you get it sorted out soon. Karen

Steve_t38

Forgot to mention.....when I was having difficulty with Holiday Gems, I contacted the CAA for atol advice. This is part of the response...

"This company does not hold an Air Travel Organisers Licence (ATOL), but appears to be a member of The Global Travel Group which holds an ATOL, number 3973.

The CAA regulates air travel organisers primarily in order to provide customers with protection against their insolvency, to ensure that they do not become stranded abroad or lose money paid in advance when a tour operator fails. However, we have no mandate to regulate the detailed standards of service that licence holders or retail agents provide and as such there is little I can do to help.
I can only suggest, if you have not done so already, that you contact The Global Travel Group headquarters for advice, at the following addresses:
Glendale House
Sandycroft
Nr Chester
CH5 2DL
enquiries@globaltravelgroup.com
Tel: 0870 7350736
Consumer Direct might offer an opinion. Try tel: 08454 040506 "

So not really sure whether ATOL will help or not...especially since Holiday Gems themselves do not hold an ATOL licence!!!!!

Sorry to be the bearer of more potential bad news.

Basically a package is when they sell 2 or more components linked together, like flight & hotel, but priced as one item and you can't have one without the other.

If they advertise hotels and flights priced seperately, and you can buy either seperately, and you mix and match it isn't a package.

There is a grey area in the middle where they mix and match items which you could have bought seperately (eg you just say you want to go from Manchester to Benidorm for 2 weeks and they come back with their suggestion and one price), this is called Dynamic Packaging and there are some rules about it - but they are very difficult to enforce. And ATOL don't do it anyway because, as they point out, they are basically an insurance scheme for when the operator goes bust.

Its been very interesting reading everyone's comments. I booked a holiday with Holidays Gems and its been a nightmare from the moment I booked it online. I received a call back but was advised that the flight prices had increased. I received the booking confirmation in the post an noticed the hotel details were incorrect and I was booked on the wrong hotel although it was a similar name and even though I notified them within the 2 days, I had to still pay a admin fee as well as the difference between the two hotels.

I requested a break down for the hotel costs and the flights and was told that it was a package holiday, like any holiday booked through thompsons and therefore their could not give a breakdown and my receipt and booking confirmation paperwork shows a total sum only.

I think anyone else in the same situation should also contact Atol and its completely unfair of them to insist its not a package deal when it suits them.

Was due to go to Egypt last friday 16 th April but as we know all flights were cancelled----got a call from them on Sunday to say all they could refund was the flight money which I refused and said I wanted all monies returned to which I got the response we are not a package tour company and cannot refund the cost of accomodation so I contacted Trading Standards and was told to refer them to The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 which clearly states that all money must be refunded tried contacting them on the Monday and as soon as I mentioned this was told that later in the day I should get a favourable reply---since when nobody answers any calls not even to try to book a holiday so now I'm not sure if they are operating anymore I would advise not booking with this company

Don't build your hopes up just yet. Those regulations have some quite large loopholes and several of these online companies know how to avoid them.

Jay144, we are having very similar issues. I also told them that the Package Holiday Regs apply and that we are entitled to a full refund. This has been met with complete silence. We have discussed our situation with various agencies and advisories and we have been told that without question we booked a package holiday. Reading HG's Ts and Cs they claim they would refund all monies paid towards a holiday if its cancelled, regardless of whether its a package holiday or just an element of a holiday so they can't get out either way. In my case its a package holiday anyway so there no excuses. Having emailed them with our request for a full refund, and in accordance with their Ts and Cs it should be made quickly. I wanted to define "quickly" so I checked ABTA ( I know they are not ABTA but ABTAs terms say that refunds should be made within 10 days of a cancellation so I took this as what would be considered "reasonable") and worded my email accordingly. I insisted on a replay within 24 hours. Guess what..? Nothing! I think they know we are entitled to a full refund and are going AWOL either to get out of it and hope we go away and claim against our credit cards or something or some other agenda. Shame really because up until this point I had absolutely no complaints with this company.

I will be ringing them today and will report back.

Emails are never recommended in this situation. A letter by recorded delivery is better, keep the receipt in case you have to go to court.

Had a slightly more positive conversation with them and have been assured they are not ignoring me but that they are extremely busy. I accept this considering the circumstances and have agreed that I will leave it with them on the understanding they will get back to me within the next few days. They then confirmed the entire conversation in an email as I had requested. Hopefully will be in a position to give further updates early next week. At the end of the day, I was quite happy to rebook with them so it would be a shame if my initial positive thoughts about this company are proven unfounded. Watch this space.

have been unable to get this company to answer calls now for two days im getting frustrated and just want to talk to someome it seems they are not interested i know they may be busy but its expensive to phone and the phone just rings and rings.a answer message would surfice

I still have that problem with the phone but at least it means that someone is there but agree all they need to do is leave a message i just want to know what is happening but they lie when they say on the main web page they are atol protected--have rung atol and they are not so not really sure if they are genuine or not

I rang the Global Travel group and they put me through. Global Travel Group -01244521271

Managed to get through this morning and was told that all I could get back from them was the flight money which will take a short time(which is fair enough under the current circumstances) but the accomodation money will not be refunded, yesterday I sent them a recorded delivery letter explaining my rights under The Package Tour Regulation 1992 gave them 10 days to reply. If I do not get a favourable reply from them Trading Standards have told me to write again re-explaining my rights. T/standards have told me they cannot withhold the accomodation money and if they don't reimburse my I should tell them I will take them to court.
Watch this space !!!!!

Trading Standards have also advised me this. Fortunately for me, I work with them!

Extract from the Package Holiday Regs. Section 13 is the important bit........Note that its clearly says if the holiday is cancelled by the organiser for "ANY REASON OTHER THAN THE FAULT OF THE CONSUMER" and part (c) says refund of "ALL THE MONIES", not just the flight part. In fact ABTA also have a note to this affect on their website. I have put the relevant bits in bold!

Significant alterations to essential terms
12. In every contract there are implied terms to the effect that—

(a) where the organiser is constrained before the departure to alter significantly an essential term of the contract, such as the price (so far as regulation 11 permits him to do so), he will notify the consumer as quickly as possible in order to enable him to take appropriate decisions and in particular to withdraw from the contract without penalty or to accept a rider to the contract specifying the alterations made and their impact on the price; and

(b) the consumer will inform the organiser or the retailer of his decision as soon as possible.
Withdrawal by consumer pursuant to regulation 12 and cancellation by organiser
13.—(1) The terms set out in paragraphs (2) and (3) below are implied in every contract and apply where the consumer withdraws from the contract pursuant to the term in it implied by virtue of regulation 12(a), or where the organiser, for any reason other than the fault of the consumer, cancels the package before the agreed date of departure.

(2) The consumer is entitled—

(a) to take a substitute package of equivalent or superior quality if the other party to the contract is able to offer him such a substitute; or

(b) to take a substitute package of lower quality if the other party to the contract is able to offer him one and to recover from the organiser the difference in price between the price of the package purchased and that of the substitute package; or

(c) to have repaid to him as soon as possible all the monies paid by him under the contract.

Please be very confident if you are going to try and enforce the package travel regulations as these may be dependent upon the type of holiday booked.

If you are on a full regular package say with thomsons or thomas cook and your agent has booked the whole package through that operator then yes, they do apply.

If you are on a split contract package and the travel agent acts as an "agent" then (please someone correct me if i am wrong) then you are technically still liable for the accommodation.

Split contract is if say, flights with easyjet and accommodation through medhotels.

If it is a split contract package then the flight element and accommodation should be shown separately showing each cost for each element.

Again, please be absolutely 100% sure. You may think you have a package but what could alter your result could be defined as to the type of holiday booked.

Flights, yes, they are being refunded, hotel - may be dependent upon the supplier and the hotel as to whether they will refund anything.
During the volcanic incident, many suppliers were waivering cancellation charges for the accommodation so it may be a case that the agent has got their money back yet you the consumer, won't which to me, is pure greed and i wouldn't put it past some companies with the way they are.

Just be careful as if they end up getting one up because of the type of holiday booked.

Just out of interest, who is your accommodation supplier !!

Thanks