One thing you could try is pointing out that compensation and refund are not the same thing.

Do have a go with the online County Court option, it's quite easy to use. One possible snag is that I think if you claim an exact amount they can apply to have the case heard at their local court - if you ask for the court to set an amount it gets heard at your nearest. Never understood why! When I took MyTravel to court for failing to refund me for a flight they could never have flown I added a bit about claiming for time spent chasing them around and asked that the court set a value so that it wouldn't be an exact amount on the form. They paid up just before the court date - and because I'd been vague they rounded it up to the top of the claim band!

Grrr

Booked with Lastminute, good deal
Contacted by someone at Global Travel Group telling me how much more it would cost
Decided against it when checking other prices, so cancelled
Unfortunately for me, I'd given the go ahead for the initial extra, but then after looking about, realised it was over-priced

Holiday Gems took £120 out of my account to cover a non existant cancellation fee from the hotel

The reason they took that, is because I moved what I thought was all the money I had into a different account, so they took £1, £19 and £100 out.

Upon speaking to my bank, it turns out that the dodgy swines tried all manner of withdrawals, from £932 (holiday cost) right down until they couldn't get authorisation for any more

Unbelievable! So utterly dodgy its laughable

They flatly refuse to give me that back, so I've raised a dispute with my bank to claim the funds back. Got everything crossed!

Please, never ever go with these

Dont give up hope, after much letter writing and threatening court action, i have now received a letter offering the full refund. Although i am very angry that it has taken nearly 6 weeks for their incompetent legal department to come to a decision that should have been straight forward, i got there in the end. This group needs exposing for the underhand manner in which they are trading.

Hi well I was worried about my holiday to the algarve through holiday gems and was` very very worried after reading reviews.
I have said before that the customer service I recieved was very good and had no problems in recieving travel documents etc
I would now like to add that since my return I can say that thr holiday was fab, accomadation brill and will use travel gems again.
so thanks

Well i booked a holiday on the 21st of april for the 21st of june which is this monday coming. I still have not recieved my tickets or anything i am completely gutted. I am 19 and a student i worked my bum off to save for this holiday and i dont know what to do with myself I have never had to deal with anything like this before. If i eva get my tickets and go on this holiday I WILL NEVER EVER USE THEM AGAIN!!! They deserve to be shut down worst holiday company EVER!!!!

has anybody used these?
they seem quite cheap

Have a look at this topic about them HERE

Angie.

thanks, thought it too good to be true

Hollidaygems.co.uk are a nightmare - the staff are very rude, they have put the phone down on me 3 times, they also have difficulty in telling the truth, they are the worst travel company I have ever had to deal with. They operate a complete ssham so be warned you will always pay much more for you holiday or flight tickets - the latest one is if we do not hear back from you soon we will beforced to charge you a non response fee of £199.00 even though I had been chasing them on the phone and via email for 2 days.They operate a complete sham they should not be allowed to trade this way - their business ethics are below trading standards - Please think twice before booking a holiday with this company. BE WARNED.

Booked my holiday with holiday gems 3 weeks ago. they called me within 24 hrs. my price had gone up by £90 but managed to get them down to £75 but this was only for luggage and is in the small print that its not added on. got my conformation within the 5 working days as stated. all was ok until 10 days before travel and hadnt recieved tickets. tried to call them for 2 days but all phone lines were busy. so cost a fortune holding on and still didnt speak to anyone. so i called the company they had boked tickets with. they assured me they had sent tickets to hol gems 8 days previous. so after another 2 days i called them again, the then gave me a number for global. they then gave me yet another number for holiday gems. i got thro to a guy called S*. he asured me the tickets had been sent. still no tickets..... so i called global yet again and this time they called hol gems for me. i got call back about 2 hrs later from a lovely lady called T* who said the tickets were being sent that day....... "maybe another lie". she also e mailed me to confirm this. "Hurray i got my tickets next day..........."
So my conclusion is. i have learnt by my mistake. i will never book with holiday gems again. they do come up with the good eventually. but its too stress full and too exspensive a wait......
PLESAE READ SMALL PRINT BEFORE BOOKING WITH THIS COMPANY.

Would not recommend this company at all, they are awaful, they really dont know what customer service means. We booked online, received phone call next night, as others have posted... price of flights have gone up, need to pay for luggage and transfers which isnt what it states on their website. Rang them quite a few times re tickets not arriving, once I let it ring for 50minutes before hanging up, they still had not answered! Evetually I did get through one time after 14 minutes to be told tickets were being sent out that day (quite rudely), received ticket (e-ticket) 3 days before flight, jsut as well we were not travelling anywhere before then. Dont know why they could not have just sent an email for us to print off as thats all it was. Very strange. Flight with Onur Air we could not fault, on arrival at Bodrum it was easy to get the transfer so that was a plus also. We had to call a UK number 48hours before our flight to confirm it (obviously by mobile), then had to call and confrirm our transfer as well - thought all that was quite odd. We paid for All Inclusive for 7 nights, we arrived on Sunday and were picked up at 11.45pm on the Saturday which meant we only had 6 nights, our flight was 03.25am. In effect we had paid for breakfast/lunch and drinks for the Sunday as we did not need to be out of our room until 12noon on the Sunday. We had travelled from Turkey to Glasgow followed by a 4 hour car journey to home by the time we needed to be out of our room, do feel cheated out of a night. I have emailed Holiday Gems on 4 occassions but they have just ignored me. I have been in contact with Consumer Direct who were ever so helpful, I have today received a call from my local Trading Strandards office with advice which I will be following. My advice would be if anyone has any issues with the company call Consumer Direct as the more folk they have the more they can do. Companies like this should not be operating.

Hi

I booked an holiday with holiday gems 2 weeks ago,the price was agreeable and so went ahead and paid using my visa,it was only after i didn't get any confirmation after a few days that i decided to look online at reviews,i typed holiday gems into google and read a few of the reviews, and thought maybe i have booked with the wrong company!,i did after several calls get the confirmation and i did also contact the hotel direct and they have confirmed we are infact booked in for the dates,i have emailed with regards to the transfers which were included several times with NO reply,i emailed the same to Global,same response, NOTHING,but as the holiday is a few weeks away yet i can't say if all will work out as yet,but it seems i and all the other's will now have several weeks of worry having read all the bad reviews,it will be sad if this is how this company wants to treat honest paying customers and gain nothing but bad publicity.
I'll keep the forum informed of any updates as to how things work out.

I wish I read these reviews before !

Booked a holiday on Friday only to receive a call on the Sunday to say the flights were no longer available and we would need to pay another £80 each for another flight ! Spoke to a gentleman who was so rude and unhelpful I ended up in tears. Not once did he apologies or explain what had happened. Although they have called to say this flight is no longer available I have looked again on holiday gems and they are still advertising the flight for a cheaper price and your still able to book ? This doesn't make sense to me ? They clearly want to make more money out of you so your able to book the holiday online but then they call you to say you have to pay more.....well I'm certainly not willing to pay another £80, especially to a company who cannot even apologies !

I would not recommend this company to anyone infact I will be telling everyone never to use this company !!

Thank for nothing holiday gems.

holiday gems, just booked a family holiday to alcudia with consultant1, fantastic deal and had a fantastic service. 28/9/10

Hi just to say i have booked with holiday gems
I went to turkey and stayed in bodrum i cant fault this company as i was treated
With the up most respect i got consultant 22 she was polite caring and helpful she went out of her way
To find me the best deal. which beat the one that i was quoted by one of the big boys
There was no hidden extras and the holiday was lovely
and i have and will recommend this holiday company to my family and friends
Thanks holiday gems for a easy and care free holiday

I booked with these guys a couple of months ago and oh boy I was worried when I read the reviews!
Well now Im back from Dom Rep - Great holiday and I have to say not one problem! We flew with Thomson and stayed at Gran Bahia - we were met by their resort rep at the airport and from that moment they couldnt do enough. Fab, Fab , Fab will definately book with them again!
Just proves that most only write on a review sites when there unhappy - so for once - well done Holiday Gems

Wow i can honestly say i am completely surprised with all these negative posts!

I have booked with holiday gems a few times and i have never had any problems whatsoever!

I have just arrived back from Egypt, which was a wonderful 10 days holiday. I wanted a quick 10 nights away and was confused with all the hotel reviews etc so called them, yes i was in a queue but my call as answering within about 5 minues! Ive been on hold to my bank triple that time!! I spoke to a young lady called jackie (AGENT 21) who was very helpful from beginning to end! She went through all the different hotels and what prices etc it would be and even gave her recommendations on her personal experience of the hotels. It was a little more than what i wanted to pay so she juggled around with some flights and airports and we got there in the end!!!

I received my confirmation within the hour and was kept up to date on the arrival of flight tickets and everything went without a glitch.

I can honestly say i have recommended holiday gems to family and friends and have never heard any problems with anyone who books through my recommendation. Believe me i would absolutely know about it if there had been even the slightest problem!!!!

Holiday gems are exactly how they describe themselves GEMS!!!!!

i have booked 2 holidays with this company and would highly recomend them.very helpful and save you waiting on the phone they will even phone you back.no problems whatsoever.

Just returned from menorca. Stayed in a beautiful 4 bedroom detached villa booked through Holiday Gems for less than £300. Claire, consultant 72 with HG, was very helpful - calling to tell us that the price of the flight had increased slightly but offering to hold the villa booking whilst I tried to find a cheaper flight online - which I did.
Everything went well. They also organised our transfers - £30 cheaper than the 'big' boys, which were prompt and efficient.
Perhaps we were lucky but I intend to use them again
Richard