I have just recieved an email form reviewcentre, i posted what happened to us last october and that it took 5 days,£152 call costs and that we could not go on trips planned due to not being able to access our holiday money and they have informed me that a representative of holiday gems has expressed concern at the review and it has been temperarly removed.Dont know if that is a good or bad thing but i only stated the truth. Obviously holiday gems dont like me voicing our complaint as it is a negative one.

I have been talking to someone on another forum. They wrote a review on a private villa and put it on review centre. The owner complained, and it was removed.
What is the point of having a review facility, if it only takes the owner or company to complain, to get it removed

It would perhaps be best not to discuss the decisions or policies of any other forums or review sites which have no connection to Holidaytruths.

Many thanks

David

David HT Mod wrote:

It would perhaps be best not to discuss the decisions or policies of any other forums or review sites which have no connection to Holidaytruths.

Many thanks

David :wave

Ok advice taken, thank you
joanne

UPDATE:

After refusing the compensation claim of £100 plus my mobile phone bill i have been in talks with holidaygems and they have now reconcidered there offer and have now come up with a full refund of my accomodation plus my mobile bill. So thats £100 to £545......plus mobile bill

Well done to both parties - am glad you're now happy with the outcome

It would perhaps be best not to discuss the decisions or policies of any other forums or review sites which have no connection to Holidaytruths.

I would normally agree with this but in the case of HG it's a standard tactic to try to get comments removed from boards (as Glynis will confirm from previous complaints about them) so would be a valid comment on the way a company behaves. I'm surprised that they haven't tried it on in Joanne's case here. Or has Glynis just taken to ignoring them? Anyway, decent outcome for Joanne.

My wife has just booked a holiday with holiday gem and i have just called them because when she hit confirm on the holiday there website did not ask how may bags we were taking so she thought that there was no extra charge we have since found out that there is and they are wanting to charge £50 return per bag, which is an huge rip off, i spoke to the airline and they said to give holiday gem a call and they will give us there booking ref no so i can book the bags through them because they are alot cheaper, when i advised holiday gem why i wanted the ref. no. they refused to give the number and tried to tell me i am in a legally binding contract and i have to book the bags through them. I have since looked into it and i believe this to be a lie and it is so they can make more money. I am in the process of contacting ABTA The Travel Association to get this looked into.

the advisor dont seem to know what they are doing and the manager i spoke to was not much better.

After this holiday i will not be using them again.

Which airline, which route?

Have Holiday Gems actually said, or better still written, that you must give them the £50 per bag? Or have you just been told it will cost £50 per bag extra? Their T&Cs don't say you can't pay the airline direct but do mention the charge may be higher when booked through them.

jet2 is the airline

Baggage with Jet2 is £35 per person.

luci

Prices for Jet2 baggage depend on destination. They start at £31.98 short haul return for 1 bag. Canaries is £39.98.

Hi,
I have not booked with them before and I will never book with them again!! Their customer service department is shoddy at best, they give you the run around. To put the icing on the cake I contacted the hotel I am supposed to be staying at and they have no bookings in mine or my partners name !!! I would be inclined to say avoid this company at all costs !! They may surpirise me but I doubt it, we are almost 100% sure that we will lose all the money we paid and get no holiday. To make it even worse the holiday is fully paid up, except for the baggage which I cant book except through them and I am not inclined to give them another penny !!!

Hi and welcome to HT!

When do you go on holiday? Hotels normally don't get guests names until approx 2 weeks before arrival so if it is more than 2 weeks that may be the reason.

luci

we've had various complaints about poor communication/organisation but I don't recall anyone ever losing the holiday/money so grit your teeth and push on, it will probably work out in the end!

Thanks guys, I will just have to wait and see, They were supposed to email me a reciept but I expect that I won't recieve it.

Hi

I booked a holiday for the wife and i to go to Lanzarote via Holiday Gems in March of this year. i can honestly say that I have been frustrated with them in regards to their incompotensies. We trawled through the internet and Hoilday Gems came up as the cheapest...we rec'd the booking confirmation stating that we were to ring a 0871 number if nobody had got in touch with us within 36 hrs. i rang them and all i got was a women who just said "what do you want" very obnoxiously. which i thought was unprofessional. A day later i got a phone call from an agent of theirs saying that the flight price had gone up by £70 each because Monarch Ailines had put the price up. i complained and after a lengthly conversation she gave us £25 discount each as a geasture of goodwill. we could of cancelled this but at the time they was still the cheapest. A further day later i went back on to thier website and the price hadnt changed...i just wonder how many other people they did this to.???

We received the holiday booking confirmation in the post and this had several mistakes on, number of nights /accomodation was wrong..i rang them again and all they said it doesnt really matter, i thought this was a bit strange so i asked her to resend the correct letters out with right info on.

As we paid a deposit and the balance had to be paid on the 12/05/11 we got a letter saying the balance was overdue. The letter was dated the 12th....very keen....

in my opinion they need a structure in place were as to look and feel professional cause all they are doing is embrassing themselves.

IF i book with them again i think i shall speak to them via the telephone and take the price which is advertised..

bartyacky...

we did exactly the same..on other websites the option to pay for hold luggage comes at the end of the booking procedure. we hit the confirm button as wel thought the baggage was included as it states "some airlines charge for hold bags"...i spoke to Holiday Gems and we had the same answer, we couldnt book the hold bags through Monarch..which was a lot cheaper...there practise are somewhat to be desired.

i rang them and all i got was a women who just said "what do you want"

- I suspect that the number you dialled may be diverted to an agent working from home so is answered on the home phone - possibly by a relative!

On the plus side, they did offer to let you cancel when the price went up, which is not always the case with this type of company.

You're opinion sums up what others have found about them letting themselves down in the details, their MD reads these posts so hopefully will pick up on this.