Hi Supermum.....

I'm so glad everything looks OK now.. ..

Shame on Dilos for holding YOUR booking to the last minute.

Now i've typed that and read it back it shows where the weak link is within the Dilos experience.. .

Surely if they're making a last minute booking they are toying with your holiday to get better prices.. .. And this is probably the reason behind so many hotel changes and misplaced reservations with hotels.

paul...

Hi nut.magnet

I think you are right and this late booking also leads to short notice cancellations that other HT members have encountered - probably because there are no rooms left.

Back next Tuesday so will update this thread

Supermum

Just to update everyone Arrived at the hotel no problems, room booked, all passenger names had a brilliant stay in Athens

Supermum

Glad to hear everything went smoothly for you Supermum.

In January 2006 I booked 10 days at the Excelsior Bay Hotel (Lake Garda) via Dilos Holiday World, for September this year.
A deposit was taken from my Mastercard, with advice from Dilos that the balance would be taken in July.
The balance was, in fact, debited to my credit card later in January.
It was then that I googled DILOS HOLIDAY WORLD and found this site.
Numerous Emails to Dilos (**Edmin edit name removed) followed. Waste of time!
My questions were never answered satisfactorily .
My advice to anyone else is not to waste time emailing the company.
I contacted the hotel by Email and by phone. Eventually my booking appeared on their system.
Just in case I get to the hotel and find that my room has not been paid for I wrote to my credit card company and asked them two questions with regard to the Consumer Credit Act of 1974.
Below is the last paragraph of their reply:

'If you were to arrive at the hotel and find that Dilos have not paid for your stay the Bank would then be able to pursue a refund on your behalf for services not rendered by Dilos Holiday World. Also, if you were to cancel the booking as per the retailer's Terms and Conditions and was the due a refund, as long as you have a cancellation number to show that you cancelled correctly, this office could pursue a refund on your behalf should the retailer not process it themselves.'

The bottom line now is that I intend to continue with the holiday with the apparent 'strength' of the credit card company behind me.
If only DILOS HOLIDAY WORLD had not taken the balance of my payment 6 months early I would probably never have had the need to investigate them and then find this site.
My advice to anyone else is to steer well clear of them!
(Will update this site after the September holiday)

I see that 'admin' has removed the name of the only person I have ever had email contact with at Dilos Holiday World. I think it important that others should know the name - -- removed by MarkJ HT Mod --. Her emails are evasive and a waste of time!

-- Edited by MarkJ to remove name of member of staff. Admin removed the name in a prior message. Please respect a decision made by an Administrator or Moderator --

I booked a hotel with Dilos and they sent me a voucher and confirmation and invoice. My credit card has not yet been charged according to my credit card online activity. Because the rate Dilos charged seemed almost too good to be true, I decided to wait a day, then call the hotel to make sure I was in the reservation system and of course, I was not. I called Dilos and they said they would look into it and call me back and they have not. I decided to google Dilos and found this board, which concerns me GREATLY. Should I just try to cancel and book with someone else (which will cost me a lot more money)? Or should I warn my credit card company and figure out what they'll do should there be non-performance on Dilos's end? Or should I wait it out since at least a couple of people on the board seemed to be ok in the end?

lpl56407, wise to check the position re Consumer Credit Act. The "spend" always needs to be more than £100 and less than £30,000 for this act to apply - and of course, only applies to credit card transactions. It doesn't matter if you pay, say, £110 deposit by the c.c. and the balance by debit card - you'll still be covered forthe WHOLE amount. There has to be some breach of contract or similar fault though.

Interestingly, kim79 has the awkward problem whereby Dilos have yet to charge anything to her card. Even though she entered into a contract with Dilos by agreeing to their charge and profferring a valid credit card it's my opinion (I'm not legally trained) that the contract hasn't been "sealed" until some payment is made and accepted. Certainly, the Consumer Credit Act cannot apply here as there's yet to be a charge made against the credit card.

I'd write to Dilos quoting the circumstances and enclosing copies of their voucher, confirmation and invoice - copying all this to the credit card company as well - informing Dilos that should they fail to provide what's been confirmed at the agreed price you will sue them for breach of contract. Don't tell Dilos that you've copied your c.c. company at the outset.

Once your c.c.'s been charged (for more than £100) you should be safe. Of course, if the hotel's not available when you arrive you'd need to arrange alternat accomm. and then charge those costs to the c.c. - don't chase Dilos - easier to chase the c.c. company and legally permissible in the case of a breach of contract.

Mike

Just wanted to give an update on my situation. After relentless hounding, I was able to get my hotel confirmed, so everything is fine and I'm in the hotel reservation system. However, I had to call/e-mail 4-5x per day for an entire week to get it solved. Not something I generally think is necessary just to get a hotel confirmation that was already paid for.

Well! Surprise Surprise. Arrived at the Excelsior Bay Hotel to find that there was a note waiting for us that 'due to technical reasons' you have been moved to another hotel. The other hotel turned out to be very good but it was another 30 minutes walk from the town of Malcesine. I contacted the local holday rep (3rd party used by Dilos) and got a cash refund for the difference between the rates for the two hotels.
Will write to Dilos requesting some compensation but expect that this will be a waste of time.
What I am going to do which may be much more effective is to Email everyone on my address list about Dilos, referencing this site, and request them to forward to everyone on their address lists and so on. If this goes like other 'scatter emails' then the name DILOS will be very well known in a few weeks.

Hello... I am a new user here, just to check about some tour operators, when I saw about Dilos... In fact I travel with this company for 6 years now and my outcome is the best. Their service is amazing and very quick and their prices at most of the cases lower than the others. I cannot imagine why there is this "difference" with the service of the clients. All my friends and relatives use Dilos and they are totally satisfied, and I believe that some may overreacting...
Anyway, I am seeking advice now on the quality and the services of a company called FIRST CHOICE as I have read a lot of negative comments for them. Anyone who can help?

Hi Maspi and welcome to HT!

Our routine checks show that you are posting from Greece - one of the locations where Dilos Holiday World is based.

You're not associated with them at all are you?

MarkJ HT Mod

Dear Mark,

Yes, I'm from the beautiful country of Greece and I use Dilos for my bookings. I frequently travel to UK for business.

Just that it was rather strange that you posted glowing comments on Dilos and at the same time asking about First Choice and in particular their poor service

MarkJ HT Mod

Dear Mark,

It is not strange at all, as my new destination is not one published with Dilos, therefore I'm checking out all other possibilities. I use other operators as well, anyway...

Hello 'maspi'. Your use of the English language is very similar to that of an employee of Dilos Holiday World (name I am not allowed to insert) who has been my contact in Dilos throughout my problems. Quite a coincidence your name and this person 'maspi'??
Of course you cannot be one and the same even though your email to me, today, stated that you monitored this web site.
Not for you but out of interest, my email has now been sent and letter of complaint to Dilos will be despatched tomorrow.
This will be copied to the Tourist Ministries of Greece, Belgium and the UK.

Found this post on another site:

-- edited by MarkJ to remove copyright protected information. Please feel free to place a link to the content rather than copying it across --

Well I thought it time to add my bit to this thread.
I booked with these people back in July and had to do like everyone else and make sure the hotel were aware I was arriving. Well they were not. It was about 1-2 weeks before departure that I managed to get confirmation that I had a reservation. (I had to contact the hotel myself - Tenerife). My credit card was debited in FULL. Well due to a family illness I had to cancel and was told after receiving all my cancellation documents that I would receive most of what I had paid as a refund. I thought great, loosing a holiday is bad enough at least I will get my money back.
It is now nearly NOVEMBER, I have sent constant e-mails and telephoned them on many occations and given all kinds of reasons why my card has not been credited.
I have todate not yet received a penny. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would suggest that you contact your credit card company immediately.