Hi all we have now draft a letter to the lowcostholidays please have a look and advice. Thank you.

FAO: Lowcostholidays.com
RE: Booking reference XXXXXXXX
We are writing with regards to the above holidays taken on the 8th August 2010, return 18th August 2010, Bulgaria Sunny Beach , Regatta Hotel for 10 nights for family of four.
Our family have been booked on the 8th of August 2010 from London Luton airport on the flight
W6602 at 21.50 to Sofia, yet our transfer which we have paid for £61.48 have been arranged from Bourgas airport at the time we arrive at Sofia at around 3am on the 9th of August. It was not until we actually landed we have notice this dreadful and extremely uncomfortable error. We have immediately contacted Lowcostholidays.com emergency telephone number only to discover that the person answering has not got any authority to rearrange or authorise any alternative transfer for us and in result we are left to make our own arrangements for this 450km journey to our hotel in Sunny Beach. The taxi has cost us additional 565 levas ( £245.00) and additional 6hrs of travelling, not to mention the stress, discomfort and exhaustion forced upon us and the children on this journey.
Monday the 9th of August had been practically a day of trying to reach somebody in the office of lowcostholidays with regards our arrangements for our journey back home. Unfortunately, after at least 20 phone calls and long wait on the phone each time we were not lucky get through. We have left the voice message and hoping that somebody will get back to us we quit calling for the day. Nobody called back and we started calling again next day Tuesday 10th of August. Finally, the phone got answered and we have been informed that we will receive an e-mail with the information about our transfer back to Sofia for our return flight W6601. Again total cost for all the phone calls now totalling £52.00 now.
Our journey back home took us additional 5hrs in the car and another sleepless night.
The holiday has been drastically shortened by two nights and one and a half days of trying to sort out the transfers and tidy up the mess created by XXXX who booked the holidays for us.
We are now would like some explanation as to why our flight was booked to Sofia but our transfer from Bourgas? In addition a full refund of all the costs incurred because of it: taxi, phone calls, lost nights at the hotel etc.

Remember that you are writing a LETTER and not sending an email.

Your address

Customer Service Department
Their address
(Head office)
ending with
TOWN in capital letters
Post Code

Date

Dear Sir or Madam

Booking reference XXXXXXX, lead name ..... (YOUR NAME) and party

Request for reimbursement of costs incurred because of your administrative error and payment of compensation in respect of the disruption caused to the holiday because of your administrative error.

We are writing with regards to the above holiday booked with your company for the period 8-18 August 2010 (10 days) at the Regatta Hotel, Sunny Beach, Bulgaria for our family of four.

Our family had been booked on flight W6602 between Luton airport (LTN) and Sofia airport (SOF) on 8th August 2010, which departed at 21H50. However the transfer we had pre-booked from the airport to our hotel, at a cost of £61.48 was actually from Bourgas airport and not from Sofia airport. This unfortunate error only became apparent when we landed at Sofia airport at 03H00 on 9 August. This lead to a great deal of stress, anxiety and discomfort.

We immediately contacted Lowcostholidays.com emergency telephone number only to discover that the person answering had not got any authority to rearrange or authorise any alternative transfer arrangements for us and resulting in our being left to make our own arrangements for this 450 km journey to our hotel in Sunny Beach. The taxi cost us an additional 565 levas (£245.00) and in addition to a further 6 hours of travelling time, not to mention the stress, discomfort and exhaustion forced upon us and the children on this journey.

We spent the majority of Monday 9th August trying to reach somebody in the office at lowcostholidays, with regards to our arrangements for our journey back home. Unfortunately, after at least 20 phone calls and long waits on the phone each time, we were unable to get through. We left a voice message and hoped that somebody would get back to us before we decided to stop calling for that day. Nobody called back and we started calling again next day (Tuesday 10th August). Finally, the phone was answered and we were informed that we would receive an e-mail with the information about our transfer back to Sofia for our return flight W6601. At this point, the total cost for all our phone calls now totalled £52.00.

Our journey back home took us additional 5 hours by car and another sleepless night.

Our holiday has been drastically shortened by two nights of travelling and one and a half days of trying to sort out the transfers, and tidy up the mess created by Lynn who booked the holidays for us.

We should like to receive an explanation as to why our flight was booked to Sofia airport but our hotel transfer was from Bourgas airport?

In addition, we request, as a minimum, a full refund of all the costs incurred because of the unsatisfactory transfer arrangements, taxi, phone calls, lost nights at the hotel etc.

The costs to be refunded currently stand at £358.48 (the pre-booked taxi transfer from Bourgas to the Regatta Hotel (£61.48), the actual taxi transfer on 9 August from Sofia airport to the Regatta Hotel (£245) and telephone costs (£52) plus two nights' accommodation.

Please note that as you are bound by the codes and conduct regulations of both ATOL and ABTA, I await a prompt reply to this letter within the next 28 days and if I consider that if the outcome of my request for an explanation and appropriate compensation is not satisfactory, I intend to pursue the matter through other legal channels.

A copy of this letter is being sent to Trading Standards in xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - where you live - and to ABTA and ATOL for their information.

I look forward to hearing from you and receiving the appropriate compensation for the additional costs I have had to meet due to your booking error, and for the disruption to my holiday in terms of both nights spent in the hotel and inconvenience.

Yours faithfully

YOUR NAME PRINTED UNDER YOUR SIGNATURE

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A couple of pointers.

DO NOT SEND ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS - send only photocopies and if you do, mention them in your letter to say what you are sending and what the document shows.

Be aware that if the pre-booked transfer to the hotel from Bourgas airport to the Regatta hotel was not booked with Lowcostholidays.com, you may not be able to recover the costs from them.

I would expect any 'compensation' for the two nights not spent in the hotel to be small, based on the calculation of total holiday minus any statutory fees, air passenger duty etc, then minus the airfare, then minus 4/5th of the total, which would leave only = 1/5th (2 nights) of the hotel costs.

You might want to read up on the time scale proposed by ABTA and ATOL for replying to complaints. 28 days is the first communication to say that they received your details ... then it may take as long as they wish. You should specify on future communications that you require a reply within x working days (15 is reasonable ... 3 working weeks). You may have to remind them once or twice if they don't reply in this time limit before bringing in the 'big guns'.

The legal channels I am thinking of would be the small claims court, but do remember that you will have to pay a court fee before the case is even presented.

I would be very surprised if you received any 'substantial' compensation ... my working out is above, but other posters may have been advice and calculations.

Do be careful to stay impersonal and check your grammar and spelling when writing. I'm not trying to be 'superior' but it is important that you keep things clearly expressed and easy to understand. You may need to show this sort of letter to a judge and you want to make it easy for them to rule in your favour!

You can type the letter but sign it in ink, and KEEP A COPY. Send it by a 'signed for' service so you will know that it has been received.

I am sure that other posters will have better ideas but I hope that this will be something you might be able to use as 'bare bones' and fill in the flesh later. Good luck.

Sonic, Alsacienne's draft explains things clearly and to the point. No doubt others will come on and try and help improve it further. I would substitute

However the transfer we had pre-booked

with
"However the transfer your agent had pre-booked on our behalf" (just points out that it was their company responsible for booking the transfer and not something you did)

100% with your amendment Shirley, but I'm not sure (as I don't know the company myself) whether they booked the transfers or whether the client 'bolted them on' as an extra ... THANKS for your input!

Make sure your letter is to the point and polite. Also make sure that the grammar is correct and do a spell check! Also try not to make it too long.

A well written letter stating the important points that is not too long is likely to be dealt with a lot quicker than one which is poorly written, too long and with too much information in it.

Pippa

thanks for your help guys..........

we have been told in a previous phone call that a claims must be sent via email but reading the t and c it says send a letter. should we do both?

You can do both if you wish. I am very surprised that you were told to email as email complaints very rarely get answered.

Definitely send a letter, preferably by recorded (signed for) delivery.

You have to give them the opportunity to put things right, but be prepared to take them to the Small Claims court. You can used Money Claim Online.

luci

I would probably do both - stating in the email that you are backing it up with a letter. Send the letter recorded delivery - you can then check it has been received.

Using email only means they can always say they haven't received it.

Pippa

we just wanted to say thank you for your help and valued advice,
especially your Alsacienne, Pippa and Luci for your time and invaluable help.
xxxx
we let you know what the outcome was x

You're most welcome. I hope the outcome is successful ... do keep us posted!

I missed your post with your intended letter of complaint but Alsacienne & Shirley have done a great job of stating the facts (as presented by yourself) in a clear concise manner.

Good luck with your claim, on HT we see a lot of complaints that often don't hold water but FWIW I think you've been treated pretty poorly.

Regards

we have recieved a letter from lowcost just a confirmation that they have recieved our letter of complaint and will address this complaint within 28 days

thanks for your help

we will keep u posted

I hope you get the result you want. At least the wheels are in motion now.

hi all....have read all posts and thought I would put my tupence worth in....one thing that hit me and seems to have been missed by everyone is this...

If 1/ lowcost hols offered them a return transfere via taxi to sofia airport...and did not ask OP to pay
and
If 2/they supplied it without asking OP to pay for it
and
If 3/ the offered transfere turned up as arranged and the OP was transfered to sofia airport
and
if 4/ the OP has not at any point been asked to pay for the cost of the return transfer to sofia airport

Then lowcost hols in my view have accepted liability for the mix up.....especially when the cost of the return transfer was £245 ( think this is what OP states ).....otherwise they would have offered to help by arranging a tranfer but not at thier expense.....tweetie

Hello,
We have received a reply letter from Lowcostholidays, here are some of the most important extracts from it:
"...It was with sincere regret that we learned of the problems with your transfers.When transfer arrangements are booked the information is passed ont oour suppliers so that no passenger is left without transport to or from the airport. This is a highly successful and well-organised aspect of our operation and we are therefore surprised and sorry that you experienced a problem on this occasion. WE would of course like to offer you a refund of your taxi fare oand our cheque for £245.00 in total and in full and final settlement fo this matter will be forwarded to you under separate cover. We do hope that this will be accepted along with our sincere apologise for any inconvenience and upset caused to you.
We are happy to reimburse you for the phone call charges you incurred; however we would need sight of an itemised phone bill for this amount before we can process payment...."
This is the main and most important info of the letter from them. We have not replied to lowcostholidays yet and would apprecitate you very valued input in constructing a reply.
The phone bills can only be produced from our mobiles as the phone boot we used didn't give any receipts. Do you think we should accept this or should we still pursue a reimbursment for lost nights etc.
Thank you for looking into it.
Regards
Izabela and Chris

Delighted that you have had a positive reply.

It remains whether you are happy to accept their offer. The fact that they offered shows that they accept liability for the change to your holiday plans ........ but as to whether to go and claim for more than the amount offered ...............

Here are my thoughts.

They've agreed to reimburse the major element of the change ... the taxi fare of £245 in full.

They are prepared to enter into negotiation about the reimbursement of the phone calls if you can provide documentary proof in writing which is very positive, but relies on your being able to provide this. I don't know about how to retrieve bills from your mobiles, but I would expect that your mobile provider may be able to help with this.

This only leaves the pre-booked transfer from Bourgas airport to your hotel. I'm not clear if the transfer had been pre-booked by your holiday provider, in which case I would think it might be worth pursuing, but if it had been booked by using a third-party operator independent of your holiday provider, then I think you have no hope of reclaiming it from the holiday provider, and regretfully have to consider it 'lost'. (Unless you think that this third party operator would be prepared to refund it, in which case you could write a letter. However this may come to nothing.)

I think you've done well so far. You've been patient and reasonable. But only you can decide how much trouble you want to go to to get proof of the phone bills.

Thanks for keeping us posted. It would be helpful to let us know what you finally decide to do .... feedback like this helps us all feel that we've been of use and are happy to help others in the future.

As I read it the transfer waiting at Burgas was a mistake by lowcost - it should have been from Sofia - the taxi was an emergency replacement the OP paid direct for. The refund means the OP has now got the transfer they needed at the original cost included in the holiday and lowcost have paid over the odds for it (probably whilst still paying for the wasted one!).

the phone bill issue is a bit naughty, there's a good chance that many mobile accounts won't give details like that and lowcost know it! I supect a lot of network operators would need a court order before they dug that deeply into their call records. And as you say, if youuse a payphone there will be no record. So in future it would be an idea to use the hotel phone and get it on the bill.

But the "lost nights" argument is a long standing travel industry issue. Hotels have daily change over times, typically you have to be out by say 11:00~12:00 or pay for another day. With overnight flights the industry has always classed any time in the hotel before the change over time as the first night. In this case the flight was late and then there was the delay at the airport which wasted some time but they could class that as the first night even if you weren't scheduled to be there until breakfast time. Having to be up for transfers at stupid-o'clock on the way home is also common, in this case it's the length of the transfer that's unusual. So by industry standards they can say that the number of "nights" at the hotel was right and no refund is due.

But they haven't addressed the issue of the wasted day spent trying to sort the mess out. By refunding the taxi they have accepted they made a mistake so their should be some form of compensation for the hassle and waste of your time in sorting it out. If you want to try for that DO NOT cash the cheque for the taxi.

steve.... you misunderstood...

we landed at bourgas...transfer waiting at sofia!!...tour operator mixed up !!.and our fault for not checking...

i have itemised billing from my phone network so i can prove the calls....i did notice in the letter they sent us there was no mention of repaying our original transfer costs...

thanks..

Drafted a reply letter, please have a look and let us know if this is ok. Thank you.

"Thank you for your explanation and apology letter received in reply to our complaint.

Your compensation offer (taxi and phone calls reimbursement), however appreciated cannot be accepted as a final settlement. We are expecting lowcostholidays.com at least to cover the cost of our pre-booked (and paid for) transfer from Bourgas to the Regatta Hotel (£61.48) or the cost of lost holiday times due to mixed up of lowcostholidays.com, which we will accept as two nights accommodation (£103.60). Please do not forget that our family had spent over 12 hours in car journey and a considerate amount of our holiday went towards sorting out our transfers with lowcostholidays.com.

We trust you will reconsider your offer in fairer manner and we can finally settle the dispute without going further.

Kind regards,

Izabela Cloke"