kelly v med hotels

[flat tyre]

Hi everyone,

I am after some advise with not a clue where to start!

I have just returned from a holiday in corfu, I had booked to stay in a waterpark hotel but on arrival at airport the rep informed me that hotel was fully booked and we were being relocated to another hotel ( 2 hrs away from waterpark ) and there was nothing I could do about it.
spent 2 weeks in hotel in kavos ( not a nice experience ) and after numerous phone calls to med hotels I got no-where fast! needless to say I want my monies back plus compensation.
There where other families at kavos hotel too in same boat, makes ya think it was a scam doesnt it!

[heidi1]

Hi there,

Just a couple of q;s, firstly when did you travel? And did you book through a travel agency or direct with medh?

This is important as it will tell me how your complaint will be dealt with.

Many thanks

Heidi

[flat tyre]

Hi thanks for replying heidi,

Travelled on 23/07/07 and returned 07/08/07

Booked through onthebeach.com

thanks again x

[heidi1]

Hi,

Onthebeach.com are therefore your agents. The reason I asked this question was so we know where to send your complaint. It needs to go to onthebeach.com really, but if you booked it yourself on the internet, I would be inclined to send it to Medh directly.

The other reason I asked the question as th when you went is because as of Jun 07, Medh have been acting as principle when you have booked through an agency. This basically means that if anything goes wrong, its their problem and they have to sort it out (medh). When you book a flight and hotel seperately, you are not covered under the usual package tour regulations, because you have not booked a "package holiday" in the traditional sense of the word.

Some accomm only suppliers will not act as principle, so if something happens and your not happy, you are pretty much on your own, unless your agent can step in and save the day, very difficult when you are in 2 different countries!

The advantage with Medh is that they are the only supplier that I am aware of that provide a "rep" in resort. The fact they now act as principle also means as far as onthebeach.com are concerned, the problem is medhtls, and not theirs.

There is one point I would ask you to check on, which isn't clear to me, are medh acting as principle for all bookings taken (travelled on) after Jun or for all holidays booked after the date in Jun??

All that aside (sorry if it doesn't make sense, but dont worry too much about it, it shouldn't affect your complaint) you need to write a letter to them explaining what happened and why you were/ are so upset and dissappointed (even though it may seem obvious by the nature of your complaint).

Try and keep it to the point, not too long, and easy to follow. Take a few deep breaths and then start writing, try not to go into a rant!!!! easier said than done! You need to bullet point each complaint and expl its effect on your holiday. THEN, hit them with what you want them to do about it. Ie, refund/ compensation. Not sure if you'll get both but hey, its worth a try.

Now this is where your patience comes in, you'll need loads of it. They have 28 days in which to reply to you. First letter "sorry you had a crap time, were looking into it and will be back to you shortly" sort of thing. 2nd letter, "sorry you had a crap time", your 2 months down the line at this stage and probably very pee'd off! Your next letter to them should read something along the lines of "not good enough, I'm taking this further" again giving them 28 days in which to reply. If after that you are still not satisfied, you can go down the arbitration route with ABTA, or small claims.

You may get the reponse you want straight away, which is great, but I wouldn't hold out much hope of that happening.

If you need any more help, please give me a shout, hope the above is some help. If theres anything your not sure about, please just ask.
(BTW I'm a Travel Agent of 10 yrs or so, just so you know I'm pretty sure of what I'm talking about!!)

Good luck

Heidi

[flat tyre]

Arr thanks very much for taking the time to give me that advise!

I have just finished my letter, can I email it to you for your advise?

[heidi1]

No problem, I will PM you my email address if you want me to look it over. I'm sure it will be fine though!!

Heidi

[flat tyre]

Sorry Heidi, for some reason your email went to my mums address and she thought I had forwarded it onto her for her to have a read, therefore I have only just realised it was there! ( Thanks for the advise in the email )

I have recieved letter back from on the beach saying that their not liable but med hotels are, this is was we thought anyway.

So will wait to hear back from med hotels now.

Thinking about it though, otb quite happily took my money off me and there was no mention that they had booked it through med hotels on my behalf, as far as i was aware i was booking via otb, surely it should be up to otb to take it up with med hotels!!!!

[johans]

i am in the same boat -so to speak- with jetline/med hotels and expect to be starting a claim through the small track!

[heidi1]

OTB are an agency, and would not have known that the place was or would be overbooked. Its Medh fault for overbooking, but should have advised you before travel.

Did OTB make you aware that you had booked separate flights and accom, and take 2 separate payments for the holiday? Or where you under the immpression it was a package holiday? You need to check this out and see if OTB have an IATA code (which allows them to sell packages as a Tour Operator) look on their website, or ring them and ask them for it. It should be 4 digits long. Its similar to an ABTA number but its only given to tour operators. If they do not have one, and took one payment out of your account instead of 2 and did not advise you that you were booking separate flts and accom, then they are in breach of their licence!!

Heidi

[heidi1]

scrap that IATA, I mean ATOL number, IATA is for Airlines.... derrr!!

[flat tyre]

Hi Heidi,

I have just been TRYING to chase complaint up but as usual keep getting fobbed off, mh have apparantly emailed the report to otb to pass onto me as " legally " they cant contact me directly ( even though they have already with comlaint acknowledgement ). otb are saying they dont have email, have recontacted mh who have sent it again but otb are too busy to put me through to people who are dealing ( hope that makes sense )

Just phoned otb and asked for their ATOL number but they only have an ABTA number.

[heidi1]

Did otb take one payment from your account for the full cost of your holidday, or did they take 2 or 3 seperate payments? You will probably need to check this back with your bank.If they took one payment and this holiday was sold to you as a package, and they dont have an ATOL licence, then they are in breach of their licence, which is a different issue to your complaint, but it will give you some more ammunition.

Ideally they should be sending the complaint responses to OTB and then OTB to you, mailny so OTB are aware of what is going on, but not only that, OTB should be acting on your behalf. MH contract is with OTB, and not yourself so what they say is initially true. If OTB fail to get the e-mail, insist they post their reponse to them immediatley.

Good luck

Heidi

[flat tyre]

Hi all,

Today I have received an offer of £150,

What are your thoughts?

xxx

[heidi1]

If I were you I would go onto MEdh site, price up the waterpark and price up where you stayed, if the difference is grater than £150.00 I would push for more. I dont know if you want to try and pursue for inconvenience etc. Let me know how you get on .

Heidi