holiday company seems to be playing me for a fool!

[rloughlin03]

Hello,
firstly thanks for reading this, i am hopeful someone can help me. I found a good holiday on teletext holidays and decided to book it for me and my fiance. The holiday was advertised with a private sea water swimming pool. The price was excellent at £356 including transfers, and assumed they had made a mistake. I called up the company and asked about the deal. The gave the same description as the website.

I was still doubtful, and on three seperate occassions asked for confirmation that we would have a private sea water pool, to which the advisor confirmed on three occassions. everything went through okay. I checked the hotel website and found out that only the villa's have the private sea water pool. I called the company i booked with and gave them the information, and once again they confirmed with me that i would get a private sea water pool. When the booking information came through, there was no specific mention of a pool. So, guess what..., called the company again and once again they told me that i had a private sea water pool. I asked them to confirm with the hotel and get back to me.

So they got in contact with their supplier, and then called to inform me that i wont get a sea water pool, in fact i may not even get a sea view, never mind sea pool. I was unhappy to say the least, and advised them of what happened. They tried to say i had made a mistake, and it was not their fault. I asked them to listen to the calls, ( i had dates, times and names of each call as well as brieef description!) and to gett back to me.

Just received the call where they admitted they had made the mistake. They apologised. i kicked up a fuss, and they offered to try to put me in a villa with a pool. Then they advised that the villas were fully booked. They offered to move us to another hotel with a private pool, but the only one they had was an extra £2000 they wanted me to pay. Told them no chance! eventually gave up, accepted the room but asked for compensation for the fact they misold the holiday and had caused undue stress and lack of enjoyment whilst at the holiday. They will get back to me either tomorrow or wednesday.

What else can I do? and what would be a valid amount to request from them. Me fiance is heartbroken, she is very self concious and as such this pool was gonna be a godsend for her. I may not have booked this hotel had i known, and now all alternative holidays are much more expensive now. The same holiday is over £500.

HELP!!

[Conniff]

Holiday companies seem to be a law unto themselves and I believe take everyone for fools.

You can report this to trading standards and and make a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority especially if the advertisement is still on Teletext in the format that conned you into booking.

Advertising Standards Authority

[shywazz]

Have you taken the holiday and been and returned ? Reading the thread it seems you havn't travled as yet, then further down it somewhat reads you have travled, if indeed you havnt travlled, then you seek compansation for what ? Just cancel under mis-selling advert, and ask for your moneis back, and hopefully put down to experince, you seeking upon 4 or 5 occassions, about the private pool etc, you must have had your doughts on this bargain break, which sadly didnt prove such a bargain as 1st thought.
The price of £356 which you paid isnt much more than booking another of £500 which you state is the price now. just look at and get confirmed in writing what the price entails, b4 parting with any cash, research the holiday well in advance to booking.

[rloughlin03]

Thanks for the help guys!

Conniff: I checked out the Advertising Standards Authority website youu posted. some helpful info there. Also found the which.com guide too ( Holiday-booking problems | Your rights)

Which is helpfull.
"Under the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 (PTR) the holiday company is responsible for providing all parts of the holiday as agreed. This means you have a right to:get the holiday that you booked or was described to you and expect that any details you are given about the holiday, for example in a holiday brochure or on a company website, are factually correct and not misleading"

shall be quoting this to them if all doesnt go well.

shywazz: I haven't left for the holiday yet, leaving in 12 days (last minute deal!)
I dont really want to cancel the holiday as it leaves me with about 10 days to sort out a holiday!Im claiming compensation based on undue stress caused, lack of enjoyment due to lack of pool, and being mis sold the holiday. It states i am able to do this under the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992
I was hoping that 4-5 times of them confirming the private pool was there would have put my mind at ease, i dont think i could have done anything else but i wont use them again. I usually book flights and hotel/villa seperate myself but i have exams on and didn't fance the hassle, obviously hindsight is 20/20!

Thanks for the help again, just waiting for them to call. I think i may bargain for £50 off per person.after all, they would still get over £600 of my hard earned pennies!

[rloughlin03]

Its just gotten worse!this company are a shambles. Was advised i would get a call back - didnt happen. When i called them they offered £10 pp compensation which i refused, then they offered £15 pp compensation, again i refused. I asked for the holiday to be cancelled. This is when things became very shifty. I was told I had to email them, and i may incur cancelation costs.the period can take 24 hours. Trying to explain i was mis-sold the holiday got me no where. I was told to put the info on the email. The guy promised to get me a call back from cancellations in 15-20 mins. Needless to say, the call back didn't come so i phoned back.I was told cancelations were on break and they would get the details when they got back. I was apologised to for the wrong call back time, and the woman advised they would call me today, but didnt say when. Surely i am entitled to cancel my holiday with no addditional costs!It says in the Holiday-booking problems | Your rights you have previously mentioned and even in their t&C's!
(there t&c's say:
We take reasonable steps to ensure that any information, photographs, or any other details about the flights, accommodation arrangements or accommodation featured on the website is accurate. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of all information and prices displayed on this Site, regrettably errors do occasionally occur. In the event that an incorrect price has been entered in error, any booking made based on such incorrect price will not be valid. You will be advised of the mistake at the earliest opportunity and you will then have the option either to pay the correct price for the travel arrangements or to cancel and receive a full refund of any monies you may already have paid)

Is it worth my while canceling if i am going to be stung with a hefty fee, or should i not be charged at all for cancelling?

[Conniff]

What teletext page was it on and is it still being advertised the way you saw it and for the same price?

[rloughlin03]

Originally Posted by Conniff

What teletext page was it on and is it still being advertised the way you saw it and for the same price?

The advert has since been removed off their website and teletext holidays. They called advising they will pass the details to their legal team and get back within 48 hours.I replied that was not good enough as i would need to book alternative holiday. They will get the complaints team to call me back tomorrow as the have offered the posibility og upgrade to half board, or at least £30 off per person. I agreed to this to stop the hassle! Thanks for the help

[rumof]

Hello Newbie here
I am having the same problem with Thomas Cook after booking a room with a seaview which turn out to be a tree view, when I complained they just pointed me to T&Cs in section all you need to know , where it does say( if you require views ie pool or seaview these may be obstructed with buildings or plants and not full views ) I made the mistake of paying extra for a seaview without reading the small print my fault, This rule applies to all holidays taken with Thomas Cook and there Franchises, So if offered a View or Pool Views and extra payment is wanted DON'T PAY as they cant be guaranteed to be a FULL views with no obstructions, What gets me is they are allowed to sell something which in there T&Cs they know they cant provide or they would never have put them in there,another get out clause
They have caught me out once never again
They have not even offered a goodwill gester of any kind to shut me up

I made mistake of not reading small print please make sure you do and you wont be disappointed
Hope you all have a enjoyable holiday with no problems