Hi

I sent this letter and gave 14 days to respond.

"After recently obtaining a copy of my credit file from Equifax I was concerned to note that your company has placed a "Default" notice against an account in my name.... Send me details of this blah blah if you cant remove it etc etc.

Their time is up today and I havent had anything. I need to get something sent this afternoon (have until 5pm!) so that if I request 7 days I will get it back next Friday... or not....

I've searched everywhere on here to find the next letter. Been looking for an hour now! I must be looking in the wrong place but can anyone help please?

Hopefully someone will just know where to look and post me the link.

Well they went over their deadline so I chased them again. Nothing... Then on Saturday morning, just in time for the start of the weekend I get a letter apologising 12 times but offering us nothing! Not a penny!!!

Luckily some of the things they said in their letter contradict what was on our booking notes in the store (little did they know I was smart enough to get a copy!)

We're getting legal advice now.

They make me so angry!!!

I'm on this site trying to claim back bank charges as well. It makes me mad that we as consumers get screwed around so much and when there's a problem "customer service" doesnt even exist!!!

When sending the prelim letter, does this apply about the interest or does this just relate to an account? I had a Marbles credit card.

What I require

I calculate that you have taken £XXXXX plus £XXX which you have charged me in overdraft interest for the sum which you have taken. Total £XXXXX .

Thanks very much for your reply! I'd already sent the letter off which is a shame, however I will use your points if the response they send isn't acceptable... I doubt it will be!!

The letter is due tomorrow.... I'll keep you informed!

Thanks again

Here's my letter.... do you think this is good enough? I'm gutted.

I am writing to complain about my recent honeymoon in Thailand which was booked through yourselves.

I spent many months going through brochures to choose the perfect destination and hotels. This trip was booked from 14th May to 1st June to the Royal Orchid Sheraton in Bangkok and the Imperial Boathouse in Koh Samui.

Two days before our wedding, I received a message from Thomas Cook that I should ring them urgently which I did. I was informed that there was minor building work going on at the Imperial Boathouse, but I was assured that this would not affect us and that we had been moved to a room away from the noise. I was extremely concerned about this, however after being reassured and promised that the noise would not disrupt us, I agreed to continue with the holiday as booked. Two days before the wedding I did not have time to even think about looking for an alternative. This telephone conversation caused me increased anxiety due to the proximity in time to my wedding. We were offered no alternatives (cancellation/change to an alternative hotel) so I assumed that this was just a notification of something that wouldn’t affect us and that Thomas Cook were just being safe. With the wedding being so close and having other problems with wedding arrangements, I had no time to think about this. We were 100% assured everything was fine so I trusted Thomas Cook’s judgement.

We arrived in Bangkok on 15th May at about 6am. We were met by a Thomas Cook representative named Jinny. She took us to our hotel and before letting us get settled, started to sell us excursions. We were not particularly happy to consider excursions as soon as we arrived as we had been travelling for 11 hours and we were tired, however we agreed. Jinny arranged to meet us in the hotel foyer 4 hours later for our first excursion. We were very tired so went for a quick sleep. When we went to the lobby we were met by a taxi driver and not Jinny, which is what we agreed. We were taken to a tailors. This was not agreed in our itinerary. Jinny met us outside the tailors and we were then pressured inside by her and the shop staff. Once inside she left us. We were then pressured by staff into buying two shirts. We felt we could not leave without a purchase. We had not intended to buy any items of clothing, however the degree of persistence to purchase was so great, we felt we had no choice. After the purchase Jinny informed us that she would get a free sari because we had bought something. She then said that we should go to a jeweller, as she would get another gift if we did. We were very unhappy and thought her behaviour was very unprofessional. I had had enough by this stage. We said no, as we knew what her plan was.

During our time in Bangkok we felt bullied and pressured into booking the excursions. We also felt the same about the purchases we made whilst in her company. She was friendly and happy if we went along with her wishes, however if we disagreed with her she became hostile and pretended she did not understand. She basically would not take no for an answer. She also offered us an excursion to see the sex shows in which she wanted to charge us 1,000 bahts each. She said not to tell you that she had offered this. We declined this offer and were shocked that she had offered it. It obviously was not an excursion you provide. We felt that she treated us very badly.

When we left Bangkok we were really looking forward to the second part of our honeymoon. When we arrived at the Imperial Boathouse at about lunch time on 18th May, we fell in love with the place. It was exactly how we envisaged and we were very keen to start relaxing and enjoying our honeymoon. We quickly had a look around our room and then went down by the pool. Within half an hour, a loud, annoying banging sound started. It was a constant bang, bang, bang. I asked the staff what it was and they pointed to the building site next door. There were large pieces of construction machinery about 50m high set up along the perimeter and one of these machines was banging something into the ground. The staff said the work and noise went on all day, all week. We were furious. The noise could be heard all along the “quiet” beach, in our hotel room, around the pool, in the reception area, basically everywhere. This was not minimal noise which could be blocked out and there was no getting away from it. We walked around the cove, up into the hills to another hotel which was a good half an hour’s walk away and the noise could still be heard. I have recorded all of this on video on my mobile phone. After a couple of hours we could not stand it any more. I rang Nui our Thomas Cook representative who spoke very limited English and he arranged to meet us at the hotel later that afternoon. I also complained to the hotel manager who agreed to meet us as well.

When the hotel manager Celine met with us, she offered us an upgrade to a honeymoon suite which we looked at, however the noise in that suite was even worse. She sympathised with us. She said that it drove her mad for the first month however “you get used to it”. I asked her how long the work had been going on for and she said “since March”. I would like an explanation as to why we were only informed of the work 2 days before our wedding, and 4 days before our honeymoon was to start. At the time of the booking it was known by Thomas Cook that this was a honeymoon and it is unreasonable to telephone 2 days before our wedding day to inform us of the works, when this had been ongoing for approximately 2 months. Had we received reasonable and sufficient notice we would have chosen an alternative hotel. We were not provided with sufficient notice to choose.

Since this was not the case, when Nui, our Thomas Cook representative met us later in the day, the only solution he could offer to this problem was to move us to the Imperial Samui at the other end of Chaweng Beach. We were unhappy with this decision as we wanted to be in a quiet, secluded bay. The Imperial Samui was in a busy resort. Nui explained that the Samui was more expensive, and that we would have to pay, however he said that we could claim this back from Thomas Cook. He was adamant of this. The hotel receptionist was with him at the time and she agreed with him. By this point I was extremely distressed and unhappy. This was supposed to be a relaxing special holiday, given we had just married. They said we should look at the other hotel, which we did. The hotel was not what we wanted. It lacked the character of the Boathouse, it was in a busier area, it had 100 steps down to the pool and beach area, whereas the Boathouse had no steps. This hotel was not what we wanted – this was our honeymoon and we wanted something special like the Boathouse. We were given no other alternative. Our only options were to stay at the Boathouse with the terrible noise, or move to a hotel that would initially cost us more money, and we would be staying in a hotel that we didn’t like. We had to choose the latter as listening to the noise from 8am until 6.30pm for the rest of our honeymoon was not an option. On the reassurance of Bui that we could simply claim the additional costs back we moved to the Imperial Samui the following day. After this, we didn’t hear from Nui again. He never once contacted us to make sure we were happy. This was extremely poor customer service – there was no customer service.

It took us a few days to settle into our new surroundings as we were both upset and distressed by the trouble we had. We telephoned Thomas Cook in the Bull Ring, Birmingham to explain what had happened. I was telephoned by Matt the Supervisor who assured me that we would get our money back and that if there was any extra charge it would be minimal and to “just pay it” and we could claim it back upon our return. We telephoned a few times during the holiday to see whether anything had been agreed with the Imperial Samui over the extra charge however nobody called us back from Customer Services, the Bull Ring branch or Thomas Cook in Bangkok. We tried to discuss this with the staff at the Imperial Samui however they did not understand our problem.

As our honeymoon came to an end, I rang Thomas Cook on several occasions to try to find out what was happening with regards to the extra charge. I had to call numerous times and it seemed that we were just being left to sort out the problem by ourselves. No one helped us at all. I should not have had to spend so much time trying to sort out these issues, which were caused by yourselves, during a trip which was supposed to be memorable and relaxing.

I did receive a voicemail back from Dan, another Supervisor at the Thomas Cook branch in the Bullring who said that if there was a charge we should pay it, however he didn’t think there would be and told me not to worry. This was completely incorrect as we knew for definite that there was going to be a considerable charge and I was phoning for help! I feel that he was just trying to demonstrate to his manager that he had called. He said he’d left notes on the booking which to me suggested he was covering his back. He offered us no help, advice or useful information whatsoever. The purpose of the call seemed to be to stop my calls by providing false reassurance.

By the last night, I was extremely upset. We had received no help from anybody. The English spoken by the staff, and the Thomas Cook representative was minimal. We were just left to sort this out. I was promised that someone would call us back that night to discuss the situation before we were to check out the following day. We waited up until 2 in the morning for a return phone call which never came. It was unacceptable.

On the morning of our last day, we had to check out at 12 noon. I telephoned again for Customer Services to intervene and was told to pay any additional cost. Customer Services informed me on this occasion that the notes on the booking said that we had moved of our own accord. At this point I burst into tears. We had not moved on our own accord. We were advised to move by the Thomas Cook representative. At no point were we told not to by any of your representatives. We trusted Thomas Cook to help us in this situation and at every point that we needed help we were let down. In our eyes our honeymoon was ruined. We had saved up for 2 years so that we could have a special honeymoon. We didn’t take a holiday for 2 years so that we could save to go to Thailand for our dream honeymoon. Instead it turned into a nightmare. The extra cost of our honeymoon was £780. Nearly half of what we had originally paid. I had to telephone my mum for her to pay on her credit card. She is now extremely upset as this large sum of money is sat on her card. We had no other way to pay this. She was our only option. If my mum had not been there to provide assistance, we would not have had anybody else to rely on so I dread to think what would have happened. I am sure Thomas Cook would have been much more interested in communicating with us in this situation.

I am furious with the inaccurate information we were given before we left. Especially as the building work had been going on for a considerable time previously. I am also furious that we were told the noise was minimal when it was anything but! I am so upset and disappointed with the treatment we received while we were away - from every representative of your company. If your representatives in Thailand do not speak good English how can they be expected to resolve serious problems such as this? It seemed that all Nui was capable of doing as a representative was to sell excursions. The behaviour was totally unprofessional and unacceptable.

Based on the above I am demanding that you reimburse us for the cost of the excursions in Bangkok which amounted to approximately £150. I also demand the £780 that my mum had to pay for on her credit card and any interest that accrues from the payment being made to the time this problem is resolved. I also request the cost of the telephone calls made from ourselves to Thomas Cook and also between myself and my mum from our mobile phone when discussing these issues. I am also expecting some form of compensation for the stress, upset, inconvenience and loss of enjoyment caused to what was supposed to be the best holiday of our lives. Our honeymoon was ruined and I hold Thomas Cook responsible.

The reason that we booked through Thomas Cook was for peace of mind. I worked for Thomas Cook for over a year as a travel agent. I could have booked this trip independently. I was more than capable of doing this. However I chose to book through Thomas Cook Signature to ensure that our honeymoon was perfect. This did not happen. When we think of our honeymoon all we can think of are the problems we had and the upset it caused.

If you do not rectify this to our satisfaction I will have no alternative but to contact the Consumer Affairs Department at the Association of British Travel Agents and proceed down that route instead. If necessary we will appoint an Arbitrator and claim against both the travel agent and the tour operator.

I recognise that you are entitled by law to have 28 days to respond to my letter. I trust I will hear back within this time.

Yours faithfully,

Enc. CD footage of building works

c.c. Manny Fontenla-Novoa, Thomas Cook, Chief Executive (inclusive of CD)

Consumer Affairs Department, Association of British Travel Agents (inclusive of CD)

Allan Holland, Producer, BBC Watchdog (inclusive of CD)

I have a feeling that I'm not going to get the rest of the info within this 7 days so I'm preparing the documents to send to the Data Protection Commissioner to complain that they havent complied. I will do this on the 7th day (Wednesday). As read in the FAQs section this may not be as effective as sending the particulars of claim letter to the courts. So I have prepared the particulars of claim - - hard copy version letter which I can send. However the main reason for me doing all this is to get my default removed (the refund in money is a bonus). The info I have been sent by HFC does show that apart from one transaction, over £500 over my limit is due to charges due to late payments and being over my limit. (Being over my limit is due to the charges (!!!)

Can I just add onto the particulars of claim about the default or should I just send the letter as it is and mention the default at a later date? Or can I add something in at this stage?

I'm getting a bit confused now as to how to move this forward and really dont want to get it wrong. Can anyone give me any words of wisdom please? I've read the step by step and the FAQs but I'm not 100%....

OK I've had another read of the website (always forget where the info is!!) Just sent a Data Protection Act - Non-Compliance letter as they have exceeded the 40 day deadline. I've given them 7 days to send me ALL the info.... watch this space.....

Also, they sent the information to my old address. Luckily I knew the person living at my old house and they brought the post around but I did clearly state in my original letter the address to send the information to

Just got back off holiday. HFC had sent me my statements. But only half of them. Dont they have to send me them all from the very beginning? From the statements I have received, apart from one, they are all bank charges and late payment charges. Each time being a total of £40.

So because they havent sent me all the information, I take it I can report them?

I've sent off my data protection letter. Will that show whether I'd received a default letter or is it my word against theirs?

And yes hindsight is great! I wish this site had been around when all my troubles started. I just used to believe that these people are honest and trustworthy and it was all my fault. How wrong could I have been! Also when you're young and naive taking on the banks is a scary thing to do. I suppose that's what they want though! And that's why they make these procedures so hard and drawn out.

Thanks for your advice

I've looked through the FAQs and what I can gather is that if the amount owed was mostly charges I would have a case. However I did call the bank on numerous occasions to say that I was out of work. I said that I could afford to pay £20 per month but they didn't explain anything about defaults. If I'd have paid a token amount I would have been in a better situation. But the impression they gave me was that I had to pay the amount on the statement and that was all they could take. They hassled me over and over about payments. I ended up on anti depressants. I couldnt pay them any more than what I'd said. Eventually I ignored them because I couldnt take their hassle anymore. A little while later I started getting letters from the debt collection agency. I never received a default letter. As soon as I was swapped over to the debt collection agency I started to pay £20 per month immediately until I settled on a settlement figure as they explained that I just needed to offer something.

I had a HFC (Marbles) Credit Card. I didn't exceed my credit limit until banks started charging me.

However I also didn't pay anything for a few months due to being out of work. I did communicate this with them but they didn't offer me any help or advice. They just sold the debt to Westcott Credit Services. I eventually found work and started paying £20 per month over the phone with Westcott until I was in a position to settle the amount in full (when they offered me a settlement figure).

I am in the process of claiming the charges back. However can I get rid of the default too?

:-|

Right, Data Protection Letter sent properly on 30th June....

Will I definitely need my account number or can I just put details of the addresses I lived out whilst I had the account?

It was for a Marbles Credit Card. I phoned them to get my account number but they wouldnt give it to me over the phone and said I had to write to them. But I'm not convinced they will respond.....

I've just realised that I sent my letter without an account number. I called Marbles to get my account number and they wouldn't give it to me. They said I had to write to them to get this info. I put all address details relating to the account in my letter but are they going to fob me off because I didnt include the account number? And if I write to the address they gave me to get my account number, will they reply or am I going to go around in circles?

Anyway, first steps have been taken. I've sent a letter recorded delivery to get the info i need! I havent included £10 but I expect they might send me a letter back asking me for more information or maybe send me a form... anyway we'll see!

Yeah it says default but then satisfied or something (not got it with me).

(satisfied to them.... not to me or my credit score! grrrr!!)

I'm worried that I'm going to get snowed under with their jargon and get confused. Reading through this website (which I am now addicted to) seems to confuse me even more! There seems to be so much to do and so many different responses! Hopefully I will get through it though!!!

Cool! I'm a bit of a chicken! I'll probably get scared when they start mentioning court.... BUT I WILL BE STRONG!!!

I'm also in the process of claiming tax back from 2003-2004. They had me on the BR tax code all year and stupid me didn't realise! Now I'm pushing to get a rebate. Hopefully it should be pretty good. And the only reason I noticed was when I was fishing through my paperwork to find an old marbles statement

Good luck with egg!

Maybe it's because I gave up calling them because I couldn't offer them any money and they knew that because I was out of work. Also their phone calls and correspondence stopped until I received a letter from the debt collectors...

Will this go against me do you think?

Hopefully my claim will turn out as well

Do you think it's going to be a problem that my debt was sold to a debt collector and I settled it with them at a settlement figure? I just want my name cleared more than getting the money back. I can't get credit for anything!

Hi Bradkb,

Did you default on your marbles card? To be honest I'm more bothered about getting my name cleared than getting any money back (although that would be nice of course! )

Letter sent recorded delivery this morning 8)

OK, now I've had time to read through after work I'm happier. Got my letter drafted to get the info and will be sending it recorded delivery tomorrow!

Wish me luck!

Also I agreed on a settlement figure. Will this go against me claiming anything back due to me agreeing to pay a lower amount in full? Even though it was probably made up of charges.

The amount I ended up paying was definitely mostly charges.

OK - I went overdrawn on a Marbles Credit Card 2 years ago. I went over my limit and they kept charging me. I explained that I was out of work but to no avail. The charges kept coming and mounting up and up. I tried to contact them by writing to them but they said they never got the letter. I also explained to them by telephone that I had no way of paying but they offered no help or advice. Just that I should find the funds. Eventually they referred it to a debt collecting agency and then when I found work I started to pay £20 a month. Once I was in a position to pay, I settled the whole amount outstanding in full.

Just found out that I will need to write a letter to data protection to get info on the charges I made. Will I need my account details and what is there address? Dont think I'll have any account info though??? Thanks for any help you can give guys! My credit score is terrible! And all for something that I couldnt help and Marbles wouldn't help me get out of!