Hi I was wondering if anyone knew where we stood on our complaint to Thomson? I have never complained before so bit nervous. Dear Customer Relations Department, Booking reference: XXXXXX Account Reference: Hard Rock Punta Cana I am wishing to make a complaint regarding our recent holiday from start to finish, I have pictures, videos and a resort map to back up my complaint but am unable to attach them to this form, however I can email them across if you would like to see them. We booked to stay in the new Sensatori Punta Cana last year and could not wait to experience not only a Sensatori but a brand new one at that, we booked a family swim up room which included a bath tub, the reason for this room selection was the fact the I have Cystic Fibrosis and only have a lung capacity of 24%, this means I am unable to walk without struggling to breath and that I am unable to stand for a period of time (hence the reason for the bath tub) I have to endure a lot of medication every day and need to return to the room while on holiday to do my medication, the idea for getting the swim up room was so my partner could still enjoy being in the pool or at least outside but close to me while I done my medication. On the 11th May we received 2 voice mails asking us to call the change team as the hotel was not going to be open on time, my heart sank, I had arranged to be admitted into hospital 13th May to under go 3 weeks intense treatment to get me as well as possible for my holidays, I had also purchased my travel insurance costing me £1328 and was very worried as to what I was going to do, I waited on hold to speak to the change team for almost 2 hours, when we got through we were offered 2 alternative resorts neither of which were anything like the sensatori nor did they have a bath in the room, I quickly went onto google while I was on the phone and typed in 5* resorts punta cana, The Hard Rock Hotel came up with Thomas cook, I asked the lady about the resort and she said you TUI also sold that holiday but for an extra £600 I explained the price on Thomas cook and the lady matched it and I had to pay £148, I have now been told by WHICH that Thomson should have covered that cost as it was Thomson who were changing the booking, as I was unaware of this and terrified that we would loose our holiday altogether I proceeded to book The Hard Rock, I asked the lady about walking and lifts ect as I am disabled and she said there was nothing to state there were any issues, as it was very rushed I never had a chance to look on trip advisor in depth (although I wish I had as there are hundreds of reviews advising disabled people not to travel there and Thomson should know this and state this in my opinion) I booked the Hard Rock and got excited again. 6th may our flight was delayed 4.45 mins due to a technical fault, we managed to get on an aircraft and get to Punta Cana which is the main thing however, it was not a Dreamliner my tv did not work and we were only able to get two cans of pop during the full flight, we were honestly just happy to get there, we got through customs ect and looked out for a Thomson Rep, we spotted a woman with a Thomson sign and asked what bus we should head to, she told us bus 8 so we went looking, we found a small mini van and a young male driver with number 8 on his van he told us to get in with another couple and started driving, he spoke no English and did not work for Thomson, he started saying the wrong hotel for us after he dropped off the first couple we had to try explain to him several times before he rang someone and agreed to take us to The Hard Rock. Check in went smoothly the front desk give us a map and said we were block 1A next to the beach, told us to take a left out the reception. The resort is absolutely huge we were completely lost and I was so out of breath I had to stop while my partner walked back and asked if a golf buggie could take us to our room (I have the resort map) we got to our room and found it to be an adjoining room but didn't think there would be a problem. The next morning we hiked to reception which took us over 30 mins to get to, we asked reception if we could change rooms and explained my medical condition and the fact I was unable to walk and they said there was no other rooms of that type available only an upgrade for over $1000 we asked when our rep would be coming so we could try get the help from them and for welcome meeting and told them Thomson or firstchoice to our horror they said they don't come here and said only Thomas cook. We just decided to try have a good holiday and went back to our room, we then walked to the nearest pool to find that and the one next to it was for exclusive guests only and we could not use them or the beach are closest to us, the next nearest pool was a 15 min walk away or a ten min walk to bus stop 30 min wait then 30 min ride round the resort to the pool, as you can imagine doing this so manay times a day to the restaurant or room to do medication would be very frustrating and completely ruin our holiday, by day 3 of doing this I was completely exhausted and would have done anything to move to any other resort. My mother called form the uk to 24/7 give them my booking ref and mobile number and they said they would get the rep to contact us, they didn't, on the 13th may I found the text number and text 24/7 82345 (I have my texts) explaining we had no rep and no details of getting back to the airport or anything, they replied saying they would find out the rep contact details ect and get back to us, they didn't, I text again two days later and it actually took 5 days to get our pick up time back to airport but nothing about our rep. We felt completely alone on holiday and had no one to turn to, I spent 10 days out of the 14 days we had in hotel room, if we had of had a Thomson rep I would have begged them to put us in a different hotel or to send us home, the holiday got far worse then just us being unable to actually go to the pool or beach, our room never got cleaned 5 times, the mini bar was never restocked with water and pop I had to call every single day, we were were in an adjoining room and the first 4 days had a cigar smoker next door, reception couldn't do anything then had a family of screaming kids for the last 7 days (I have videos of the noise and screaming that you wouldn't believe) I feel if we had a Rep we would not have had all these issues as they could have communicated with the hotel to either relocate us or move us hotels altogether, we didn't just ask and beg reception once but so many times, they couldn't understand us and said English are just very sad and white (as a joke however its not funny the state we were in) while we were there hotel staff also dragged a shark out the sea onto the beach and killed it then posed for pictures, disgusting! We were so happy when the 20th june came and we could get home we waited nervously for our transfer and were picked up on time at 11.30, we were the first pick up, every other hotel we stopped to collect guests their rep was there making sure they got off okay! We got the airport and found out about the $20 departure tax again we should have been told this by our rep said the Thomson worker that had escorted us on the bus, obviously we never had one or any notice boards. Our fight was delayed 1.5 hours on the way home and the aircraft had ran out of pop so we had a choice of orange juice or water, again not what you expect from Thomson or the Dreamliner however I understand the flight out uses soft drinks too but you would think they would try to share it out equally, we were so happy to get home. I feel like we have travelled all the way to the Dominican Republic for our dream holiday and have not been able to do or see any of it, nor experience the weather (our balcony was covered by trees and plant (also have pics) so we couldn't sit on that either. We saved for a very long time for this holiday and classed it as our big holiday before I go on the lung transplant list, which then I will not be able to travel anywhere, I feel completely let down and neglected as a customer of TUI and feel like I have completely wasted 2 weeks of my life and £3790 of our money on the worst experience of my life, we have been all over the world (with Thomson) and tried to make as many memories as possible and our trip to the Dominican has been ruined and I may as well have stayed at home in my room instead of in a strange country, stuck in a room wishing for the holiday to end. There are so many other little issues I could state about the hotel like the one restaurant which was close enough for us to walk to was closed for a refurb then used for weddings, or that every time we used room service (every night bar 2 nights) they mocked us and said we were sad. I understand a Thomson rep can not be at a hotel 24/7 but surely there should be at least a welcome meeting or some kind of information left at reception for you, absolutely anything would have been better than what we had and the customer service and response we were given. I feel it only right that Thomson compensate us with a the holiday that we were suppose to get to relax not be stuck in a room and be trying to beg hotel staff to move us or try our hardest to contact a Thomson rep out in The Dominican Republic, the stress before our holiday was bad enough and now after that experience we are completely devastated, depressed and feeling very let down. So to summarise we spent £3790 to sit in a hotel room for two weeks breathing in cigar smoke listening to children scream and cry and get told we are sad English people, if anything this holiday has made me more poorly adding to the already very stressful life I have, like i said I have lots of evidence of us contacting Thomson, maps of the resort, pictures and videos.

Hi - i wonder if anyone can help. My parents are on holiday in Majorca on a Thomson holiday (I am back in UK) My mum has become very ill, vomiting 6 times overnight and bedridden and unable to get up. My stepdad let me know. So far, I have called the helpline and they got in contact and a doctor came - charged €180 and said he suspected gastroenteritis. She has some medication and some isotonic water. It is only 2 days into a 1 week holiday. Has anyone been in a similar situation, especially with a view to: 1. making sure she gets the right treatment 2. possibly getting her home 3. once, the important bits above are done, what can be done with regards to exploring whether the hotel/Thomsons is/are liable So far, my stepdad has kept a log of everything, has food receipts etc. Thomsons have filed the incident, asked them a load of questions: i.e. does she drink a lot of alcohol (answer = she barley drinks and has maximum of 2 unit with food occasionally), did she swim in the pool (yes), did she swim in the sea (yes). I assume these questions are for evidence later should we claim. Also, the person in the next door suite said 'Oh no, not another outbreak, we have had similar problems here before and people were dropping like flies' but I guess that is just hearsay Any advice would be much appreciated thanks

I booked an holiday with Thomson for Christmas I booked it as a surprise for my mom as she been feeling run down and I thought she need something to look forward to. A couple of days after my mom started to be more ill losing part of vision went to doctors and got told it was an eye infection. A couple days later she lost more vision and acting all confused so I took her to opticians as doctors kept on saying theres nothing wrong. Soon as we got to opticians and took one look sent us straight to a & e after having a brain scan it was confirmed there's a growth and after having biopsy 3 weeks later she was told she got terminal cancer and there can not treat it because of where it is. I know its my fault I never got insurance because all of this started just after I booked with her sight i never even thought it was anything more then been run down down before I booked it. Then all this happened and forgot about the insurance. I been all over the place backwards to hospital and on Sunday 29th I emailed Thomson exceptions team to confirm we can not fly due to my mom diagnosis and there said under there exceptions terms and conditions there could refund me the money as its terminal cancer. But because I emailed them 2 days late before the cut of date 3 weeks before I fly I will not received nothing back. I feel to be told I was 2 days late I should received something back I asked if I can have it in vouchers and I will travel later on next year after my mom passes away but no I missed the deadline and there nothing can be done. I know its my fault about the insurance and then being all over the place trying to find my mom a place to home to as my property is bot suitable and hospital will not discharge her back to the property but to be told there would of refunded me the money if I was just 2 days earlier. Can anyone help if there anything I can do?

I'll keep this short - I have a gift card which clearly shows a printed start date in 2012 and a card expiry date in 2016. In much smaller letters are also the short T&Cs that say the value will expire 24 months from first load. When I received this I noticed the 2 'facts' contradicted one another but assumed as it was clearly printed "card expires xx/xx/2016" we would have no issues. To back this up I actually emailed customer services back in '14 to check and was not told which is correct, but in actual fact Thomson always honour expired gift cards and vouchers ///:razz: So fast forward a yeara nd of course I try to redeem it and I get a card expired notice - I half expected that but the issue I have is in resolving it. I have tried phoning customer services who just say ignore the date and go by T&Cs; they can't help and I must call my local brand; they can't help either and told me to contact the branch it was purchased from....they too can't help and say head office say 24 months that's that and to ignore the email from Thomsons back in '14 becasue they made a mistake. I can't believe the lack of interest or help in this. It's in black and white that the card expires in 16. I am confident in a court of law they would see this as either a mistake or misleading / confusing information; even without the email from the rep; however I have no more avenues to try and not sure the most effective action to take from here.

My family and I originally booked online with Thomson way back in April to go to Tunisia. We put in all our names as they are on our passports (there is a message online that advises names must match passports) – my son is from my first marriage so he has a double-barrel name (as an example) he is known as Bob Smith-Jones at the doctors, dentist and school, but his passport says Bob Jones. Fast forward a few months and Tunisia became unsafe, so we went in branch to change our booking. The rep asked for all our names, so we gave them but our son’s we gave as Bob Smith-Jones (given the amount of time that had passed since the original booking we had forgotten that names had to match passports). She did not advise us that the names had to be the exact names on the passports when taking the booking, so it wasn’t until I printed out our boarding passes that I wondered if the names had to match (I’d inputted the additional passenger info online a few weeks previously and I believe there was another message on there saying the api had to match the passport). When I contacted Thomson they advised that there would still be a £50 charge as it we had signed the contract saying all details were correct (we thought they were, it’s only on his passport that it says Jones, not Smith-Jones!). I feel this is unfair as the rep didn’t advise about the need to match names to passports at the time of booking whilst online there is a warning (or even look at the original booking that had the correct names!). Any thoughts?

Hi guys well heres my horror story. Girlfriend wanted to go away really bad so we went to Thomsons. In store my girlfriend got talked into buying a holiday to Tenerife and it sounded good so we booked it. When we returned home the hotel had bad reviews and people had said it was based on a huge hill that was unbearable to walk, especially if you had kids and we did have a 2 year old son. So I asked the travel agent if the hotel was far from the town centre and she said its not according to Thomsons website. I have the call recorder app so I guessed that as the call was recorded and I had nothing to worry about, at the worst i could complain in resort if it was very far as per the numerous reviews. So I took her word on it and we flew. When we arrived in Tenerife our son's pram didn't come through. I contacted a rep there who I recorded the conversation with and he said that Thomson's agent and not Thomsons had lost the baggage and I would have to call the airlines agent Iberia in the morning and in the meanwhile hire a pram and get reimbursed when I got to the Uk from Thomson. I immediately questioned this and asked what Thomsons would do and the rep just said they couldn't do anything in resort/at the airport and it would have to be dealt with by Thomsons in England, which i have the whole conversation recorded. Anyway the hotel did not have any prams to hire as the agent suggested and so we were left for the first 72 hours without a pram. The hotel also was on a very very long and steep hill which wasn't described and was so bad that whilst we could walk down it, walking back up it was extremely gruelling and tiring. The room we got was damp and had condensation and when I did attempt to contact the resort rep they were never in resort and we were told messages would be left with them but none were. We decided just to clean the room the best we could and I continually rang the agent on a day to day basis - Iberia, who 72 hours later found the baggage and said it was never put on the plane thus the delay. Iberia had the pram sent to our hotel reception. When it did arrive it was damaged and stained with mud and the wheels would not properly allocate and move. I immediately took photographs and thought that I would complain when back to the UK. When I returned back to the UK I wrote to the store I bought the holiday from outlining my complaint with photographs and also prove that on travel republic (another site) they mention different km distance from the same town centres that Thomsons did on their site and brochure. I never received any response from the store and so i complained directly to Thomsons through their website. A few weeks later i got a response from 'Sky Tours' who as far as I knew were not even who I booked with..anyway they said they could only pass on my baggage claim to a department in Crawley who they would get to contact me. As for the loss and misdescription they put it down to 'opinion' and said they couldn't do anything more. I then got a telephone call a few weeks later from Thomsons again who in the end told me they'd investigate only to tell me in the end that they again could do nothing as the mis description was 'opinion' ( i.e. it could be debated if a hill is 'steep' to one person to another's version of steep..etc') and saying that now as Thomsons could not pin point where the damage occurred they would not repair or issue a new pram or any compensation and as I did not take out travel insurance I breached their terms and conditions and am not protected. I have found this to now be the final draw to me and I am seriously considering taking the matter to ABTA and even the small claims court. In my opinion Thomsons breached their duty of care as they and their agents lost my bag and were negligent, They have failed to address my clear evidence of misleading distance in their brochures and information provided by evidence and photographs of the rooms which is different to that of the brochures which as this was a package holiday is covered by the Package Regulations Act from my understanding.. so what would you do next?

Hi i have started a claim against Thomson for a delayed f light in 2011. However to continue my claim they are continually asking for a booking reference number, which i dont have . I have even rang them to say i have nt got this reference number, one lady saying that i am unable to make a claim then . ?????? surely not right. Rox

Hi Caggers A long story cut short, I went on holiday paid for some duty free on the flight and used my debit card. On checking my bank statement when I got back to the UK, I realised I'd been overcharged by the cabin crew by £45. I emailed the company and they said I was overcharged and they would recredit the debit card with the £45. Unfortunately since paying for the goods and getting an answer back from Thomson I'd lost my debit card and got a new one. They informed me to contact my bank to have the payment refunded and to charge Thomson; my bank said no chance. I went back to Thomson explained what my bank had said and there answer was "well we can only credit the money back to the card that was used to pay for the goods". I asked if they could use an alternative method and they said no; so I'm now £45 down and looking at taking them to the small claims court to get my £45 back out of principle. Before I go down that line, I was wondering if anyone else had had the same type of issue and if they had it resolved without having to go to court. I just cannot believe that a major international company does not have various different means of refunding people who are in my situation. Any input or advice appreciated. Cheers PM

I sent a letter to thomson to claim eu flight delay in march 2013, the flight was in april 2007 , so was inside the 6 year time limit . They sent me a letter saying that because it was outside their 2 year limit , I couldnt claim. They told me that if the supreme court said that they had to pay out up to 6 years, I had to contact them. I have contacted them by recorded letter and they have now replied that as it is now outside the 6 year limit timeframe they will not compensate us. I started the claim within the 6 year timeframe and if they had not contested the 6 year time limit , they would have had to compensate us. Is there an ombudsman who I can contact, as Thomson just keep on going around and around. Thank you

I will keep my experience with Thomson holiday as brief as I possibly can. My husband and I booked a week’s holiday for 2 in Lake Garda for w/c 25th June. My sister had flown over from Australia to allow me to go as I look after my 93 year old mum so I wanted this to be a holiday to remember. I paid £2108 for a deluxe room for one week, which according to the hotel when I e mailed them prior to booking was classified as a junior suite on their website. When we arrived at the hotel the minute the receptionist showed us into the room I told her it was not a suite and was unacceptable. She insisted that it was what we had booked and could do nothing about it as our booking was through Thomsons. I argued that a room with a bed, bathroom, two bucket chairs and a small table was not a suite and, taking into consideration the appalling view of an old building with underwear hanging from the windows, I stood my ground and told her it was unacceptable. As the hotel was full I was told that the only solution was to upgrade to a suite (not a junior one!) which would be available the following day at 80 euros a night. I told them this was impossible as we were on a budget and needed the money for any excursions we may wish to go on. At that she said she would contact the Thomson rep. She was lovely but her hands were tied so I asked her to contact her Manager so that a solution could be reached. I never saw the Manager and no solution was offered so reluctantly we stayed in the allocated room for one night and then decided to pay the 480 euros to upgrade the following day. When we arrived home I wrote to Thomson on 7th July detailing my complaint about the room we were offered which they received on 9th July. No reply was forthcoming so I wrote again on 16th August requesting their comments. I received their reply dated 16th September in which they stated:- “after double checking the details in your letter along with the information we have, we believe that the room you were allocated was in fact not a deluxe room as you had booked.” By way of apology they offered me a refund of £192 – being half of the cost of the upgrade – an upgrade that I wouldn’t have needed if I had been allocated the correct room. I was delighted to receive acknowledgement that I was right about the room and replied on 23rd September copying my letter to the hotel and the Managing Director of Thomson. I am afraid I do write lengthy letters but this is the most important part of it:- You may be aware that the definition of fraud is:- Knowingly cheating someone. Also for it to be considered fraud the person being cheated must not have known it was a lie. I believe this is exactly how I was treated. I was allocated a room which I was assured by the Hotel was what I had booked i.e. a deluxe room and, as stated in my first letter, I had no way of contradicting this so reluctantly had to accept their word on the situation. Now that you have confirmed that I was allocated the wrong room, I am writing to inform you that I am sorry but I am not prepared to accept your offer of £192. As I explained in my letter my holiday was severely curtailed due to the fact that I had to pay 480 Euros to upgrade to a suite. Now I have been proved right, I feel I am fully entitled to ask for:- • A full refund of the 480 euros I had to pay for an upgrade. • Recompense for having to sleep in an ordinary room on our first night when I had in fact paid for a suite. • Postage costs currently standing at £7.85. • Recompense for the time I have spent detailing this complaint plus printer costs. • Compensation for being put through this ordeal. I presumed paying £2180 for a weeks holiday in Italy would guarantee me what I was looking for - a stress free holiday. Obviously not – I was not only stressed but ended up having to pay an additional credit card bill when I arrived home. The reply was almost immediate, dated 30th September, where they have stated ‘that they would like to increase the gesture of a refund to 480 euros in order to close this matter for me. This does represent our final offer and is instead of the £192 offered previously.’ After all that my question is should I accept the 480 euros? I don’t want to as I feel I should receive at least some of the recompense I asked for. Is it worth carrying on or should I do as my husband says and take the easy way out and accept it.

Hello, Ive got a claim in against thomson/first choice, at allocation I filed "litigant in person, home court, not have resources of company" etc Thomsons argued in their allocation to move to luton to allow for the witness to attend. I received notification it was transfered to Liverpool (my local court) but today received letter from Liverpool saying judge decided to give thomsons until 17th Sep to give reasons as the judge has stated this is not my "home" court. Purposes of considering CPR part 30.3(2)(b) subject to CPR part 3.3, 1.4,3.1 as well as 30.3 I live in Liverpool so cannot see how this cannot be my home court. Any advice appreciated.

I have made numerous formal complaints already with no success, I have also complained to abta with no success. Is court action the next step and if so how much can I claim from them. I will try to keep this to the point. Booked a holiday to Tunisia all inclusive, me my partner and 12 month old daughter. We booked the destination based on the short flight 2h35m and a transfer of 20 mins. This was incredibly important as my daughter was an awkward age, very difficult to keep her occupied and she had recently stopped breast feeding so food stops very important. The flight turned out to be 3h35m and the transfer 45m. I know delays can always happen but there were absolutely no delays, the pilot actually announced we were 10 mins early. Thomson simply advertised the time wrong and still do! There was more mis advertisement ie: photos of a lush indoor pool which turned out to be a pay as you go spa pool, the actual indoor pool was tatty run down and small. Again another main point of booking as we have the 12 month old. We had numerous service issues but I know these are a bit subjective. We had problems like only 3 (broken) high chairs for the entire hotel. The cot that was provided on arrival was very dirty and had about 5 of the upright bars missing, I had this swapped with an hour of arrival. It was swapped for a brand new one. My daughter slept well for the first two nights, on the third she slipped though the bars legs first and ended up hanging by her her head/neck. Luckyly I heard her crys and woke to save her, the rep the next morning actually laughed and asked if I had photos of her allegedly slipping through the bars!!! No other cots were available so you can imagine how we slept from there on. I'd had enough so I paid for a hotel swap, the rep passed me a brochure and said pick one. After explaining I had chosen this hotel and failed so I asked that she used her experience in the area to choose a hotel for us that provided a/c, facility's for my daughter and food that would suit my daughter. We then moved to a new hotel on day 4 of 7, it didn't have a/c even though the brochure and rep said it did! It was very hot at night! Apologies for the way this post is bashed out, I am on my phone and have lost all my text once already. If I think of anymore major points I will add them below. James.

Me and some friends booked a Thomas Cook holiday through a Thomson store. We took out insurance with them, which we now wish to cancel (it's day 14 today). I've phoned the shop this morning but they seem to be taking their time with it, I've since phoned again and stressed the importance of it being cancelled, "we are really quite busy, we'll do it as soon as we can" My fear, if they don't action my request by 5pm tonight then they will close and we'll be stuck with the insurance? Insurance is provided by AXA. Can I cancel by phoning axa direct? Many thanks, S update: I've contacted AXA direct who say I need to contact the store in which I purchased the insurance. If the insurance wasn't cancelled then they would investigate it and refund if it turned out we had tried to cancel within the 14 days. Sadly I can't imagine my telephone call acting as proof.

Copy of letter sent this week says it all. Let's see if we get a response - based on experience so far, I doubt it: Wednesday 28th November 2012 Re holiday booking ref: 3xxxxxx In the name of [my parents] I'm writing to you on behalf of my parents, named above. They're in Madeira right now, on the 2nd of 2 trips they saved up for this year to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Upon booking the first trip - to Ibiza - they were assured by your in-branch rep that they'd get a fruit basket, champagne and an upgrade as a gesture for their special occasion. Nothing doing. So they left it at that. They're nearly 70 - they don't like to make a fuss - they put it down to a misunderstanding. At my encouragement, however, they mentioned the issue when booking this Madeira trip (booking reference at the top of this letter). The agent at the branch (Arnold, Nottingham) was 'mortified' and assured them that she'd fix it for them. They were excited at the gesture and looking forward to everything. Four days before departure, my father popped in to confirm everything and your rep assured him that an email had gone on 12th November to the hotel and 'everything was confirmed'. You can imagine his surprise, therefore, when he and my mother arrived at the hotel to see 3 other couples who'd been on their flight get upgraded to celebrate their (shorter than 50 years) anniversaries - and for my father? The response that no notification had been sent through so nothing could be done and they'd have to wait for the rep the next day. My mother was very upset as I discovered when I called on their first night to ensure they were having a lovely time. So*I called your branch in Arnold, Nottingham where this holiday was booked and where, again, 4 days before departure, my father was reassured that these special things would be waiting for him. I spoke to a lady who looked up the booking and confirmed that - on 12th November - a request for these things had been sent to the hotel but she maintained there was nothing more the store could do. She couldn't (wouldn't?) call the hotel or fax through the screen shot of the email or call your local rep. She wouldn't even call head office. When I asked for a number to do that myself, she told me these wasn't one - that there's no way for customers to contact your HQ with issues. All she could give me was a number for agents and she 'couldn't guarantee they'll even speak to you because you're a customer'. Would she phone them then? No, there was nothing more she could do. When I called the number, a recording told me it was no longer operational. Fantastic service experience so far. Meanwhile, back in Madeira, your rep arrived the next day with the same response - no message from the branch who'd sold the holiday = no anniversary treats. She did offer to write a report (yay! Very exciting for the anniversary celebrants) and to 'try' to arrange fruit basket and wine. So what does that result in? A plate with 2 bananas, an apple and an orange and a mini bottle of sparkling wine. Nice but good enough? Not really. So disappointment again. Her other remark - admittedly delivered with a smile - ''Well, your anniversary date's passed now (it was whilst in Ibiza) so it doesn't really matter because it's too late'. What a delightful response. No offer to connect to branch. Negotiate with hotel. To try to join the dots. In the meantime, having chatted to one of the lucky recipients of that elusive sea-view upgrade, my parents discover that the rooms on either side of them are empty. But hotel and rep alike say no rooms are free. It's extraordinary to me that - whilst your online site, your high street stores and your reps work in perfect harmony to allow people to spend money with you - that synchronicity disappears almost immediately when it comes to resolving an issue or providing a customer experience that's likely to generate positive word of mouth and repeat business. I'm not operating under any illusion here. I highly doubt you'll read this, let alone respond to it. And I'm pretty certain you'll make no attempt to offer something to my parents by way of an apology or long-overdue celebration of their anniversary. So instead of waiting to hear back from you, I'm going to spend my time posting this story on travel-related social media sites so that other potential customers of yours can truly appreciate the special service touch offered by Thomson. Feel free to prove me wrong. Yours sincerely [new cagger]