thomas cook brochure

[hazza68]

hi, my family of 8 went to zante in july last year and the brochure said it had 2 kids clubs, daily entertainment,movies,nigh tly entertainment and also it was uk exclusive hotel yet when we got there it was an eastern european hotel with hardly any british, there was 1 kids club which was foreign, the first choice entertainment staff from across the road came to play some pool games (as there was not any daytime entertainment) but was told to stop after 10 min as they got complaints from eastern europeans,they had to abandon quiz nights and bingo coz it took too long as there was to many different languages, the staff were rude. when i book an uk exclusive then i expect it and as i have a big family then we go by brochure description and most of the of the descriptions didnt exist. i complained in resort and complained back home, 1. they wrote to the independant travel agent i used when i wrote directy to them. 2, they took 3 months to send a reply,which was a fob off letter. 3. ive wrote numerous letters but they just ignore them and cant get through when i ring. i wrote to abta stating this which they advised me to send another letter which i did but they still choose to ignore me, i wrote emails which they ignore. i wrote back to abta and now ive heard nothing from them. the next step is arbitrsation but im not sure wat to do. it takes us ages to save for a holiday and we have to go by description in brochure and we booked what we thought was ideal holiday and it turned out a disaster and to top it off there was 8/9 year old eastern european girls running around the pool completely naked which made us feel totally disgusted. i will never book with thomas cook again as now the market is less competetive they dont give a damn. all i want is compensation to which i dont think is too much to ask. can any advise on the next step as i would be grateful for any advice

[Loubychew]

Hi, sorry I can't help much with your complaint except to say keep at it. They are hoping you will give up and go away.

 

I did just want to clarify one point though. When a TO says 'Exclusive to UK' or whatever, what they mean is that they are the only UK TO to use that accommodation, the only guests from UK will be those who booked with that TO.

It doesn't mean that you won't have other nationalities there.

[Bookworm]

Compensation for what? You, a foreigner in that country having to share with other foreigners, just not the same type of foreigners as you?

 

You misunderstood what "UK exclusive" means. Next time, read the brochure properly or ask someone to explain it to you if it seems too complicated.

 

Or go to Majorca or Benidorn, as far as I understand it, they are so many Brits there that you should feel right at home. Well, there may be some Spanish spoken, try not to feel too upset by that.

[smarmymarmy]

Hello- poor you! contact Trading Standards re misrepresentation of property and take them to the small claims court for compensatiion. The majority of tour operators will settle prior to any court action- they don,t want the publicity! normally just the mention of court action does the trick! incidentally your local travel agent that you booked through is in a 'piggy in the middle'situation- they also can only go by what,s in the brochure and are acting as agents for the tour operator, so try not to get too mad at them! hope this helps.

[Bookworm]

contact Trading Standards re misrepresentation of property

What misrepresentation? :-?

 

I have not seen the brochure, but I can guarantee that it will NOT have said "only caters to British people". To do so would be to expose themselves to claims of discrimination, and quite rightly so. What next? "Whites only"?

 

and take them to the small claims court for compensatiion

That would be very unwise.

The majority of tour operators will settle prior to any court action- they don,t want the publicity! normally just the mention of court action does the trick!

That's the hell of a gamble, and not one I'd recommend on the info given, and lord knows I am not one to shy away from court action normally, but only if the person has a reasonable chance of winning their case. In this instance, it is very unlikely.

 

From what OP has described, the only thing on which he would have a recourse would be that there was only 1 youth club, not 2 as described. I suspect however that all brochures have a get-out clause on the lines of "We can't guarantee all services will run all of the time", which pretty much covers a lot of shoddy operating. (and one on which I think the watchdog bodies should be tightening big time, but that's another story)

 

He can complain about the staff rudeness, but of course, that will depend on whether they were rude to everyone or just to him because he might have complained about all those "disgusting eastern european children in the pool" and how he approached the staff, for example. (not saying that he did, just a random example!) Certainly, that should be investigated as a complaint, but whether it would be sufficient to justify compenstion, that's something arguable.

 

All in all, and only knowing what OP told us, it looks as if the bulk of his complaint is about the fact that he wanted an all-british holiday and that is not what he got. Well, when in Zante... ;-)

[smarmymarmy]

only 1 kids club and no entertainment- have to agree re 'exclusive uk'- remember Thos Cook are not uk owned!If the property hads been 'exclusive' to them and had not been entirely UK market different ballgame., and believe me ( I am a travel agent!) the tour operators will fob you off as long as they can get away with it

[hazza68]

hi thanks for the replies, just a few things for you bookworm: 1. can you reply to my request for advice without abruptness, sarcasm and insultive dialogue. 2: i dont mind sharing with other europeans and im not discriminating in any way as you might think(which is just your rudeness). the point is the daily entertainment didnt exist,there was 1 kids club and not 2 which was of no use as my youngest children arnt old enough to learn a foreign language yet but maybe you think they are:rolleyes:. it says it all when first choice reps come over from another hotel to try and do daily entertainment but were told to stop after 10 min but am i right in saying that i booked with thomas cook and not first choice? so why are first choice trying to do the daily entertainment if its thomas cook uk exclusive if thats how you put it? you might be able to afford a holiday every year bookworm but we have to save so when it says daily and nightly entertainment for kids and adults and kids clubs, movies then i expect it as thats what im paying for and that still doesnt excuse the rudeness and ignorance of the thomas cook aftercare complaints department. also if you cant reply to my polite request for advice without being rude then i would apreciate if you didnt reply please bookworm. but to anyone else who replied, many thanks for your advice as its very much appreciated.

[Loubychew]

hazza68 - can you post the name of the acommodation?

Also I am as confused as you as to why FC reps were there if it is a TC hotel.

FC are part of the Tui group which includes Thomson. Is it possible you were on a Thomson holiday but that you booked in a Thomas Cook high street travel agent?

Edited March 7, 2009 by Loubychew
Added a bit.

[hazza68]

hi its the tsilivi admirals we book from jmc summersun brochure 1st edition, it was definately thomas cook. the fc reps came from planos bay apartments across the road.

[Loubychew]

Hmmm it is very odd and highly unusual for reps from another TO to do this. Unless the hotel was not exclusive to TC after all. There is no reference to this on the web page though they do advertise 2 kids clubs.

Out of interest, were there any other reps notice boards besides TC's/JMC?

 

Sorry can't be of more help. The only way forward I can see is to push the point about the kids club. Complaining about other nationalities is a waste of time. I work for a TO (not TC) and we have properties that are exclusive to us in the UK. Doesn't mean there won't be Russians or whoever staying there. Hotels can take bookings from who they like and we would never take responsibility for the behaviour of these guests. Only for that of our own guests. If that makes any sense.

[Bookworm]

But I wasn't being rude. I was replying to what comes across in YOUR post. I don't know what happened there, only what YOU tell us, and what comes across is that you were most put out was by the "eastern europeans"... Now what makes you think could give that impression?

 

After all, when it comes to assumptions, you are making the hell of a one when you say I can go on holiday every year. As it happens, the only way we managed to go on one last year (the 1st abroad in 8 years) was with help from the Family Fund, and at this point, I doubt very much that we'll be able to go on another for 3 years at least. Not that my situation is relevant, just thought I'd mention it so that you stop feeling persecuted by someone looking down on you because they are so much better off than you.

 

The reality of it is that whether you like it or not, your attitude comes across as being based on prejudice and misunderstanding of the terms which you agreed to and as such, you are going to go strictly nowhere with them. Simple as that.

 

If you feel you do have a valid complaint, then the entertainment and the lack of kids clubs is about the limit of what you can complain about, and as I already stated (but you were probably too busy being offended to notice) there'll likely be something in the T&Cs stating that they can't guarantee that all facilities/entertainment will be provided at all times, and that they can change that with no notice, etc... Check the T&Cs.

 

So in conclusion: Do I think that you have a snowball's chance in hell with your claim? No. Do you care? Probably not, but that's ok, at least I know I have given you the best advice I can in view of my experience and knowledge. What you do or don't do after that is up to you. Good luck to you.

 

Bookie, out.