Ripped off by Thomson.. Help!

[mustard7]

Last October we booked a holiday to Florida at our local Thomson shop.

 

We had spent a lot of time on the Internet looking at prices and hotels etc so we knew exactly what we wanted when we went In store.

So we booked our holiday.

 

The lady that dealt with us asked us if we wanted to book Disney and universal tickets with them also.

We said no because we had seen a really good deal on the net.

At this point the lady informed us that Thomson do a price match promise.

So we decided to go with Thomson to keep the holiday 'all together'

 

We informed the lady that we wanted all the parks plus aquatica, Busch gardens and all the water parks.

In fact we had a long discussion with her about wet and wild.

 

The park tickets were price matched at over £1000 for the three of us.

We were informed that out tickets would arrive around 10 days before departure.

 

A week before we were due to fly (July) the tickets still had not arrived so I went into the shop.

They apologised and said they would print them off for me there an then. Which they did.

 

It wasnt until I got home and read what was printed off that I realised that not all the parks were covered by this print out, so I went back to the shop to enquire.

 

I was told that all I had booked was tickets to Disney and universal and not the other parks.

 

I argued very strongly with the women that this was not what we ordered and that they had price matched on tickets for all the parks.

They would not budge on their stance and unfortunately for us the receipt we had just states 'park attraction tickets'

There was no record of what we actually bought.

The main arguing point I had was that the tickets they had given us would have only cost £800-£900 so why would we have paid over a £1000 for them?

 

They still wouldn't budge..

So I asked for a full refund so I could then go an buy the tickets elsewhere.

They said no as we hadn't complained in time as it was less than 7 days before departure...

Again I argued that it was less than 7 days because they never sent the tickets in the first place.

 

I wrote them a letter of complaint to the complaints department (sent recorded) and have sent a complaint via their email service...

I've not had a response from either, not even an acknowledgment!

 

Any advice as to what to do next?

[dx100uk]

paid by credit card?

 

they are equally responsible under sec 75

 

dx

[erimus1]

If you can get a copy of the deal that Thomson were price matching you may have a good case for a claim - I take it that you used the tickets they gave you? If you did and had to ay entry for the other parks thn I woud ask them for the difference in a 'without prejudice' letter, giving he 14 days to pay, after which you I'll take thm to court. It will help if you ave all the details of the offers r a court case. If you were not able to afford to go to other parks thn you old also put a claim in or 'loss of chance'

 

Good luck

[mustard7]

It was last year when we booked the holiday so I can't even remember the website they price matched us with.

Yes, we used the tickets they gave us.. And we couldn't afford to buy the extra ones.. Saying that we barely had enough time to do all the Disney and universal ones so we didn't really miss not having the others. That is besides the point though.

It's been 4 weeks since we complained in writing. I know they recieved it as it was recorded. How long should I wait for a response?

[erimus1]

It was last year when we booked the holiday so I can't even remember the website they price matched us with.

Yes, we used the tickets they gave us.. And we couldn't afford to buy the extra ones.. Saying that we barely had enough time to do all the Disney and universal ones so we didn't really miss not having the others. That is besides the point though.

It's been 4 weeks since we complained in writing. I know they recieved it as it was recorded. How long should I wait for a response?

 

If you haven't given a time limit, it's usual to allow 28 days for a response. It would help if you could search and find who the deal was with - may help if it's in the net as you may still be able to search for it. When you claim in negligence or breach if contract, you can only claim for actual losses, so if you feel it didn't really effect your holiday then perhaps 'loss of prospect' would not be viable. Any monetary loss and perhaps an element if 'mental trauma'. The correct route would be as I have previously noted.

[Mazipan1]

Replying to your thread I had a got married last year in October 2012 went on my honeymoon to Cuba I was given a piece of paper telling us what we would be receiving from the hotel with being honeymooners like breakfast in bed flowers etc etc that didn't happen I only went to Cuba for 1 week and it cost me & my husband over £2,500.00 pounds when other couples went for 2 weeks for less money while this went on their was a hurricane so when I came back and complained they offered us £70.00 voucher to use against another holiday after being ripped of by them they think this was reasonable so I got in touch with the bank solicitor they had a look at the paperwork that I had kept and there is a big lesson to learn in the small print when you book and ask for extra's if their not on the paperwork then their not guaranteed so all those who are going to book with thomson be. CAREFUL NOTHING IS GUARANTEED . Beware that thomson will gladly take your money and say this and that just to make you part with your money well I won't be traveling with them ever again I have learn't my lesson the hard way So beware thomson are not good !!!!

[mustard7]

So I have decided to revive this thread as I am about to book my holiday for this year and it dawned on my that this issue was never resolved.

Original complaint made in July 2012. I did recieve a letter from Thomson saying they were looking into my complaint, that was in October last year. Since then I have heard NOTHING.

What next? A call? a letter? I dunno!

[assisted blonde]

A| letter but to be honest after all this time I dont think its going to get you very far as you have really let the matter go on for a long time

[mustard7]

Funnily enough I posted on the 'thomson blog - your stories' and within half a day I got a call from them. Unfortunately I missed the call and I wasnt going to return it at 25p a minute, but I have managed to get an email correspondance going.

Basically, they are dismissing my complaint saying that the store had already dealt with it back in July.

That was the whole reason I wrote the formal letter because the store didnt deal with my complaint!

Anyway, they are sticking to their guns but have offered £50 off my next holiday with them. I told them that I would never go with them again but they are still sending the voucher apparently.

Isnt it shocking that a formal written complaint gets ignored for 7 months. Yet as soon as I post on a public viewing website I get a response within hours!

[ashmk]

Complain to them on Twitter and keep doing so until you are happy.

 

They will move you over to email right away to keep it from the public but you need to keep on their case on Twitter in public.

 

Like you say, once it's in public they move fast.

[assisted blonde]

TBH it is bad that they ignored your complaint but you didnt follow it up either so they may have thought you were just having a whinge and not really serious

[fletch70]

I think the lesson is use a decent travel agent who have staff that have actually been to places

[mustard7]

Hi all,

Earlier this summer I took a holiday with the family to Florida.

We were delayed both on our outbound and inbound flights (over 3 hours each)

 

 

I sent Thomson a letter as soon as we got back stating EU regulations and asking for compensation.

To this day I have had no reply, not even an acknowledgement.

 

 

Today I called them and they told me (surprisingly) that a letter has been sent out today dismissing my claim saying that it had been rejected.

The person on the phone said that he couldn't tell me why it had been rejected.

 

 

My next question is where do I go from here?

I know full well that the delayed return flight was due to a knock on delay from a previous flight and that planes were not in the right place because of this (A Thomson rep at the airport told me this). This almost definitely excludes them from using 'circumstances beyond their control'

 

 

Is it a LBA letter now?

 

 

Any help would be gratefully received.

[agbmediation]

Once you get the letter with reasons for the rejection, you will be in a better position to work out what to do next. But the Civil Aviation Authority has an online complaint facility that you can use. It says that it has a big backlog because of the increase in EU delay claims. And it is not an ombudsman service but it will take up valid complaints with the airline.

[mustard7]

Hi,

Thanks for the response.

Yes I have heard about complaining to the CAA. However, as they are not an onbudsman, they can merely state of I have a valued claim or not. Which I believe I do.

Was thinking along the lines of a LBA letter then a small claims court?

But your right, I should wait and see what there response was first.

[mustard7]

Hi,

I'm at a loss as to what to do with my claim so any advice would be welcome.

Our flight to and from Orlando this summer was delayed by more than 3 hours so I wrote to Thomson asking for compensation. I didn't receive a reply for months so I called them and they emailed me their response. In a nutshell, rejecting the claim stating 'extraordinary circumstances'

No shock there, but in their reply they only addressed the outgoing flight and completely ignored the return flight that was delayed for over 4 hours. So I emailed them this time, I sent the original letter and highlighted the return flight info. I also sent a strongly worded email regarding them ignoring my claim. So today I receive a reply... Guess what? Yup, they completely ignored the return flight again and only mentioned the outbound flight.

This is what they are stating.

Outbound - "their delay handling logs show the flight was delayed due to technical issues with checking in at Manchester airport. This is not something we as an airline have control over."

 

This may be true, so I'm unsure whether to continue the claim for this?

 

However, the return flight was delayed due to the plane not being there. There was a knock on delay which had lasted for days according to the Thompson rep at the airport. This flight I am sure we are entitled to compensation...... But after one recorded delivery letter and 2 emails, Thompson have completely ignored this.

 

What are my next steps? Any advice?

[Conniff]

they can merely state of I have a valued claim or not.

So why not drop the CAA a line first off instead of wondering. If they can tell you if a claim would be valid, the do it and you can take it from there.

 

 

Also send Thompsons letters by recorded delivery.