Teletext holidays

[gavino76]

Hi guys.

 

Made the mistake of booking an Xmas break with Teletext holidays.

Paid £700 deposit approx and 700 a month to go out up till Xmas.

 

 Like an absolute fool, only after I received the details did I investigate And discovered a nightmare awaiting me at sabiha gocken airport for transfer.

 

Tried to call them to amend and had a real lary woman on the line.

She ended up hanging up on me.

 

Got through to someone else, he was polite And said someone would call within 48 hours to amend.

No one has called and I've since researched Teletext holidays and realised my mistake.

 

Can I get out of this?

Chargeback?

I'm really stressed out.

What a mistake !

[Kyosanto]

Hi Gavino,

 

chill down, it will be fine. Give us some more detail so we can help you:

 

• Where is your holiday to?
• Did you book it as a package holiday, or flights + hotels separately?
• What nightmare are you talking about? Is Istanbul your final destination, or are you transiting only?
• How did you pay, DC or CC?
• When did you book it?
• When is the final balance due?

 

No matter what you do, do not cancel and lose your deposit.

 

Cheerio

[gavino76]

Hello kyosanto

Thanks for your reply. The trip is to sharm el sheik on the 22nd December for 21 nights. 

 

It's a package. We're transiting through sabiha gocken with Pegasus airlines. We have a 3 year old. The wait at sabiha is 6 hours. After I had booked it, I done some research on sabiha and pegasus and the general opinion is that they're both terrible.

 

The man from Teletext holidays had also promised me (for free!) 2x 20kg luggage, yet on the itinerary it says 1x 20kg and X3 hand baggage. Lied to me.

 

Paid £700 of £2798 by debit card. We have changed out card recently so no more payments can be taken. 3 more installments to be paid by nov 22.

 

Booked it sept 2nd.

[Kyosanto]

Right'o! So as you booked this holiday recently and with all knowledge of the pandemic, you won't be able to hang onto that for a cancellation.

 

You will only be entitled to cancel free of charge if the travel company makes "significant" changes to your hotel or your flights.

Unless that happens, the agent is entitled to charge you a cancellation fee. If you are serious about backing out, you can ask teletext how much cancellation fee they would charge for backing out now (the earlier you do this the smaller the fee will be). As far as I know the cancellation fee must be reasonable eg they can't legally ask for the full amount - but that will be for you to battle if you disagree with the amount.

 

Before you take such drastic measures. Regarding the holiday itself. I don't know what kind of research you did but I dare say you might find that some people on the internet are blowing things out of proportion

Pegasus airlines: They're no more or less horrible than Ryanair, EZ jet, or BA. If you have flown in one of these you will be able to fly in the other. Pegasus safety record is okay this is what matters. Your seats will be cramped and the coffee and sandwiches will be overpriced, this is what air travellers have to put up with nowadays.

Sabiha Gocken airport: 6 hours is a slightly awkward timing indeed. The airport is really far away from town, so 6 hours is not long enough to do some tourism and you'll have to stay at the airport. That said, to make it more bearable there are paid lounges which I recommend you use, so you and your kid can chill rather than stay in a busy airport hall. Pegasus has a paid lounge here: https://www.flypgs.com/en/travel-services/other-travel-services/isg-lounge. Try and get reservations in advance, as you don't want to be caught when they're full. If you don't trust Pegasus, there are also lounge cards you can buy on the internet for something like £100 a year, if you travel frequently with kids, they're worth the expense. (google priority pass if interested)

 

End of the day you're going to be flying for long hours in cramped aircraft with a very young kid in tow and that's going to be an adventure, but it was going to be so regardless of the airline or the airport itself! If anything the 6 hour break might make the flights more bearable.

 

Finally regarding your gripe with the luggage allowance, did you get that promise made over the phone? If yes, bad stuff, because you won't have a record and it will be your word against theirs. I'd suggest you contact them (either in writing or record your call if you phone) and ask them to clarify your luggage allowance. Say you were promised 2 bags and only see one on your confirmation. It might be just a clerical mistake and you're actually fine. Or it might be that the agent who sold you the package got the info wrong. In that case, you should be adamant that this is not what was agreed on previously, and that you would never have agreed to purchase the holiday without 2 bags allowance. Keep calm but firm. If they won't budge, ask to speak to a manager and say - very politely - that you would like to make a complaint about the employee who mis-sold you your tickets.

For the record it's a fairly frequent occurrence that travel agents get stuff wrong - the best is always you get a full quote in writing before you make any purchase and double check the fare conditions, but that's a lesson for next time.

 

For what it's worth it is a lot more likely that you'll get them to bump up your luggage allowance, than to get them to cancel your holiday free of pain

 

Good luck!

 

 

[gavino76]

Wow, you're super knowledgeable!! Thank you so much for taking the time to give me such a comprehensive reply. I actually feel much better now and I think I'm just going to go...

 

Unless it gets cancelled

 

I'll chase that baggage up as you've said.

 

Thanks a lot, I really mean it. I'll let you know what happens re baggage

 

Gavin

[Kyosanto]

Ahh no worries at all  happy to help. Let us know how that went for the baggage!

On a slightly more ominous note, looks like we're headed for corona hell again, but we can see how things are like Xmas time...

[gavino76]

Yes, I'm a bit nervous !!! I have emailed them regarding the baggage and had no response.

 

I have another issue regarding work I had done in my local garage i need help with, can you help?

[AndyOrch]

Start a new topic in the Garage services Forum.

 

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/48-garage-services/

[gavino76]

Thanks Andy