Thomas Cooke......rubbish

[jonathan63]

We booked our Thomas Cooke dream holiday in Sorrento 5 months ago through Co-op Travel in Ulverston. We're due to fly in the 6th May but yesterday TC phoned to say that we wont be eating in the hotel, we'll be eating our evening meals in a place down the road, and will have a choice of 3 starters, 3 mains and a piece of fruit for dessert. Murderers and rapist get a wider choice than that in British prisons.

I've spent 3 1/2 hours on the phone to Co-op and TC today (2 hours on hold) and neither know what is going on or can give us any answers. And both say it's the others responsibility to sort this mess out.

2 people, 10 days, half board=£2,000. You'd expect better wouldn't you.

[Phill_190]

I had a nightmare holiday through Thomas Cook once and swore never again!!

Also avoid Hays Travel also they left us standed at the hotel when the transfer coach disnt pick us up, had to argue over the phone for hours to make them organise a private taxi with only a few hours left before flight home.

I use Thomsons at the moment as not had a nad experiance as of yet!

Phill

[maxi_crawf]

If you know exactly what you want and where, try Netflights on t'web, I use them for my annual jolly across the pond they are a price comparison site, flights or flight and accommodation.

Sent from my SM-J500FN using Tapatalk

[Simondi]

I have no experience of buying holidays through travel agents but would perhaps suggest you go down to the store where you made the purchase. It would appear that the product you bought is substantially different from that being provided or indeed advertised

[Jim Jamieson]

Big holiday companies are all the same, several years ago we travelled to Florida and decided to go a bit upmarket.
We booked two five star hotels with Thomsons, a week in Orlando with the second week at Clearwater near Tampa.
The first hotel The Omni Rosen was huge and sat next to the convention centre so there were more business folks than holidaymakers. On top of that Hurricane Floyd hit Florida (not Thomsons fault) and we could barely get out of the hotel but there was no support from Thomsons.

The second week was at The Belleview Biltmore in Clearwater. It was used by many celebrities in the past and on arrival it looked grand with its lovely fountain but when passing through the corridor to our room it was like going into another world.
The room was dark and gloomy also very, very tired with Venetian blinds which were ready for the skip. I went out to the pool for a swim and there was only a handful of folks there. In the pool you could see the dirt lying in the bottom where the pool cleaner couldn't reach near the centre. Back inside the ice machine was absolutely filthy and corroded.
In the morning my wife asked me to switch the light on, I replied it is on and looking up to the ceiling you could see all the pipes for the Services like in a factory.
The final straw was, after using the toilet, when flushed it overflowed into the bathroom.
I was straight down to reception and said I was not staying one more night in this hovel and eventually got a Thomson rep who moved us to a self catering apartment at India Rocks Beach. Although it was quite nice it was a self catering apartment and certainly not the five star hotel we had booked.
On arrival back home I complained to Thomson and they offered a £50 refund which I sent back along with my cancellation of the following years holiday.
It took several letters before Thomson gave us back our deposit so I never used Thomson again.
Now we use a very reliable travel agent for our holidays, my wife who along with the internet and Google Earth we have had many fine holidays, like Tenerife and some back to the US with Miami, Key West, SanDiego, Las Vegas & San Francisco. We seldom have cause for complaint with our hotels.

[jonathan63]

Quick update: Since booking in Dec and having Thomas Cooke ring our of the blue on Monday (see OP) I have spent hours on the phone to Coop Travel in Ulverston and Thomas Cooke and they have offered us absolutely NO assistance what so ever. The other day I spent 2 hours on hold waiting for Thomas Cooke to answer my call. Then I had the bright idea of ringing them as a potential holiday buyer and guess what?....they answered in second. They were really helpful until they realised I wasn't buying, at which point they dumped me. After all, they already have our money.

The moral of the story is, don't trust a big company. They want your money but don't want to know if you get less than you have paid for. I'll be buying my holidays from an independent travel agent from now on.

Co-op Travel and Thomas Cooke, shame on you, you unethical scum bags.

[topman]

I assume it's in their t and c's that they can change accommodation/meal arrangements? Perhaps ask on one of the travel forums or money saving expert?

As for smaller companies you could be just as well stung, best to book it all yourself and cut out the middle men.

[Gate Keeper]

Originally Posted by jonathan63

Quick update: Since booking in Dec and having Thomas Cooke ring our of the blue on Monday (see OP) I have spent hours on the phone to Coop Travel in Ulverston and Thomas Cooke and they have offered us absolutely NO assistance what so ever. The other day I spent 2 hours on hold waiting for Thomas Cooke to answer my call. Then I had the bright idea of ringing them as a potential holiday buyer and guess what?....they answered in second. They were really helpful until they realised I wasn't buying, at which point they dumped me. After all, they already have our money.

The moral of the story is, don't trust a big company. They want your money but don't want to know if you get less than you have paid for. I'll be buying my holidays from an independent travel agent from now on.

Co-op Travel and Thomas Cooke, shame on you, you unethical scum bags.

It's appalling how you have been treated.

Have you considered booking the flights and hotel, independent of any package deal company?

These days I organise the holidays myself. This involves a lot of research checking on Trip Advisor for airlines, hotel and B&B reviews. One hotel booking site I use is booking.com and Airbnb if we want to take a house or stay with a family.

I recently put our own deal together. Next month we are off to Sardinia for a week, staying in a small hotel in a little fishing village. We booked independently everything with flights, car rental, B&B ourselves. Eating out every night, has a certain appeal

Thomas Cook used to be a great company, but these days they trade off against their former glory years, with poor customer satisfaction and hoping no one will complain or dare to ask for their money back. The coop is the same. Thomas Cook and the Coop could do better.

I hope your able to salvage something and still manage to have a beautiful holiday