Terrible Holiday - Complaining - Long!

[Eve4Walle]

Just got back from Egypt with DH and the children, and it was a disaster from start to finish really.

Arrived at booked hotel to find that they had a large conference taking place and couldn't accommodate us. Wanted to bump us into another inferior hotel for a week. Spoke to travel company (Fleetway) and they said they couldn't do anything until Monday (was Sat). Had to accept move as was 6pm by this time and the kids were hungry and tired.

New hotel was awful, dirty, tired and the food was terrible and certainly not what we had booked - was told it was 5 start but more like 3. The hotel we had intended to stay in was 5 star and I can verify it was from the week we did manage to stay there.

Fleetway did not contact us about move to new hotel after a week, I had to call them and have £40 worth of mobile calls to them. They said they'd sort it but didn't so I contacted hotel direct to arrange.

No word about transfer to airport at end of holiday so had to ring them again. They sent a text to say someone would pcik us up from the hotel at 3.30pm and at 4pm, nobody had arrived so had to take a cab to hotel.

I could go on, more dodgy stuff happened but you get the gist.

What are the chances of having a decent compensation claim? Holiday was booked with them but they told me they used a different company to book the hotel and so it's not their responsibility.

Thanks if you're still with me after all this!

Is the company a member of ABTA this a regulatary body that reputable travel agents are a part of? It would mean you have someone other than the company to complain to and hopefully investigate on your behalf.

Hopefully somebody will be along who has more knowledge than me soon!

so are Fleetway an online travel agent rather than an operator. If so presumably they don't have local offices to sort this type of issue out but was the operator's rep present ? tbh not having a local rep is often something you forego by booking this way and that is how such communication problems arise.

I don't know about a decent compensation claim but , assuming you have documented all the issues (photos, receipts for expenses etc) and tried to resolve it at the time then you could certainly make a complaint in writing to Freeway initially , then involve Abta if needs be - their complaints procedures are documented here.

You could also post on holidaytruths and independent British Website that offers advice

"they used a different company to book the hotel " "not their responsibility" So they are ABTA agents making a dynamic package. do as LIZ suggest and report them to ABTA [http://www.abta.com/consumer-services/travel_problems/arbitration see arbitration]] costs. It might be wort it.

ABTA link see arbitration costs. It might be wort it.

Arbitration is designed to deal with claims for general compensation arising from breach of contract.

Contact Ros Fernihough - she is a travel claims expert - if there is compensation to be had she will get it for you - google her name and you should be able to find her easy enough - let me know if you cant find her and i will track her down for you

You would normally be expected to have formally tried to get redress through the agent in accordance with the ABTA complaints procedure before asking a third party(be they a lawyer, small claims court, Holiday Watchdog, holiday truths etc) to intervene. As op has only just returned I would imagine that has n't been followed through yet.

Fleetway are an internet compmay who have been operating for 30 odd years - I don't know if they still have a shop, but we did everything over the phone or online with them. www.fleetwaytravel.com/ Fleetway

They did not have a rep on site, and they had booked our transfers with another company, as well as using Hotels4U for the actual hotel reservation. Fleetway claim Hotels4U only informed them of the problem with the accommodation at 6pm on Friday and we flew out at 10am on Saturday. Very convenient!

I have had to speak to the contact at Fleetway many times in the last 2 weeks, and I made it clear I would be complaining, as it is part of their t&c's that any compmaint had to be flagged before we came home. I also sent 2 mails to them whilst we were there outlining my dissatifaction.

I will be ringing them tomorrow to advise I will be mailing my complaint this week and I expect it to be dealt with promptly. They only accept complaints by snail mail, which is about right!

Message withdrawn

Message withdrawn

Did you have a ATOL confirmation (with ATOL 2748) for the Package Holiday? That is Fleetways ATOL for providing Package Holidays.

If not, they were acting as an agent and you should contact ABTA if you get no where with Fleetway directly.

Who did you fly with, do you have an ATOL no. on your flight invoice? It sounds to me like you didn't book a Package Holiday with Fleetway, even though you thought you did & by the sounds of it, my guess is that this ABTA travel agent booked you separate components to avoid the EU Package Travel Regulations 1992.

If MissSunny knows someone there, then I hope they let us know. If not keep us informed.

Also the fact that you tried to sort the issue out in resort and were unable to is their fault, not yours. You tried to contact them and your phone will show the numbers and unanswered calls logged etc.

Do not send original receipts, they will get lost.

Message withdrawn

'but can be a bit sneaky too..'

How does that not surprise me?

Travel is full of scum bags, it truly is - I am sick of hearing about companies twisting the law and shafting customers for their own pathetic means to run a business.

I will say no more on the matter