For the best two years we have enjoyed Villa Holidays which we had booked through travel agencies. This year we decided to book direct and decided to use James Villas who we were under the impression were the best. How wrong we were.
We were notified by email on Tuesday 11th August 2009 at 3-00p.m that the villa we were due to stay in was no longer available and the alternative villa that James Villas offered was miles from anywhere but with a bar 100 metres away, not what you really want on a family holiday with two children! As we were due to go on holiday on Saturday 15th August 2009 (yes in 3 days time) we were frantic that James Villas sort this situation out. After approximately twenty phone calls to James Villas “customer relations” to see if they had managed to sort an alternative villa and with each phone call I was told they would ring me back in ten minutes (they never did phone me I always had to phone them)I was finally told that no other villa was available so I either accepted the one next to the bar and for this inconvenience they would knock £500-00 off the holiday (which we could probably put towards petrol as even the local supermarket was 17KM away!) or they would send me my money back.
I asked for my money back which I think they were a bit shocked about as the impression I got was that they thought given such short notice I would accept their alternative villa and to this end they offered to return my money by cheque! After a further five phone calls in which I explained I need the money returned by CHAPS as I now had 3 days to find and book another holiday, the money was eventually returned to my account on the afternoon of Wednesday 12th August 2009.
After spending all Wednesday afternoon & night searching for any type of holiday to fit in with our dates (as the children were due back at school on the 1st September) we managed to find a villa with Meon Villas. The service we received with Meon Villas was excellent and they could not have been more helpful or accommodating unlike James Villas like it or lump it attitude. The only snag was the A Moria Villa was really ideal for two families so we ended up paying nearly a thousand pounds more but at least we had a holiday and what an excellent holiday it was!
For all the stress and inconvience James Villas caused us, they compensated us with a cheque for £160-00 (i.e. £40-00 per person) as this is all you are entitled to as per their “terms & conditions.”
When I returned from the holiday I wrote to the Director of James Villas at his home address explaining the horrendous situation we had dealing with his company I also sent all the documentation backing up my story i.e. phone bills, emails etc and I sent a copy of this letter to James Villas head office along with the cheque for £160-00.Both letter were received and signed for on the 5th & 7th September respectively and guess what I heard nothing from them and again I had to chase them!
Apparently the Director had not been in the office that week, when I explained the letters were actually received the previous week apparently he had not been in then either, in fact he was probably not even in this country! What a farcical company to deal with.
I eventually received a response from the Customer Services Department with lots of apologizes in it but at the end of the day all they were prepared to give me was £40-00 per person and if I wanted the cheque I would have to write to them to confirm acceptance.
So please note before booking with James Villas if they cancel your holiday or offer you a sub-standard villa all you are entitled to is £40-00 per person. By booking with James Villas we ended up nearly £1000-00 out of pocket and we nearly did not get a holiday at all.