My wife and I decided to book our honeymoon through Thomas Cook Signature Holidays last year. We chose an idyllic holiday to Singapore and Bali departing the day after our wedding and Thomas Cook was only too helpful to take our booking.
However we would like to express the severe disappointment and unprofessional treatment we experienced both before and during what was supposed to have been the holiday of a lifetime.
We booked the holiday over a year before our marriage and consisted of the following itinerary:
• Sunday evening - Depart London Heathrow Apt to Singapore Changi Apt • Monday evening – Arrive at Accommodation at the Hotel Pheonix, Singapore • Wednesday evening – Depart Singapore Changi Apt to Denpasar Bali, Accommodation at the Melia Benoa Hotel. • Two weeks later – fly home :(
This itinerary included all transfers and we were informed that the package would also include extras such as a free buffet dinner for two people at the Hotel Pheonix in Singapore and a congratulatory cake and flowers in an Executive Room at the Melia Benoa Hotel in Bali.
We were made aware by the sales consultant at the time of booking that flight times and prices were subject to change due to the amount of time between our booking and departure. Our response to this advice was expressed in no uncertain terms that due to the timing of all outbound flights we must be made aware of any changes, however small, because we were getting married on the Saturday and flying on the Sunday, and
that we were staying in Singapore for only two nights. Any substantial changes to either the inbound flight to Singapore or from Singapore to Bali would have a significant impact on plans for our wedding and for our stay in Singapore. We were told that flight schedules rarely changed significantly and that if any changes to our itinerary were made we would be contacted immediately.
However, it was with great surprise and regret that two weeks before our wedding we received a telephone call from Thomas Cook to inform us that our tickets and other travel documents were available for collection. We asked if everything was in order and if any changes to our flight schedules or other itinerary had been made. We were told that no changes had been made. After collecting the tickets and having checked that the details were correct we noticed that our flight from Singapore Changi Airport to Denpasar Bali on the Wednesday evening had changed from the expected evening flight of 21.20 to an early morning flight of 09.35, a change of almost 12 hours. This effectively meant we lost a day in Singapore, and considering we were only there for two nights anyway, severely ruined our plans.
Obviously extremely surprised by this we immediately consulted Thomas Cook concerning the problem to see if the matter could be rectified. We explained the full situation and highlighted the fact that this left us with basically one day with which to enjoy Singapore, rather than the two days we had previously booked. In addition we asked to Thomas Cook to do everything within their power to get us on a later flight that Wednesday. We left the matter in Thomas Cook’s hands and in the meantime proceeded to personally check the availability of flights from Singapore to Bali on that day. We found that flights were available on a flight leaving shortly after 19.00. When Thomas Cook contacted us again two days later they explained that they were unable to do transfer us onto any other flights that day, despite seats being available. The reason being that Thomas Cook had used its quota on flights that day and no transfers could be made as their quota was full. Once we explained that we had seen that seats were available outside of Thomas Cook’s control, we were told that we could have been transferred over, but we did not ask for Thomas Cook to pursue other forms of transferring us to an alternative flight other than using their quota. This is despite originally requesting that Thomas Cook tried everything possible to get us onto a later flight. As Thomas Cook was acting on our behalf this was extremely unprofessional.
We pursued the matter further and questioned why our original flight times had changed so dramatically. We clearly wanted to know why we had not been informed of the changes despite asking about changes before collecting our tickets. We were then informed that we had been told of the changes and that Thomas Cook did not have to accept liability for our late knowledge of the changes. We consulted the invoice we had previously received from Thomas Cook Holidays and barely evident was one slight change from our original itinerary. If this is Thomas Cook’s method of informing us a major change to our itinerary then there must be serious doubts as to the values it places on customer services. The sales representative in Thomas Cook actually admitted that they had failed to spot the changes themselves. If professionals within the travel business fail to spot something so important to a booking, is an inexperienced customer with faith in its tour operator supposed to identify such a problem, particularly in the light of all other information being correct? We have serious doubts.
Barring this obvious neglect in care with our booking, we had still not received an answer as to why our flight time had changed so dramatically (almost 12 hours) despite there being other flights that day at later times. Having booked our honeymoon so far in advance we were aware changes in flight times could occur, but we would have faith in our tour operator that we would be placed on the closest possible flight to our original booking. This was clearly not done which would lead one to presume there are serious misgivings in the way your client’s bookings are dealt with. We have still not received an explanation as to why this happened, but we accepted that nothing could be done about it. However, this was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime, that had cost a lot of money and we wanted it to be perfect, but we were left with a bitter taste even before we had boarded a plane.
We travelled to Singapore and enjoyed a pleasant yet somewhat brief time there. We then proceeded to travel to Bali, where we were greeted very professionally and welcomed to the Melia Benoa hotel. Here we were shown to a standard Deluxe Room, whilst very amenable and comfortable, was not what we had booked. We had booked a guaranteed upgrade to an Executive Room as we made an early booking. As we had booked early enough we expected an Executive room, together with a cake and flowers (as we were on honeymoon) as informed by our sales representative at Thomas Cook. We received none of these things.
We consulted the staff at the Melia Benoa and they informed us that they had no record of our upgrade or the fact that we were on honeymoon. They told us that to receive our additional extras (i.e. the cake and flowers) we had to prove that we were married by showing them our marriage certificate, and that we would not receive the room upgrade without paying. We obviously did not have our certificate with us and we were not willing to pay extra for a room that we had already been promised.
At this point in our holiday we were both very disappointed and upset, with the emotion even getting too much for my wife at one point when she broke down in tears. This is not what we booked a honeymoon for. Nor did we pay so much money to have the hassle of running around trying to prove that we are married so that we could enjoy the holiday we had booked.
I think the only advice I can give is that you must be wary of changes made to your travel plans. Read and re-read everything and take proof of your booking with you on holiday.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
never had these kinds of problems with tc , not planning to go far east this year so not helpful to me
David_Scutt 02.05.2005 11:40
Its one of those things thats stays in your head through out the holiday. Even though you booked a year in advance, the "first come first serve" doesnt seem to apply with thomas cook. Anyway, I hope you had a lovely time, the fact that it had problems adds to the memory.
karen5416 22.04.2004 17:12
You have had some bad experieces, hope things have improved : ] x
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Aug 12th, 2003
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