Its Thomspon we couldn't give a Toss Holidays
 Jun 12th, 2002
Advantages:
El cheapo holidays with inclusive problems
Disadvantages:
El cheapo holidays with inclusive problems
Recommendable:
No
Detailed rating:
Value for Money
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  Dalesman
About me:
I am so busy at the moment, been travelling a lot (Europe, South Africa & Canada), I simply dont hav...
Member since:15.08.2000
Reviews:166
Members who trust:67
Review rated by 41 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
I thought long and hard about writing this Opinion/Warning, about such a long standing holiday operator, particularly having been in the holiday business my self for a few years, however, after much consideration, I thought you ought to at least know what they do to make their profits, other than sell holidays, to cramped destinations, in aircraft with seating plans arranged for Sardine packers holidays....yes folks I am talking about Thompson Holidays...... In January I was looking on the internet, just browsing...'er as you do !!, and decided to look at some short break or reasonably priced holidays for some new ideas, anyway I stumbled across Thompsons website, I had a good look about and found their bargain section, I couldn't believe it when I saw a 2 week self catering holiday in Rhodes (Greece) for £280 inc flights from Manchester with no extras to pay for in October this year, anyway after some discussion with my missus we decided to book, I paid a deposit of £100 each plus we paid £10 each for seat reservations totalling £220. and we sat back and looked forward to a break in Greece later this year.
My Missus went into hospital last month for a new knee operation, she was advised that October might be too early to fly, so I thought no problem we can get a refund of our deposits as we were ages before we needed to pay the balance, to my shock and horror Thompsons Holidays were not interested in giving me any form of a refund, they basically said tough cheese, although we had insurance through Thompsons they too were not particularly interested. I cannot believe in this day and age that a supposedly reputable company like Thompsons Holidays would pride themselves in keeping every penny of my deposit, its not as though we paid a fiver, I am talking £220 here almost half the cost of the holiday, I maybe expected a small admin fee of about £20 but did expect to get at least £200 returned.
I am complaining to ABTA, but it get pretty dire when so called reputable companies a..semmingly don't give a toss about their customers and b) can rip you off and get to keep your hard earned cash without a by your leave or an excuse me.. My advise to any would be holiday maker is to avoid Thompsons Holidays, and go to someone like Virgin Holidays,Thomspsons Customer Care in non existant, their insurance is a shambles, and their attitude disgusting..
once again I have booked a fresh holiday to the USA in February, I am going with DELTA, booked my car hire through DOLLAR and am staying at various hotels whilst driving around Georgia and Florida, I have done all this cheaper than I would have paid for an inclusive holiday oin Florida with Thompson Holidays, Flying charter on one of their twin jet Boeing 767 sardine cans..... My advise do it your self on the internet with reputable Hotel Chains, Car Rental Companies and Airlines, booking direct can bring big savings, and there are often deals to be had.....it pays to do it yourself.......rather than being ripped off by the so called Charter Companies....
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by (10%):
26.08.2006 09:38
I think you have found out the hard way about this company. when I returned from a real crap thomsons holiday once and decided to try ABTA I was told in order to persue the matter I had to pay a further some of over 30ukp per person and they would give no guarantee on what could be done! So dont rely on abta either. thanks for leaving your report, hope others see it before booing.
19.03.2003 00:46
I find this useful information because my aunty recently had to cancel a holiday due to a heart attack. Lucky the company she book with was more reasonable. However, I know to which company to look out for in the furture. rlb3.
27.02.2003 22:04
great op i to have had a bad experiance with thomson olso a good one as you can see from my op hope things get sorted for you soon ...michele