Sheesh - seems like ages since I've been here. So many changes, business up and running - bred my f...
Sheesh - seems like ages since I've been here. So many changes, business up and running - bred my first litter of labs - moved house - guess I had better work on catching up now!
Member since:20.03.2001
Reviews:275
Members who trust:170
When it comes to holidays, my loyalty lies with Thomson or one of its' subsidiaries, but when it comes to Agents, price and add-ons do it for me. As some of you may have already gathered, I am something of a holiday addict, and relish nothing more than getting back off the plane at Cardiff Airport with something to look forward to. I had been told in no uncertain terms, that when we move, the travel brochures will no longer be co-habiting with us, so it was book for next year or go without.
CO-OP TRAVELCARE With the exception of any small local travel agencies, Travelcare claim to be the only independent travel agent remaining on the High Street, and therefore sell holidays from all the major tour operators and many smaller ones.
You may have noticed, that when you go to Going Places, you are unlikely to get a good deal on Thomson/Skytour Holiday, and when you visit Lunn Poly likewise, thats if you can find the brochures to start with.
In addition, Thomas Cook belong to JMC and the World Choice Chain to First Choice, although I cannot vouch for these agents, as I don’t frequent them owing to a lack of suitable low deposit schemes and other free incentives.
Travelcare promise in their advertising to “match any price….”, or at least they did until I visited complete with my quote from Portland Direct, whereby after turning some interesting shades of green, they quickly changed this to “match the price of any other High Street Agent….”, oh well, not one to be perturbed, we gave the poor tour operator a long list of holidays to price for us.
My partner made a mental note of the feedback and stated “of course, you are going to offer us free insurance and transport to our local airport with that, aren’t you?”, at which the poor girls eyes lit up with ££ signs as she agreed to provide us with fully comprehensive insurance for £8 each. (NB: it is worth paying this small extra amount as we discovered when we had to cancel a much needed holiday to Tunisia early this year, as it removes any excesses you would otherwise have to forego).
After the poor girl agreeing to the above, we left the shop without making any decisions, as the price of the holiday was way over our budget.
On returning home, I again poured over the brochures until I chanced upon something that looked possible. Another call to the pour young thing at Travelcare confirmed by beliefs and again, off I went to discuss this with him indoors, who had advised me that whether I had booked anything for next year or not, the brochures were going in the bin.
After discussion, I again spoke to the girl at Travelcare (gosh all these calls and I still don’t know her name), where after a few more queries, we decided to go ahead and book. Not at any time in the process did she offer to check the apartments in the Gazeteer (aka The Travel Agents Bible - and always found under the counter of any reputable agent), but fortunately we knew of the apartments from a previous visit to the hotel next door.
LOW-DEPOSIT SCHEME Bookings with Travelcare require a £58 deposit per person (£50 if you don’t take advantage of the full comprehensive insurance). The balance of the deposit, £55 per person is due on or before the 27th September, but if its making interest for you, why pay it before? The remainder of the balance, like most holidays, is due 10 weeks before departure.
WHAT NEXT? The next stage in the booking process is actually doing it, well securing the flights and accommodation through an exchange of information and money. All was well until we got to the names; whereby mine is pretty straight forward, my other halves is reminiscent of one of the most mis-spelt words in the English Language, even before accommodation. She took the details and spelt it back to me, so far so good. NOTE: Did you know if you have to correct details on travel bookings at any stage, even for a misspelling, you will be charged £15 per change, and you need to do this, as if the details do not coincide exactly with those on your passport you will not be allowed to travel.
Booking secure, she promised to send me out the details in the post, although I did have to remind her to take a note of my Clubcard number for my 1400 points, nice little earner in vouchers on my next mailing.
TUESDAY MORNING The details arrived first post. Remember my quip about my partners’ name being one of the most mis-spelt words in the English language, well I have seen it spelt many ways, but never like this. My partner himself returned to the shop to have the details amended, and was told there would be a charge, one glare sorted that out, and Travelcare confirmed that they would willingly pay the charges, as it was their mistake.
INSURANCE The company provided fully comprehensive insurance for £8 per person, but have as yet failed to come back to me with details of what extra cover we will need to deal with his Malignant Melanoma, thank goodness we are not travelling for nearly a year, would be interesting to find out what happens though if they don’t cover him, as we raised the issue before booking.
SUMMARY All in all, a good service. Travelcare however, do offer better discounts on JMC holidays than Thomson, for us it was a combination of the cheap insurance, free airport travel and Tesco Clubcard points that did it. All in all a good service, although I would be concerned if I was travelling sooner with regards to the name errors on the travel documents, and the lack of response with regards to the travel insurance. If I have any problems sorting it, will update accordingly.
Swansea branch: 01792 641471 Check out their web-site for last minute deals and for your nearest branch at http://www.co-op-travelcare.co.uk/
Sue
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