Dear Sir / Madam
I am writing to you again after my initial complaint dated 20th July. I cannot tell you how stressed I am after what has been one incident after another with TUI the past week. Instead of arriving back from holiday with my son (The only time I could spend with him away this year) I have come back to London out of pocket, my internet cancelled due to non payment as lack of funds (due to TUI payment for our second holiday) and in general I am completely distraught as I suffer from mental health and stress issues. TUI has exacerbated these so much that I am close to tears this evening.
I have done my best to document the past week below.
On Friday 19th July my son and myself arrived at Gatwick for our Gran Canaria holiday (booking ref 23990679). After a short wait we were ushered through to check in our hold bags and proceeded through to security.
We kept on looking at the board as the flight information was very ambiguous. Not once did it tell us what time the flight was planning to leave but instead kept saying ‘Gate info at XXX’ hours. This was incredibly frustrating and misleading.
Hours later, having spent a small fortune on sustenance at the airport with not a Tui rep in sight we finally were summoned to gate 566. We waited there for an hour or more but around 6pm were told that the crew had gone over hours and a new crew would arrive.
We were told to go back into the main airside concourse, which we did.
However as time passed we realised there were no TUI reps anywhere and no further information. When we ventured downstairs we were then told that the plane would NOT in fact fly that evening but we would be put up in a hotel and then would fly the next morning.
We were told to collect our bags from baggage reclaim.
We spent 2 hours waiting for our offloaded bags to arrive, exhausted and tired.
When we finally went back out to find a TUI rep we realised how much chaos was going on – no one was around to inform the hundreds of stranded passengers and we waited another couple of hours in vain. The only communication arrived hours later telling us that our holiday had been cancelled.
Contrary to what we had been told hours earlier there was no provision of any hotel accommodation or even the prospect of continuing our holiday. On our second TUI holiday (Ref. 24712309) this week to our dismay we found out that some people HAD been put up in the IBIS hotel which further infuriates me knowing that we could have stayed at the airport to fly the next day.
My poor son was beside himself and we then spent time trying to contact TUI as we have limited financial means and I was desperate to take my son away.
After an hour inside Gatwick we then realised there were no trains available and had to take a taxi home. (£86)
Having spent over £200 at the airport in dealing with this fiasco has now left me out of pocket.
On the morning of the 20th July I waited nearly 2 hours on the phone to finally speak to someone at TUI. He told me to book my next TUI holiday online myself as his system was showing unavailability. He told me that I would receive a total of £300 (£100 + £200 TUI voucher) off my new booking but to contact customer services once I’d booked the holiday as the voucher promised would not arrive in time. Due to work I had to book the holiday immediately as I could not take any other time off work to be with my son.
I have already sent you the receipts for our sustenance at Gatwick and of course the taxi fare home. Additionally I expected (as was told) the £300 refunded to me in my bank account as I purchased a more expensive TUI holiday on Saturday 20th to Lanzarote (Ref. 24712309).
The Lanzarote holiday was more expensive than our initial holiday. However because I was promised £300 off the holiday cost as well as a refund of my taxi and food on 19th I duly booked the holiday with TUI (24712309).
We started to try and enjoy our time together.
And then things went from bad to worse with TUI.
A woman called me during my holiday and at first it was good news. She apologies for all the trouble that we’d endured with the first holiday cancellation and told me that I’d receive £300 refund into my bank account as well as £121 for the tax and food.
However we then received an email saying that in fact we would NOT be receiving £300 refund but £300 worth of vouchers for another TUI holiday! I was absolutely furious and it RUINED my time away with my son.
To make matters worse a gentleman then called me and repeated the email even after I had explained that we had only booked a SECOND TUI holiday due to the promise of £300 reduction on that fee!
The entire fiasco was further compounded by us having to pay Easyjet £120 for baggage that was not explained in our holiday booking.
Therefore in total, in addition to the trauma of cancelling our first holiday, we are out of pocket by £540!
Instead of making right on our initial cancellation we have been lied to, charged more fees for baggage and then our second holiday ruined by your customer service team calling us up and refusing to honour the initial discussion from the morning of the 20th.
In addition to this nightmare we had to pay for our holiday seats on our second holiday.
Also I note that we have only been refunded £1382.26 for our first holiday when in fact the price was £1442.26!
I would like the following resolution asap –
£300 refunded to my bank account as we booked another TUI holiday immediately after the first one was cancelled as we were promised this refund to our bank as the £300 was a TUI goodwill gesture towards a new holiday.
£122.57 refunded to my bank account to cover the food / taxi on 19th July.
Any other costs as mentioned above to compensate for the extra outlay.
I look forward to your response,
Regards
Justin Berkovi