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Recent Complaints of Note
Recent Complaints of Importance

SOUTHALL TRAVEL

We could paper a house with the complaints we get about this company. Sidarath of Leicester recently contacted us about the misleading information given by their sales staff to get telephone customers to make bookings at prices much higher than the best fare available. A long and descriptive e-mail was summarised by the customer thus:

1. I was sold the ticket at a sky-scraping price by Southall Travels when the same ticket on their website was much cheaper. The same ticket on Virgin Atlantic website was only £590. (Sidarath was charged nearly £800)
2. The remarks were not logged in on 16th February 2012.
3. The agents were not willing to discuss the matter with me and I was told twice to speak to Hiten (a travel clerk) who booked the ticket.
4. As the remarks were passed to Hiten on 17th february 2012 by Shekhar, I didnt get the call back from Hiten on 18th february.
5. Hiten was vey rude and said that the company could not do anything else and I didnt call them at the right time which I aparently called them at the right time but I didnt get the call back from them.

This company are becoming notorious for the way they prey on vulnerable customers. BE WARNED!

Cityjet

Mike from Luxembourg reports: My case concerns a flight booked as a result of receiving an email invite from CityJet to book a flight (within 48hours) to receive a generous discount. I booked my flight, the voucher code was automitically applied within the booking and the price was confirmed EUR123. Later when I checked my Credit card statement, I noticed that I had been charged EUR195.50. This was back in December, I have been trying ever since this with phone calls, emails and faxes, to get a reimbursement, though each time I am given a different excuse. I would say that the staff on the CityJet desk at London city airport were the most helpful, though they couldn't do a refund. I have referred to my credit card, though I was advised that it could take at least 60 working days for me to receive a response

BA

Sara Reports: I booked a flights to the states with BA for May 12 and since then my sister has been diagnosed with breast cancer so I asked to change the flights to later in the year as she will be having chemotherapy. In the T's & C'S it states that a change of date acts as a cancellation however they have said I can change the date as long as its within the same month we were due to fly.  If they can change the date in the same month what basis do they have to say we cant move it back 4 months when I would be paying £150 per person and the difference in flight ticket cost? I do not have insurance as yet but I don't want to cancel the trip I just want to change it to a later date.

Travelwatchdog comments: This is an all too common problem with most carriers and not just BA. Although the airlines do not contravene any laws, they are certainly not customer friendly. They will probably sell the seats again. Legally OK, but morally reprehensible

THOMSONS

Leigh of Sunderland reports: my parents booked a carribean cruise in august last year and paid the full amount in november 2011,departure ddate 12th of febuary 2012,this was with thomsons via hays travel,unfortunately my father suffered a brain haemorrhage last week and when my mother tried to get her money back she was informed that she would lose 90% of her money,not only that but she was informed that Thomsons would not allow a namechange on the tickets.

Travelwatchdog comments: This tragic arising is all too common and should be covered by insurance. very few companies give a refund in such circumstances, but there is something morally reprehensible in not permitting passenger name changes. They have had the fares paid, but seek to profit from a misfortune by selling the tickets again.

RYANAIR

Catherine from Glasgow reports:

I recently booked return flights with Ryanair to travel to France. I changed my outgoing dates and rebooked a new outward flight from Stanstead. I flew from Glasgow having checked in 1 piece of hand luggage and with one cabin bag. When I got to Stanstead it said clearly on my boarding pass 10kg only cabin bag. I thought I had forgotten to check in a bag and panicked. I went to the desk and handed over my boarding pass. She circled a section and demanded £80 cash. As I handed her the money she returned my boarding pass , she had circled in small print 1 piece of baggage. I realised i had a bag booked and thanked her for clarifying it. This took 20 seconds. She refused to refund although sitting on her desk. Told me to write to customer service in Dublin. They then 'lost' my letter. Faxed documents again, replied saying no refund due to 'small print' .Outrageous.

EuropCar Malaga (yet again!)

I recently rented a car, via Easy Jet, from the Malaga office of Europcar. The initial form quoted 'multiple scratches ' on both rear wings and also damage at the rear of the car. As this was a fairly generic description I didn't bother to do a detailed inspection added to this the Europcar parking area at Malaga Airport is very dark making it almost impossible to check for body damage. However, the car was in a poor condition having done 22,000kms and presumably had been the subject of a long term hire as it absolutely reeked of tobacco. The cover for the side mirror flew off as soon as we reached 80kph on a motorway. As there was no damage to the mirror itself I presume the mirror must have been changed due to the earlier damage. In doing so the mechanic failed to push fit the cover firmly into place. At this point I decided to photograph all the damage and write a letter of complaint to Europcar as on closer inspection almost EVERY panel had some degree of minor damage.
On returning the car to Malaga I pointed out the missing mirror cover and mentioned my disapproval at the condition of the car. The very unhelpful assistant, Lourdes Medina Lopez, did a second detailed search of the vehicle and decided I was a liar who had not only damaged the wing mirror but also damaged the front bumper. She insisted my credit card would be charged an unspecified amount to cover the damage. As I totally disagreed with this I asked to speak to the manager. This request was refused.

 

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I repeated the request six times asking the same question Are you categorically refusing to let me speak to the manager, please answer Yes or No ? The assistant avoided responding each time with the comment that they had far too many disputes for the manager to see everyone who complained !!! Searching the internet I have found numerous similar stories from other people regarding Europcar and I am beginning to wonder if this is actually deliberate company policy in which case it would amount to fraud. In one case the hirer returned the car after 15Kms as the clutch failed...he was charged $850 for a new clutch, the Malaga office insisting he had burnt out the clutch ! There are also numerous cases of people suddenly finding unauthorized charges on their credit card once the car has been returned.

I registered the dispute with Capitol One immediately on my return to the UK later that day.

The following day I received a call from Lourdes Medina Lopez, the woman at Europcar Malaga, who informed me she was debiting my card with 380 to cover the damages. I pointed out that this would be without my approval but was met with a negative response.

However having just checked my credit card, I am appalled to find that Europcar have made not one but two debits, one for £144.79 and a second for £253.46 without any explanation, invoice or proof. This currently converts to 480

I have absolutely no intention of being swindled or blackmailed by Europcar and under no circumstances am I prepared to pay this amount. I am also concerned, having read the various accusations, that they will attempt to fraudulently extract further payments and request your confirmation that this will not be allowed to happen. I have copied this to Easy Jet as I believe it will be of interest to them and almost certainly be added to other complaints they will have received about Europcar.

Travelwatchdog Comment: This is the most complained about car hire company in Europe and Malaga is the most corrupt of their operations. Avoid them like the plague

Europcar Malage (again)

Charles P of London reports" EUROPCAR CHARGE CUSTOMERS FOR CLUTCH REPLACEMENT I hired a car from Europcar at Malaga airport on 24th September. On collecting the car the gears appeared stiff and were difficult to change, this became slowly worse, so I dropped the car of at the nearest Europcar depot the next day, I had had the car for less than a day. The car was replaced. On returning the replacement car at the end of the holiday I was told the clutch cable had broken on the first car and that 800 Euros had been taken off my credit card to pay for the damage. I pointed out that clutch cables wear out gradually through accumulated use and that I was therefore not responsible, having had the car for less than a day, no help was offered except the suggestion that I contact the customer services office. I am still trying to retrieve my money! "

Travelwatchdog Comment: How can a broken clutch cable be due to the negligence of the hirer. This is a con and in any other country except Spain, would probably be actionable.

 

 

 

There are so many things to complain of in this household, it wiould never have occurred to me to complain of Rheumatism.

Saki (1870 - 1916)