How best to get compensation

[Belfastfemale]

Hi Everyone,

My mum and dad were originally booked on the Island Escape but as it was in dry dock they were transferred to the Spirit or Destiny (cant remember). Please see my original posts below. Just wondering what your thoughts/advice would be.. Thanks for reading.

1st Post
Hi Everyone,

Just am a little bit mad at the moment at the way Thomson has treated my parents. They flew out today to Tenerife to catch the IE - when they arrived they were told the IE was in dry dock and were put on another ship (I assume this is the spirit). The thing that has annoyed me is that not only did Thomson not inform them of this - they also paid for a cabin with a balcony (which is always a premium) which they were not given on this ship..:mad:

Surely Thomson knew that this ship was not ready. They did not even have the courtesy to inform my parents of this.:mad:

I will be going to the travel agents in the morning to act on my parents behalf - but they will probably phob me off or something.

I feel for my parents as they had originally booked to go when the ash cloud hit - so they postponed to this date and were really looking forward to it - they are also both pensioners and have saved really hard for their week of luxury!!!!!!:mad:

So good luck to those that have already booked - but according to other posts - this ship will not be ready until at least Feb 2011..:eek:

Any advice on how do deal with the travel agents would be greatly appreciated, as at the moment I am ready for some fighting!!!!:mad:

'Rant over and shoulders now feel much lighter'

Sorry for all the smilies, but they make me feel better.

2nd Post when they received a letter

I know its been a while but my parents have just got word from Thomson. They sent them a letter explaining that they were very unhappy that they were never told that the IE was not sailing. They also explained that they paid a premium for their balconly (which the Thomson Spirit does not have).
Thomson sent a letter back apologising for this and told them that a cheque was on its way and hope this would make things right.

The cheque arrived to the value of (hold your breaths)......dum dum dum.... £50.00 each for the inconvenience.

Obviously this would be unacceptable to anyone!!!! Now the battle goes on :mad:

Any ideas how best to deal with them? Has anyone else had this kind of problem??

Thanks again
Michele

[slhw]

Hi

I do understand how disappointing it is to find that something has been changed without you having been advised beforehand and I certainly feel that your parents should be refunded the cost of the difference in cabins BUT I do think that they might have had a lucky escape in transferring from the IS to the Spirit although I don't know what improvements were due to be made to the IS. I have just spoken to a friend who has been on the IS and on the Celebration (which is exactly the same as the Spirit) and she says that there is no comparison between the two ships and that she would never go on the IS again but would happily sail either Celebration or Spirit.

Sandie

[ekco]

Hi

I do understand how disappointing it is to find that something has been changed without you having been advised beforehand and I certainly feel that your parents should be refunded the cost of the difference in cabins BUT I do think that they might have had a lucky escape in transferring from the IS to the Spirit although I don't know what improvements were due to be made to the IS. I have just spoken to a friend who has been on the IS and on the Celebration (which is exactly the same as the Spirit) and she says that there is no comparison between the two ships and that she would never go on the IS again but would happily sail either Celebration or Spirit.

Sandie

Sorry to have to disagree but we feel the complete opposite. We much preferred the layout of the Island Escape, if that's the IS you're referring to, to the Celebration. Horses for courses I suppose.:):)

Still, that's beside the point and if anyone can help with Michele's query I'm sure she would be grateful.:)

Jan

[Belfastfemale]

I have to agree with Jan. My parents much preferred the IE - though they said that the Thomson ship was fine, its just not what they were used too.

I think its just that they were never made aware of this from Thomson. If they had of been informed they would of been more prepared for this ship and not thrown in at the deep end (no pun intended ;))

Thanks for taking the time to help you guys.

Michele

[livingston]

Write to whoever is the head of Thomsons...there was another thread that detailed his name....Head up your letter Breach of Contract. Detail all the things that the contract had stipulated, eg Ship, balcony ( do not think you can include changes of ports of call as I think they cover thenselves for this but might be worth a try if your parents had a special reason for wanting to go to a specific port but just don't hold your breath on that one!! )
Include the stress ,inconvenience and upset that your parents had to suffer.

At the end of your letter list what (£££) compensation you would expect for each term of the contract they had breached. Might not be a bad thing to mention that you may want to involve Trading Standards

Good luck ..Perhaps someone else will know his name and save you searching the threads

[Kiki cat]

Yes that is very good advice. Also be as concise and clear as possible. State what you expect to be done about it and give them a timeframe to do it in.

Good lick!

[Belfastfemale]

Thanks very much for getting back to me. My dad is going to draft a letter and send it off. Your advice has been appreciated.

Michele

[benbhoy2000]

hi my wife and i were also booked on the is and put on the spirit it was our third thompson cruise in the last 12 mths and unfortanatly the worst for a large number of reasons and have lodged a claim with our t/a when i hear more i will post more

[huddy]

hi my wife and i were also booked on the is and put on the spirit it was our third thompson cruise in the last 12 mths and unfortanatly the worst for a large number of reasons and have lodged a claim with our t/a when i hear more i will post more

I have to agree with you. As my husband and i were also booked on the IE and were told at the airport when we had booked in our luggage that we were now on the spirit. I had booked this cruise for the sole purpose of going on the IE and was very annoyed at this.

I was booked to be on deck 7/8/9 and i was put on deck 1 on the spirit to which by this time i was infuriated.

The reception staff really did not give a dam and it was a case of you now have to put up with it.

The noise on that deck was horrendous and we hardly slept the full week.

I also caught the dreaded virus that was spreading rapidly around the ship and had to be confined to this horrendous cabin for 48hours.

The best part of this cruise was getting off at the end of the week to continue the rest of my holiday with a weeks stay in Tenerife.

Needless to say i am fully taking this up with Thomsons as i am NOT excepting the way that we have been treated.

I would be grateful to hear of anyone else who has been in touch with Thomsons and what response they have had.