No cheques for Thomson cruises?????

Knowing we had to settle our final invoice by tomorrow, 31st March, and having been unable to find instructions on how to pay anywhere on our paperwork, we forwarded a cheque in the post about ten days ago. Today, Thomsons rang to say that they haven't accepted cheques in settlement for about four years and they had therefore returned ours to us, only to have the post office return their letter marked "no such address". Bearing in mind that we enclosed Thomsons own final letter showing our final balance on it and that also already had our address on it and we received that, someone at their end must have obviously made an almighty mistake with the address when trying to return our cheque! We have searched through the Thomson paperwork again this morning but can still find nothing about how to pay. The attitude was that it was our fault! Is it us?!?! :confused:

We booked this cruise direct with Thomson on the telephone having heard an advert on Gold Radio about it so we had no brochure. However, we obtained a brochure soon after booking and there appears to be nothing in there either about not being able to pay by cheque.

Having read some disparaging and unsettling remarks on various different topics posted by disgruntled Thomson customers here on this forum and now this today, if there were any chance of getting our money back then we would cancel this cruise, our first with Thomson, and go straight back to P&O. Thank goodness we didn't go ahead and book another cruise for September on the Destiny around the Aegean and Adriatic or we'd be joining those disgruntled cruisers now due to go on the Majesty.

We feel very annoyed when Thomson appear to accusing us of being the wrongdoers :mad:. Anyone else had a similar experience?

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We booked this cruise direct with Thomson on the telephone having heard an advert on Gold Radio about it so we had no brochure.

However, we obtained a brochure soon after booking and there appears to be nothing in there either about not being able to pay by cheque.quote]

 

 

HI ,how did you pay the deposit when you booked over the phone ? :confused:

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We booked this cruise direct with Thomson on the telephone having heard an advert on Gold Radio about it so we had no brochure.

However, we obtained a brochure soon after booking and there appears to be nothing in there either about not being able to pay by cheque.quote]

 

 

HI ,how did you pay the deposit when you booked over the phone ? :confused:

 

We were requested to pay the deposit immediately when we rang to book so used a debit card as they asked for payment there and then.

The nearest thing to that I had was paying for a sea front villa in Turkey a few years ago and as it was a last minute thing

they would not accept a cheque nor did they have Visa to accept my payment .

The way I got around it was to phone them and get their bank and sort code details which was a Nat West Bank .

So I went to a Nat West bank and paid cash into that account .That was an instant transfer.:)

You could phone them back up and ask if they too would take an electronic transfer as you have little time left to pay it .:)

Hope this helps ;)

 

We were requested to pay the deposit immediately when we rang to book so used a debit card as they asked for payment there and then.

 

Can you not pay with the same card if all else fails ? :)

 

I hope you get sorted Essexlass:) Good luck and I wish I could help more .

 

Come on guys n Gals anymore ideas for Essexlass !;)

The brochure I have at the present time is May 2011 but on the page Our Agreement With You and Yours With Us - Point No. 10 - Paying for your travel arrangements - the last line states "We do not accept personal cheques, only building society and bankers' drafts will be accepted". Hope this helps.

I'm sorry you are having such a terrible time with your first experience of Thomsons. We have been cruising with them since 1989 and have never had any problems. Yes, we are doing the Pearls of the Aegean/Adriatic Explorer in October but would not have chosen to do this if the Majesty had been announced before we booked as, like the Dream, I would have preferred to hear reviews first. However, we are delighted with the cabin choice and position we have been offered. Entertainment, well we will just have to wait and see. We look on our holiday as a moving hotel and take the entertainment as it comes.

I sincerely hope you get the matter resolved and go on to enjoy the Thomson experience like thousands of other cruisers, both first timers and repeaters.

Thank you Kalos and you too Skioncruises with whose help (and that of a magnifying glass!) I have now found the relative line re payment. I thought I had read all the small print but these two pages got away from me. I had been concentrating on the A-Z Guide thinking that all the 'small print' would be there. I am one of these folk who tend to read brochures and magazines from the back page forwards (silly I know) and when I then came to the page Cruising With Children, etc, thought I had read all the relevant parts, wrong! I'd already absorbed just about every other part of that brochure, so annoying and I'm kicking myself now as you can imagine.

However, why oh why don't Thomsons quote the available methods of payment where they give the final balance and date to be paid like other companies seem to do? :confused: Or would that be too easy and helpful of them :rolleyes:

Unfortunately during the telephone call this morning, I gather that Thomsons didn't think to tell my husband if they would hold our booking open until they can get the right address on the envelope returning our cheque and DH did not think to ask. I shall ring them this evening and ask what the score is as we obviously would not be happy paying again now with a debit card until we have our cheque safely back here again. I'd hate to think of the possibility of them keeping both payments and telling us we couldn't have a refund, but they would hold that amount as credit for a future cruise. I would put nothing past them - further advices in due course!

Hi Essexlass2

Like you I read from front to back of the brochure and back again then upside down but brain can only take in so much. If anyone comes up with a query I tend to dig out the brochure and see what I can find.

I know it's a Friday evening but could you not stop your cheque at the bank? It may give you peace of mind over the weekend if it could be done by telephone as, when a problem like this arises, Monday is a loooong way off.

Fingers crossed for you that everything sorts itself out amicably and I'm sure you will enjoy the Thomson experience with the rest of us.

Just rang Thomsons who say they are unable to extend the final payment date. They say that their if or when their Finance Dept note the final balance remains unpaid, they will either telephone or write to us before the cruise is cancelled. In the meantime a note has been made that they have the correct address (wish they'd actually used it to avoid all this concern!) and that I have telephoned again this evening.

We really could do without all this hassle. I just hope that the cruise itself will be that good it will cancel out all thoughts of the hassle regarding final payment.

The moral of this story is that we need to closely inspect each and every page of the Thomson brochures in future (although we've never had a problem in all our many, many years of holidays previously) and Thomsons need to clearly state how they want passengers to make payments, surely that's not too much to expect.

Hope this helps.

Payment - Paying off the Balance

Can I pay the remaining balance of my holiday online?

 

If you wish to pay the balance of your holiday you can do so online by logging into Manage my booking.

 

Please note, this service is not available for the following holiday types - please call us on the numbers listed below:

• Cruise holidays
  
• Twin centre holidays
  
• Ski & Snowboarding
  
• Lakes & Mountains
  

You can also contact us via our Call Centre where one our our advisors will be happy to help.

When you call, please ensure you have your booking reference to hand.

 

 

Cruise holidays - 0871 230 2800 (calls cost 10p per minute plus network extras)

Don't use the 0871 number try this one 01256 321300

Hope you get sorted and enjoy your cruise.

Last year we booked and paid our deposit online and the email confirmation told us to pay the balance using the number Rebel Rouser gave. Then a few days before the balance was due I had an email reminder again giving that number.

I just phoned it and gave my debit card number.

Just noticed that you booked direct with Thomson on the phone, so you should have been able to use the same number to pay the balance.

I would pay this today or they could cancel your cruise. If you are worried about the cheque being cashed aswell take your money out of your cheque account and if they tried to cash it (which I don't think they will) it would be returned "insufficient funds".

Why not just go to your bank and cancel the check probably will cost a few but then no worries.

Today, Thomsons rang to say that they haven't accepted cheques in settlement for about four years and they had therefore returned ours to us, only to have the post office return their letter marked "no such address". :confused:

Gave it A little more thought Essexlass2 and looking at your quote above it seems to me very little to worry about .

You say you sent a cheque which would have been crossed AC Payee only

THOMSON HOLIDAYS PLC or somthing like that . Well that is the only company who could cash that cheque ,nobody else can .

They have told you they do not and have not cashed cheques for the last four years .

To them and anyone else it is a worthless piece of paper.:)

Even better they have had it sent back to them as they had "No such Address" . If I was you I would phone up and pay the holiday

on your card and tell them to destroy the cheque with your permission .

Thomson are not going to cash that cheque as they do not accept them .

Try not to worry and have a great holiday Essexlass2 :D.

I paid the deposit with my debit card over the phone when I booked then went onto the website, put in my details it brought our booking up & paid the rest online with the same debit card. Did that with our other cruise a few years ago too. No probs.

Don't use the 0871 number try this one 01256 321300

Hope you get sorted and enjoy your cruise.

Oh bless you, Blossom; thanks for that :)

Last year we booked and paid our deposit online and the email confirmation told us to pay the balance using the number Rebel Rouser gave. Then a few days before the balance was due I had an email reminder again giving that number.

 

I just phoned it and gave my debit card number.

 

Just noticed that you booked direct with Thomson on the phone, so you should have been able to use the same number to pay the balance.

Mmm, wise in hindsight springs to mind, but thanks.

Thanks everyone for your valued advice. It is very much appreciated.

If the cheques are not received in the post by Monday, we will stop them and pay the balance immediately. Its just so annoying and unnecessary, annoying that we didn't notice the (very) small print until skioncruises very kindly pointed it out and unnecessary in that Thomsons could so easily show Methods of Payment alongside the final balance and due date which would avoid all this hassle that we could well do without.

We just hope that the cruise, when the time comes, makes up for it :)

To end this sad and sorry tale - cheque received back this morning (no letter, no compliment slip, no nothing) so rang and paid the final balance with a debit card.

We just hope that our experience will serve to help others, always assuming that we're not the only thickos, of course! :eek:

To end this sad and sorry tale - cheque received back this morning (no letter, no compliment slip, no nothing) so rang and paid the final balance with a debit card.

 

We just hope that our experience will serve to help others, always assuming that we're not the only thickos, of course! :eek:

Glad it's paid and sorted. Don't worry you'll have a fantastic time.:)

To end this sad and sorry tale - cheque received back this morning (no letter, no compliment slip, no nothing) so rang and paid the final balance with a debit card.

 

We just hope that our experience will serve to help others, always assuming that we're not the only thickos, of course! :eek:

The only reason I knew, was that I booked the last 2 cruises at our local Thomson shop, so I could book a cabin. When I went to pay my balance, I called in to ask who to make the cheque payable to and was told that they would only take Building Society cheques, which was lucky as that is where my money was.:)

So another way to pay if you have a BS account.

Now, relax and look forward to a great cruise:)

Lucky you, you're going on a cruise..........I'm working on it!!!

Thanks for your help and kind comments folks. We feel better about it already :)

Thomson customer service leaves a lot to be desired. I paid the balance of my cruise early and I am still waiting on a confirmation and an invoice. I phoned and the person assured me it would be done right away, nothing. This is the first time I have booked a cruise with them and due to their customer service it may be my last.:mad: