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Date

13/11/2003

Complaint

entered by

d.h.s

Hotel RIU Atlantico

Holiday to the

Costa de la Luz

Hotel RIU Atlantico

I have just returned from a week’s holiday to the Hotel RIU Atlantico on the Costa de la Luz in Spain.

The holiday was chosen from the Winter 2003/2004 brochure and is part of Thomson’s Platinum holidays.

Based on the information given in the brochure I choose to pay a rather steep supplement of £ 140.00 for a seaview room as, so the brochure said, all sea view rooms also overlook the pool area. In line with the usual location of pools I deduced that the rooms/balconies would be protected from the winds and have most of the sunshine during the day.

My assumption was absolutely correct. All rooms overlooking the pool area also overlooked the sea, the pool area was protected from the cold November winds and all the balconies and rooms enjoyed sunshine from morning till sunset.

Regretfully, our room [ 4024 ] was on the other side. It did not overlook the sea or the pool area, it had no sunshine whatsoever and it was exposed to the cold November winds.

When we arrived at the hotel, the receptionist was adamant that Thomson had only booked a standard room for us but they reluctantly agreed to give us a ‘sea view’ room which turned out to overlook the muddy river estuary and the rather dreary fishing town of Isla Christina. The room was small and poky and, as it never saw the sun, it was always dark and dreary. Regardless of the time of day we had to switch on the lights and it only consisted of two beds and two chairs which would have made it impossible to sleep a third person, yet our confirmation stated clearly ‘Twin room (sleeps 2 -3 people) and sea view ‘

All fellow guests on the same floor with the same view only had booked a standard room and we were the only hotel guests on this side of the hotel who had paid the extra charge for a sea view room.

To crown it all we had to endure the never ending noise of the diesel fishing boats leaving the port of Isla Christina every night from midnight onwards till the early hours in the morning.

On the day of arrival no Thomson representative could be found to complain and we missed the courier the next day when the ‘Welcome Meeting’ had been brought forward one hour from 11.00am to 10.00am without anyone telling us.

Not getting what we booked and paid for totally spoiled our holiday.

Thomson replied promptly with a standard letter promising to write back within 28 days, 'once all the necessary information had been gathered' and they came back on the 8th December with a reply which makes you wonder why you even bothered to complain. It is obvious from their reply that they don't even read the complaints properly and that they deliberately use standard phraseology which is designed to throw your towel and just give up. It was a rather long and rambling letter which in the end said absolutely nothing and, for this very reason, we are going to publish this letter in full just to show what you can expect from complaining to a tour operator. -

For ease of reference we have highlighted the parts of this letter which are totally inaccurate

Thank you for your letter regarding your Platinum holiday to Costa De La Luz. I was sorry to learn that you were disappointed with aspects of your Thomson holiday experience.
I understand that you were allocated the incorrect room type on arrival at the Hotel Riu Atlantico. When you make your holiday hooking our reservation system will automatically show the room type which has been allocated, and this information is then printed on your holiday invoice and travel documents. Most importantly, the same details are transmitted to a rooming list which is given to the owner or manager of your accommodation before you arrive in resort.
If you have received the wrong room, the reception staff or owner will do everything possible to ensure that you are moved to the correct room, or are happy with the alternative offered. I am pleased that you were provided with the correct room type when the matter was reported.
I was sorry to learn that you were unhappy about the size of your room. Though room sizes can vary a bit from hotel to hotel, we certainly book all rooms on the basis that they can accommodate up to three people. It is usually possible to add a third bed in the rooms we book, but of course it makes the space a bit tighter. These extra beds will often be the collapsible kind, so that rooms can be easily adapted to different numbers of guests. I do hope this helps explain things for you.
I note that you were disappointed with the sea view you were allocated. I would like to take this opportunity to explain that the paying of a supplement guarantees that this facility will be provided.
The rep service we offer is designed to be there whenever and wherever you need it. We know that many guests prefer to make their independent arrangements, but our reps are trained to be available when support or advice is required. This is also one of the reasons we set up the 24 hour holiday line in your resort. I know from the feedback we’ve received recently that this is very much appreciated, but it’s clear from your own comments that you feel rather let down about the overall service you received on this occasion.
Finally, I would like to thank you for taking the time to write to us. I do hope that we have the opportunity to welcome you on another Thomson holiday in the near future.
Yours sincerely

Claire Birch
Customer Service Adviser

Update 10/12/03

Our reply to this was rather short and to the point. We repeated our previously claim that we did not get what we paid for and that we were now demanding the return of the supplement for the sea view room within the next 10 days.

Failing this will ask the County Court to issue a Default Summons for the amount involved together with reasonable costs incurred to-date.

Update 04/01/04

Thomson have not had the common courtesy to reply to the above letter and, therefore, we have now completed a Default Summons in the County Court for the value of the 'sea view' charge + reasonable costs for the letters we had to write and, of course, the court costs. We have given them a further 14 days to refund the supplement charge and we have sent a copy of the summons to their Customer Service Department and their Legal Department.

We will not write to Thomson again and Court proceeding will commence without any further notice if the amount we have claimed has not been received upon expiry of the given period.

Update 19/01/04

Thomson never paid and never replied and court proceeding for the recovery of the 'sea view' supplement have now commenced. We have told Thomson that we look forward meeting them in court and we will publish the outcome of the court proceedings in due course.

Update 22/01/04

Today, believe it or not, Thomson have replied and enclosed a cheque for £ 140.00 in repayment of the supplementary charge for the sea view room. They fully accepted that what we got was not what we paid for and they apologised that this was not done on the first occasion. Regretfully, they missed their deadline and court proceeding have now commenced for a total amount of £ 230.00, which is made up of supplementary charge £140.00 + expenses to-date £60.00 and court costs of £ 30.00. This now leaves an amount of £90.00 which will have to be paid by Thomson for failing to deal with this justified complaint earlier and on time. After all, the first letter requesting the repayment of the supplementary charge was sent to them on the 13th November 2003, well over two month ago and with the exception of the above letter Thomson had not found it necessary or courteous to reply to any subsequent letters. We will close this web page upon receipt of the remaining amount.

Update 22/01/04

In their letter dated 14th January Thomson wrote 'I believe that your view was of the muddy estuary and I fully appreciate that this is not what you paid for. I have no hesitation in refunding this cost to you and would like to apologise that this was not done on the first occasion.'

We took this as their confirmation that they accepted that our claim was genuine and correct and, therefore, we must admit our utter surprise that they have now acknowledged the summons to the court and told the court that they 'intend to defend all of our claim'. So lets wait and see what they got to say, it should be quite interesting!

Update 19/02/04

They never defended the claim and today sent another cheque for £90.00 in full and final settlement of our claim.

Although the final outcome is satisfactory it just shows to what length these companies go to avoid settling genuine claims.

They are fully aware that most people who complain will not pursue this matter and simply give up when they get no reply

Complaint Status: closed	Respond Time :	extremely slow
	Overall Efficiency:	very poor
	Final Outcome :	satisfactory

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