In January four of us were booked on a week’s holiday at the Rubicon Palace in Lanzarote. Four days before departure I received an email from the travel operator, First Choice, informing me there was upgrade work at the hotel and assuring me that this would not affect our stay.
When we arrived, however, parts of the complex resembled a construction site. One of our party was a builder who said that in Britain nobody would be allowed within 100 metres of this type of work.
The main bar was shut, the pool area was being tiled and pneumatic drills roared all day. We complained and First Choice agreed to pay us £1,000 in compensation. On our return I received an email confirming the cheque would be sent shortly.
More than a month later an email asked me to confirm I had received it. I hadn’t. After another three weeks I was phoned and told the cheque had been cancelled and a replacement reissued. More weeks passed and this didn’t arrive either. I rang and was told it had been posted that very day. No sign of it. When I rang again I was kept on the phone for an hour while they discovered it hadn’t been sent.
I have subsequently sent two emails and received not a word in reply. I am staggered by this organisational incompetence. MA, Nottingham
First Choice is part of Thomson, which has been criticised before over its record on compensating holidaymakers for delayed flights.
It would seem from your case that it’s not too keen on parting with its money for spoiled idylls either. It claims that it did originally send a cheque to you, which may well be the case. The trouble is it didn’t arrive and no attempts seem to have been made to reissue it.
Thomson skirts over this aspect of its customer service and hastens to send the money, along with an extra £50 goodwill gesture, when it discovers free publicity is pending.
If you need help email Anna Tims at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number.
