Woohoo! They paid up!
It's a relief - I'm not very good at boycotting. Back when I was at school, it was all about boycotting L'Oreal due to their testing of products on animals. It was easy enough until I started dying my hair and found a magnetic pull towards their Feria range. More recently, I've read several articles urging me to boycott Nestle, due to their unethical advertising of formula milk in developing countries, as well as numerous other unethical practices. Much as I agreed with the idea in principle, I was honest with myself from the start - I like Mint Aeros and Nestle Clusters just too much.
I should probably add that I refused to book with British Airways again many years ago, after their air miles turned out to be rather a swizz - we flew to Benidorm with them in 2013 and were very impressed, and we've booked with them again this year!
So was I really going to be able to boycott Thomas Cook forever? If there's anything I like 'just too much', it's got to be holidays. And while we may have been able to get this October's trip to Tenerife for a fraction of the price we'd have paid with Thomas Cook, the same can't usually be said for long-haul destinations. In a couple of years from now, if we found the perfect Caribbean break with Thomas Cook, can I really say I'd have been able to pass it up and pay more to a different company on a point of principle? Hmmmm, I don't think the odds are good. When it comes to holidays (and chocolate), my integrity is sadly lacking.
Still, it doesn't matter. Thomas Cook paid the money they owed me, as I asked. They apologised, as I asked. I have no idea whether they've reviewed their computer systems, as I asked, but they did at least promise me they had sent my email to the relevant departments. Much as I was unimpressed at the inconveniences we experienced, they responded (slowly and with a bit of pushing) as I wanted them to. I am officially allowed to book with Thomas Cook again, if I should so want. Phew!
Tuesday 24 February 2015
Monday 9 February 2015
Seashells Scarborough - Australia Part 1
It's now six months since our Australian adventure, and I'm slightly ashamed that I've not yet put any hotel reviews on here. The worst bit about that is the fact that I've forgotten lots of the finer details, so my reviews won't be quite as helpful as they could have been. (It's been a nice trip down memory lane watching my videos, mind you, and it's reminded me of things I'd otherwise have forgotten.) Anyway, hopefully the reviews will still be useful for anyone considering a trip to Australia, particularly with family, and I plan to upload some more videos and reviews over the coming weeks.
I'll begin with my usual Trip Advisor cut-and-paste review of the Seashells apartments in Scarborough. Scarborough is a small town/village about fifteen minutes away from Perth in Western Australia. The apartments are situated across from the beach, with amazing views, and I can wholeheartedly recommend the three-bedroom Sandcastles apartments for families.
We stayed at Seashells in August 2014, so my memory may be a little hazy on some aspects! We arrived late at night, and had already been given a key code in advance to access our room key from a little box outside reception, which is closed at night. There are plenty of parking spaces opposite the apartments to enable you to visit reception, and we had no trouble finding the apartments or accessing our room package. We were allocated a parking space (possibly two?) in the underground car park, and I believe there was a key or code access to the car park to make it secure. From there, there was a lift up to the apartments. We had booked a superior two-bedroom apartment, but we found out on arrival that we'd been upgraded to a three-bed Sandcastles apartment. I was slightly apprehensive, as I had a feeling that I'd read that the Sandcastles were lower starred than the superior two-bed, but I needn't have worried, as we really couldn't have asked for anything more.
As a Brit, used to fairly cramped hotel rooms, the spaciousness of the apartment was the most striking thing. We had three bedrooms (obviously), which meant the children could have their own rooms. The main bedroom had a large en-suite bathroom with corner jacuzzi bath, while there was another good-sized shower room/toilet nearer the boys' bedrooms. There was a large living/dining area and a reasonable-sized kitchen. Overall, the apartment was bigger than plenty of family homes in the UK. It was also well-equipped - free Wi-Fi, washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher, microwave, TV & DVD player, CD player, safe, iron & ironing board, etc. Toiletries and plenty of towels were included, and extras in the kitchen, such as dishwasher liquid, milk, sugar and salt & pepper, made life easier.
I believe that the apartments are all individually owned, so the decor and level of upkeep differs. I can't speak for the other apartments, but we certainly had no complaints about this one. Yes, if you want to be picky, it is not brand spanking new - there was a crack in the bath and there were the odd chips or marks in the paintwork. But it certainly didn't look shabby and it was all very clean and comfortable, which was good enough for us.
The apartments are located directly opposite a beautiful beach, and the views from the lovely large balcony were amazing. Sadly, because we were there in winter, we couldn't take advantage of the balcony, although I'd imagine it would be lovely to sit out there for breakfast. Similarly, there was an outdoor pool, sauna and BBQ equipment, but it wasn't the weather to be able to use these.
There is not too much to Scarborough itself, but it is only a short drive to Fremantle or Perth city centre. The main attraction of Scarborough is the beautiful beach, but there is also a big supermarket next to the apartments, and several restaurants within easy walking distance (I'd recommend the Wild Fig Café or Grill'd).
The apartments were very quiet - we couldn't hear our neighbours and only rarely heard people walking past the front door. We had to call in at reception the morning after arrival (can't remember why - think we needed to check in properly or something), and they were very friendly. All in all, the apartments felt like a real home-from-home, and would be an excellent base for a long stay in the area. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.
If you'd like a little tour of our apartment, you can watch the YouTube video below. You can also visit my YouTube channel (Holiday Obsessive) for more holiday videos (with more to come soon).
I'll begin with my usual Trip Advisor cut-and-paste review of the Seashells apartments in Scarborough. Scarborough is a small town/village about fifteen minutes away from Perth in Western Australia. The apartments are situated across from the beach, with amazing views, and I can wholeheartedly recommend the three-bedroom Sandcastles apartments for families.
We stayed at Seashells in August 2014, so my memory may be a little hazy on some aspects! We arrived late at night, and had already been given a key code in advance to access our room key from a little box outside reception, which is closed at night. There are plenty of parking spaces opposite the apartments to enable you to visit reception, and we had no trouble finding the apartments or accessing our room package. We were allocated a parking space (possibly two?) in the underground car park, and I believe there was a key or code access to the car park to make it secure. From there, there was a lift up to the apartments. We had booked a superior two-bedroom apartment, but we found out on arrival that we'd been upgraded to a three-bed Sandcastles apartment. I was slightly apprehensive, as I had a feeling that I'd read that the Sandcastles were lower starred than the superior two-bed, but I needn't have worried, as we really couldn't have asked for anything more.
As a Brit, used to fairly cramped hotel rooms, the spaciousness of the apartment was the most striking thing. We had three bedrooms (obviously), which meant the children could have their own rooms. The main bedroom had a large en-suite bathroom with corner jacuzzi bath, while there was another good-sized shower room/toilet nearer the boys' bedrooms. There was a large living/dining area and a reasonable-sized kitchen. Overall, the apartment was bigger than plenty of family homes in the UK. It was also well-equipped - free Wi-Fi, washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher, microwave, TV & DVD player, CD player, safe, iron & ironing board, etc. Toiletries and plenty of towels were included, and extras in the kitchen, such as dishwasher liquid, milk, sugar and salt & pepper, made life easier.
I believe that the apartments are all individually owned, so the decor and level of upkeep differs. I can't speak for the other apartments, but we certainly had no complaints about this one. Yes, if you want to be picky, it is not brand spanking new - there was a crack in the bath and there were the odd chips or marks in the paintwork. But it certainly didn't look shabby and it was all very clean and comfortable, which was good enough for us.
The apartments are located directly opposite a beautiful beach, and the views from the lovely large balcony were amazing. Sadly, because we were there in winter, we couldn't take advantage of the balcony, although I'd imagine it would be lovely to sit out there for breakfast. Similarly, there was an outdoor pool, sauna and BBQ equipment, but it wasn't the weather to be able to use these.
There is not too much to Scarborough itself, but it is only a short drive to Fremantle or Perth city centre. The main attraction of Scarborough is the beautiful beach, but there is also a big supermarket next to the apartments, and several restaurants within easy walking distance (I'd recommend the Wild Fig Café or Grill'd).
The apartments were very quiet - we couldn't hear our neighbours and only rarely heard people walking past the front door. We had to call in at reception the morning after arrival (can't remember why - think we needed to check in properly or something), and they were very friendly. All in all, the apartments felt like a real home-from-home, and would be an excellent base for a long stay in the area. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.
If you'd like a little tour of our apartment, you can watch the YouTube video below. You can also visit my YouTube channel (Holiday Obsessive) for more holiday videos (with more to come soon).
Monday 2 February 2015
Don't accept anything less - persistence pays off (part 2)
So, I gave up on my £50. And soon enough it was time for our holiday. I checked in for our outbound flights online, and seats together were allocated. Then the screen asked me if I'd like to check in for our inbound flights as well. I was a bit surprised, as you normally can't do this until 24/48 hours beforehand. Still, I clicked on 'yes', thinking it would save us time and hassle on holiday - how wrong could I be? My husband and I were allocated seats next to the window. My five-year-old was allocated an aisle seat in the row in front (so not even directly in front of us). And my eight-year-old wasn't allocated a seat at all! I was confused (as you would be) - the seat next to us was showing as available (as most of them were, over a week in advance) so why had they left it empty and put my youngest son in the row in front? And why on earth hadn't they given a seat to my eldest?! I tried to change the seats around, but it was impossible without paying the fee for pre-booking seats - and yes, I would have had to pay simply to put my other son on the plane at all! Eventually, I decided it must have been a computer glitch and left it. When I tried to print our boarding cards for our outbound flights, it printed them in one long line so that they went across sheets of paper, reaffirming my assumption that they were having computer problems (and somewhat defeating the object of checking in online, as we still had to queue at the airport to get some usable boarding cards). And off we went for a lovely week in Tenerife.
The niggling doubt kicked in on the transfer to the airport at the end of our holiday - should we have spoken to our rep about our check-in problem? But surely, as the website had obviously been having problems, it would all be irrelevant? We joined a nice long check-in queue and looked enviously at the almost non-existent queue for people who'd already checked in - maybe we should have tried to check in again from the hotel. At the front of the queue, the lady told us we'd already checked in. I explained what had happened, pointing out that we would never have chosen those seats ourselves and that our eldest son hadn't been checked in at all. She shrugged her shoulders and told us she couldn't change our seats now and the only spare seat for our son was 13 rows back. We were understandably horrified but she told us there was nothing she could do. Now, I appreciate that most of the seats may well have been allocated at that point, and she may have been unable to change the seats of people who'd already gone through into the departure lounge; however, I wish she'd told us that instead of giving us some cock-and-bull story about 85% of people having already checked in online - one glance at the relevant check-in queue told us that was a load of rubbish. Either way, she told us our only option was to ask the cabin crew if they could rearrange people. Cue a rather stressful two hours in the departure lounge, wondering where we were going to end up sitting. Obviously, my husband or I would have sat in the seat 13 rows back rather than our son, but that in itself caused problems because of how we'd organised our hand luggage, not to mention our lunch (it's hard to share with someone not sitting nearby). The bigger problem was how distraught the boys were, knowing that one of them was going to have to sit on their own in the row in front, next to strangers. None of this would have been quite such a problem if the flight had been shorter, but it was over four hours - a long time for a little boy to sit on his own. I would also have accepted it if it had happened simply because we arrived late at the airport and they were the only seats left. But I was pretty angry that we were in this situation due to a fault in Thomas Cook's online check-in system.
Once on the plane, we explained the situation to the cabin crew, who, luckily, were very helpful. They suggested we sit in our allocated seats while they tried to sort it out, and the very nice man sitting next to me offered to swap with our son in front if they couldn't sort it out. Eventually, the cabin crew managed to swap our seats with some people at the back so that we could all sit with my husband. I thanked the people who were moving, and they looked at me blankly. I later found out from my husband that they had been none too keen on moving, asking what was in it for them and saying they'd think about it. Jeez, how about just a warm glow from knowing they'd helped two young boys to sit with their family?!
Well, that's the long and short of our problems with Thomas Cook - nothing dreadful, but something that wasn't our fault and should have been avoidable. Thinking back to the £50 we never received, I decided to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). And this is where I come back to making a reasonable request - what did I actually want? What would be fair? Well, I wanted an apology, because our airport experience had been pretty stressful through no fault of our own, and it hadn't been dealt with very well (cabin crew not included). I wanted them to look at their computer systems - after all, we had had two problems due to their website, and surely we weren't the only ones? And I wanted my £50 - as I had been promised. I didn't ask for £300 or a free holiday to make up for what we'd experienced - after all, it really wasn't that bad and it's important to be realistic (although we'll never know if I'd have got more if I'd asked for it!). I just wanted what I felt we were entitled to. So that's what I asked for. I had to fill in a form on the Thomas Cook website and immediately received a template email letting me know I could expect my problem to be resolved within 28 days.
Several days later, I received an email from someone saying they would be dealing with my case - but first, could I please let them know whether I booked my holiday online or in store. Hmmmm, let me think about this. I went into a store, asked them if I could borrow their computer to book my holiday and didn't think to ask them about the £50 offer that flashed up on the screen. Good to know she'd read my email thoroughly. I replied politely (but still pointed out that it should have been obvious from my original email that I'd booked online). And then I waited. After a month and a half, I emailed again, noting that I could now add 'not dealing with complaints effectively' to my list of grievances - 28 days my foot. Finally, 2 months after her last correspondence, and just as I was considering Facebook or Twitter as a more public way to get a response, I received an email from the same lady. She apologised for taking so long to reply, but she had been waiting on a response from her manager - okay, thanks for the apology, but an interim email to explain might have been nice - 2 months with nothing?! She also apologised for the stress we'd experienced at the airport but pointed out they can't guarantee seats unless we pay to pre-book - okay, thanks for the apology again, but she's kind of missing the point. The seat issue was down to a computer problem and not our failure to pre-book (not to mention, in over 20 years of flying, I've never once paid to pre-book and I've never had a problem). Finally, she was very happy to send me a £50 holiday voucher as a full and final settlement.
Hold on a minute? A £50 voucher? That's not the same as £50 in currency! The voucher assumes that I'm actually going to book a Thomas Cook holiday again; if I don't, I lose my £50 and if I do, Thomas Cook gains the money I wouldn't have otherwise spent. Who's the winner here? And, let's be honest, £50 doesn't go a long way towards the cost of a holiday - given that they regularly offer £100 or even £150 off the price of a holiday if you book on a specific weekend, I didn't exactly feel sufficiently compensated. (I could add here that we've booked to go to the same hotel this October - we've booked directly with the hotel, which entitles us to a taxi transfer to/from the airport, and we've booked flights with BA, saving us approximately £1,000 in comparison to the same holiday with Thomas Cook - but that's another issue...) As a final insult, no voucher was attached to the email and, as over a week has since passed, I assume no voucher was put in the post, either. This was the point last week at which I was going to publicise my Thomas Cook battle, perhaps putting a link to my blog on their Facebook page. Still, in the meantime, I wrote back, explaining exactly why I didn't consider a voucher to be a full and final settlement in any way. And within literally five minutes, I got a grovelling email back, apologising profusely and asking for my details so that they could transfer the £50 to my bank account.
So what's the moral to this? Persistence is key - I suspect they'd hoped I would have simply settled for the voucher I was offered, and lots of people probably would have. Hey, if I'd intended to book a Thomas Cook holiday, I might have settled too. But I think it's important to have realistic and fair expectations, state them clearly and don't accept anything less. £50 isn't a fortune, but it's what I asked for, and I'm happy. Mind you, I'm still waiting for it to go into my account, so there may still be a Part 3 to this story...!
The niggling doubt kicked in on the transfer to the airport at the end of our holiday - should we have spoken to our rep about our check-in problem? But surely, as the website had obviously been having problems, it would all be irrelevant? We joined a nice long check-in queue and looked enviously at the almost non-existent queue for people who'd already checked in - maybe we should have tried to check in again from the hotel. At the front of the queue, the lady told us we'd already checked in. I explained what had happened, pointing out that we would never have chosen those seats ourselves and that our eldest son hadn't been checked in at all. She shrugged her shoulders and told us she couldn't change our seats now and the only spare seat for our son was 13 rows back. We were understandably horrified but she told us there was nothing she could do. Now, I appreciate that most of the seats may well have been allocated at that point, and she may have been unable to change the seats of people who'd already gone through into the departure lounge; however, I wish she'd told us that instead of giving us some cock-and-bull story about 85% of people having already checked in online - one glance at the relevant check-in queue told us that was a load of rubbish. Either way, she told us our only option was to ask the cabin crew if they could rearrange people. Cue a rather stressful two hours in the departure lounge, wondering where we were going to end up sitting. Obviously, my husband or I would have sat in the seat 13 rows back rather than our son, but that in itself caused problems because of how we'd organised our hand luggage, not to mention our lunch (it's hard to share with someone not sitting nearby). The bigger problem was how distraught the boys were, knowing that one of them was going to have to sit on their own in the row in front, next to strangers. None of this would have been quite such a problem if the flight had been shorter, but it was over four hours - a long time for a little boy to sit on his own. I would also have accepted it if it had happened simply because we arrived late at the airport and they were the only seats left. But I was pretty angry that we were in this situation due to a fault in Thomas Cook's online check-in system.
Once on the plane, we explained the situation to the cabin crew, who, luckily, were very helpful. They suggested we sit in our allocated seats while they tried to sort it out, and the very nice man sitting next to me offered to swap with our son in front if they couldn't sort it out. Eventually, the cabin crew managed to swap our seats with some people at the back so that we could all sit with my husband. I thanked the people who were moving, and they looked at me blankly. I later found out from my husband that they had been none too keen on moving, asking what was in it for them and saying they'd think about it. Jeez, how about just a warm glow from knowing they'd helped two young boys to sit with their family?!
Well, that's the long and short of our problems with Thomas Cook - nothing dreadful, but something that wasn't our fault and should have been avoidable. Thinking back to the £50 we never received, I decided to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). And this is where I come back to making a reasonable request - what did I actually want? What would be fair? Well, I wanted an apology, because our airport experience had been pretty stressful through no fault of our own, and it hadn't been dealt with very well (cabin crew not included). I wanted them to look at their computer systems - after all, we had had two problems due to their website, and surely we weren't the only ones? And I wanted my £50 - as I had been promised. I didn't ask for £300 or a free holiday to make up for what we'd experienced - after all, it really wasn't that bad and it's important to be realistic (although we'll never know if I'd have got more if I'd asked for it!). I just wanted what I felt we were entitled to. So that's what I asked for. I had to fill in a form on the Thomas Cook website and immediately received a template email letting me know I could expect my problem to be resolved within 28 days.
Several days later, I received an email from someone saying they would be dealing with my case - but first, could I please let them know whether I booked my holiday online or in store. Hmmmm, let me think about this. I went into a store, asked them if I could borrow their computer to book my holiday and didn't think to ask them about the £50 offer that flashed up on the screen. Good to know she'd read my email thoroughly. I replied politely (but still pointed out that it should have been obvious from my original email that I'd booked online). And then I waited. After a month and a half, I emailed again, noting that I could now add 'not dealing with complaints effectively' to my list of grievances - 28 days my foot. Finally, 2 months after her last correspondence, and just as I was considering Facebook or Twitter as a more public way to get a response, I received an email from the same lady. She apologised for taking so long to reply, but she had been waiting on a response from her manager - okay, thanks for the apology, but an interim email to explain might have been nice - 2 months with nothing?! She also apologised for the stress we'd experienced at the airport but pointed out they can't guarantee seats unless we pay to pre-book - okay, thanks for the apology again, but she's kind of missing the point. The seat issue was down to a computer problem and not our failure to pre-book (not to mention, in over 20 years of flying, I've never once paid to pre-book and I've never had a problem). Finally, she was very happy to send me a £50 holiday voucher as a full and final settlement.
Hold on a minute? A £50 voucher? That's not the same as £50 in currency! The voucher assumes that I'm actually going to book a Thomas Cook holiday again; if I don't, I lose my £50 and if I do, Thomas Cook gains the money I wouldn't have otherwise spent. Who's the winner here? And, let's be honest, £50 doesn't go a long way towards the cost of a holiday - given that they regularly offer £100 or even £150 off the price of a holiday if you book on a specific weekend, I didn't exactly feel sufficiently compensated. (I could add here that we've booked to go to the same hotel this October - we've booked directly with the hotel, which entitles us to a taxi transfer to/from the airport, and we've booked flights with BA, saving us approximately £1,000 in comparison to the same holiday with Thomas Cook - but that's another issue...) As a final insult, no voucher was attached to the email and, as over a week has since passed, I assume no voucher was put in the post, either. This was the point last week at which I was going to publicise my Thomas Cook battle, perhaps putting a link to my blog on their Facebook page. Still, in the meantime, I wrote back, explaining exactly why I didn't consider a voucher to be a full and final settlement in any way. And within literally five minutes, I got a grovelling email back, apologising profusely and asking for my details so that they could transfer the £50 to my bank account.
So what's the moral to this? Persistence is key - I suspect they'd hoped I would have simply settled for the voucher I was offered, and lots of people probably would have. Hey, if I'd intended to book a Thomas Cook holiday, I might have settled too. But I think it's important to have realistic and fair expectations, state them clearly and don't accept anything less. £50 isn't a fortune, but it's what I asked for, and I'm happy. Mind you, I'm still waiting for it to go into my account, so there may still be a Part 3 to this story...!
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