Something Very Fishy Going On....***UPDATED TODAY***

[sara969]

Right here it goes......

Well basically we have booked our holiday with THOMAS COOK DIRECT
To go to DLP this NOVEMBER 2008 (10th Nov, start of Xmas Season)
We are staying 4 nights 5 days in the Dream Castle Hotel and have booked Wild West show as an extra on our holiday.

Most of you will know that we chose the week days as we were told weekends are very busy.
BUT we didnt realise that Last Year DLP only put the Fantillusion Parade on at weekends.

So we have been calling Thomas Cook Direct to help us either add on a extra day for our holiday OR ammend our holiday by......

instead of going on:
Monday & coming back on Friday
to go on:
Tuesday and come back on Saturday

But they are going to charge the earth to add an extra night and to ammend so either way its a NO NO

So i just phoned Booking & Information the number on the DLRP MAGIC WEBSITE United Kingdom: 08705 03 03 03

I wanted to ask if she had any info on the fantullsion Parade this year....
So i explained my story to her and basically she was
COMPLETELY SHOCKED
She said that the brosure and prices havnt even come out yet for November time and how have i managed to book for November???
They are not even booking for November and she said the prices are not out until MAY

She said ''if i were you madam i would call Thomas Cook Direct back and ask them how they got there prices? And how they managed to book you a package for Nov 2008 as we are not even booking customers for that time yet, they are obviously doing something wrong''

She said that she can not tell me about the parade until May when the brosure comes out....

I admit that we are staying at the DREAM CASTLE HOTEL (NOT a Disney Hotel)
BUT ..... Thomas Cook are also selling packages in the Disney Hotels as we were originally going for Hotel New York BUT refused when they priced it as Dream Castle Hotel was cheaper!
Also they have sold us Buffolo Bill Wild West Show Tickets and the lady said she dosnt know how they have done that either!

What do you all make of this???
I am worried now that we have been ripped off.
How can Thomas Cook Direct price our holiday if the prices and offers are NOT even out until MAY????

 

[A Small World]

Ive just checked the official brochure and you're right the prices in that only go up to 6th Nov.
I would say TC have just quoted the price they think it will be (going by this yrs prices) and you could either gain by paying less than what it will be (in which case TC lose out) or you could lose out by either being asked to pay more or if prices are lower than TC have estimated.

TC obviously havent booked you into Disney yet but will do so as soon as room are made available to them- I would say they are probably given so many rooms as soon as available and up to them how they distribute them.

I would go to TC and tell them what you've been told and query it

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

I would ring up Thomas cook and ask them to explain themselves.

I did find it rather strange that they could book Nov onward dates when Disney dont even have them avaliable for people to book yet.

 

[Cyrano]

Good luck getting this sorted out

 

[poppyolivia]

oh no the exact (well near enough) thing happened the 2nd time we went, we booked with phone and fly for January...we booked it in April....but I was happy with the price...same holiday as this year but £200 cheaper!! Think this might be something to do with my sons age though as he is 2 now??

good luck..I don't think it should be allowed and at the time we didn't know the prices were not out.

 

[sara969]

Right after being on the phone for 20 mins

The woman was unable to explain this....

I told her '' i want an answer on where you got your prices from when booking my holiday as the prices are NOT even out yet until May'''

She replies.... '' well obviusly we were able to book it as we have booked it for you''

I said '' where are your prices from, Disney Direct are NOT even selling holidays at this time as the brosure with Prices are NOT out yet, i could be loosing out because the prices could come out in May with offers and i dont know where my prices have been quoted from ''

She says: ''well i guess the prices are from us mrs lewis''

I said ''well that cant be right as the disney direct said that NO ONE are meant to be selling these dates until the new prices come out in May''

She said '' i will phone you back as im going to phone head office to answer your question''

So we will see....... (bet she wont even phone back)

TC direct have terrible customer service! I noticed this a while back after i booked the holiday!

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so angry!

its a 0870 number and ive had to call them so many times cus they cant do there job properly, im scared about this months phone bill will be

 

[jillrobinson]

Just wondering as the holiday is such a long way off would you lose less money if you cancelled the whole thing and started again with new dates. You may even save a few pounds by booking everything seperately, I know in 2006 when I compared a few different Tour Operators TC's were the most expensive.

 

[sara969]

the ONLY reason we have booked our holiday with THOMAS COOK DIRECT....

Is because my husband gets BONUS BOND VOUCHERS as part of a bonus scheme at work, when he gets a certain amount of upgrades on insurance policies at work.

And we thought we would collect them this year and save to go to DLP....
As we probably wouldnt have been able to afford to go without collecting these vouchers..

Thomas Cook Direct are the only people who take these bonus bond voucher

Otherwise we would have booked with Disney Direct

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

I hope they ring you back and explain and give you some good answer.

 

[sara969]

WAS SOOOOO LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS HOLIDAY....

THEY BETTER GIVE ME SOMETHING GOOD OUT OF THIS....

UMMMMMM PERHAPS AN EXTRA DAY THERE FOR FREE
Then we wont miss the Fantulision parade after all....

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

WAS SOOOOO LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS HOLIDAY....

THEY BETTER GIVE ME SOMETHING GOOD OUT OF THIS....

UMMMMMM PERHAPS AN EXTRA DAY THERE FOR FREE
Then we wont miss the Fantulision parade after all....

Ask, they might do, you never know!

 

[rylisal]

Hi Sara
Sorry to hear you're having probs...just wanted to say hope you get it sorted & to let you know we've just returned from Dream Castle & its LOVELY..A great Hotel to stay in & only 5 mins from DLP!
I'v done a trippy iif you'd like to look at some pics!
Good Luck!
Sally x

 

[sara969]

Well shes phoned back and she said that the prices are guided on LAST YEARS prices....

I said '' thats not fair as nobody told me this before booking, i wasnt aware of this AND i shall be very cross if there are any special offers in May that i have missed out on''

She said she cant give me an extra night for free they will charge an extra £145 for the the difference of price of the holiday for the extra day.

OR

£90 to ammend the holiday by one day

So i asked her

'' cant you wave the ammendment fee because of what i have been through''

1) before i booked holiday i called 4 times and each time the person qouted me something different

2) Customer service very poor, eg... few occasions person promised to call back with my inquirey and never did so cost me a fortune in phone call to chase you up

3) Called up once and person said i will put you on hold and never came back to the phone

4) Now finding out that my holiday price is based on last years price before the actual real prices come out in May and NOT explaining this to me before i booked my holiday

5) Before booking my holiday i was rushed and pressured to put down my deposit to book the holiday as i was told there are not many spaces left during the 10th - 14th Nov

was told 2 rooms in DREAM CASTLE left, 2 Rooms in Hotel New York

Which was lies as obviously there are lots of places left and if i had known this then i would have waited until MAY TO BOOK

She said she will have to ask management if the ammendment fee can be waved and she will call back either tonight or tomorrow....

SO WE SHALL SEE

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

Well i think on the whole basis they should do honor it for free or something esp for not informing you prices were based on last year.

 

[sara969]

Well i think on the whole basis they should do honor it for free or something esp for not informing you prices were based on last year.

Thats what i think, im very cross especially because ive been made to believe that Xmas season was very busy and thisis why i rushed my booking thinking i had to rush for a place
I asked her who i can complain too and she said ''go on our website and send and email''

But thats not good enough really as im sure they wont even bother to reply to a Email

I dont know what to do next really!!!

 

[sara969]

Hi Sara
Sorry to hear you're having probs...just wanted to say hope you get it sorted & to let you know we've just returned from Dream Castle & its LOVELY..A great Hotel to stay in & only 5 mins from DLP!
I'v done a trippy iif you'd like to look at some pics!
Good Luck!
Sally x

Thanks Sally, Glad you had a FAB time
Im so happy the Hotel is nice
How can i get to your thread with your pics etc...
Sorry im new to all this

 

[daisybeetlebug]

hope you get this sorted-just to say though-its possible you weren't lied too that there were only 2 rooms left at HNY or dream castle-it maybe that there were only 2 Thomas cook allocated rooms left and that was all her availability was showing you.
I would guess that you probably have gained by booking at last years prices rather than losing out-although it is frustrating for you that Thomas Cooks ammendments fees are so high.
Hope you get it all sorted -we normally visit in summer would love to go at xmas time-me and my 2 children have xmas birthdays but DH always worries about the weather-need to convince him!!

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

Maybe you can ask her for the Head Office number and then phone up and speak to someone higher up, or phone back Thomas Cook and ask to speak to a manager. YOU shouldnt have to be waiting to be called back, they should be sorting it out NOW.

I hope they sort it out hun xxx

 

[sara969]

Ive just complained via Email so will let you know if they bother to respond!

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

What did you say to them.
Take it they havent called you back yet?