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We booked 2 weeks in Mexico for 10th January 2012, staying at the El Dorado Royale. This was advertised in the brochure as 5 star luxurious accommadation with ultimate gourmet a la carte dining and personalised conceirge service, where nothing was too much trouble to make your stay the best possible holiday you could have.
What a load of rubbish this was.
on arrival we were expected to stay in a damp and mould infested room with damp on the walls. Everything in the room was damp. The service was terrible and whatever you asked for was just ignored. The food was poor, it was just cold and you could not change what was on the menu because it would still be delivered as it was on the menu. Every time you wanted something you had to spend 2 hours trying to get food.
I asked the holiday advisor about a room change and were offered a very old damp room that smelt of urine as well as damp. The First Choice advisor was also very homophobic and despite trying to resolve the problems in resort, we could not as she just didnt want to do anything to help us because we were a gay couple and this she made very clear in what she said to us.
Three months of trying to resolve this with First choice now back home and they refuse to acknowledge the advisor was homophobic and think that their offer of £200 in cash or £300 in a voucher is acceptable. Trading standards have been trying to resolve this with them but their legal team are just not responding to them. The information we requested and sent the fee to get, they claim they never recieved despite having proof that it was delivered but again they refuse to admit they have had it. First choice are a total disgrace and we will never be using them again after this. Our special holiday was ruined by them and they do not even care. This company just treaats you very poor and lies to you all the time to get out of paying compensation for their failings. I asked them where does it say in their brochure that their hotels may have mould and damp in the rooms and there food be cold and poor. They answered with why would we say that in the brochure, that would stop us getting any bookings. Why do they get away with treating the customers this way?
I see a £50 holiday voucher is the regular insult they send to customers who have been treated so disgustingly then?
We travelled with our 5 year old daughter and 6 month old son to Rhodes in Septemebr we booked a 2 bed apartment in a 4* hotel and were met by a night porter who was asleep and ranted at US for waking him up! He then checked us in to a room that contained a cat and cat mess. It took us half an hour for him to give us an alternative room.
All seemed to be going swimmingly until the folowing evening when i placed my son on our daughters bed to change him into his sleeping grow. The beds were covered in ants and 3 crawled across my baby. I rang reception, who sent the hotel amanager and his assistant up. They told us we were full and would have to move as no more rooms. A rep then came to the room and refused to move us, saying first choice was too large - and would see that as satisfactory so we would have to pay to move. I asked her to call her manager as was disgusted with the response she then shouted and swore at me, and storned out of the apartment.
I rang the UK helpline to lodge an official complaint as was tols i would be moved if i paid an admin fee of 50 euros, to which reluctantly we agreed. The phonecall she promised never occured, several phonecalls later and i was told by someone else that i was not allowed to move and had been aggressive and abusive to the rep (i could not believe my ears) this had now gone up to nearly 500 euros to move across the car park, but i would have to wait for confirmation from reservations. Again phonecall never came! We tried to call in the morning but the Reception had blocked our phone, they told us to leave, get out of the hotel and we were unable to get hold of first choice for help. We found somehwere else to stay as they refused to call us back, just as we were leaving the room Thomsons called us and said we had to pay 900 euros to ove to yet another hotel!!! We ended up paying 750 euros and moved ourselves as couldn't afford this! We rang the UK TRAVEL AGENTS (FIRSTC CHOICE) distressed and they were appalled!
We sent a letter of complaint, they replied saying they'd resoond in 28 days, they never did. We have now recieved a letter from them, doesn't addrress any points - so we phoned them and have recieved another response. This time stating that looking at the call log (as apparently they don't record calls to a hlepline!?), we were offered another rooms (first letter states our accommodation was of standard so they didn't need to move us!), that i went to reception to complain and refused to let them come and investigate.
There is much more to this htey chased my partner across the car park when she was pregnant, swearing and shouting to leave adn they were calling the police.
However Last Choice would rather rely on a statment from the hotel which states my partner was abusive, aggressive and out of control.
It's absurd how they can treat a family like this and think they can get away with it.
We have sent another let refuting their 'facts / logs' and that we will be logging this with Abta or taking it to County Court.
If anyone is travelling by First Choice on the 28th Jan 2010,to Florida from Manchester do you know your flight has been changed,this flight is no longer going and the choice is the Monday 25th or 1st Feb at an extra cost to you.I was told this over 3 weeks ago and am still waiting for official confirmation that my holiday has been changed.I can not book another holiday because untill I recieve this confirmation my hands are tied and am unable to cancel my holiday and book it with anyone else,have been told it will take up to two weeks for me to get my deposit back,once theyve recieved my cancellation notice.How many other people going on holiday this date still don't know there holiday date has been changed,I only found out by accident.Why should I have to wait for my deposit back, they were quick enough to take my deposit out.
first choice holidays should be called last choice holidays .
3 months ago we booked our honeymoon with them to go to cozumel a small island off mexico .we realise and can appreciate that they couldn`t have predicted the outbreak of H1N1(swine flu) and have no control over it , but it is now less than 4 days before we are supposed to be flying and have first choice contacted us even once ? have they e mailed ? have they even advised us as to whether or not our flight has been cancelled along with all the others ? have they answered any of our phone calls / or called us back after they had promised? or even replied to over 10 e mails sent in sheer desperation to find out what is going on ?
In short , no to all above!!
So here we are 4 days before our dream honeymoon , time off work pre booked , taxi booked , dogs booked into kennels and still no word , nothing what so ever from first choice .
Of course we totally except that even though there have been no cases of H1N1 on the island of cozumel that if they cancel our flights due to W.H.O advise then so be it . But to not even be informed out of pure courtesey is just rude .
There so called `help lines` and we use that term loosely for mexico travellers supposedly give you direct access to dedicated staff regards the current situation , over 8 times since the flu out break a month ago we have called these numbers to no avail. We have to date spent almost 30.00 listening to the same damn song on hold on these `special` lines . when we have finally got through they have promised to call us back straight away due to lack of remaining phone credit and here we are again at this very moment waiting for the mono toned woman to call back after being on hold for yet another 15 frustrating minutes ,and have now been waiting for the return call for over an hour.
last choice holidays know full well that flights going on 23rd may have now been cancelled as this is only days away .These money grabbing companies are very willing to hold onto your cash or to transfer to a dearer alternative holiday but are most reluctant to give you it back !!!
How much (I know interest rates are low at the moment but thats not the point)is this huge company making on everybodies thousands of pounds holiday money they are holding til the death !!!
These so called emergency help lines for people travelling to mexico are not free phone !!!
Why on earth aren`t they ???? we didn`t wish to have to call them before our dream honeymoon, asfar as we were concerned it was all done and dusted , let alone call them over 10 times and still no news .
Can`t they understand how frustrating it is only days before you are due to go on honeymoon to still not know whether you are able to go!!!
Can`t rearrange time off work , don`t know whether to cancel the taxi /kennels etc, and can`t even cancel the insurance you have paid for all because you just don`t know .
unyet first choice holidays deem this as fair !!! keeping people in the dark and holding onto their hard earned money until the last second , as they realise that as people have booked the specific time off the longer they keep hold of their monies and keep them in the dark the much higher the chance that these poor customers desperate for a holiday to get away from bleak britain will swap for an alternative destination to just about anywhere as by this last hour they have almost been driven insane with the `not knowing` scenario!!!!!
We will never again book a holiday of any kind with first choice holidays or there partners in crime thomson holidays !!!!
As we wait with baited breath for some sort of response/acknowledgement/return e mail or any sort of correspondance from them , our hearts go out for the poor people who have booked to get married in Mexico as for them the not knowing and lack of decency must be unbearable!!!!!
I took my wife and three year old son to Orlando, Florida Feb/Mar 2009. We paid extra to stay in the Enclave Suite described a 3 plus star in their brochures. This turned out to be less than a two star! Poor facilities! Poor decoration! Poor cleaning of the rooms! Only plus was location.
The flight was poor, small planes; plane had never been cleaned or maintained properly. Rubbish between the seats, blue seat full of dirt (needed good soap & water!) screen buttons had faded and not visible! Remote did not work! Attendant button on for hours and nobody come! Rude staff! No free drinks! You have to pay for everything! TV/movies cost £5.00; even headsets were not free and cost £2.50 each! The worst food I ever had! No option on food! No veg option. Food consisted of sausage and mash! As I don’t eat pork this was no good to me, I asked for chicken or beef but was told there was no food available! some, my wife and child were gone hungry on the flight of 9 hours! All we had was a drink and chocolate that we purchased earlier in the flight!
Car hire was a joke! Even it was prepaid, they always try to upgrade you to the top luxury car even if you don’t need it!! I had to pay an extra $389.00 on top the £280.00 I had already paid first choice! As they claimed they had no other cars available!! And after a nine hour flight, I didn’t have the energy to argue!
On return journey was worse! To top it all up my wife and child were stuck in the hotel lift until 2am on the day we had to fly back!
I don’t recommend using First Choice at all!! Prior to this trip I used expedia.co.uk, last year and although they are more expensive, I had no complaints with them. Car was perfect, hotel was perfect!
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Visitors to the site are reminded that the details contained within user comments are uncorroborated and as such should not be read as fact but as the opinion of the person who left the comment.
Comments:
What a load of rubbish this was.
on arrival we were expected to stay in a damp and mould infested room with damp on the walls. Everything in the room was damp. The service was terrible and whatever you asked for was just ignored. The food was poor, it was just cold and you could not change what was on the menu because it would still be delivered as it was on the menu. Every time you wanted something you had to spend 2 hours trying to get food.
I asked the holiday advisor about a room change and were offered a very old damp room that smelt of urine as well as damp. The First Choice advisor was also very homophobic and despite trying to resolve the problems in resort, we could not as she just didnt want to do anything to help us because we were a gay couple and this she made very clear in what she said to us.
Three months of trying to resolve this with First choice now back home and they refuse to acknowledge the advisor was homophobic and think that their offer of £200 in cash or £300 in a voucher is acceptable. Trading standards have been trying to resolve this with them but their legal team are just not responding to them. The information we requested and sent the fee to get, they claim they never recieved despite having proof that it was delivered but again they refuse to admit they have had it. First choice are a total disgrace and we will never be using them again after this. Our special holiday was ruined by them and they do not even care. This company just treaats you very poor and lies to you all the time to get out of paying compensation for their failings. I asked them where does it say in their brochure that their hotels may have mould and damp in the rooms and there food be cold and poor. They answered with why would we say that in the brochure, that would stop us getting any bookings. Why do they get away with treating the customers this way?
We travelled with our 5 year old daughter and 6 month old son to Rhodes in Septemebr we booked a 2 bed apartment in a 4* hotel and were met by a night porter who was asleep and ranted at US for waking him up! He then checked us in to a room that contained a cat and cat mess. It took us half an hour for him to give us an alternative room.
All seemed to be going swimmingly until the folowing evening when i placed my son on our daughters bed to change him into his sleeping grow. The beds were covered in ants and 3 crawled across my baby. I rang reception, who sent the hotel amanager and his assistant up. They told us we were full and would have to move as no more rooms. A rep then came to the room and refused to move us, saying first choice was too large - and would see that as satisfactory so we would have to pay to move. I asked her to call her manager as was disgusted with the response she then shouted and swore at me, and storned out of the apartment.
I rang the UK helpline to lodge an official complaint as was tols i would be moved if i paid an admin fee of 50 euros, to which reluctantly we agreed. The phonecall she promised never occured, several phonecalls later and i was told by someone else that i was not allowed to move and had been aggressive and abusive to the rep (i could not believe my ears) this had now gone up to nearly 500 euros to move across the car park, but i would have to wait for confirmation from reservations. Again phonecall never came! We tried to call in the morning but the Reception had blocked our phone, they told us to leave, get out of the hotel and we were unable to get hold of first choice for help. We found somehwere else to stay as they refused to call us back, just as we were leaving the room Thomsons called us and said we had to pay 900 euros to ove to yet another hotel!!! We ended up paying 750 euros and moved ourselves as couldn't afford this! We rang the UK TRAVEL AGENTS (FIRSTC CHOICE) distressed and they were appalled!
We sent a letter of complaint, they replied saying they'd resoond in 28 days, they never did. We have now recieved a letter from them, doesn't addrress any points - so we phoned them and have recieved another response. This time stating that looking at the call log (as apparently they don't record calls to a hlepline!?), we were offered another rooms (first letter states our accommodation was of standard so they didn't need to move us!), that i went to reception to complain and refused to let them come and investigate.
There is much more to this htey chased my partner across the car park when she was pregnant, swearing and shouting to leave adn they were calling the police.
However Last Choice would rather rely on a statment from the hotel which states my partner was abusive, aggressive and out of control.
It's absurd how they can treat a family like this and think they can get away with it.
We have sent another let refuting their 'facts / logs' and that we will be logging this with Abta or taking it to County Court.
A DISGRACE!!!!!!!
3 months ago we booked our honeymoon with them to go to cozumel a small island off mexico .we realise and can appreciate that they couldn`t have predicted the outbreak of H1N1(swine flu) and have no control over it , but it is now less than 4 days before we are supposed to be flying and have first choice contacted us even once ? have they e mailed ? have they even advised us as to whether or not our flight has been cancelled along with all the others ? have they answered any of our phone calls / or called us back after they had promised? or even replied to over 10 e mails sent in sheer desperation to find out what is going on ?
In short , no to all above!!
So here we are 4 days before our dream honeymoon , time off work pre booked , taxi booked , dogs booked into kennels and still no word , nothing what so ever from first choice .
Of course we totally except that even though there have been no cases of H1N1 on the island of cozumel that if they cancel our flights due to W.H.O advise then so be it . But to not even be informed out of pure courtesey is just rude .
There so called `help lines` and we use that term loosely for mexico travellers supposedly give you direct access to dedicated staff regards the current situation , over 8 times since the flu out break a month ago we have called these numbers to no avail. We have to date spent almost 30.00 listening to the same damn song on hold on these `special` lines . when we have finally got through they have promised to call us back straight away due to lack of remaining phone credit and here we are again at this very moment waiting for the mono toned woman to call back after being on hold for yet another 15 frustrating minutes ,and have now been waiting for the return call for over an hour.
last choice holidays know full well that flights going on 23rd may have now been cancelled as this is only days away .These money grabbing companies are very willing to hold onto your cash or to transfer to a dearer alternative holiday but are most reluctant to give you it back !!!
How much (I know interest rates are low at the moment but thats not the point)is this huge company making on everybodies thousands of pounds holiday money they are holding til the death !!!
These so called emergency help lines for people travelling to mexico are not free phone !!!
Why on earth aren`t they ???? we didn`t wish to have to call them before our dream honeymoon, asfar as we were concerned it was all done and dusted , let alone call them over 10 times and still no news .
Can`t they understand how frustrating it is only days before you are due to go on honeymoon to still not know whether you are able to go!!!
Can`t rearrange time off work , don`t know whether to cancel the taxi /kennels etc, and can`t even cancel the insurance you have paid for all because you just don`t know .
unyet first choice holidays deem this as fair !!! keeping people in the dark and holding onto their hard earned money until the last second , as they realise that as people have booked the specific time off the longer they keep hold of their monies and keep them in the dark the much higher the chance that these poor customers desperate for a holiday to get away from bleak britain will swap for an alternative destination to just about anywhere as by this last hour they have almost been driven insane with the `not knowing` scenario!!!!!
We will never again book a holiday of any kind with first choice holidays or there partners in crime thomson holidays !!!!
As we wait with baited breath for some sort of response/acknowledgement/return e mail or any sort of correspondance from them , our hearts go out for the poor people who have booked to get married in Mexico as for them the not knowing and lack of decency must be unbearable!!!!!
Not First Choice but the LAST CHOICE!!!
I took my wife and three year old son to Orlando, Florida Feb/Mar 2009. We paid extra to stay in the Enclave Suite described a 3 plus star in their brochures. This turned out to be less than a two star! Poor facilities! Poor decoration! Poor cleaning of the rooms! Only plus was location.
The flight was poor, small planes; plane had never been cleaned or maintained properly. Rubbish between the seats, blue seat full of dirt (needed good soap & water!) screen buttons had faded and not visible! Remote did not work! Attendant button on for hours and nobody come! Rude staff! No free drinks! You have to pay for everything! TV/movies cost £5.00; even headsets were not free and cost £2.50 each! The worst food I ever had! No option on food! No veg option. Food consisted of sausage and mash! As I don’t eat pork this was no good to me, I asked for chicken or beef but was told there was no food available! some, my wife and child were gone hungry on the flight of 9 hours! All we had was a drink and chocolate that we purchased earlier in the flight!
Car hire was a joke! Even it was prepaid, they always try to upgrade you to the top luxury car even if you don’t need it!! I had to pay an extra $389.00 on top the £280.00 I had already paid first choice! As they claimed they had no other cars available!! And after a nine hour flight, I didn’t have the energy to argue!
On return journey was worse! To top it all up my wife and child were stuck in the hotel lift until 2am on the day we had to fly back!
I don’t recommend using First Choice at all!! Prior to this trip I used expedia.co.uk, last year and although they are more expensive, I had no complaints with them. Car was perfect, hotel was perfect!
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