How 36 stairs left us stuck in a hotel from hell
MY WIFE and I booked a holiday to Cyprus with Thomson. As my wife has arthritis in her knees, we always check for lifts.
Happily, the brochure said the hotel had three floors and one lift. We even double-checked on the website to confirm there was one.
When we arrived we discovered — to our horror — there wasn’t a lift to where we were staying, on the upper floors. My wife had to scale 36 steps as no room was available on a lower floor.
We complained to Thomson, but received nothing more than a letter apologising — and thanking us for our feedback.
This is the first time I’ve complained about a holiday in 50 years of travelling and feel their response is not adequate.
f. D., yeovil. I aGRee! When a holiday company describes a hotel in a brochure you should expect to find what you are offered. I chased Thomson, whose spokesman said that, as a result of you bringing the issue to their attention, they have changed their description of the hotel online to make it clearer. That’s as may be, but it doesn’t make up for the physical distress your wife suffered.
as you discovered, there is a lift in the hotel, but this merely gives guests access to the lower groundfloor swimming pool.
I would suggest that, in your situation, it would be better to phone to check details rather than rely on information on the internet.
Thomson does have a dedicated customer care team to help people with limited mobility.
It has offered you a voucher for £70 as a gesture of goodwill. Of course, this is only of any value if you choose to take another holiday with the company. I made it clear I thought a cash payment would be fairer and more appropriate. But the holiday industry is a law unto itself and they would not budge.
The association of British Travel agents (aBTa) runs an arbitration service to try to resolve disputes. If you are prepared to pay a fee, it will look at your problem. Go to abta.
com. Don’t even think of phoning. It charges more than 50p a minute. MY HUSBAND received a tax demand for £1,400 in January. We thought this must be an error because a year previously he had his first ever rebate.
He is 62 and in March was admitted to hospital with heart failure. This was after working weekly shifts of up to 90 hours.
My husband used to be a surface worker for British Coal and has a Mineworkers’ Pension.
When he spoke to HMRC, it said he had failed to pay tax on this pension for nearly two years.
But the Mineworkers’ Pension people are adamant HMRC had insisted on two occasions that they stop taking tax from his pension.
Last week, he received another letter demanding £2,207.02. He is in such a state his medication has been increased as a matter of urgency. Please can you help us?
Mrs E. S., Doncaster. WhY does it seem to be the people who work the hardest who government departments come down on like a ton of bricks?
When hMRC investigated your case, the spokesman admitted: ‘We’ve made a mess of Mr S’s tax affairs. We can’t apologise enough. We gave him duplicate personal allowances when we had full knowledge of all his income.
‘We should have allowed him only one personal allowance and issued a restricted coding on his other income so he would have been taxed correctly. It’s our error.
‘We compounded the mistake by allowing the incorrect codes from one year to be used again the following year.’
Well, as abject apologies go, you can’t get much clearer than that.
hMRC has written to you with all the complicated details of your tax position. The upshot is that it has written off the tax demand as a result of its failure to issue the correct tax code to your husband’s pension provider over the past two years. It is also paying £ 50 compensation to apologise.
I am pleased your problem has been sorted out. But the fact is, I should not have had to intervene.
I am receiving far too many letters from readers who are at their wits’ end because hMRC is getting their tax wrong and then failing to investigate properly. I HAVE been contacted about a debt of £59.75 with Vodafone for a contract I took out in 2009.
The mobile signal was poor where I live. I was later offered an upgrade, but said I would not be remaining with them. Vodafone called again, but I confirmed I wouldn’t be renewing my contract.
On checking my bank statements this year, I discovered £20.49 a month was still being taken by direct debit, though I haven’t received a bill or statement since 2010. I estimate I’ve paid more than £400 for a service I haven’t used. Now I’m being chased by debt collectors.
S. W., Abergavenny. WheN is a 12-month contract not a 12-month contract? When you take it with a mobile phone firm.
Out of interest, I asked friends what they thought mobile phone 12, 18 and 24-month contracts meant and they all believed them to be fixed term. But the small print turns them into ‘minimum’ contracts, and if you don’t cancel, they will continue to charge.
What’s doubly unfair is that they alert you to your monthly bill by text, so if you do get a new phone with a new number you won’t receive those text alerts.
But they expect you to write to them to cancel your contract.
vodafone referred me to clause 11 in your contract. It says: ‘either you or we may end this agreement by giving the other 30 days’ notice in writing. Your notice must include your mobile number and your signature or appropriate security details. You must pay the charges during the notice period.’
Why didn’t vodafone tell you about the need to write when you said you would not be renewing?
You failed to notice money was disappearing from your bank account. Once you did, instead of contacting vodafone, you stopped the direct debit. vodafone tried to contact you but you had moved house, so it called in a debt collection agency.
It has wiped your debt as a goodwill gesture. If you are still not happy, go to the arbitrator Ombudsman Services — ombudsmanor 0330 440 1614.