Dear Flight Centre and Wholesaler,
From the 2007 I went to Bali to attend a wedding and have a holiday, of which I utilized the services of your company to arrange. After considering your recommendations for accommodation and looking at brochures you provided and also their website, I decided on the Villa Ramah Manis in Seminyac
On our arrival the resort looked rather rundown the main swimming pool had green slime around the walls and floor of the pool, we were shown the villa 818 which had no electricity on arrival but were connected after half an hour.
We had two menus to the mini bar for upstairs and downstairs but both bars were empty. Upon checking out we were asked to pay for both Mini bars. Of which we flatly refused, but felt offended by the request.
We had hot water for one day out of ten. We were told when checking in, that the hot water would take half and hour to work, and what we had to do was turn on the shower, go and have breakfast and then come back and it would be hot. This never happened.
We had the pleasure of one downpour whilst there, which soaked the bed because of the four holes in the roof. The mattress needed to be replaced.
The upstairs shower was so bad I wouldn’t even set foot in it. It was built up with so much scum and mould, we used the outside shower.
The complementary breakfast was worth going without. We told the breakfast was buffet, it wasn’t. However by having breakfast we discovered after talking to other guests at the resort, that five previous couples were offered our accommodation and promptly declined after looking at it as they too thought the standard was unacceptable and were upgraded or left the resort. I proceeded to request a better room but was informed there was nothing else available. There were only six staff to run the front desk, house cleaning, maintenance of the resort, room service, laundry service and kitchen.
Out of the forty villas, there were eight villas ooms that were basically good enough to accommodate guests (according to the staff). All the rest are what they call 000 not livable. The staff also informed us that the resort is due to close in four months because it is so rundown and the owner doesn’t want to renovate. May I say that our villa should have been classified with the 000 villas.
We spent $1290 each on our flights and accommodation. I feel greatly disappointed on the money we have spent to stay in a ZERO star resort. Talking to other holiday makers in Bali, I feel completely cheated out of a great holiday because of the complete frustration at having to put up with a disgusting situation.
The only nice thing about the resort was the staff and their genuine hospitality. We didn’t feel compelled to take out our frustration on them as they are not the ones who sold us a second rate holiday.
You should take a leaf out of your advertising campaign, and go and spend some time there and when you get really bad customer send them.
I feel some sort of compensation is in order from your companies, it was the worst travel experience I have ever had. I am now reluctant to ever go to Bali again, or utilize the services of your companies in making my travel arrangements.
Yours Sincerely
QUESTION HAVE YOU EVER WROTE LETTER TO FLIGHT CENTER WHAT WAS OUTCOME
Bazza, as passion overcomes theatricality the standard of your English improves immeasurably. Sorry to hear of your experience. It's one of the reasons I use travel agents only as a last resort (possible bad pun there). If someone is going to stuff up my trip it might as well be me, and I can do it cheaper.
Too late now, but the Bali Ayu (Petignetet, walking distance to Seminyak, great pool, super breakfasts top staff, excellent rooms and inexpensive) is a little known gem.
Would the Department of Consumer Affairs (might have the department name wrong, but someone will know it) be able to help? I am assuming that there must have been something misleading in their advertising.
as a travel agent, i can tell you unless you have better evidence, you got no leg to stand on. which, yep, sucks. a lot of people get messed about like this and it's just not fair.
however, since flight centre is such a large company, they usually refund either part or all of the payments to avoid the issue becoming a hassle (i've personally witnessed this a few times). the problem is, a travel agent's recommendation is just that - a personal recommendation. the star rating system is controlled by a body external to a travel agent. and its not easy being an agent when every customer expects you to know details of every hotel in every country in the world intimately - we have to go by the media releases of the resorts. i'm not saying you're wrong, clearly you were misinformed, but the problem is often that this doesn't translate to commercial neglect. the travel agent sells the product, but doesn't make the product, and they're going to tell you that you should have done more research on the resort.
my advice would be to continue fighting it. as soon as the letter is received by FCL, call the store or head office and ask to be given the number of the store's area leader. call them consistently until they get authority from the legal department to give you a refund (will most likely be for the accommodation part only).
good luck with it - here's hoping it's the last time.
#2. I agree, I would never use flight centre due to the quality of their personnel. If I do end up using a travel agent, I generally use STA as they seem to often employ people who have at some time in their life caught a plane to somewhere other than the gold coast and bali.
Well, #7, as a lawyer, might I refer you to the Trade Practices Act - the bit that prohibits misleading and deceptive conduct? If a Corporation decides to sell a property in its brochure and makes claims about its quality that don't stand up, then that becomes the trader's problem, not the customers. If a travel agent doesn't know the detail of a property it is putting in its own brochure (a rather smaller expectation than knowing "details of every hotel in every country in the world intimately") then basically it carries the can. The standard of "commercial neglect" has no place in the Trade Practices Act.
It is a little dismaying that you as a travel agent see him as not having a leg to stand on, which says something about your own attitude to customer complaints. Not nice, and another reason to do as many others do, and avoid using travel agents wherever possible.
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