.. Hello all, I am new to the forum but have been reading a fair bit on here the last week or so and it seems a valuable source of information. OK, some background information. I worked for 18 years in London since I qualified from college- I am now 39. Last February (2013) I was made redundant and have since paid off all my debts. I am single and claim JSA and Housing Benefit that totals around £649.00p/m. I take looking for work seriously and have a good CV and covering lettersand do an on line diary of my searches and applications but in a year I have not had any luck due to the amount of people applying and also my geographical locations. I have been looking for work back in London and East Anglia. As my one year was up at the JCP I was referred to INGEUS for the work programme and had my first appointment last week. I have never felt so humiliated in my life, I was basically told I wasn't trying hard enough and I should accept anything. I am not prepared withmy skills and experience to do that. Also, work has to pay, i.e. more than what I get on benefits as I would then be liable for health costs and council tax as well as my rent. I was also told about the 'better off calculation' but I simply do not trust this one iota - basically they want you off the books and working even if you are worse off. I can only apply for what is relevant and usually apply for around 6 jobs a week, keep a diary and also the email receipts of applications so I really am trying. They treat me like a leper and yet I have paid in to the system for 18 years so it is MY MONEY not the governments! I had very little support from JCP when there (they are not advisers they are signer oners!) and INGEUS after one appointment seem to just run through the motions - my next appointment is this Thursday. I do not need help with CV's, CL's, IT, interview skills etc - I am job ready so I told them sending me on these courses is a waste of time and money. I also volunteer for two organisations and do 3 days a week within my allowed 16 hours so usually job search and apply around 20 hours a week. These roles keep my skills and references up to date so I am NOT going to give them up after the effort I took getting them including interviews and DBS checks. Also something work wise may eventually come of them. I am a professional person who has never claimed and paid his way and yet am treated like a criminal and the same as someone who has never worked in their lives but yet claims thesame if bot more than me - the system stinks. So, a 2 year work programme - what happens if after 2 years you still have not found employment (gainfu lnot just anything). Can they enforce anything else or stop your benefit? Also what about holidays if your parents want to pay for you? I have not been away or had a break for 3 years and my parents want to pay for a holiday for me for my 40th in August - am I allowed a holiday with benefit payments on JSA? I feel I deserve it, I am honest and openand have paid my way in life but being made redundant was not any fault of my own! I also asked about workfare and being made to work anywhere - I was told in my case it won't happen but is this soundbites or true? Surely it is not good for me or the employer (slave traders) to 'employ me' As I said I need my volunteer roles to keep skills and references up to date. I am disgusted with JCP and INGEUS at the moment and feel really down and like I am being treated like a leper or a criminal!

Hello, Does zero Hours contract mean that i am not entitled to any Holidays? That what my employer told me but something i do not believe as few friend of mine are on the same contract with different company and they are entitled to holidays. I joined this company and i worked on zero hours contract for about 3 months and last week they give me a permanent contract. when I asked them about my holidays they told me for the last 3 months i was not entitled to it and i will then be entitled to holidays from the day i signed my contract. Is it normal ? I am really surprise and pretty sure is not correct. If anyone can advice me on this matter please. Thank you.

Can someone with good knowledge please help me to rectify a problem at work.There have been at least 4 times where employees who were on holiday but not going away have been rang by the office and asked if they can work part or all of their holidays.The union at work disagree with this practice saying it is unlawful....The management(or more the directors) disagree saying there is no law on selling your holidays..I got this info. from a u.k. website, Can you ‘buy back’ holiday from your staff? It is not lawful ( not permitted or recognised by law), to pay employees instead of letting them take holiday (except in limited circumstances upon termination of employment), even if the employee would be happy to agree it. However, there is nothing to stop an employer and employee coming to an agreement to “buy back” any contractual holiday that you offer OVER AND ABOVE THE STATUTORY MINIMUM.For example if you offer staff 30 days leave, you could legitimately buy back two days, although the employee could not oblige you to do so. Am I therefore correct in saying the office/management/directors etc, cannot allow staff to continue working instead of taking their holidays unless it is any days over and above the statutory 28 days?. I looked on Gov.co.uk but found nothing to suggest staff can or cannot sell their holidays back.I need some clarification on this issue please.

Hi all, I have an issue re a Haven holiday caravan park which my parents have just returned from, and I am in need in of some direction and advice. I apologise for the length of the post but I figure best get it all in all to give folks a chance to get the bigger picture. OK a bit of background first... Holiday was booked through The Sun £9.50 Autumn Deals, through her Sun+ membership. She arrived at the park shortly before 4 pm which is the book in time shown on her confirmation, and waited around 40 minutes to get to the book in desk as there was obviously a few folks waiting to get booked in. She gets to her accommodation and instantly notices a pungent smell, something similar to 'damp and urine and wet dogs' (these were as she described it to me). Along with this she describes a general uncleanliness of the caravan, such as lots of dust pretty much everywhere, and she said literally everywhere. Along with other things such as holes in the curtains and also they were not hung properly so they closed but with difficulty and they looked like they were rotting and once closed you could see through some of the holes, not really from a distance I suppose but you could see through them nonetheless. In addition to this, she mentions the cupboard doors had a greasy and sticky film on them, as did the door handles to the cupboards. Also the splash plate and the wall of the caravan behind the cooker top was covered in splashed grease, I would assume from cooking. Upon further inspection she checked the fire, as she wanted to get a bit warmer, and realised the fire was not working, there was a spill of something on the fire and the shield was dislocated and not properly fitted, which obviously raises safety issues. And on we go, she decides she will trail back to the office but before she goes will make a cuppa, at which point she discovers the hot water heater was non-functional, the pilot light was not on and therefore was not able to get any hot water. In addition to this the fridge was making a very shrill noise and was very loud. At this point she called the reception, which by her estimate was about 10 minutes after they arrived at the accommodation, who said they would send a maintenance person to come to look at the issues with the heater and the fridge. When the maintenance person arrives, he fixed the heater, ie turned on the pilot light and tested that hot water was being produced, and he turned down the fridge setting down as he said that the setting was too high, he informed her that the reason it was so high is that the cleaners test the fridges by turning them up to maximum, which obviously causes them to overwork (in his opinion) and they had forgotten to turn this one down, and strangely enough the fridge was the only thing that had actually been cleaned, along with parts of the bathroom, such as the sink, shower and toilet along with the bathroom area in general, the only blot in the bathroom being a rather mucky toilet brush, and I mean this literally. Once the maintenance fella had gone, she decided to clean up a bit, because by now they wanted a cuppa and needed a sit down. So using washing up liquid from her own provisions that she had taken and hot water, she decides to clean up the kitchen area a bit, thus discovering cutlery is full of grease and grime and generally mucky so she washes the whole set of cutlery and the container it’s all sitting in. (Yes I know a bit foolish but we have realise, she is in her 60s, my dad’s is in his 60s they've been on the road by now 6-7 hours and were just most likely just hoping they could sit down and have a rest). So they decide after a cuppa to bring the luggage in, whilst she made the bed, and she says the bedroom was ok but to be fair it was dark by now and getting cold and they were getting a bit tired and did not want to go back to the living area due the smell and also the discovery toenail clippings on the sofa and the floor. They get up the next day, and clean up the clippings and noticed some very severe stains!!! In her words they looked like the 'brown stuff' stains along with general stains caused by dropped/spilled liquids, and she says these stains were 'everywhere' on the upholstery, and the carpet had some stains on it also. So with all of this, she decides to make a complaint, she arrived and the office was very busy, so they get to one of the reception desk girls, and she explains who she is and where she is accommodated, and that she would like to make an official complaint. So she tells her ‘it is the grubbiest and smelliest caravan she has ever been in’, and she wants it on record so would like to make a complaint. The reception desk girl says all she can do is apologise and mom says well I want it documented and want to make a complaint and again the girl (we have her name) tells her that all she can do is apologise and offers no form of resolution, no advice, no mention that she will tell anyone or do anything and no form and basically (according to both my parents) she then stands there looking at them, so they leave. Naively she thought she would get a response fairly rapidly, and expected someone would contact them that day, but of course looking back we now know that this obviously never happened. So as the day goes along my mom decides she would buy herself some cleaning stuff to clean up some of the mess and try to get rid of the smell, such as Febreeze and astonish kitchen and shower cleaner and also some disinfectant. So she arrives back at the accommodation and goes about cleaning it herself, which I know was silly, but that's what she did and I had no knowledge of the ongoing saga at this point, and of course would have told her she should leave it well alone. Then she uses some of the spare covers from the bedroom to cover the seating area, i.e. the settee, and opens up all the windows and sprays around the place with the air freshener she had bought that morning. By now this was about 5.30 and she was still thinking that there was a good chance someone from the site would make a visit to her accommodation based on the conversation she had with the receptionist that morning, and again of course we know this never happened. So now on the Wednesday, she decides the best thing to do was get up and stay out all day to avoid the stench of the caravan, and of course at this point she had still not seen anyone from the site team. She arrives back at the accommodation around 5.30 pm, so my mom goes into the bedroom and comes out of the bedroom and trips over a loose rug that seems to be all curled up at the edges. So she gets up and realises she had twisted her right ankle and decides to sit on the settee and give it 15 minutes rest and her ankle begins to swell. So she calls the ‘Out Of Hours Services’ at about 6.30 about 45 minutes of her falling over. So the first aider arrives in good time, and advises the use of ice packs, and decides to wait a short while to see if the ice packs work. She tells the first aider, how unhappy she is and why and he tells her she should make a complaints and she replies with the episode that she has in fact already made a complaint about a couple of appliances and made a complaint in person to the reception desk the previous day. He tells her that when he sees the manager (site manager I believe he was talking about) he will tell her what my mom had said and that she had made a complaint or at least tried to make a complaint in person, he informs her that he believes the site manager is on shift the next morning and also he is on shift too at the same time. She asked him if she should make another attempt to complain, he informed her that she did not need to because he would do it. At this point he was called about another accident to had to leave, and had not at this point completed his accident report form or whatever form they are required to complete and told her he would come back to complete the form and check her ankle. He returns about 30 minutes later, with a security officer, which I believe was not in relation to anything concerning my mom, just the guy was training for first aid and was helping out for experience, and puts a new ice pack on my mom’s ankle. The original first aider is now filling out his form, asking my mom questions about what had happened etc. So she explains it to him as I have mentioned above. When she gets to the mention of the rug, he responds with the fact it should not have been there, and then tells her he should not be telling her this, and tells her that he will take the rug away, then carries on with the accident report. He then asks her to read the report, and sign the report, so she reads and signed, and then said can I have a copy of the report please, to which he responds, ‘he was not allowed to provide her with a copy, because, it had his personal details on it’ and refused to give her a copy and gave her no advice on how to about obtaining a copy. (At this point I had become aware of her situation because she called me rather upset and I told her that I thought this was bit suspect and that I was sure he was supposed to provide her a copy of the form, in case she needed to be seen by a doctor or paramedic practitioner for example, they would benefit from know what treatment had already been applied/attempted). So he informs her that ‘the only way she could obtain a copy of said accident report is through solicitor, if for example you were suing us.’ The first aider was generally polite, and did his job pretty well, and tells her she needs to rest but if it’s not better by the morning, she should consider visiting the local A&E and leaves her some more ice packs to use through the night. He tells her that he is going to now take the rug away, partly I suppose because it should not be there, but in his defence also, I suppose, that it avoids any future accidents. Of course we cannot be sure which reason was the strongest in his mind. With that that first aider and his assistant leave. By now it is of course late in the evening and she had a cuppa, took some paracetamol and went to sleep. So the next morning, she thinks the first aider would (as he promised) to tell the site manager and expects some contact from her. So she decides that since her pain is affecting her mobility she decides it is best to stay in and around the site for the most part and she stay in the caravan with the windows open. At about 3 PM and after talking to myself she decides to send my dad to reception, to make a formal complaint and to find out why no one had visited in light of the conversation with the first aider. So at the reception, he approached a reception attendant who he cannot name as she had no name tag (I had been telling them to get some names). He informs her that he wanted to make a formal complaint about the state of the caravan and he wanted see the site manager. The reception attendant informs him that the site manager is not on shift that day as he had been led to believe, as it is her day off. She tells my dad she will grab a complaint form and takes him into a private office and goes through it with him, obtaining general details, i.e., name, address, caravan number, etc…and then asks what the complaint. He tells her, it’s smelly, not up to standards etc., all the stuff I have written above. She then asks what ‘level or grade’ of caravan she has rented, and he replies that the level/grade is irrelevant as all guests can expect a clean accommodation as normal to which she agreed. He tells her the whole saga, including the fact my mom had cleaned up and had also tried to sweep the carpet and a huge amount of dust came up etc., which he told her was unacceptable. So he asked her if there was a supervisor for checking cleaners work after the cleaning has been done and he said, that she says yes, and he said ‘well clearly she has not done her job has she’. He also now informs about the lack of cutlery, the fact they had a six berth caravan but in fact there was not enough crockery nor cutlery to feed more than 3 people and that all of it was dirty. So she tells him she will pass the form and his comments to the site manager. She tells him the site manager is on the next day, he informs her they are due to leave the next morning, 10 AM. She then tells him they are done but does not offer or give him a copy of the complaint nor advise him on the next steps so he gets no copy of the complaint form despite him signing it and asking about it, she tells him the site manager will sort it out. So 10 AM arrives and of course no visit, so they go to the site office to hand in the keys, and the site staff ask if they had seen the site manager and it appears were surprised they had not seen her and that she had not visited. So my mom says to the reception attendant, I have written a letter and she handed it over to the girl, and informed her she had taken photos of all the faults and would be making an official complaint. With this they leave. Firstly the holiday was booked through the sun holiday offer so am not sure who I should be contacting first, I figure that both The Sun and Haven need to be contacted but haven make a state on their website that you have to contact them within 7 days of leaving the accommodation, which I think is rather cheeky, especially as she and other must do, went on elsewhere after they left the park. In addition to this, she had already tried on more than one occasion to make a complaint, which we now of course know, was never taken up nor actioned by anyone. They also say that if you are still unhappy after you make your first complaint that you can leave on the first day of your holiday, which poses 2 problems, firstly, the first day, was on the night she went into the accommodation (though we can check this policy I expect to confirm if they class this as the first day or not). Secondly, if you complain on the first day, with less than 2 hours to go before the site office staff go home for the night, and you have gotten no resolution at this point, due to the fact no one has made contact, are they suggesting you just leave there and then? How are you expected to deal with the matter if you simply leave? So I am looking for some guidance and advice here as to what I should saying, which points I should be highlighting and what kind of recompense I should be making claim to etc etc…She had photographs of most of her complaints, but has no record of any of the forms nor conversations they had with various staff. Thanks in advance mrbrooks

After a couple of years struggling in a job I hated I finally got a new job that I really like but there is always a down side and that is the lack of holidays. Yes there is 28 days leave getting it is a different story. Its a small family company, 7 employees, the others aren't to interested in holidays and take the money instead, I think so far this year they have had 3 days off. The company sets holidays at the start of the year but then cancels them at the last min saying they are to busy, for example next we are supposed to be off 2 weeks next week for summer hols, that was cut to 1 week and just today cut to 2 days, to busy was the answer, the same happened at Christmas apparently even though I wasn't there. As I say the others aren't worried, I'm very much in the work to live camp not the other but speak up and I'll be up the road. The others tell me its been a few years since they've even had a full week off

Hi all, back from holiday. Booked this last minute and paid over £2600 £1236.92 flights £41.79 Transfer £1406.88 Accommodation (£351.72 each over 7 nights. £50.24 each a night A/I) £201 a night for the 4 of us. My problem was the food, it was inedible, no joke, everyone at the resort was eating in town) Now I have no problem paying for the room and spent over 300E eating out. The holiday was booked over the phone from teletext holidays. No complaint was made on site as we were not with a travel company. No receipts have been keep for food. A complaint was made to staff on reception, but all staff were Spanish and the complaint was either ignored/not acted on/not understood. I wish to claim for the different between Room only and AI, but cannot find a comparison price. Also, I have never had to deal with a problem like this before so all advise is welcome. Jogs

Dear Mr Burling,This is Mr ........ here. I want inform you that the Hotel Admiral are overcharging Thomson guests and others in regards to the city tax and drinks. They are claiming city tax rates from guests as a 4 star hotel when they are clearly a 3 star (confirmed by Amy from Thomsons 24-7 team) Last night following my conversation with Amy, I queried this with the receptionist at the Admiral. Following an initial attempt to fraudulently attain an extra 7 Euros, I pointed out the rules regarding the city tax which are widely accessible on the web. I was quickly refunded and given a receipt showing the new charge. Although this sum is minimal, the point of principle is important. We have since spoken to all British guests and can confirm that they have also been overcharged. This makes the sums attained by this more concerning as they may run into hundreds of Euros per week. We were disappointed by the support shown by Thomson when we raised this issue as they told us that they could not help us and this charge was completely at the discretion of the hotel. This is contrary to the advice they had previously given us regarding the charge being related to star rating. We have also just discovered that many guests have been overcharged for their drinks with the hotel double charging for water. We have also fallen victim to this. Whilst the argument will be that guests sign for drinks and that the obligation is on them to check before signing, counter to this is the fact that there is clearly an attempt to write illegibly. However I would be willing for Thomson to check the records against our receipt. We would also like to raise the fact that we complained to Thomson that there was no hot water and urine stains on the bedsheets. We have subsequently discovered through our discussions with other guests that the same complaint was made by them and they received a £50 voucher. We are unhappy that we have not been given equal regard. Lastly,we consider the fact that we were advised the hotel had a functioning pool to be be misleading and disappointing.There was no pool available to us at any point during our stay. We are certain that as an ethical and responsible travel agent you will consider these points as concerning and disconcerting as we do and take appropriate action to make this right with us. I have photographic evidence of the stains and city tax/food overcharging if this should prove necessary. Regards, Reply Forward May 27 to david.burling Dear Mr Burling, With no action taken to rectify the situation outlined in my complaint below, I write now to provide a further opportunity to make restitution. I believe that the issues I raise in relation to my experience are important. Out with my complaint in relation to the facilities in our hotel, the tax issue is a particular concern to me morally and ethically. Without action to investigate, report and compensate, clearly the case will be of pressing public interest. Regards,

Hello I am an agency worker and my holiday pay is calculated based on an average of my last 12 weeks earnings, which is calculated based on my average gross daily pay. I had a pay increase which was back dated to 1st April. My last wage slip last week showed my back pay for only the hours worked and not the annual leave I had been paid. I know for a fact that it is not a lot but this is principal as for the last 4 years the agency I work for I have brought up numerous errors in my pay. I was even more dumbfounded when I got this response to my query: "We are more than happy to do the calculation for people if they want it. We regularly have clients who are late with their pay reviews and this can be for several hundred people at a time. It would take days to redo the calculations for everyone and usually, they only get a few pounds back so you can appreciate it’s not a task we are able to do en masse, however if someone feels strongly about it we will do it as it isn’t your fault either! " I telephoned ACAS but they were of no use as I need to know the legal requirements of this. I do not see why anyone should have to claim or request pay that they are owed. Please advise from a legal point of view to their response. I have had it recalculated and they are paying me even if only a few pounds - PRINCIPLE Any queries then please let me know. Thank you

Hi all, Just looking for some advice for my brother. He has worked a his place of employment for around 2 years, full time contract. His contract states that Bank Holidays are paid, but taken from his allowance. He had last tuesday off as he fell ill with a sickness bug over the bank holiday and now his employer is saying that he wont be paid for the monday either. It doesn't say anywhere in his contract that bank holidays will not be paid if extra days are taken during the same week or anything like that. Just wondering where he stands on this. TIA

Hi guys - just a quick question... I am currently on a form of sick pay, that was agreed (verbally - nothing in writing) with my company a couple of months ago - backed by notes from my GP. Basically, I have agreed to work from home and am being paid for the hours I work, rather than my normal salary. My question is whether I am entitled to receive full pay (as in my salary) for bank holidays - my employer has already withheld payment for the bank holidays last month. Thanks in advance!

Hello, I have recently changed role at work and now work an alternate week with a colleague. One week Monday to Friday, the next Tuesday to Saturday and so on. I am full-time and work 37 hours per week. When we are allocated our annual leave we get the bank holidays added on and then these are booked off as they occur. As I won't be working every Monday and it will depend how my shift falls, will I still be entitled to the full bank holiday allowance and get to use the remainder elsewhere? Or will I just 'lose' the Mondays I don't work? Any advice appreciated as I want to discuss with my employer but want to know if I have any 'legal' entitlement so to speak. Thanks in advance.

After booking a holiday on xmas eve, i only paid the deposit. today i wanted to call up the company and pay the remainder. It was an 08444 number so i looked on the internet to find an alternative landline. I found one. yay...but then the guy on the other end gave me another number to call to pay direct.... i called it and it told me to pay online at trulyholidays dot com / pay so i did......… .then when i rang as i hadnt had a new booking confirmation, i realised i was passed pillow to post and had paid money to a company where no holiday existed ( it wasn't where i booked MY holiday ) i called this company up to be told they cant do anything and that i should call my holiday company, and see what they say. i rang the bank to try and cancel the transaction to be told it had already gone through... .but to wait 15 working days for it to clear then raise a dispute.... what does the bank mean by raise a dispute? I also contacted by email truly holidays to find out how it is they managed to let me pay for a holiday that doesnt exist on their computers, explained my situation and provided a print screen of the completed transaction....no response from truly holidays. thats 350 pounds gone and ive no idea how to get it back!!!!

Hi, i'm new here and hope someone can give us some advice. I work in a big department store, we are allowed 5.6 weeks holiday a year. We have always allowed to book holidays whenever we want to (except christmas and busy periods) our staff handbook says we have to give 3 weeks notice to book a holiday. Our boss left in September and a new boss started in December. In January she asked everyone in the shop (55 of us) to book all our holidays for the whole year. This caused a little bit of a commotion because no one knew when they wanted their holidays all year, especially all the 16 year olds. Well we all ended up trying to book our years worth of holiday (even though the handbook says 3 weeks). I say trying because everyone who put in holidays for weekends had them declined. The new boss said that we are not allowed to book weekends off and we are only allowed to book whole weeks. So this is why I am here, none of us are happy with this. Some of the people have worked there since it opened 5 years ago and have always been allowed to book weekends with the old boss. Someone else who works there has a husband who works for the same company but in a different town and this hasnt been passed to them so its just a thing our new boss is doing. We all just want to know if she is allowed to do this? Tell us all of a sudden after 5 years that weekends are not allowed to be booked off. Thanks

Morning All, I have got into an absolute mess with my JSA from not understanding all the rules I discovered last week that I have been overpaid because of savings (£8000). This has led me to start googling and reading forums and now I have learnt that I should not go on a UK holiday without informing them which Ive done three times [bangs head on table]. Incidently Im talking about 4 day breaks. I assume if you have a night away in a hotel - that doesnt count as a holiday ?!? I had no idea about these facts - Why they dont give you a list of dos and donts when you register is beyond me. How else are you supposed to know? Its not like a 'career' where you learn about the job and research it. I signed on for help and thought that was that!!! Anyway - Whats done is done ... What is going to happen? I know I need to pay back for money they have over paid me. Could there be any other implications for these two failures? Im mainly concerned about any criminial investigations ?!?! I'm going to sign off now until the new year anyway as all this is making me ill and its just not worth it for £70 a month. But just need to get all this rubbish resolved. Any advice as always is much appreciated. James

Here we go, a colleague has had an operation this week which will see her on sick leave for the best part of 3mths. I work in a pharmacy on the shop counter, she works in the dispensary. One lady from the dispensary has been refused a holiday this month due to the other lady being on sick leave, and I have been turned down for November. This is because, if I am on holiday he has to use someone from the dispensary to cover my days on the counter. Can he do this? What if, and I'm not wishing this on her, her recovery takes longer than expected? I have known women take 6 mths off with this kind of op.

Last August it was my birthday and I turned the old age of 23 *embarrassed face* Anyway..my mum knew that one of my life long things I've wanted to do but never had the money was go to Ibiza. So she booked a holiday online through sunmaster for me and my 17 year old brother to go to Ibiza. It was advertised as a package deal with flights she could choose and the rest. She paid for it two weeks before my birthday and about a week before travelling Sunmaster phoned her to tell her the hotel she had booked was oversubscribed (this hotel was 4 stars) but they would put me and my brother in another hotel of the same rating. She said that was fine as long as it was of the same rating and same area in Ibiza demographically. Anyway the trip came and on arriving at Ibiza Airport, the coach organisation sunmaster had booked didn't speak any english, a very basic level (he understood yes no thats it) So when he was dropping everyone off at the hotel we had to keep asking him if we were there yet and we were. In the end he dropped us off down an alley and we were left to try and figure out where our hotel was. Luckily we found it using a tom tom map on my phone. It was never described to us or my mother when she bought the holiday that we wouldn't be dropped of at the hotel and would have to walk 5-10 minutes to the hotel. But i put this down to language issues and let it go. On the booking sheet sunmaster sent us, it said to ring someone in spain and book the return coach. So I did that. When I rang they told me I will recieve a text confirming my return coach. So I awaited the text. When in resort, I discovered that 'Piscis Park' our hotel was not infact a 4 star hotel and on many sites 2 star. The room was dirty, scratched and had blood on the bedsheets. I took photographs of it all as evidence. The bathroom ceiling constantly kept leaking and I therefore reported all of this to the hotel. They told me a maintaince man would come but never did. The hotel was also not maintained or cleanly generally in the lift and lobby and for 3 days there was vomit and drinks in the lift left. I also had numerous people knocking on my door and one even knocked and said 'oh your a ***** you probs smoke weed right? You want some'' to which response he got a door closed on him. I therefore decided to go and tell the hotel that they have drug dealers and they did act on this. However by this time the gentlemen had left and the security guard who did not understand spanish was baffled by what I said. Anyway on the 3rd of 7 days we were in the dining area and then told by a old gentlemen who was staff there that we had eaten too much food and half board which was what my mother had booked, was only half of 1 meal a day. So we went to reception of the hotel and dealt with a man who claimed he was the manager. Not only did he shout at us saying 'how dare you take more meals' and refused to give me a pen. But I explained to him and showed him our booking sheet and that it clearly indicated half board which was 2 meals from my belief. He said the tour operator had got it wrong and it was only 1 meal. When I rang the tour operators emergency number as we were being banned from the dining area, the woman said she'd pass my concern onto sunmaster. I then asked the manager if he would put in writing that due to the fact half board was only half of 1 meal that we had been thus banned for taking 2 meals a day. He refused and said 'i told yo already you !!!!ing nigga'. I was shocked and baffled as were other members of the hotel who were waiting for their taxis/coachs at reception. I asked them if they heard the comment and they told me they did, so I took down their details as evidence he had said this and ignored it. So I left the hotel. On arriving back the manager and his staff gave me constant dirty looks and I was again told now that at any point I went to the dining area or attempted to I was banned and not even entitled to half a meal. Therefore I had to pay for my own food for myself and my brother and kept all the reciept of the costs. On the day of leaving, the text from the return coach booking never arrived. So I rang them that morning. They insisted the text would arrive later that day. It got to 1 hour before our coach was meant to be here and due to the fact we had not got the text we had no idea where. I rang the emergency line sunmaster provided and they were based in 'majorca' and the gentlemen told me he had no record of my booking as his system was different but to take a taxi to the airport, keep his name and the reciept for the taxi and I'll be reimbursed as it is their fault. Luckily I had made friends with someone who booked the same coach company and when I went to his coach, my name was on the list so Sunmaster must have used the same coach back and booked it just never text me, so it worked out. On arriving back in the UK i sent sunmaster all my photos and evidence. I got an email back replying saying 'thanks mrs ***** for your complaint again'. this customer they had sent me the reply to was not even my name or my mothers who made the booking. I awaited 3 months and no reply. I then a month ago (almost 7 months later) sent them recorded delievery a explanation and my complaint number and the evidence again. Yesterday I recieved a letter stating that the hotel had offered me meals, as far as they knew there was no problem. Their hotel is a star rating to them of 4 stars but it varies and they've never had any problems of what I've explained. Basically implying I'm lieing. They said that the hotel has always been polite and had good reviews, and only ever had bad reviews from people who were 'narrow minded' according to them. Therefore all they could do was apologise for sending me the wrong persons complaint response and the lack of time it had taken- as they hadn't mananged to contact the hotel. They then said however that the hotel has offered me a 'special deal on return' but have not stated what this deal is directly to them- Triton Rooms. I really don't feel that this responded to my complaint and the state of the room (walls loose, water failing from ceiling, scratches, blood on the sheets, electric wires hanging off plugs which could shock people or children) They then went onto say that they can't confirm any racist comment happened but they are unable to accept witness evidence as they cannot contact other people due to data confidentality! And they've never had any problems like this. Funny because Tripadvisor is full of people who have put negative reviews of the organisation and hotel! What consumer rights do I have? I am coincendentally going to Ibiza again this summer and to my dread have found out the same group who own piscis park- GPS I'm told theyre called own my hotel I've booked in this summer. I was hoping perhaps I could ask the hotel if they would allow me another room in the hotel ive booked in the summer as compensation as I'd accept this, but I wondered if its possible..

Hi all I am looking for some advice about the below case please. Thanks. Holiday details: 5 of us (4 adults and 1 child of 11 yrs) booked and paid for an all inclusive holiday with Thomas Cook Holidays online. I was refused to get on the Thomas Cook Airline flight in August 2012 due to issues with their contract check-in personnel. I had disagreed with their extortionate excess weight charge of £14 per kg insisting first to speak to the check-in personnel's manager(s) and later to the Stansted Airport Thomas Cook (TC) representative. They were refusing the latter request until they realised that I'll not be giving up. So, the TC lady agreed a reasonable solution to the 18kg excess weight issue with suggesting the use of a little advertised 'flight only bag', which would cost £60 for an extra 20kg baggage allowance (we would have to purchase a bag to qualify for this option). I was not present at this point of discussions between the holiday party, the ground staff and the TC lady, as I had taken my son to the gents, which is a fair distance from the check-in area/desks. I noticed that my wife and our friends (a married couple) were not present at the check-in area when I returned with my son. I asked the TC rep and the check-in person what had been decided, to which she replied 'you better go and ask YOUR LOT over there', pointing in the direction of my friend sitting down away from the check-in desks. I unfortunately lost my rag and indirectly accused them of being 'racist' WITHOUT using such terms or any foul language ('you need to change your glasses so that you can see people as they are', to which the ground personnel check-in lady and the TC rep took exception and regarded my statement as accusing them of being 'racist'). My wife and my friend's wife had gone to purchase a bag to take advantage of the deal offered by the TC rep and returned to the desks to find that the TC rep and primarily the ground staff had decided to refuse to let me on the flight. It is worth noting that at the same time they had obviously called for the Police to attend. But, FOUR ARMED Police Officers turned up?!! So, they must have either asked for this many or by blowing up the situation to a bigger one than it was, the airport security sent a strong and armed unit to deal with me! It was the first time in my 40 years in this country that I had come across / had anything to do with the Police let alone ARMED ones. I found it intimidating and my wife and 11 year-old son were obviously upset and scared. They were using this method to 'bully' me into submission, as I was the most vociferous in the party and had insisted all along that there must be a solution to the extortionate rates they wanted to charge us. And funny enough there was! I was told to 'make my own way' to the resort. They AND the armed Police (?!) refused to provide me with any written confirmation of TC's decision or the names of the personnel involved in making the decision (this is a key point that I'll come back to later in the story). I asked my wife to speak to the TC rep at the holiday resort to ensure that there would be no problems with my flight back. The TC rep confirmed that there will not be any issues or problems, as the 'refuse to carry' was only for the outbound flight. Unfortunately we don't have her name or this in writing, but my friend's wife was present as a witness. Can you guess what happened on the day of the return flight? Yes, of course, I was refused carriage again! But, this time it was due to a 'letter' from TC at Stansted dated 13 days prior to the return flight date, i.e. the day after the outbound flight. So, why had TC failed to notify me of this intention earlier, i.e. at Stansted? Funny enough this is exactly what their legal department is TRYING to say now, that my 'contract' with their airline was effectively 'terminated/cancelled' when they refused to carry me on the outbound flight. Well, in that case why wasn't I given a written notification of this, as I would then have arranged a TWO WAY RETURN flight for myself knowing in advance that I wouldn't be allowed on the return flight. I jumped ahead a bit there, sorry. I complained to TC and requested a compensation for what they had done and for ruining our first family holiday in nearly 8 years. They obviously have refused and the end result has been for me to take the matter to ABTA and their Arbitration service. I have received TC's 'defence' to my claims and now need to get back to the Arbitration service with my reply to their 'defence'. Any advice or help would be much appreciated. radmm0

Hello, my story starts that I've opened barclays account few years ago, but didn't used until 3 weeks ago when I've decided to use barclays account for my holidays. so I went to my branch, asked to resend me my pin which I forgot long time ago, apparently at that moment they didn't have my new address, so changed my address as well, plus put 700 pounds to my account for holidays. Holidays started ok, went to France for a week, so had to pay just for camping, it went through. After went to Lithuania where all problems started. Tried to pay with my barclays card and my card was rejected, so called them from abroad, of course call price was high and had a useless chat with them for 1.5h, they just told me my account is closed, why? - didn't answered. so I've explained them that they leaving me on the street without shelter and food, but they said sorry, that they cannot do anything and I have to come to branch when ill be in UK and then I can collect all my money. so question would be: is it possible to claim, get money back for phone calls (should be around 100 pounds) and as well moral or other damage they made for my holidays? thank you in advance!!

Hi I have a 12 hour/week contract and my holiday entitlement is 25 working days pro rata which equates to 60 hours annually. However, I've been constantly working over 12 hours per week due to the company's needs (rather than wants) and getting paid for it at my basic rate. Over the last 12 weeks, I've worked on average 5 extra hrs/wk. Since April, my manager has told me that he will look at my hours in the contract yet it hasn't been adjusted. I am planning to leave my current work soon and I was wondering whether my legal entitlement to unpaid holiday should be calculated with a figure of 60 hours or a larger figure? Due to consistently working more than my contracted hours, is there anything else I should be legally entitled to? Many thanks

Found out today that the bus route I drive is going to another company in 30 days time. The drivers on the route are being TUPE'd to the new company. The rest day pattern that I am on gives me thurs/fri/sat/sun off every 4 weeks. I have 4 long weekends booked as holiday, do the new company have to honour these?

This is brilliant!! Just thought id share even though this is well past statute barred. Our Ref: ******** Current Balance: **** Original Lender: Uncle Buck Payday Loans - Debt Assigned to Motormile Finance UK Ltd EASTER HOLIDAY - SPECIAL OFFER! Take advantage of this Easter Holiday Special Offer from MMF. Save up to 40% on your account with one of the 3 offers below:- It's really simple. Just follow these steps to benefit from a massive saving: 1. Choose one of the fantastic offers below 2. Call us on 01138 876 876 quoting your reference number 3. Give our advisor the Promo code Offer 1,2 or 3! Current Balance: £450 Offer 1: £270 to clear your account! Enjoy a massive saving of 40% if you call and clear your account. A one off payment of £270 using Credit or Debit card by 28th March will close your account and reflect on your credit file.* Offer 2: Two instalments of £168.75 clear your account! Take advantage and Save 25%. Make two payments of £168.75, one by 29th March 2013 and one by 30th April 2013, use your credit or debit card and your account will be closed.* Offer 3: Five instalments of £76.5 clear your account! Set up a five stage payment plan and save 15%. Make the agreed monthly payments of £76.5 from March to July 2013 by Credit or Debit card and we will close your account.*

Hello All, In August I called up seabreeze holidays and was quoted a price of £652.50 for an airline ticket to travel in September. They took a deposit of £52.50 from my credit card and the balance was to be paid in 2 weeks. The next day I received an invoice from them showing a ticket price of £677.50, the extra £25 being a booking fee which I was not told about by the agent who I had been speaking to. I sent them several emails requesting the original price to be honoured or my deposit to be returned. They did not reply to any emails and I eventually booked my ticket for less money with another travel company. I would like to fight for my deposit but I need to know what my options are. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks scara

Does anyone know when they finish their holidays and re-open?

Where my wife works they have said everbody has to take Friday December 27th 2013 as part of there annual leave. However my wife ony works a four day week, Monday to Thursday but she has been told this still applies to her. If this is the case, it actually means she loses a days holiday, is this right?

Copy of letter sent this week says it all. Let's see if we get a response - based on experience so far, I doubt it: Wednesday 28th November 2012 Re holiday booking ref: 3xxxxxx In the name of [my parents] I'm writing to you on behalf of my parents, named above. They're in Madeira right now, on the 2nd of 2 trips they saved up for this year to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Upon booking the first trip - to Ibiza - they were assured by your in-branch rep that they'd get a fruit basket, champagne and an upgrade as a gesture for their special occasion. Nothing doing. So they left it at that. They're nearly 70 - they don't like to make a fuss - they put it down to a misunderstanding. At my encouragement, however, they mentioned the issue when booking this Madeira trip (booking reference at the top of this letter). The agent at the branch (Arnold, Nottingham) was 'mortified' and assured them that she'd fix it for them. They were excited at the gesture and looking forward to everything. Four days before departure, my father popped in to confirm everything and your rep assured him that an email had gone on 12th November to the hotel and 'everything was confirmed'. You can imagine his surprise, therefore, when he and my mother arrived at the hotel to see 3 other couples who'd been on their flight get upgraded to celebrate their (shorter than 50 years) anniversaries - and for my father? The response that no notification had been sent through so nothing could be done and they'd have to wait for the rep the next day. My mother was very upset as I discovered when I called on their first night to ensure they were having a lovely time. So*I called your branch in Arnold, Nottingham where this holiday was booked and where, again, 4 days before departure, my father was reassured that these special things would be waiting for him. I spoke to a lady who looked up the booking and confirmed that - on 12th November - a request for these things had been sent to the hotel but she maintained there was nothing more the store could do. She couldn't (wouldn't?) call the hotel or fax through the screen shot of the email or call your local rep. She wouldn't even call head office. When I asked for a number to do that myself, she told me these wasn't one - that there's no way for customers to contact your HQ with issues. All she could give me was a number for agents and she 'couldn't guarantee they'll even speak to you because you're a customer'. Would she phone them then? No, there was nothing more she could do. When I called the number, a recording told me it was no longer operational. Fantastic service experience so far. Meanwhile, back in Madeira, your rep arrived the next day with the same response - no message from the branch who'd sold the holiday = no anniversary treats. She did offer to write a report (yay! Very exciting for the anniversary celebrants) and to 'try' to arrange fruit basket and wine. So what does that result in? A plate with 2 bananas, an apple and an orange and a mini bottle of sparkling wine. Nice but good enough? Not really. So disappointment again. Her other remark - admittedly delivered with a smile - ''Well, your anniversary date's passed now (it was whilst in Ibiza) so it doesn't really matter because it's too late'. What a delightful response. No offer to connect to branch. Negotiate with hotel. To try to join the dots. In the meantime, having chatted to one of the lucky recipients of that elusive sea-view upgrade, my parents discover that the rooms on either side of them are empty. But hotel and rep alike say no rooms are free. It's extraordinary to me that - whilst your online site, your high street stores and your reps work in perfect harmony to allow people to spend money with you - that synchronicity disappears almost immediately when it comes to resolving an issue or providing a customer experience that's likely to generate positive word of mouth and repeat business. I'm not operating under any illusion here. I highly doubt you'll read this, let alone respond to it. And I'm pretty certain you'll make no attempt to offer something to my parents by way of an apology or long-overdue celebration of their anniversary. So instead of waiting to hear back from you, I'm going to spend my time posting this story on travel-related social media sites so that other potential customers of yours can truly appreciate the special service touch offered by Thomson. Feel free to prove me wrong. Yours sincerely [new cagger]