Hi all, I'm a newbie with a bit of a holiday problem. I have booked a holiday for this October through 118 travel. We have booked a hotel, flights and airport transfer with them. I saw the holiday advertised on teletext holidays, no hotel name. I called 118 and made the booking over the phone, the lady was very helpful told me all about the area and the hotel. However heres the problem, I cannot find any good reviews for the hotel, in fact they are all pretty dire. Is there anything I can do at this point? I have Emailed the lady today explaining my reservations about the hotel and have asked if we can change the booking or get a refund. No reply yet, I just wondered if I have any rights at all? Many thanks for taking the time to read.

I'd like some advice on what people think would be a reasonable compensation amount to request from our Travel Agent, who failed to notify our party of 10 of flight changes, causing us to miss our flights from US to UK. Briefly: The flights were booked in January, the flights were for August. 3 months ago these flights were taken off the airline's schedule. We weren't advised that our flight times were now non-existent. 24 hours before our flight date, our travel agent rebooked the flights to an earlier time, but again failed to inform us. Upshot: we arrive at the airport having unwittingly missed out flights, struggle (due to the party size) but eventually manage to get rescheduled flights, causing us a 7hr delay at the airport, and a whole heap of stress and trauma. I intend in my letter to ask for reimbursementt of food costs during the delay, but feel there should be a good-will compensation for the unnecessary stress their incompetence caused. Our flight costs were around £7500, and we'd previously spend £3000 with the same company last year. What would be a reasonable amount of compensation to request/expect?

Hi All I hope someone can help. I am at present an Australian perm resident moving back to the UK on the 25th August this year. I am stopping over in Dubai for 4 days before travelling on to the UK. I am having great difficulty in finding insurance for one way travel, ie not returning to the country that it was purchased in. Has anyone encountered this and if so did they find an insurance company that they could get cover with Thanks in advance

Last week the services on my local line (C2C) were disrupted by a fatality (allegedly someone stealing overhead lines). All trains were stopped for approx 4 hours and a bus replacement service was laid on but most people (including me) opted to use the nearby Greater Anglia line intsead going to London Liverpool Street instead of C2C's London Fenchurch Street. Annoiucements were made at stations and on the C2C website that tickets would be valid. Now I kept an eye on the C2C website during the day and in the afternnon it siad if you had used the Greater Anglia line in the morning you could travel back on that line on your return journey (this is because many people may have left their cars, bikes at a different station). So I travelled back on the Greater Anglia line. Two ticket inspectors got on and asked for tickets, I showed them my weekly C2C Season Ticket, they said it was not valid, I told them it was and informed them of what C2C had said and that a quick phonecall would clarify this. They refused to call C2C, wouldnt listen to my reasoning and even called a Policeman (not sure where he suddenly came from, he was out of uniform and maybe just happened to be there). At his time I was trying to phone C2C and was uanble to get through, the inspectors issued me with a penalty notice for £30.20 (I didnt pay anything there nor did they ask me to), also bizzarely they then informed me that I had four outstanding penalty charge notices. By now I got through to C2C, told them the situation and they informed me I was correct, my ticket was valid, I tried handing the phone to the inspectors but they got off the train to give out penalty notices to others, eventually (!) they finished with the others (they appeared to take pleasure in making me wait !), and one of them took the call and spoke to C2C, his attitde was rather rude and appeared to be arguing with C2C, but the gist of what I overheard was that I was indeed correct, that GA hadnt been informed of the ticket situation and that a penalty charge couldnt be cancelled now. So arriving hime, I phoned GA who also informed me I was correct and that Ticket inspectors should of been informed and that I should send my Penalty Charge off to them and it would be cancelled. Its now been sent off, along with a strong complaint. Any of the experts views on this ?. In situations like this, what laws/byelaws are effective ?. I assume I would be travelling with 'authority having been given by C2C', however this is hard to check and hard to prove, the C2C website when checked had no mention of using GA, it had been changed to a general apology for the days disruption. Can somone refuse to accept a penalty charge (thus leaving the TOC (and me) with the option of pursuing it in court) ? I also checked with Ircas about the four outstanding penalty charge notices, they said there were none, but after further digging came back and said there were 3 from 2005 but thay had all been cancelled/succesfully appealed (I cant recall these but perhaps there were occasions when I forgot my annual season ticket, got a Penalty charge abnd then appealed, but I'm pretty crtain it didnt happen on 3 occasion in 2005). Im waiting the response to my complaint from GA (and C2C, as copied them in on my complaint). Andy

by mistake i take wrong travel card ( we got 2, i have 1-5 zones my miss 2-5) and inspector stop me .. after conversation his give me tiket to travel home and said that i will recieve by post a penalty .. but i didn`t recieve any penalty .. they siut me .. i ask them to give me panalty but they ignored.. and after i plead guilty i reveive 350 pound fine+comp.+cost+ect. so why they didn`t give me fine straight because i ask them in 3 letters to do that ??

My partner flew out to Africa and 2 days later a letter arrived which to me looked suspicious. I opened it and found that it was from TIL saying that they have noted his comments about failing to show a valid ticket, there were pre-paid facilities available as that the Rail compnay have advised they see no reason not to pursue. Says "an application for a Summons may now be made" but as there are no instances on his file, they are "authorised to allow a final opportunity of an administrative settlement as an alternative disposal in this case". The letter says 10 days to pay and if that if you do you accept a wriiten warning. I remember him telling me that he travels on the train daily due to a disability and that he always pays for his ticket via the conductor on the train. We both do as where we live it is 'normal' to do so and staff at the station say not to use the machine as it steals cards and money! However he was near Cardiff, rather than in West Wales. The fare was £1.50, he had the money in his hand and waited for the conductor, then looked for him and no-one was around. As he got off the train and went to pay, the people said he was unlucky and they were doing a revenue generating activity. Apparently there was a ticket machine across the bridge on the other platform at his starting station that he should have used. The man said to wait for the letter, reply with what my partner had told him and the matter would be dropped. My partner said in his letter that he would be away in Africa for 2 months and that if TIL wanted to pursue further could they do so at the end of August on his return. He felt very embarassed about it as he was not intending to fare dodge. I am really upset as I don't know what to do as he is out of the country and I cannot contact him. All I've had was a quick phonecall the day he arrived to say there had been a landslide killing 100 people and he was going to see how he could help- it has been in the news. A) Can/should he fight this? £70 is a lot for a £1.50 fare B) What do I do about the fine as he is not here? He would not want it to go to Court

I recently booked a holiday to Portugal and due to having 2 young children, I chose the flights that were at the best times, rather than the cheapest. This meant outward flight with Ryanair and return flight with Easyjet. I chose to add insurance to both flights. Unfortunately our son got chicken pox and we had to cancel our holiday at the last minute. When I rang the insurance company to reclaim the costs, I was told that my Easyjet insurance was not valid because I don't live in Portugal!!! When I made the booking, they had my address details so why did they offer me a policy that was invalid? I wonder how many people have bought that insurance and not had to claim, meaning that Easyjet have pocketed the money knowing full well they would never had to pay out. I am writing to their CEO to complain about this and will also be copying my letter to the Ombudsman because this is not the way to do business in my view. Loads of people use easyjet because it's more affordable than the bigger airlines but that does not mean they can rip people off. Not impressed!

Good morning all, I was directed here by the guys at ******, I really would be most grateful for any advice. So far I have (from searching ect) -> Write to CRS denying any alleged debt with them, any further comms will be deemed as harrasment. -> Write to travellodge, ensuring they know I will be contacting HSE + potentially trading standards and report the dangerous condition of the handrail and the room being sold as suitable for disabled when clearly not. They are after £80 - I'm very familiar with the speculative invoicing in regards to parking tickets so applying a similar logic here? Stayed at a travel lodge for 2x night, disabled room. Didn't report any damages on arrival...as it's a Travelodge... it would of taken some time. The disabled swing down toilet helper bar was hanging out of the wall at one of its 2 fittings, but still in position (balanced, not held I imagine) Came back one night around 12:30, saw it was on the floor (top fitting had come away from wall, bottom fitting was a hinge so was at 45 degrees) , let night reception know, he took a picture, all good he assured me, I went to bed. Just heard from UKCRS (Civil recovery solutions) Do I have a leg to stand on? Many many thanks

Hi, I have just signed up having read some of the very useful advice on here but couldn't find anything that exactly mirrors my situation. I wonder if some kind person with more knowledge and experience of such things could help me with this. I started work 2 1/2 years ago as a manager in a travel company. I took the role as the diversity appealed as did the chance to learn on the job, even though the pay was not close to what I had been on in my previous role. Essentially, until now I have been managing a team of reservations staff, negotiating with hotel owners and contracting with them, marketing and other related duties. I have reported directly to the MD throughout. My annual reviews have both been glowing but it is clear that the company itself has not been performing adequately. Then, in January of this year, the MD announced two redundancies (both very badly handed and they ended up settling out of court with one as a result) and some structural changes. Essentially he has decided to create a new role and employ a head of reservations to manage the entire reservations staff of the company (including what has been my team up until now). My role will essentially be the same...but without the managerial responsibility. i.e. It won't be the same at all! My concerns with this are essentially about my future career progression. I see myself as taking the next step and becoming a general manager in about 5 years' time or so and this reduction in my responsibility certainly doesn't help me get there. I will admit that I think the MD is probably doing something that is for the good of the company as each team has been run as its own independent fiefdom over the years and the streamlining effect of bringing in one overall head of reservations will improve this. However, unfortunately I have to look at what is best for me and the revised role is not that. I am also concerned that although i have reassurance on email from my MD and the head of HR that it is not their intention to reduce my salary, I will be doing a job that is at least one pay grade below mine and this will mark me out for future redundancy. I have had two informal face to face representations with my MD and made my feelings known. His attitude is essentially that he had to make the changes for the good of the company's future. So I believe the next step is written notification of my grievance. If anyone has any thoughts about this (I didn't find ACAS particularly forthcoming when I spoke to them), before I invoke the company's grievance policy, I would be so grateful. Even if, as ACAS suggested that there is a case for breach of contract or even constructive dismissal and it is fair to say I am unhappy there in any case, I need to see whether it is worth my while going down the official route and burning a few bridges on the way. Many thanks in advance. dtothel

I don't know if anyone can help me out, I am on a programme with Ingeus at the moment called the CAP (community action programme) and I was told they would reimburse me my travel expenses. As I drive to and from my volunteering position I was told I could claim back my mileage at 20p per mile, But I have just found out that the minimum the government says to pay it 45p per mile, Has anyone else had this problem? as I want to know if I can Claim back previously owed mileage and make them pay the 45p per mile. Thanks for your time Gary