Incompetent Liars

My recent complaint to Travelrepublic / holiday Taxis:

The flight landed slightly early and the baggage came out quickly so we were through customs shortly after 11am. As directed we looked for someone from Holiday Taxis holding up a sign with my name on it who would be waiting to meet us from our flight. After 1omin of fruitless searching I gave up and as per the instructions you had provided we went outside to the bus stands to locate the Holiday Taxis stand. There isn’t one. We did go over to the Shuttle Bus stand (which did have availability and would only have been 7 Euros) and asked them if they knew where we were meant to go. When we said we were booked with Holiday Taxis they just laughed and muttered something that suspiciously sounded like “good luck!”.

Next, as per the instructions you had provided I called the Emergency Numbers. Both these numbers ring out and after 30 or rings I gave up. Not really my definition of an emergency number.

We then headed back into the terminal and I then called the UK contact number. After going through your menu system I finally got through to a someone who asked me if I had not spotted someone holding a card and failing that had I called the emergency number. After going through these checks she put me on hold. When she came back on the phone she informed me that she had spoken to the driver, he was just arriving and that if we could wait by the information desk he would be with us in 3 minutes. I double checked this and she confirmed 3minutes.

15 minutes later there was no sign of the driver but there were 6 other passengers who were also waiting for Holiday Taxis and had booked through Travel Republic. The information desk did have a taped down piece of paper (not visible unless you were leaning on the desk) with transfer times on it but according to the Information Desk guy we weren’t booked in (and the scheduled times didn’t match anytime I had been previously given). The guy at the information desk was very helpful and said he would ring the company direct.

In the meantime I called the UK call centre and got through to a chap who was very helpful and told me that the transfer was booked for 12noon! It was the first time that any of us had heard of this especially as it was now 12.10 and there was no sign of the driver. It also made me wonder just how honest the previous lady was being. The UK guy then called the driver and again told us that he was just parking up and he would be with us in the next couple of minutes. The guy from the information desk also came over and told us that he had the driver on the phone and that he would be with us in the next 20mins and that he had been delayed in traffic. So, 2 conflicting pieces of information – guess which one was right??

25 minutes later the Information guy led us outside and stood with us for another 5 minutes until the taxi turned up. We all thanked him as he seemed to be the only one who knew what he was doing. We all piled on board and finally set off. Hurrah I hear you cry? Unfortunately not. The driver then realised he didn’t have all the passengers he needed and so parked up again and made several phone calls. Obviously these passengers weren’t important as 10 minutes later he finally set off for Sorrento without any additional people on board.

We arrived at the hotel at 2.30 pm, a little over 3 and a half hours after landing. Has we just walked outside we would have been straight onto the shuttle bus and been at the hotel 2 hours earlier and I wouldn’t have incurred the extra expense of several international phone calls.

Later in the week I noted that the instructions ask me to call to reconfirm our transfer. Neither of the numbers you provided were in operation and again I was forced to ring the UK who merely told me that the details I had were correct. The return transfer was a bit less stressful although again it took nearly 2 and a half hours as we detoured into the incredibly busy Naples to drop 2 people off at the train station. The driver didn’t tell anyone that this was the plan and there was a lot of stress in the minibus as people were very concerned they would miss their checkin. Thankfully we had 20 minutes or so to spare.

All in all, this was a poorly run service with completely inadequate and misleading instructions. There was no support when things went wrong. The whole point of booking a transfer with you was that it would be a cost effective, quick way to get to Sorrento from Naples. In the end it was anything but. "

Holiday Taxis investigated but found no case to answer! Oh well onto ABTA we go!

Will not be using HolidayTaxis or Travelrepublic for transfers again.