Don't do it!!!

I wouldn't recommend this travel company to my dog, let alone a friend. This is the first ever bad review I have written and I am doing it to prevent anyone else experiencing this. I booked via Purple Travel (Trading name of Hays Travel LTD)

After 2 years together (and some very tough times) my partner and I decided to book a new year holiday to Goa. We spent days researching, what resort we wanted and booked what we believed to be our dream holiday. We understood we were paying the Christmas/New Year hike up and were just looking forward to our first holiday for four years. We booked to go on 27th December to be able to spend Christmas with our families but be their for the new year buzz.

Don't believe the prices on the websites. Its all a bit Ryan-Air. Need I say more. After all the "extras" (Luggage, debit card fees) the holiday was an extra £95 per person on quoted price.

Having accepted this and booked, we then paid for a good quality (and expensive) travel insurance. (AXA, cost £111.00) Having worked and lived in India, this is one area where I believe more is more.

We then bought travel books, started the visa process and dreamed of two weeks without rain.

However, two months into the holiday being booked we then received a letter in the post from "the jewel in the crown" The first post received may I add, everything else had been done via e-mail.

In short, they had decided to change airlines "for our connivence" and rebooked our holiday, so we were departing at 8 am on New Years Day. The holiday times were now extended beyond our annual leave, which has to be booked 12 months in advance, as well as us no longer being there for new year. Discount, I hear you cry? not a chance. Although they were happy to tell me they could increase the price.

Upon opening envelope I burst into tears and decided to contact "the jewel in the crown". I had obviously been crying. I was just told flatly this was in their "t & c's" and they were doing nothing wrong. I was told Purple Travel would "maybe" give me a refund and to ask them. When I asked for a refund on my single trip insurance, I was told they wouldn't and that insurance was too expensive and I would have had a refund if I had bought theirs (which didn't provide adequate cover). Which completely missed the point. I also asked about compensation for the inconvenience and was told this wasn't an inconvenience for me at all. I asked to speak to a manager and was told I would be called back in 20 minutes.

Two hours later and no phone call, I decided to contact Purple Travel. At least they had some empathy, and understood why I was upset as well as the difference between being somewhere for new year but was just told, t & c's, t & c's.

Team manager phoned back 2 hours later and offered us a Christmas day flight. With a small discount. Which we were unable to take for family reasons and was why we had booked a flight for the 27th in the first place,

We have been left with no choice but to cancel our "dream holiday" and because of the timings, we cannot afford to rebook for that time of year. £111 down on single trip insurance (which they would have changed, but we now can't afford a holiday).

Thank God, we never actually went away with them. What do you reckon that would have been like.