Escape Trips Reviews

Ivan211169's Response to sarahjosgood's Review

Written on: 12/03/2013

Hi,

Thank you for your feedback. We always value this so that we may improve the quality of our service and to date I'm glad to say that this is the first negative feedback that we have received.

You booked a 1 night hen weekend with us that included a 4* hotel with breakfast, a pre-paid meal at a restaurant and the Club Package with Party Bus. Firstly, we discounted the normal price of this package as you were shopping around so your group got a great deal on this package.

We did not “get all the names mixed up”. Two people with the same family name were mixed up when you originally sent through your list of attendees but you pointed this out to us and this was immediately rectified and you emailed to say "Thank you for all your help you've been so helpful!".

We agreed to let your party pay in instalments of £22. This generated 51 transactions for your booking and many agencies would charge extra for this service. The only confusion was caused by your attendees not paying on time or paying different amounts than was agreed. This generated a lot of extra admin but everything was done correctly and there was no reason for complaint.

You made your booking on the 24th August (Bank Holiday weekend) and received a confirmation showing the discount for the hen on the 30th August, which was within 2 working days. I don’t know why you would even mention in your review that this was missed off :(

We didn’t breach any contract with regards to the hotel. We offered you a choice of 3 x 4* hotels. By the time you decided to book the hotel you chose had less availability and had increased their rates. We offered you one of the other two hotels at the same rate as the offer was always subject to availability. You complained about this and threatened us with legal action. You had no grounds for legal action but we decided to put you into the hotel of your choice. At this point we could have said that the package you wanted to book was no longer available and refunded your deposit, however we wanted to you to be happy with our service and your package and so decided to take a loss on the hotel.

We would not and did not tell you that you can drink on the Party Bus. We have been using Party Bus for many years and we know that this is not allowed. We get asked this question all the time so there is no way that we would have made a mistake. Nor do we exaggerate or lie about what is included in our packages that we sell in order to close a sale. The Party Bus transports you to bars and you only actually spend about 10 minutes on the bus between each venue (so 40 minutes in total). You left an aggressive message on our emergency phone once again threatening legal action because you could not take alcohol on the bus.

All of the bar and club entries were organised by Party Bus. They have confirmed that there were no problems on the night. There was a 5 minute delay at the nightclub because the door staff were dealing with an issue, but this gives no grounds for complaint. The Party Bus also includes VIP (fast track) entry, not a reserved VIP area. It appears that you have misunderstood what was included and this was explained to you by the Party Bus staff.

We are sorry that the restaurant brought you sausage instead of a vegetarian meal. We pre-paid them for a two course dinner and your meal choices were made on the night. I don’t see how a minor mistake made by the restaurant can be blamed on us. Furthermore, your dinner included a 125ml glass of wine, but we included several bottles instead, which meant that everyone got almost twice as much wine at no extra cost. You also failed to mention how at the last minute the Party Bus changed their pick-up point and that we moved your party to another restaurant that was closer. This involved quite a bit of admin but we did not think twice about doing this as this is the level of service that we operate at.

What can I say about other companies laughing at us? This is an unsavoury sales tactic employed by some to rubbish the competition in the hope that the customer will lose confidence and book with them. We would not dream of doing this and I think it reflects badly on any company that does. If we know you’ve had a quote from a bad company we just ask you to take a look at their reviews and then make up your own mind.

To say we are unorganised is unfair and untrue. If that were the case I would be unable to generate such a quick and detailed response to your complaint. [Name removed] provided you with outstanding service from the offset and you sent several email replies thanking and praising her for her help. She even spent time working out your travel details (tube, night bus and taxis options). You make it sound like we avoided your calls. Our office is manned from 8.30am until 5.30pm Monday to Friday. Most staff only take 20 minute lunch breaks and we have 6 lines coming in to the office. It’s impossible for the phone not to be answered and if you called for someone when they were away from their desk you would have been called back upon their return, or the next day if they had left for the day and the person taking the call was unable to help you.

Just to summarise we put you into a good 4* hotel at a loss, we relocated your restaurant at the last minute, increased the amount of wine with your meal at no extra cost and booked you onto the Party Bus, which also ran smoothly. You were not mis-sold anything and we did not breach any contracts. The service you received was always excellent and any minor misunderstandings were quickly and professionally resolved. Every aspect of your hen weekend was booked correctly and I cannot understand why you have left such a scathing review.

Ivan Fisher
Escape, MD