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“Rude and Awful Customer Service”

written by Wheelerqz1948 on 07/01/2018

After spending £3,000 on a holiday to Mexico at the Royalton Riviera Cancun, we found out that if we wanted to stay in the adults only section of the website and use the adults only swimming pool, bar, restaurants, parties etc, we actually needed to book what TUI shows as a separate hotel “Hideaway at the Royalton Riviera Cancun”. I’ve been checking this since I’ve found out about it and it is either £1pp or £9pp more expensive for the entire holiday.

So I called TUI thinking they would be able to change the booking over and they wanted over £200 to change it.

Having explained to the person that it wasn’t clear on their website and that it’s under £10 difference, I was told point blank that they wouldn’t do anything. I asked if there was another team I could speak to and was told no. I said I’d like to complain and was told their complaints team doesn’t speak to customers.

I eventually got put through to the person I dealt with in TUI’s Escalations Team. I explained the situation again thinking it would be just a quick, “oh yes that does seem a bit unfair, I’ll override the system and charge you £18”. Instead, she  was rude, confrontational and demonstrated what I’ve probably found to be the worst customer service I’ve ever experienced.

What really surprised me was that the person I dealt with had no manager (she said they self-managed themselves) and there was nobody else to complain to. I asked if there was an ombudsman I could complain to and she said there was but she wouldn’t give me their details or tell me who they were no matter how many times I asked. I wasn’t at a computer at the time so I even asked her where on the website and she refused to say. I still haven’t found it but think if it’s not ABTA that they’ll be able to point me in the right direction.

Amazed by the lack of customer service, I asked informed the person I dealt with that I would like to raise a subject access request to see my notes and have a copy of the call. Again, she said TUI wouldn’t help with this and that if I wanted to conduct an SAR, I would need to speak to the “obadsman” as she pronounced it.

I used to rate Thomson and booked with them every year. Seems like the rebrand means they no longer value customer service, or train their staff. I don’t know about the Ombadsman but the failure to provide information on how to raise an SAR isn’t in keeping with the DPA and now that I’m so wound up about the whole thing, I’ll also be contacting the ICO to complain.

Moral of the story TUI:
- have a clearer website that explains how “adults only” sections need to be booked.
- train your staff on Customer service and regulatory compliance
- be fair to customers
- invest in some management

You must be losing so much custom and wasting so much time trying to resolve mundane complaints which your staff have made 10x worse.

Now to try and find out who the ombudsman is and see if I can get this poxy holiday sorted before we get there on Wednesday.