Hellenic Voyages

We stayed at Benelux in Rhodes booked through Hellenic Voyages twice last year, June and September. Yes they are indeed need of a refurb!.......but our apartment was huge very basic but clean, must say though a few tiles fell of the wall while showering!!! We did have aircon the first time and paid locally.....the holiday was just for myself and hubby, kids didn't come this time. We got both holidays for £120! for a week with daytime flights so I'm afraid we thought it was fantastic!!!! and the bar staff and other staff were lovely and many a night sat drinking and having fun in the bar, I wouldn't recommend staying by the pool as it really needs a refurb, but we had a car and went all over the island everyday....and only ever came back to shower, sleep and have a couple in the bar before bed.....so like I said we found it great....and even went back in the September for another week!

I have just got back from a holiday at Benelux Apartments in Rhodes, booked through Hellenic Voyages. The holiday was nothing like the holiday that I booked on the phone. The company advertises this place as 4*, but it was filthy, basic and everything was broken, and the owner of it said that it was only classed as a 1*! It was advertised as self catering, but our so called kitchen was infested with ants and there were NO cooking utensils, and the small freezer compartment was frozen solid, and flooded the room twice! The brochure also said 'No aircraft noise, but we were right on the flight path, and planes were coming over every 5 minutes during the day and every 15 minutes at night! We specifically asked for Air Con, which we did not have, and in the second room we moved to it was broken!

I complained to the rep on the holiday, who advised me to complain on return home, which I did today. I emailed the company and I am furious at the response I received, which included the following:

"Please note that the apartments are sold as advertised on the online brochure. Air-conditioning NOT included in room price UNLESS specifically requested and PAID for locally. I do not accept any of your points and for the price you have paid I believe that you must be joking"

"All your comments are completely and utterly stretched to suit your purpose.

Stop inventing excuses and do not be petty"

I cannot believe these responses! I hadn't even mentioned the COST of air con. I don't know what to do! I'm just stunned!

Have been away with this company several times, and recommended to friends (who also never had any problems).

I recently booked a holiday with Hellenic Voyages, also trading as Sunescapes, to go to Crete on the 21st of AUG leaving for 2 weeks. We received our invoice that stated that we where travelling at 9.45am. When we received our tickets I noticed that our tickets stated a completely different time, 8.10pm. I contacted the reservations number as we had not been told about this and was told to email the director who would deal with it. I emailed the 'director' who offered me a full refund but I was given only a few hours to make this decision. Many people will know, we look forward to our holidays most of the year and don't just want to cancel so I refused. A week or so later I decided I was not happy with this and rang for some advice. The man on the phone told me he was the director, although a week before I was told the director was somewhere completely different and not sat in the offices in Wakefield. He was abusive on the phone so I put it down and decided to write as I was very upset by this man. I received an email of this same man which I was very shocked about. He typed half in capital like he was shouting and obviously has some sort of anger issue. I've enclosed my email as well as the one that he replied with so you can see why I was so shocked.

---- Original Message: ----

"I have just contacted one on your sale advisors and i have never been talked to like that in my life. I explained what had happened and asked for advice in what i should do and i was shouted at by the disgusting man on the phone. I rang at 17.25pm (GMT). Your sales team are a disgrace and it seem to be happening across the board if you have read some of the lovely reviews on the internet. It seems that your company is only bother about the cash it receives and has no regard to customer service.

If you have substantially changed the holiday terms before the date of travel we have a right to a full refund which i would like. We have lost a day of our holiday, we paid for 14 full days which we will not receive and am asking you for a full refund. I am willing to take this matter further if i do not receive a reply.

Thank you."

---- The reply that I received: ----

"When someone does not agree with what you say, that does not automatically imply that you are right

and he is wrong. If you honestly say that anyone is shouting at you ,then you need some real help.

As I said to you , I sympathise with your problem, and on a number of occasions I have offered to you

a full refund. You , the client that is, has taken 5 days to decide, after checking numerous other options

and then you come back and said , NO I want to go on holiday and I accept your offer.

Why then now , when we have bought and reserve these seats , are you trying to put on us all your

problems and demand that we sort them out for you?

Sorry , we have done nothing wrong, we have informed you, gave you every opportunity to cANCEL,

WE OFFERed YOU EXTRA

HOTEL STAY , THAT IS ANOTHER'S DAYS CHARGE TO US, AND YOU HAVE ACCEPTED IN WRITING.

AS TO THE IRONY OF YOUR REPLY AND THE GENERAL SARCASTIC VOCABULARY USED

THINK ABOUT IT, ALL YOUR PROBLEMS MIGHT actually JUST COME BECAUSE OF THAT.

THREATS, AND INTIMIDATION FROM ANY CUSTOMMER WILL DEFINATELY WOULD NOT

HELP ITS case

AND AS I HAVE MENTIONED, YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN NUMEROUS OPPORTUNITIES

TO CANCEL , YOU HAVE DECIDED IN WRITING TO ACCEPT THE OFFER

AND SO WE PROCEED.

i WISH THAT THINGS WORK OUT BETTER IN THE FUTURE FOR YOU."

I advice anyone thinking of travelling with these to stay very clear. Apparently the company is based in New York, with a director in Wakefield, England who cannot spell, type in anyway a pleasant manner and has zero customer service skills. He seems to have been talking about another email as can anyone explained when I threatened or intimidated him? I ended up just cancelling the holiday and getting a last minute deal with First Choice. Its worked out cheaper, much better hotel and I don't have to worry that when I get there we will be moved around.

Superb accommodation. Great entertainment for the kids. Good food. Excellent value for money.

I booked my holiday through Teletext Holidays and Hellenic Voyages. At the time of booking I was told that my confirmation would be sent out that day and to return it asap. Unfortunately, this took 10 days to arrive. It was signed and returned immediately, with a request for insurance as well. I didn't hear anything and telephoned them on numerous occasions. Eventually, less than a week before the holiday, everything arrived. However, 2 days before the holiday we received a letter saying that we would not be staying in the Pernera Beach Hotel as we had booked, but we would now be staying in the Paschalia because of over booking. The reason we booked the holiday in the first place was because of its location (right on the beach and within easy walking distance of shops, bars and restaurants). I telephoned Hellenic Voyages yet again, and they were not even aware of any letters being sent out. The girl apologised and advised that the rooms had been taken off Hellenic Voyages because of better clientele!!

The Paschalia Hotel was awful. The food was terrible. They had strict rules about using electrical items such as hair straighteners. If these were found in the room they would be removed by a member of staff. The staff were not helpful, and in the week we were there changed the towels once, and the sheets were not changed at all. There were no activities in the hotel - no indoor swimming pool and no supermarket. The beach was a good 20 minute walk away, and the same again for decent bars and restaurants. We ended up eating out every day because the food in the hotel was bland and of very little choice. There was no entertainment during the day and the evening entertainment was dreadful.

We were informed on arrival by the Hellenic Voyages rep that we would not be moving to the Pernera Beach, and unfortunately had to make the most of our week at the Paschalia. I have complained to Hellenic Voyages, but as yet I have not received a reply.

After reading all of the reviews, we were obviously very worried when we set off to the airport on 29th August for our 11 night holiday in Crete.

There were no delays with our flight. In fact, Excel airlines were perfect in every way.

When we arrived at the airport we were met with a Hellenic Voyages rep, who told us our hotel had been overbooked and we were to be sent elsewhere. We panicked and presumed the worst, but when we arrived at the new area and new complex, we were pleased to find we had been given a top floor 2 bedroom suite with a panoramic view across the bay of Stalis. The area was much nicer than the area we would have been staying in Piskopiano. The hotel was absolutely faultless.

We had a wonderful holiday without any problems. We had booked an 11 night break, and on our last day the hotel asked us to move out of our room as they had to be cleared at 11am. Our flights were not until 1am the following morning, and Hellenic Voyages had assured us that we would have our room until we left for the airport. I telephoned straight to the office in the UK, and within 10 minutes the problem had been sorted out.

I cannot fault Hellenic Voyages in any way whatsoever, and I would therefore recommend them. However, it seems we might have just got lucky.

We booked a holiday from Teletext online through Hellenic voyages to Cyprus for 2 adults and one child travelling from Belfast to Paphos on the 16th August and returning on the 30th August. We stayed all inclusive at the Akteon Village just outside Paphos. The day before we were due to come home at 9.30am in the morning - the rep calls our room and asks to speak to us in reception at 10.30am to discuss flight changes!

The flight changes turn out to be travelling from Larnaca on the Wed 30th (pick up time 06.30am for the 10.20am flight - original pick up time was 20.45pm for the 23.20pm flight), flying to France with Cyprus airways then on to Belfast with Easyjet! (One of the reasons that we had chosen to go to Paphos was due to the close proximity to the airport for the child!).

We argued our case with the rep - refusing to take the flight changes - but as it transpires, our names were removed from the Belfast flight and our new tickets travelling from Larnaca to Paris were booked on the 25th August (yet we were not told about the changes until the 29th!).

We lost a full day of our holiday also losing a full days all inclusive package and to top all that we spent a total of 15.5hrs travelling that day with changing airports etc!

7 people that were affected in the same way. The rep told us that Hellenic do this all the time and that the very same day she had to break the news to a party of 6 travelling home to Manchester that they were flying home via Athens!

We got a very vague letter from Hellenic along with our new tickets to say that they had to make the changes and that they were choosing families with fewer children. This is absolute rubbish - There were couples who were also staying at the resort flying to Belfast through Hellenic who had no children!.

The rep did contact the company in our presence and spoke to Manos (owner of the company) about our situation. He refused to speak to me and put the phone down on the rep. Very professional!

My husband and I travelled through Hellenic Voyages on the 28th of June 2006. On arrival at Rhodes airport we were met by our Rep who handed us a letter (dated 15th June) and told us our hotel was overbooked and we were being sent to a further hotel of the same standard. There were no apologies whatsoever for any inconvenience! Why were we not informed in advance when they clearly knew on the 15th of June that we would not be going to the hotel of our choice? I had also phoned the office only two days beforehand on the 26th of June to check they had received a cheque from us for the sea-view upgrade, and I was told "oh yes, every thing is in order for you with sea-view at this hotel". However, the alternative hotel that they sent us to was not even in vision of the sea.

The Rep was unable to travel with us to the hotel as she lived in central Rhodes, and the coach would drop her off first. This was at 03:00 hours. When we arrived at the 'new' hotel on our own there was no-one there to check us in, and it was a good 20 minutes before we found the night porter asleep on the veranda.

This Hotel was located a further 30 minutes from the original one, which was listed as 5*, and the hotel we were sent to was clearly not 5*, but 3*.

We didn't have half of the facilities that were available on our original hotel booking. No bath, hairdryer, no entertainment, tennis courts or golf etc etc. Plus, the food was very poor.

Our rep told us the following day that it was impossible for us to be moved to our original hotel, but she could offer us other accommodation at a further cost of 20 Euros per day! We were quite frustrated by this time, along with a few other couples we met in the same position who had also travelled through Hellenic Voyages. We made several calls to the office, but nothing came of it.

On returning from our holiday, we have passed this on to our local Trading Standards Office who are looking into the matter for us.

To date, having written to Hellenic Voyages on our return nearly 5 weeks ago, we haven't even had an acknowledgement from them.

We arrived at Rhodes airport, and we were informed by a rep from Hellenic Voyages that our booking at the 5* Sun Palace Hotel was overbooked and that we had to stay 65km away in a 3* hotel in Lindos. There was no other option, "take it or leave it". We had a 5 year old with us, and there was little for him, and there were only a few English speaking children. It was a 70 Euro taxi ride to Faliraki. The rep offered 1 trip or 1 day car rental as compensation. She never returned when she said she would, and she would not answer the phone. There were at least 7 families in the same position as us. One family is still there. I have contacted ATOL and Trading Standards, and my enquiries are ongoing.