Mis-sold package followed by terrible customer service

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Anon999999's review of Skiline - www.skiline.co.uk

“Mis-sold package followed by terrible customer service”

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written by Anon999999 on 03/02/2016

We stayed at La Savoie at Val D'siere. However, we were mis-sold the package by the person I dealt with at Ski line.
The package was sold to us as a 5* hotel and given the name La Savoie chalet hotel & spa we did not question it.

Over the phone, it was always represented to us that we were booking a 5* hotel with breakfast, afternoon tea and dinner included. At no point did he explain that there was a difference between hotel vs chalet hotel and in fact only upon arrival did the manager explain to us that la savoie was recently taken over by Ski Total and was run as a chalet. the person I dealt with did not inform us that we would only receive dinner on 6 out of the 7 nights we were staying and that mid week the room would not be cleaned. When we questioned it, he became aggressive and unprofessional, telling us that if we did not know what "chalet hotel" accommodation meant, then we should've asked him or looked at the website (i can confirm that the website link he sent us did not include any information about catering or anything else much, hence the site was useless).
The manager at La Savoie also spoke to him to try to rectify the situation and make our stay as pleasant as possible. She later informed us that he was extremely rude to her on the phone.
After we complained via email, we received a nasty response from his boss, accusing us of describing him like a 'villain' (we personally thought that was a bit dramatic and childish, as we would never use language like that...).
The reason for his boss' reaction was because I made a complaint that he had mislead us on the ski hire and hence why we had lost faith in Ski-line. One week before our trip I had emailed ski-line to enquire about the in-house ski hire situated inside the hotel/chalet. My email was subsequently forwarded to him. He then proceeded to respond to my friend - the booking leader - with details of Skiset which was another ski shop 5 mins walk away from the hotel/chalet- claiming to my friend that this was the information I had requested - but making no mention of my actual request for details of the in-house ski shop. When my friend forwarded me the email I immediately called him up to clarify. Only upon some persisting from my side did he finally agree to contact the hotel/chalet. The in-house ski shop turned out to be cheaper with brand new equipment.

What could've been a fantastic trip from start to finish was ruined by an unprofessional salesman.
Please book with another company if you want a pleasant experience when booking a holiday.
On a side note, i can confirm that the ski rep and all staff at La Savoie were very helpful and nice. If only everybody could act with that level of professionalism...

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Anguskinloch's Response to Anon999999's Review

Written on: 05/05/2016

I was disappointed to read your review, particularly after my email to you on the 26th January. As you know the negotiations for this holiday booking were made with your friend and not you personally.

The sales person who handled the enquiry has worked at Ski Line for 14 years and had previously worked with one of our competitors for many years before joining our team. His vast experience of the ski market has not gone un-noticed by the many clients who ask for him by name. Never in his time working at Ski Line has anyone reported he that he has been rude, that’s simply not in his nature.

When your friend contacted us looking for a skiing holiday, she explained to us the kind of holidays she wanted, we understood that you had previously used Club Med, but were not happy with its location in Val d’Isere and wanted a good quality hotel in central Val d’Isere. Our sales person listened carefully, make notes and made a few recommendations too, before coming back with a choice of suitable and available options.

One of the holidays that we proposed was the Chalet Hotel Le Savoie, as our sales person had just returned from seeing the property and was able to answer all of your friend’s questions.

It is difficult for our sales team to cover every aspect of the many skiing holidays we offer in a phone call. Particularly as he will have discussed several different hotels and chalets in that call.

Some of our clients ask lots of detailed questions, while others only want to know the basics. For this reason we make it very clear on our web site what is and what isn’t included in each of our holidays.

You will recall I sent you a link in my email on the 26th January showing where on the web page it clearly stated that the board basis was “chalet board” and not as you had believed it to be, half board. This was also detailed in the confirmation invoice that was sent at the time of booking and again in the invoice from Ski Total that was sent a few days after the holiday was confirmed. Perhaps if the documentation we had sent had been studied, this misunderstanding would have been avoided.

I understand that we had never issued you with our Ski Set voucher as Inghams had a special offer you had taken advantage of from their in-house ski rental which I believe you had booked. While I agree your friend was offered ski rental with our partners Ski Set, when we discovered Ski Total had a special offer this was offered as a cheaper solution.

It’s always a huge disappointment for everyone working at Ski Line when a client has cause to complain. However in this instance I believe this is could have been avoided if the website, links, and documentation had been read.

Angus Kinloch
Managing Director
Ski Line Limited

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