Hoping someone could give me a definitive answer here, (if there is such a thing outside a court of law)

We recently had cause to complain to Thomas Cook after having to move hotels during a package holiday left us considerably out of pocket. Following their usual complaints process, they offered us a frankly insulting £150 voucher against next years trip. So, I escalated this to the CEO.

Today I accepted a refund of £600. Better, but not the £800 I asked for. While on the phone to arrange this, the woman in the CEO’s office said that she could authorise this payment without recourse to a higher manager as that was the value of 5 nights of accommodation they had already had refunded from the hotel.

Now I have time to think about this, it seems like if we had accepted the first offer they would have just pocketed that money for their own profit. Is that some form of theft? Legally, should they have refunded the £600 to us before any ‘compensation’ was discussed?

Stinks certainly, and I think I’ll take if further, (after the cash hits my bank account 😀 ) Sorry about the long post.

I can’t see how it’s theft. Legally they did nothing wrong as you were just negotiating with them.

What they were/are due you depends on the contract and exactly what happened. Unlikely to be any precedent/case law on this as the values at stake don’t justify going to court.

Before I e-mailed the CEO, and presumably after they had the hotel refund they had declared the £150 voucher a full and final offer, so I’m not sure they were still negotiating, (or expecting to).

Fair point about the case law and low value claims.

They were trying to stop you from negotiating, by saying they wouldn’t anymore, a sure way of telling that there is still room to move.

They aren’t doing anything illegal, just trying to make the best of a bad situation, as are you.

Fair enough, just a pissboiler then.
Still think I’ll metaphorically try and crap down their chimney by referring this to one of those newspaper – we fight for your rights – pages.

Will the newspapers be interested when there is no glory for them to bask in (since you’ve done the hard work).

Well, I don’t know, but it’s worth the effort of an e-mail or two, won’t cost anything. Not necessarily expecting any more cash myself.

If this is their usual way of resolving complaints, they stand to make a considerable amount of money from supplier refunds that are not passed back to customers. £150 quid voucher will cost them buttons in actuality, it’s just a small reduction on profit, and likely many never get cashed in.

unless the £600 covered exactly how much you were out of pocket, why on earth did you accept £600 if you were out of pocket by more and only had to get the poor sod on the phone to speak to their manager?

There is loads of legal precedent on holidays that don’t live up to expectations – what people are awarded are damages for breach of contract. Courts don’t award compensation (as the OP indicates).

The vouchers are just an effort to minimise the business’s own exposure to its customers – it’s an opening proposal and to be ignored. If they manage to get a recovery from the supplying hotel, then you’re right there may be an upside. So what? They won’t be on business very much longer if they hand back all their revenue at the drop of a hat!

why on earth did you accept £600

In hindsight, that’s a question I’ve been asking myself too. 😡

Because it was a considerable jump up from the original offer, I was too quick to accept I think. I wasn’t expecting to get back all the extra that I spent out, the hotel we went to was in a different class so I knew there would be some increase. I even offered to pay a fair extra when we initially told the rep we would be moving.

Ok, in which case it’s unlike you’d have hit everything back if you upgraded from your original (expected) quality of hotel.

I once got told off by Mrs North for refusing to give in over the last £36 on a £20k car…. Everything’s a negotiation!

If they manage to get a recovery from the supplying hotel, then you’re right there may be an upside. So what? They won’t be on business very much longer if they hand back all their revenue at the drop of a hat!

Because if they had offered the £600 straight off to us and been honest about where it had come from, I’d have probably been happy with a rapid and fair resolution. I recognise that problems happen in business, the mark of a good company is how they resolve the issue. Under those circumstances I’d have booked again.

As it is Mrs Tthew has been banging on at them for weeks, and only now is it sorted, so yes they might have made an extra 600 quid on this trip, but now, in future I won’t give them the steam off my piss and will likely try and put others off using them too. Long term they may have lost significantly from that. Poor customer service is a very short sighted business practice.

Edit – are you available for consultation next summer ourmaninthenorth? 😆

You’re right that poor customer service is bad all round: for the customers and the fact the business doesn’t get the repeat custom. I have to say that I understand their business approach, but agree you shouldn’t have yo hassle them for ages to get a resolution.

Always happy to freelance! 😉