Our story
Following on from what was a perfect, amazing and truly unforgettable wedding day, we packed our bags ready for the holiday of a lifetime. Unbeknown to ourselves that we were getting ready to board a plane for what was going to be the worst 14 days of our lives.
After a 5 hour delay we were finally seated ready to take off to Dreams Palm Beach, Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic. The honeymoon that we had worked so hard to afford and had looked forward to for over 12 months. We hadn't even landed in the Dominican Republic when our disaster began. Despite the fact that it was a long haul flight, 8 hours, we were provided with no inflight amenities, not even the simplest of things such as a blanket or pillow. We mentioned this because we know that most other airlines flying long haul provide their passengers with not only the basics, but extras to make their journey the most comfortable it can be. During the flight we were served a 'hot' meal of barbeque chicken. Shortly after eating Beth became very nauseous and was violently ill whilst still in the air, if this alone was not bad enough, the flight attendants failed to take the request for assistance seriously which resulted in complete humiliation of vomiting into the only available item, her cardigan.
Upon arriving at the 5 star resort, Dreams Palm Beach (copyrighted as Ultimate Luxury Defined) we were directed to our room to discover the disappointment that lay within. To be honest the room was an utter disgrace, it was filthy - it was clear that it had not only not been cleaned before our arrival, but had not been cleaned properly for weeks. The bedding was a disgrace, the sheets were dirty and stained, and the pillows had holes in them, looking remarkably like they had been chewed by animals. This was not all, the bed itself was thoroughly broken, the legs were rusty and cracked in half - creating an extremely unsafe, not to mention uncomfortable stay. All surrounding furniture was thick with dust and grime. The sink was loose and riddled with ants - not the ideal place to be leaving your toothbrush, nor any other personal items. The toilet did not flush properly and there was a loose grate in the shower which was not only unsafe, but unsanitary. Plug sockets were hanging from the walls which was exceptionally dangerous, if a child had of been in our room there could have been a serious accident. The air-conditioning was inadequate and the fridge was warm.
After being confined to our hotel room for days with very little support or provision from the Thomson holiday representative or hotel staff it became clear that Beth's condition was worsening. We approached the Thomson holiday representative and asked for guidance of how best to manage the illness and to look into the possibility of returning to the UK to enable Beth to seek professional medical advice, to which the response was dismissive and uncompassionate - 'If she doesn't eat she will die and I am going home and on leave tomorrow so cannot sort a flight for you' As you can appreciate this was not the best thing to say to any ill person, thousands of miles away from home finding it difficult to cope.
During the night Beth's symptoms had worsened requiring a visit to the Resort Doctor. Beth was immediately transferred to the local hospital to be admitted suffering from dehydration and acute gastroenteritis. During admission Beth was given various medications and recieved IV fluids throughout the inpatient stay. Upon discharge Beth was provided with dietry guidance and various courses of medication. When we returned to the resort we tried our hardest to adhere to the dietry guidance provided by the Consultant, however upon request for the listed items - it became apparent that the hotel staff were willing to provide us with none, they refused to provide us with plain food and advised that fruit juices, even the most common such as apple and orange were not available within the all inclusive package, however these could be purchased from the onsite shop at our own expense. Our Thomson holiday representative advised us to visit the local supermarket, however he also advised us not to take any money or valuable belongings as there was a risk of mugging.
The following day Beth was reviewed by the onsite Doctor who made it very clear that the dietry guidance needed to be followed, and if this wasn't possible it could result in further admission as the illness would worsen again. The Doctor advised us to purchase electrolite fluids to ensure Beth did not dehydrate further. We discussed the possibility of returning home to the UK to which the Doctor agreed would be the best option for Beth to make a speedy and full recovery both physically and mentally. We then approached our Thomson holiday representative to ask for advice of how best to manage flight bookings to return to the UK and how this would be managed through our insurance - to which he responded 'I cannot do it and I am too busy to look, so make the arrangements yourselves! You do not need to contact your insurer, you will have to submit a claim form on your return!' We tried to contact Thomson to confirm this via their international holiday helpline numbers, of which all did not work, this resulted in further cost to ourselves to the point of the mobile networks cutting us off because of the unusual high usage. Following the Thomson holiday representatives advice we proceeded to book our return flights to the UK, this came at a considerable cost to ourselves, we are also unable to claim for the expenses of the return flights as we surprisingly found out upon trying to claim on our return.
Upon returning home we have tried to contact and discuss our case with Thomson on numerous occassions to which their first response took months - this differing from the 28 day response they so willingly boast about. They suggested a of a £110 holiday voucher to use with themselves, may we make it clear that this was only provided because we gave photographic evidence of the filthy room which we were a custom to at the 5 star resort. The voucher is redundant as we will never holiday with Thomson again and to be honest this 'solution' which they approached us with only added insult to injury. In the response from Thomson it became apparent that they had given minimal attention to our case, they apologised for Steve's illness - even though it was Beth who was ill. They then went on to give an explanation for the delay of our return flight - although we had explained to them that we had booked an early flight home to the UK using a different airline. Their reponse made it extremely clear that the situation on a whole was just tough luck.
Although this is only a brief review of the events which took place as well as a small insight into how our case was managed by Thomson, we are sure you can appreciate that our honeymoon was less than magical and the customer service we have been a custom to at the hands of one of the UK's largest holiday companys is not only disappointing, but shambolic.
We discourage everyone from using Thomson Holidays!
If you have a story you would like to share with us to be published on our website, please go to the 'Have your say' tab at the top of this page and we will continue to help expose the truth about Thomson Holidays.
After a 5 hour delay we were finally seated ready to take off to Dreams Palm Beach, Punta Cana, in the Dominican Republic. The honeymoon that we had worked so hard to afford and had looked forward to for over 12 months. We hadn't even landed in the Dominican Republic when our disaster began. Despite the fact that it was a long haul flight, 8 hours, we were provided with no inflight amenities, not even the simplest of things such as a blanket or pillow. We mentioned this because we know that most other airlines flying long haul provide their passengers with not only the basics, but extras to make their journey the most comfortable it can be. During the flight we were served a 'hot' meal of barbeque chicken. Shortly after eating Beth became very nauseous and was violently ill whilst still in the air, if this alone was not bad enough, the flight attendants failed to take the request for assistance seriously which resulted in complete humiliation of vomiting into the only available item, her cardigan.
Upon arriving at the 5 star resort, Dreams Palm Beach (copyrighted as Ultimate Luxury Defined) we were directed to our room to discover the disappointment that lay within. To be honest the room was an utter disgrace, it was filthy - it was clear that it had not only not been cleaned before our arrival, but had not been cleaned properly for weeks. The bedding was a disgrace, the sheets were dirty and stained, and the pillows had holes in them, looking remarkably like they had been chewed by animals. This was not all, the bed itself was thoroughly broken, the legs were rusty and cracked in half - creating an extremely unsafe, not to mention uncomfortable stay. All surrounding furniture was thick with dust and grime. The sink was loose and riddled with ants - not the ideal place to be leaving your toothbrush, nor any other personal items. The toilet did not flush properly and there was a loose grate in the shower which was not only unsafe, but unsanitary. Plug sockets were hanging from the walls which was exceptionally dangerous, if a child had of been in our room there could have been a serious accident. The air-conditioning was inadequate and the fridge was warm.
After being confined to our hotel room for days with very little support or provision from the Thomson holiday representative or hotel staff it became clear that Beth's condition was worsening. We approached the Thomson holiday representative and asked for guidance of how best to manage the illness and to look into the possibility of returning to the UK to enable Beth to seek professional medical advice, to which the response was dismissive and uncompassionate - 'If she doesn't eat she will die and I am going home and on leave tomorrow so cannot sort a flight for you' As you can appreciate this was not the best thing to say to any ill person, thousands of miles away from home finding it difficult to cope.
During the night Beth's symptoms had worsened requiring a visit to the Resort Doctor. Beth was immediately transferred to the local hospital to be admitted suffering from dehydration and acute gastroenteritis. During admission Beth was given various medications and recieved IV fluids throughout the inpatient stay. Upon discharge Beth was provided with dietry guidance and various courses of medication. When we returned to the resort we tried our hardest to adhere to the dietry guidance provided by the Consultant, however upon request for the listed items - it became apparent that the hotel staff were willing to provide us with none, they refused to provide us with plain food and advised that fruit juices, even the most common such as apple and orange were not available within the all inclusive package, however these could be purchased from the onsite shop at our own expense. Our Thomson holiday representative advised us to visit the local supermarket, however he also advised us not to take any money or valuable belongings as there was a risk of mugging.
The following day Beth was reviewed by the onsite Doctor who made it very clear that the dietry guidance needed to be followed, and if this wasn't possible it could result in further admission as the illness would worsen again. The Doctor advised us to purchase electrolite fluids to ensure Beth did not dehydrate further. We discussed the possibility of returning home to the UK to which the Doctor agreed would be the best option for Beth to make a speedy and full recovery both physically and mentally. We then approached our Thomson holiday representative to ask for advice of how best to manage flight bookings to return to the UK and how this would be managed through our insurance - to which he responded 'I cannot do it and I am too busy to look, so make the arrangements yourselves! You do not need to contact your insurer, you will have to submit a claim form on your return!' We tried to contact Thomson to confirm this via their international holiday helpline numbers, of which all did not work, this resulted in further cost to ourselves to the point of the mobile networks cutting us off because of the unusual high usage. Following the Thomson holiday representatives advice we proceeded to book our return flights to the UK, this came at a considerable cost to ourselves, we are also unable to claim for the expenses of the return flights as we surprisingly found out upon trying to claim on our return.
Upon returning home we have tried to contact and discuss our case with Thomson on numerous occassions to which their first response took months - this differing from the 28 day response they so willingly boast about. They suggested a of a £110 holiday voucher to use with themselves, may we make it clear that this was only provided because we gave photographic evidence of the filthy room which we were a custom to at the 5 star resort. The voucher is redundant as we will never holiday with Thomson again and to be honest this 'solution' which they approached us with only added insult to injury. In the response from Thomson it became apparent that they had given minimal attention to our case, they apologised for Steve's illness - even though it was Beth who was ill. They then went on to give an explanation for the delay of our return flight - although we had explained to them that we had booked an early flight home to the UK using a different airline. Their reponse made it extremely clear that the situation on a whole was just tough luck.
Although this is only a brief review of the events which took place as well as a small insight into how our case was managed by Thomson, we are sure you can appreciate that our honeymoon was less than magical and the customer service we have been a custom to at the hands of one of the UK's largest holiday companys is not only disappointing, but shambolic.
We discourage everyone from using Thomson Holidays!
If you have a story you would like to share with us to be published on our website, please go to the 'Have your say' tab at the top of this page and we will continue to help expose the truth about Thomson Holidays.