I have just got back from Turkey on an all inclusive. I was so disappointed. Me and my other half got food poisoning, the hotel was noisy with people shouting and screaming drunkenly through the night, only stopping at 7am, yes 7am!!!!

The whole hotel was filthy and the food looked so dodgy, and we were so scared after getting food poisoning in the first week, we ate out in the second week, which meant we were shelling out again. So disappionted. The hotel was in Alanya. Spoke to hotel company. They didn't seem too bothered. They ummed and ahhed in the right places but sounded to me like they didn't care. Anyone else had similar experiences?

Yes, I had a very similar experience two years ago in Turkey. We went with JMC to an all-inclusive hotel that we were told was in Marmaris. The brochure said it was in Marmaris. The travel agent said it was in Marmaris. It was actually 40 minutes away from Marmaris up the side of a bloody mountain!

We had various problems - poor choice of food that was crawling with insects, cats, dogs and birds freely roaming the dining room, being surrounded by forest a good 5 miles in every direction, all the entertainment catering for German guests, staff ignoring our complaints and not even attempting to speak anything but German, not being picked up for excursions we had paid for, being left stranded by JMC reps after another excursion and constant sickness/runs. Check in took several hours because the idiot behind the desk wouldn't deal with anyone until they produced a "travel woucher". Of course, the JMC rep had buggered off as soon as we were all off the coach so it soon descended into chaos. Our passports were taken from us at reception which I wasn't happy about, and it took the best part of three days to get it back.

Having eventually got hold of a rep on the last day of the holiday, she basically laughed at all of our complaints. We were so desperate to come home. I was crying because I miserable, and because of the food/sickness we were living on bottled water and 3 euro bags of crisps from the hotel gift shop. To top it all off, when we arrived back in Manchester we had to wait over 3 hours for luggage, and when I got mine back, my hard shell suitcase was literally smashed to pieces.

JMC responded to our 3 page letter of complaint (mainly about how the brochure was misleading) by saying that it was basically all our fault for choosing an unsuitable hotel for our needs.

And you left it at that????

take a look at this site, it may help you get compensated.

http://www.holidaytravelwatch.net/htw/welcome.htm

Yes, we left it at that. The whole thing p****d me off so much that I just wanted nothing more to do with it. Manchester airport compensated me for my suitcase and after numerous complaints from other holidaymakers, the hotel in question has now been withdrawn from their brochures.

I have to say that after their attitude towards our complaint, I will NEVER book a holiday with JMC, Thomas Cook or whatever they decide to call themselves in the future.

Big companies rely on this sort of thing - they don't give a stuff about individual complaints cos they know theres a steady stream of other suckers - ermmm potential clients - what they are scared of is bad PR - next time anything like this happens inform the company that you are CCing the letter to trading standards, any apropriate bodies (like ABTA in this case), WHICH, any consumer affairs programs you can think of, your MP, the local and national press and anyone else you think is appropriate - you will be amazed how quickly things get sorted then...

Didn't know JMC used to be Thomas Cook. I'll note that one though!

We go by Ferris normally. Dirt cheap, (coaches not flights, but you can book your own flights, we did Easyjet 25 quid apiece), very good customer service and hotels of very good standard. I'd recommend them...they are only a small company so reputation is everything - and they check out all their hotels on a regular basis...we went with Thompsons once (never again) very poor and we found out that some other guests on the same flight got their holiday for 200 quid cheaper with another compny in the same hotel.

Yes, we have been with Ferris for the past five years. Recommended. God, they are so cheap. The only problem is that they only do the Costa Brava and the Costa Dorada.

But they don't costa lotta :lol:

I'll get me coat... :lol:

We tend to always book with First Choice, and never have had any problems whatsoever. And in regards to what Internetowl said about Thomson... we have booked a week all inclusive in a 4 star hotel in Gran Canaria in January via First Choice. Total cost per person - £390. Thomson are offering exactly the same holiday, same hotel - even the same flight - for £700 per person. It definitely pays to shop around folks!

A good way of booking a holiday is to pick your preferred choice and phone three or four top travel agents. Get them to phone you back with a price. You'll find that you can play them against each other and consequentally the price will drop dramatically.

We went to Fuerteventura a couple of years ago after I spent a pleasant Sunday afternoon getting the starting price down from around £1100 to £850 for a week's all inc for two adults and a free child by playing Going Places, Thomas Cook and Lunn Poly against each other.

Incidentally, Lunn Poly won.

Smashing.

Looks like I'm the only one to have such a rubbish holiday - apart from angel_b. Do you think the travel agents think that young people are less likely to complain ?
So unfair!

Couple of my friends have gone away so hopefully they'll have better hols!

Has anyone had any probs with specific travel agents so I know which ones to aviod when I book again next month cos I'm going on hol to recover from my last holiday.

Have booked time off in October hopefully somewhere should still be hot.

PLEASE TELL ME IF THERE IS SOMEWHERE TO AVAOID. I DON'T WANT A REPEAT DISASTER HOLIDAY.

And does anyone else book early top get cheaper prices?