Anyone used or work at Alpha-rooms eccie rd

[Titanic99]

I've been trying to ring them on their 10p a minute phone line and I have a couple of queries:

 

Do you/they perpetually have record call volumes

Will I get charged for the 20 minute waiting time before hanging up

Do you not answer email enquiries

 

And yes I have read the frequently asked questions

 

Any help appreciated!!

[NorthernStar]

I take it that the reviews on the following link is for the same company, looks like a well shoddy company to me - avoid in future and good luck.

 

http://travel.ciao.co.uk/Reviews/Alpharooms_com__6513231/Start/0

[alternageek]

Ive not heard positive things about them... good thread found here:

 

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=143006&hilit=alpha+rooms

 

audbod, I can shed some light asto what's happening with your problem.

 

Well, I hope I can. Not your particular problem but that kind of problem has been an issue with the company recently; let me try and address them. Not that it'll be particularly helpful but well at least you'll have a clearer picture.

 

When you ring and you think you're being fobbed off, you ARE being fobbed off. Don't blame the people who you're speaking to on the phone, they've been told to fob you off. In fact, the only training they have had is to fob you off. What are they doing to resolve your issue? Writing it onto a database that has no recognition system; nothing that allows someone to check if you've actually called before. Everytime you call it's essentially the first time you call unless you're lucky enough to get through to the same person and they remember you. If you're being told things like "they have to manually confirm the room" that again is fobbing you off.

 

The people you speak to on the phone aren't actually trained to do anything with the company, they've just been set on the phones and literally told to tell people to call back in 48 hours regardless of how important the problem is. There are people apparently stuck on resort getting the same information.

 

Regarding confirmation emails; all it takes is for one person to send it through. There is no problem there other than pure bone idleness.

 

If no money has been taken from your account that means in all likelihood that your booking hasn't gone through and you'll have to book again. However, you will actually need to hear from them to make sure this is the case and that they won't try and take money from you.

 

Here lies the more complicated issue (this is for other people reading who might have a similar problem to yourself); some people have booked and have been told to ring on a certain day to pay the remainder of the balance, as they have been warned if they don't then the holiday will be cancelled. Alpharooms are not getting back to these people and the result there is that the booking will be cancelled through no fault of the customer, just because alpharooms did not get back in touch in time to take the payment.

 

None of the above is intended to scare you, it's just being blunt and honest, I know because my best mate has worked there recently and was telling me of their good prices - we only heard about the company through him getting a job there, but knowing what I know I would never book with them now.

 

Clearly of course some people do have their good experiences but I just thought I would share what little I know, if you have any more specific questions feel free to pm me and I'll see what I can find out.

[Claire18]

I'm afraid my experience with them is not a good one. I booked airport to accommodation transfers in Spain through them last year which did not turn up. The agency they used had an office in the airport which had been vacated and I wasted time and my phone bill trying to get through to the emergency numbers I had been provided with. In the end we had to get taxis as the calls were not answered.

 

As soon as I got back I wrote to Alpharooms to express my dissatisfaction and request a refund. No response was received after about a month so I called a Sheffield number to be told they hadn't had a response from the overseas agency and I shouldn't be chasing them until 4 weeks had passed!?!

 

I chased again a couple of times and was fobbed off again. It wasn't until I wrote to ATOL that they seemed to realise I was serious about a refund.

 

Basically it took 3 months for them to refund the amount originally paid and they contributed to the mobile calls I had made chasing up, but I was still left out of pocket with all the time spent chasing and calls made on payphones.

 

I certainly won't be using them again which is a shame as I chose them due to them being a local company.

 

I think I Googled them to get a Sheffield number which will hopefully be cheaper for you to call. Good luck.

Edited April 5, 2010 by Claire18

[jo1066]

hi they have a page on facebook ,there is a lot of bad comments , a lot of unhappy customers

[Titanic99]

I'm afraid my experience with them is not a good one. I booked airport to accommodation transfers in Spain through them last year which did not turn up. The agency they used had an office in the airport which had been vacated and I wasted time and my phone bill trying to get through to the emergency numbers I had been provided with. In the end we had to get taxis as the calls were not answered.

 

As soon as I got back I wrote to Alpharooms to express my dissatisfaction and request a refund. No response was received after about a month so I called a Sheffield number to be told they hadn't had a response from the overseas agency and I shouldn't be chasing them until 4 weeks had passed!?!

 

I chased again a couple of times and was fobbed off again. It wasn't until I wrote to ATOL that they seemed to realise I was serious about a refund.

 

Basically it took 3 months for them to refund the amount originally paid and they contributed to the mobile calls I had made chasing up, but I was still left out of pocket with all the time spent chasing and calls made on payphones.

 

I certainly won't be using them again which is a shame as I chose them due to them being a local company.

 

I think I Googled them to get a Sheffield number which will hopefully be cheaper for you to call. Good luck.

 

Thanks for taking the time to respond (and others).

 

I finally got through to them and I wish I hadn't.

 

Unbelievably I have a booking reference with confirmed flights and Hotel and that the cost of the Hotel has been paid.

 

It also states I will be contacted directly by the airline in order to pay for the flight.

 

I've never been contacted by the airline and now I've found out that they (airline) have no details of me and the cost has doubled, to top it all they believe I haven't paid the Hotel aspect.

 

I've written to complain and to query what I actually have got booked with them and I've been told to expect a response within 28 days.

 

I'm tempted to go down to their offices and to demand to see someone about this.

 

To top my day off I've just been to Hillsborough to watch that shower down there.

 

Not a happy bunny today!!!!!!

[Sungazer]

I'm not from Sheffield, a little further North, but I do have a story about Alpharooms, not a pretty one.

 

Last February my wife and I made a booking to rent an apartment in Costa Teguise, Lanzarote, for 11 days during April. My wife is disabled with rheumatoid arthritis so it is important to us that we had a room with a walk in shower, not a shower over a bath, and we knew this apartment complex had a disabled friendly apartment. We made the booking online with Alpharooms, but it was not possible to specify the disabled rooms online, so after we made the booking I telephoned Alpharooms to tell them this. There was no problem with the rooms, but while I was talking to the customer support rep. he suggested that I book a transfer from the airport to the resort and back through them, as my wife cannot climb into buses and we therefore have to take taxis.

 

I agreed to this, but emphasised that we did not want a vehicle with a high sill, simply a large taxi which could take two passengers and luggage plus a folded wheelchair. This was emphasised by me again in several e mails as they simply did not seem to be getting the message, and kept insisting the transfer would be a minibus. For this transfer they deducted almost £70 from my credit card account. Finally I had an e mail from them claiming that the transfer vehicle was an adapted one and would be completely suitable.

 

On arriving at the airport, the transfer was a high sill minibus. The driver obviously was unaware that he was supposed to pick up a disabled passenger and the bus had no let down steps or ramp, so it would have been impossible for ANYONE disabled to have got into it. The vehicle was not adapted for disabled people in any way. A representative of the transfer company was waiting for another passenger, and realised our problem, but she could speak little or no English, so she phoned a supervisor on her mobile and I spoke to him. He said that nothing could be done, we had to find a taxi of our own. I asked about a refund, he told me to sort that out with Alpharooms on return to the UK. The minibus left and we found the taxi rank and paid our own way in a taxi.

 

A couple of days later on checking my e mails, I found one from Alpharooms telling me that we had refused an alternative transfer ( completely false ) and so the return transfer to the airport had been cancelled. After several e mail exchanges, they reinstated the return transfer, only to go back on that and cancel it again. They wanted receipts from the taxi drivers and insisted that they would only repay the cost of our own transfers, which I argued was irrelevant, it was not Alpharooms business how much we paid another firm, or even their business how we travelled at all. I simply wanted back what we had paid to them, because they had failed to deliver what they had promised. The taxi fares came to less than what we had paid Alpharooms anyhow, so I would never pre book a taxi transfer again.

 

Every e mail from Alpharooms was from a different person and there seemed to be absolutely no joined up thinking on their part, no effort to really look into this, and no desire to put things right. I do not intend to let this lie and am considering what course of action to take. I am also considering a complaint to ABTA and ATOL. Fortunately, being the kind of person who rarely gets around to emptying his inbox, I have every single e mail to back up my allegations. All I want is the money back we paid for this botched transfer, and not in the form of some voucher as I never intend to do business with Alpharooms again.

[PostmanPrat]

I'm not from Sheffield, a little further North, but I do have a story about Alpharooms, not a pretty one.

 

Last February my wife and I made a booking to rent an apartment in Costa Teguise, Lanzarote, for 11 days during April.....

 

I'd never use a small independent travel agency like this shower. I went to Costa Teguise last year through Thomas Cook. I know large organisations can screw up but I think you're better off paying a bit more but having that guarantee of reliability a big operator provides. If there are thousands of you in a mess it tends to get on the news and someone does something. The only problem I had there was that they promised me a room with a sea view, something that I could only have acheived with a pair of binoculars and an eighty foot neck.

[squidge00]

Interesting...i went for an interview there but didn't get the job and after reading these comments, it seems like I had a lucky escape!