The Last Resort (First Choice)

Member Name: lwperkins

Product:	First Choice
Date:	05/04/03 (335 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Customer Service, Poor security

The fact that all the ops in this section seem to have the same sort of Not my First Choice titles really should tell you something. If only we had seen them before we went on holiday.

Ive been holding off writing this for 2 reasons, the first being that I wanted to give the holiday company, First Choice chance to rectify their mistakes, everyone deserves a little leeway after all. The second is that I needed time to compose myself before I composed this op to prevent me from just spewing 1000 words of ranting vitriol. Now I have to make it clear that because they didnt do point one, I cant guarantee that point two wont happen, Im not exactly renowned for my restraint.

This op is largely concerned with the inadequacies of the customer service department at First Choice holidays. As I wasnt personally involved with the actual booking of the holiday I cant comment on that. My main focus is how First Choice cope when things go wrong ? I think you can guess on this one - they dont.

Last December my dad decided that we would end what had been a very difficult year on a positive note and booked for himself, my brother and his wife and me and my boyfriend to go to Gran Canaria for a week as a Christmas present. He booked through First Choice holidays and everything went without a hitch.

When we got to Gran Canaria we were less than pleased with the apartments, which were very shabby and mildewed, but we were just glad to be away so we decided to make the most of it. More sinister was the fact that the door to the apartment wouldnt lock. The rep told us to ask reception to move us, but reception never seemed to be open. The lack of reception meant that we couldnt get a safety deposit box either, (spot the plot, boys and girls, no lock on the door, lack of a safety deposit box?) Yep, on the second night whilst we were out, we were burgled. As well as taking all our money, camcorder and various other trinkets they stole every pair of so
>cks we had! So of course, I tried to report the theft and the fact that there were random sock fetishists on the loose to First Choice.

The 24 hour reception was not open, the 24 hour emergency contact number for First Choice was not manned, my attempts at explaining what had happened to the grumpiest pool man on the planet were met with blank looks so all we could do was wait until the following morning.

It took 14 hours for First Choice to finally get someone out to us and when he arrived his only response was 'Well, this is Spain, what did you expect, people get robbed all the time' (In a case of divine justice, whilst he was telling us this, his bag which he had left in reception was robbed of 500 euros!) The problem with The Man From First Choice was that he was very drunk, and as drunks do, he started yelling. (The other problem was he looked like Brian from Big Brother so it was very difficult to take him seriously.)
He told us that it really wasnt his problem and sent us to the local police station, which it turned out was totally the wrong place to send us and armed with my somewhat dodgy Spanish, I set about trying to explain "Someone has stolen all our socks, oh yes and our camcorder and all our holiday money" to a very bemused traffic policeman.

He spoke no English but luckily he spoke French, upon which he explained to me that because my Spanish isnt fluent he couldnt take my statement and I would need a translator. Which of course First Choice refused to provide!
I eventually got us a translator, who charged £30 for the privilege and thought it was hilariously funny when I told him the sort of money I'd been on working as a translator in France. He was earning in excess of £100 a night taking First Choice customers who had been robbed to the police station. The fact that this was a secure and full time job for him says a great deal about First Choices security arrangements, I think.


To cut a long story sho
rt, a day and a half of my holiday was spent in various assorted local police establishments and First Choice resort staff were everything from woefully inadequate to downright rude, so when I got back to the UK I wrote a lengthy letter listing all of my complaints - I had been very organised and got names, photographs and evidence to my claims.

Our insurance company had advised us, that due to the lack of lock on the door, they would not pay out and we should contact First Choice.

First Choice Customer Service department could not have been ruder or more unhelpful if they had tried.
I wanted compensation and because the hotel owner had admitted liability and given his insurance details I wanted them to sort that out for us to. They said no.
Their take on the matter was that 'these things happen sometimes' and as far as they were concerned that was the end of it.
They refused to deal with me on the telephone at all and I had to go through 34 people in total, via the resort, email and letters before I was even allowed to speak to a supervisor!

To be fair, the supervisor was very nice. By this time, I had sent 5 letters and contacted ABTA and I think he realised I was not going to just drop it, so he gave in to some extent and after a great deal of negotiation I received £300 compensation for the time on holiday which had been wasted chewing the fat with random law enforcement officers and 800 euros from the hotel in compensation.
However, this had taken 3 months and more than a few tears so it was a bittersweet victory.

First Choice told us that they would sort out the insurance claim for us providing that we did not pursue the matter in the press etc in any way shape or form.
Now, 4 months later, I still havent heard anything. Ive done a great deal of research to see if I could find other cases like mine to present to ABTA and Ive found so many, I just don?t know where to st
art.
How, in this day and age
when customer service is so important, a company can still operate as First Choice do is beyond me.

Im sure that hundreds of people have complained in similar circumstances and just dropped any claim for compensation after the first rejection. My dad said, he would not have pursued it to the extent I have. The way I have been spoken to and on occasion shouted at by representatives of First Choice (most notably drunken Brian from Big Brother at the resort shrieking "Will you shut up and let me speak, you gobby cow") makes my blood boil, which is why I will continue hounding First Choice until I receive an insurance payout from the hotelier.

If you are reading this, considering booking your summer holidays, I would urge you to think very carefully before using First Choice. They are fine when things are fine, but it?s when things go wrong that the problems start. You dont have to take my word for it. Read other peoples ops for a start, there tends to be certain reoccurring themes. If you are reading this op because you are having difficulties, then my advice would be to keep at them, and dont let them grind you down.

Sorry, this op did end up being a rant and I tried so hard not to as well.
Oh well, if you actually managed to read this far, thanks for letting me get it out of my system!

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