Be prepared for some annoying hold music! (Virgin Holidays)

Member Name: MrsLim

Product:	Virgin Holidays
Date:	01/06/09 (104 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great holiday itinerary

Disadvantages: Really poor after sales care - fingers crossed you don't get any problems after making the booking!

I booked my honeymoon with Virgin Holidays and went on the holiday this year. The booking process itself is fairly painless although the endless wait on the phone whilst an agent becomes available to take your booking can be quite painful. My holiday was a big purchase (£4,000) so I wasn't going to book the holiday immediately. This meant having the call up a few times, speak to different agents and to explain my situation again - very time consuming and annoying! However, I did eventually get a very useful agent (although this could be a one off!). She provided me with her email address so I could send her emails directly. I made the booking with her (using a Virgin CC - you get 10% off the holiday if you use this but BEWARE, Virgin slaps on credit card charges for bookings so the 10% discount is more like 7%). All seemed well until I had a question about my booking. Apparently I could no longer speak to the rep who had booked my holiday because she was in bookings. Virgin's after sales team seemed non-existent so I couldn't get in touch with anyone. I finally emailed the rep who had booked my holiday and she convinced a colleague from the after sales team to call me instead. A good result because my original rep was so helpful but without her, Virgin Holidays is a nightmare. Regarding the holiday itinerary itself, I went on the Splendours of China and the itinerary was perfect - we did everything and it was well worth the money (and, through gritted teeth, the service at Virgin Holidays!)

Summary: Great holiday but god forbid any thing goes wrong between making the booking and the holiday itself!