**Updated - 19-1-2012
13/9/2010 – Booked round the world
ticket with STA Travel.
Flights: £1710
Taxes: £161
Insurance: £228
Total: £2099
27/11/2010 – Changed flights for Fiji
to give us longer in USA. Booked Campervan for New Zealand.
Flight Change: £35
Campervan: £358
Total: £393
20/1/2011 – Received a new Itinerary
due to Qatar Airways flight change. This was the last Itinerary we
received before leaving home and shows the correct flight details (As
booked & Paid on 27/11/2010).
We took this Itinerary round the world
with us.
1/3/2011 – Fly out of Heathrow for
the start of our trip
21/5/2011 – Pickup Campervan in
Auckland and drive round New Zealand for a month. Finish in
Christchurch
19/6/2011 – Donate our winter
clothing and leftover food. Drop off the Campervan at the depot.
First in line to check in at Christchurch Airport.
Staff member cannot find us booked on
the flight. She speaks to supervisor who advises us to call STA
Travel to reissue our tickets. Still plenty of time and space on the
plane.
Spend HOURS trying every possible
number for STA Travel, but fail to speak to ANYONE.
Eventually send e-mail via Global Help
system, told to expect reply within 24 hours.
Give up waiting so get a taxi (Cost £9 each)
back into town and spend a sleepless night in a hostel.
20/6/2011 – Another day spent
unsuccessfully trying to contact somebody.
Eventually spoke to local STA branch
and explained the problem. We were given 3 options:
- Stay in Christchurch until the 26th, Fly to Fiji, Fly back out of Fiji 2 days later.
- Fly to Auckland in the morning, Fly to Fiji at lunchtime, Fly to USA on 28th getting 7 days in Fiji.
- Fly to Auckland in the morning, Fly to USA on 23rd, Miss Fiji totally.
Regardless of which option we choose it
will cost £244 to book the flight. We are told that we should get
this money refunded after writing a letter to customer services when
we get home.
21/6/2011 – It was past 1 am when we
finally finished sorting it out and had to be at the airport 5 hours
later to catch the flight.
2 of us fly to Auckland (Option 3
above)
2 of us fly to Auckland then Fiji
(Option 2 above)
28/6/2011 – Sent complaint via e-mail
to customer services and local branch
19/7/2011 – Receive reply from
Customer Relations asking for receipts to support our claimed costs,
even though we were only claiming a minimum amount for the 4 people
in our group such as:
Taxi
from Airport to Hostel (Sunday Rates) £36
2
nights
Hostel accommodation in Christchurch £112
Internet
costs for contacting STA £10
Airport
shuttle from Hostel to Christchurch £14
Flight
changes / date changes etc £966
+
Living
expenses for the extra days spent in NZ £80 (£10 per person per
day)
Also
on top of this myself and Nicola have also incurred further costs due
to the extra two days spent in Auckland:
2
nights
hostel in Auckland £120
Airport
Shuttles £20
+ Living
expenses £40
24/7/2011 – I
replied that I was still away and would provide the info when I
return.
4/8/2011 – I
sent a scan of the Taxi receipt
5/8/2011 –
Received
an e-mail asking for confirmation from the Hostels.
9/8/2011 – I
forwarded the receipt from one hostel to Customer Relations.
10/8/2011 – I
forwarded the other receipt from the other hostel to Customer
Relations.
12/8/2011 – I
received a stock reply from Customer Relations about how they strive
to offer the best levels of service. It also included the following
paragraph:
“Although
confirmation of payment and instruction to issue your e-ticket was
forwarded by our Portsmouth branch in the normal way, it seems that
due
to a breakdown in communication between our Ticketing Department and
the respective branch, the ticket confirmation for all passengers was
incorrectly issued,
essentially the ticket provided for that segment was not correctly
set up for reissue...”
The
e-mail went on to quote their terms and conditions and advised that
we should have reconfirmed our flights 72 hours before flying.
"After
you have left the UK, it is your responsibility to check with the
airline that any onward flights you have confirmed are operating
as booked.
We strongly recommend that you contact your airline at least 72 hours
before the scheduled departure of each flight to do this. Please note
that for some airlines it is mandatory to confirm with them your
intention to fly."
We
called Air Pacific the day before the flight and were advised that
the flight we had booked was still going ahead and was on schedule. We are not expected to do any more than this.
The
e-mail also stated that further Itineraries had been sent to us:
“I
can confirm that your itinerary was sent out on eight occasions after
the 27/11/10.”
This
is simply untrue. We did receive copies of the Itinerary, however the
latest one we had was from 20/1/2011 which had our expected dates of
travel. (We did receive insurance documents from STA Travel during this time, so I suggest that they are confusing these documents on their system.)
Then
the killer:
“...I
am happy to provide you with 50%
of the total receipted costs
you are looking to reimburse for all passengers. This would amount to
a refund of £653.41*”
When
I think of best levels of customer service then this is not what I
have in mind.
13/8/2011 – I
reply with a few arguments about how they have admitted to the
ticketing fault and that we had checked the flight in advance. Also
that 50% refund doesn't even cover the £244 we paid them to fix the
flights.
23/8/2011 – I
have had no further reply so ask for confirmation.
24/8/2011 –
Received
a reply showing a screenshot of the itineraries apparently being sent
to us on the 14/4/2011 which we never received (the screenshot does
not show the Itineraries or addresses it was sent to and the Document ID is the same as for our insurance documents)
They
stand by the 50% refund and give me ABTA reference to pursue
complaint.
26/9/2011 –
After
a lengthy complaint through ABTA, the best they can offer is their
Arbitration Services (at a cost of course) and a standard form to
send to STA Travel seeking a resolution.
I
have not had a reply since sending this letter.
26/10/2011
– Sent a letter by Recorded Post to Peter Liney. STA Travel CEO.
27/10/2011
- Your item with reference AI497196516GB was delivered from our
KENSINGTON Delivery Office on 27/10/11 .
14/11/2011
– Tweeted @STATravel_UK and @pl_liney:
@pl_liney
Still no end to our complaint. @STATravel_UK
have their heads in the sand, with my money in their bank account.
#WorstServiceEver
5/12/2011
– Sent reply letter to Nicola Deering, Customer Relations Manager
in Manchester via Recorded Delivery.
16/1/2012
– Received reply from Nicola Deering. They are standing by their
original offer of 50%
17/1/2012
– Sent reply e-mail asking for a phone number to call and discuss.
18/1/2012
– Received this e-mail from Nicola Deering:
Dear
Mr Bennett,
Thank
you for your email. Although I would be happy to discuss your
complaint with you over the phone, for legal reasons, we now require
any communications to be documented in writing. This is to ensure
that we have a clear record of any correspondence, should either
party require it.
I
can assure you that all of your letters have been read and a thorough
investigation has been carried out into the details surrounding your
complaint. Each time you have sent in new correspondence, your case
has been reviewed, and your complaint has been escalated to members
of the Senior Management Team.
I
must therefore confirm, as stated in my last letter, that STA
Travel's position remains the same.
I
do note your unhappiness with the outcome of your complaint, and
should you wish to escalate your complaint externally
I would recommend that you contact ABTA (Association of
British Travel Agents) for further advice. ABTA's contact details can
be found at www.abta.com.
Yours
sincerely,
Nicola
19/1/2012
– I sent this reply:
Hi
Nicola,
As
your last e-mail suggests that a thorough investigation has occurred,
I would like to know the details of this investigation.
In
particular I would like to know the outcome of:
1.
The missing itineraries (The one with the same Document ID as our
Insurance Documents - 14th April.) As mentioned in my reply to Daniel
Mozley, our Itinerary was not sent out 8 times after 27th November.
We received one on January 20th, and the only other one on June 20th
after we had paid to change the flights.
2.
The status of our £35 charge for changing the flights in September,
which didn't get processed correctly. You can't charge £35 for
something and then not provide it.
If
you are unable to provide answers to these questions then please send
me the e-mail address of somebody in your Senior Management Team so I
can find out from them.
It
is not good enough to send me to ABTA for a resolution. I am a
customer of STA Travel and therefore it is your responsibility to
deal with this complaint, not ABTA's.
For
your reference here is a quote from ABTA:
"As
a trade association it's very important that you understand we're
unable to pursue the matter on your behalf, and are unable to reply
to specific points you may have raised in your letter. "
Regards
Dan
Bennett
Portsmouth,
Hampshire
07835
25 86 29
19/1/2012
– Sent an e-mail to rip off britain – BBC program and cc'd in
some STA e-mail addresses.
