We booked our holiday in April to fly out on 1st July for a much-needed break. Unfortunately, in May our pet dog, Archie, became extremely poorly and we spent many weeks at the vets trying to get him better. Not thinking that this ordeal with his illness would extend into our holiday dates. Towards the end of June we realised that we may need to continue with Archie’s care and asked TUI if we could rearrange our holiday for a later date and was told that we were outside the 28 days to allow us to do this. We could either cancel the holiday or change names. Having booked in store at Corby, I asked if they would email exceptions and see if they would reconsider, confirming we had holiday insurance but it does not cover for pet illnesses. We also have pet insurance and we may be able to claim up to £800, but this is not confirmed yet. The response was the same, no help. With this in mind we arranged for family members to share the care of Archie so that we could still go on the holiday. On the day before we were due to fly Archie became critically ill, to a degree where we were considering we could do no more for him. Our Vets offered 1 last medication that could possibly help. We could not have gone this far without trying, and promised we would do everything we could to help him. This meant that we could not expect our family members to provide the care required and we understandably cancelled the holiday. As much as I understand this was our choice, I would assume that any owner of a beloved family pet would do the same. On the day we was due to fly, Saturday, I rang the TUI phone number online and they advised I should request that the store put another email together to Exceptions so I called the store and was told the manager, Clayre, was very busy and would call me either later that day, or the next day. Monday, having had no call I attended the store and Collette, who I had spoken to a few times previously said that she hadn’t been in over the weekend, so was not aware of the return call. Collette wrote the email to Exceptions while I was there and said she would call me when she had a reply. Later that day Collette called to say Exceptions have confirmed they still will not assist with any form of recompense, wait for this…… If we didn’t have insurance they may have been able to help????? I would like to understand further what was meant by this? Surely if there is a policy in place that would be able to assist us, we should be given the opportunity to have this investigated? After all, our insurance didn’t cover anything to do with pets. I called the online number again and they advised that I should ask the store to ask their area Manager to escalate, as having booked in store they should be able to escalate to a resolution (Why TUI Corby did not know this, and needed me to prompt them I do not know) Tuesday, I called Collette back and requested this. The same response came later, Area Manager cannot help. Wednesday, I pleaded requesting, maybe, the area Manager could at least offer us a discount if we rebook the holiday? Collette advised she had passed to Clayre, as she was going to be off a few days and Clayre would come back to me. Having had no call the next day, Thursday, I chased and was advised that Clayre had got the message, was in a meeting, and would call me. Friday, still no call and I write this with frustration ready to send. I understand that things like this may be an everyday occurrence for TUI. However, this has been an extremely emotional and testing time for us. All we ask is that someone maybe see’s a little past the black & white of terms & conditions, and perhaps goes that little extra mile, adds a small element of human emotion and actually takes the time to look into our situation. You must have an exceptions team for a reason. It’s actually quite hurtful that our situation is completely overlooked and obviously not deemed an exceptional circumstance. I would be keen to understand what TUI would actually class as an exception? If the request into our situation being looked at further by the exceptions team is then once again simply dismissed, I would like to know how/who to raise an escalation with. After sending the above to the store, asking Clayre to confirm there were no discrepancies in my account, I received a response from Clayre advising that the store would be able to provide me with a discount if I was to rebook with them. No actual response to content of the above. This discount turned out to be £100 off of the web price, and I was given a price to rebook the holiday. Having set out heart on this particular holiday and hotel, only available through TUI, we agreed we would rebook with TUI. The next day I attended the store a lady came out from the office and asked if I was okay. I noticed her name badge, Claye, and said who I was. The Manager of the store, Clayre, who knew she had a very unhappy customer, proceeded to say….Take a seat and I will get Collette to come and help you. I could not believe it, and it gets worse….. When Collette ran through the booking requirements the web price had gone up and was £125 more. She would not honour the price quoted to me the day before from her Manager, Clayre. I had to ask Collette to ask Clayre if she would honour the quote. When she returned the answer was no. We have rebooked because we have been looking forward to this holiday and hotel for so long and could not find anything that would suite out timings, budget, and holiday requirements, otherwise we would have booked elsewhere. We will, however, not be booking any future holidays with TUI and certainly not be recommending them.