Thomson Holidays Reviews

1.9 Rating 98 Reviews
20 %
of reviewers recommend Thomson Holidays
1.9
Based on 98 reviews
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Anonymous
Anonymous  // 01/01/2019
Can not get a answer after almost 6 months why my price increased, contacted pre-travel no help at all can not answer, sent all e.mail copies to David Burling CEO no reply so sent him a e.mail still no reply, sent FriedrichJoussen a e.mail STIIL no reply, ASKED CARES@THOMSON A E.MAIL say can not help. WHY CAN NO BODY AT THOMSONS GIVE MY A ANSWER BRIAN MITCHESON
Helpful Report
Posted 6 years ago
Both our excusion trips booked through thompson were disasterous... one was sold as the wrong trip (we were told we would be hiking through rainforests and up volcanoes etc instead we sat on a coach for 7 hours touring different towns!!) And the second trip was a whale watching tour that was terribly dangerous due to rough seas (the crew even said the trip should have been cancelled) we didnt see any whales, dolphins etc just everyone sat down throwing up the whole trip!!! Out of 30 on the trip only 2 people were not sick! The glass bottom section stank of fuel and one lady hit her head on the entrance as she was being chucked around by the rough waves as it was impossible to stand let alone walk. Customer service is none existant as we were refused our money back and were not een given a sorry or an explanation!!!!!! Disgusting company we will not be booking again!!
Helpful Report
Posted 6 years ago
A corporation that has got too big and does not care about customers. Haven't bothered to deal with the following at all: We booked an excursion on the advice of rep Amy to a nighttime festival in Positano that had a firework display. It was heavily endorsed as the excursion to do with Amy saying that she wanted to go on it herself. We were told we were very lucky to have been there that particular week and should definitely go on the trip. We paid for a family of 4 £220. However the problems included: - the advert told us it was an open top boat called the Blitz. What turned up to take us was a ferry. - We stood around on the dock for an hour with nowhere to sit, before we could get on having been transferred far too early. - The ferry was cramped. There was indoor seating but the windows were too dirty to see out of and there were many elderly on the boat. - the outside standing areas were noisy, dirty, smelly and cramped. - the crew were under the influence of alcohol and brazenly drinking in front of us. - the toilet facilities were disgusting, no toilet paper or soap provided. - We arrived at the harbour of Positano one hour before the firework display and left standing on the boat. - the display lasted 10 minutes. - there was no commentary to explain what the festival was about. - the return trip was 45 minutes yet we'd been kept on this ferry for 3 1/2 hours unnecessarily. - we learned that there had been fireworks in Sorrento that night as well which we cold have watched for free. This makes the excursion seem even more of a ruse to just make money out of us. On return Amy (who did not join the trip and instead had chosen to watch them from her flat in Sorrento!) admitted that we had been missold a product. Despite this excursion being run for the first time there was no Thomson presence on it, nor it would seem had anyone thoroughly looked into the planning and execution of this trip beforehand. There was a lot of confusion when we got back to shore about which bus we should go on. We were moved from one bus to another and then back again! The excursion was a massive let down for our family. We work hard and save hard in the year in order to be able to enjoy our holiday. Normally we are happy with the service Thomson provide. This was one of two excursions we bought from you. I know that there is considerable mark up on excursions when we buy from you. I know for example that the other tour we bought from you at a total of £360 could have been purchased at £200 directly in the town of Sorrento. But I accept that in return for higher price comes the the promise of a good trip. In this instance it has not proved to be. The timing of the excursion also put it at the centre of our week in more ways than one. Because of the cost and late hour of the trip we decided on the day of it to have a quiet day at the pool, followed by another one the day after. The impact therefore on our holiday was more than just financial but took a chunk from our week long holiday. We also had no more money to pay for other excursions having spent what we had saved. I am concerned that when we first raised this issue (as did many others) with Amy, she kept saying that it was not Thomson's responsibility. Furthermore, when we visited your office in Sorrento to express this concern, my wife was put on the phone to talk to someone called Kate. When my wife explained that we were put on the ferry and we knew we should have had the Blitz, at first, Kate denied there being another boat, it was only when we said we had taken a picture of the poster advertising it that she admitted that there should have been an open air boat, that they had sold too many tickets due to the interest in the trip and they had changed the boat at the last minute. It is concerning that you are working with dishonest operators. Also, why were tickets continued to be sold by Thompson, when knowing that the people could not be properly accommodated? Clearly the only concern here was to make money and not great family memories. Thomson's name was on this, it was in your literature and we would like you to take responsibility for it. Therefore I am asking for a full refund not to just cover the cost of the evening but because of the upset caused during the one week of the year we can afford to go abroad
Helpful Report
Posted 6 years ago
We booked an excursion on the advice of rep Amy to a nighttime festival in Positano that had a firework display. It was heavily endorsed as the excursion to do with Amy saying that she wanted to go on it herself. We were told we were very lucky to have been there that particular week and should definitely go on the trip. We paid for a family of 4 £220. However the problems included: - the advert told us it was an open top boat called the Blitz. What turned up to take us was a ferry. - We stood around on the dock for an hour with nowhere to sit, before we could get on having been transferred far too early. - The ferry was cramped. There was indoor seating but the windows were too dirty to see out of and there were many elderly on the boat. - the outside standing areas were noisy, dirty, smelly and cramped. - the crew were under the influence of alcohol and brazenly drinking in front of us. - the toilet facilities were disgusting, no toilet paper or soap provided. - We arrived at the harbour of Positano one hour before the firework display and left standing on the boat. - the display lasted 10 minutes. - there was no commentary to explain what the festival was about. - the return trip was 45 minutes yet we'd been kept on this ferry for 3 1/2 hours unnecessarily. - we learned that there had been fireworks in Sorrento that night as well which we cold have watched for free. This makes the excursion seem even more of a ruse to just make money out of us. On return Amy (who did not join the trip and instead had chosen to watch them from her flat in Sorrento!) admitted that we had been missold a product. Despite this excursion being run for the first time there was no Thomson presence on it, nor it would seem had anyone thoroughly looked into the planning and execution of this trip beforehand. There was a lot of confusion when we got back to shore about which bus we should go on. We were moved from one bus to another and then back again! The excursion was a massive let down for our family. We work hard and save hard in the year in order to be able to enjoy our holiday. Normally we are happy with the service Thomson provide. This was one of two excursions we bought from you. I know that there is considerable mark up on excursions when we buy from you. I know for example that the other tour we bought from you at a total of £360 could have been purchased at £200 directly in the town of Sorrento. But I accept that in return for higher price comes the the promise of a good trip. In this instance it has not proved to be. The timing of the excursion also put it at the centre of our week in more ways than one. Because of the cost and late hour of the trip we decided on the day of it to have a quiet day at the pool, followed by another one the day after. The impact therefore on our holiday was more than just financial but took a chunk from our week long holiday. We also had no more money to pay for other excursions having spent what we had saved. I am concerned that when we first raised this issue (as did many others) with Amy, she kept saying that it was not Thomson's responsibility. Furthermore, when we visited your office in Sorrento to express this concern, my wife was put on the phone to talk to someone called Kate. When my wife explained that we were put on the ferry and we knew we should have had the Blitz, at first, Kate denied there being another boat, it was only when we said we had taken a picture of the poster advertising it that she admitted that there should have been an open air boat, that they had sold too many tickets due to the interest in the trip and they had changed the boat at the last minute. It is concerning that you are working with dishonest operators. Also, why were tickets continued to be sold by Thompson, when knowing that the people could not be properly accommodated? Clearly the only concern here was to make money and not great family memories. Thomson's name was on this, it was in your literature and we would like you to take responsibility for it. Therefore I am asking for a full refund not to just cover the cost of the evening but because of the upset caused during the one week of the year we can afford to go abroad
Helpful Report
Posted 6 years ago
Thomson have dismissed this claim completely. How else do you explain having nothing to say about chartering a trip that I took my children on led by drunken crew? Below is the original complaint: We booked an excursion on the advice of rep Amy to a nighttime festival in Positano that had a firework display. It was heavily endorsed as the excursion to do with Amy saying that she wanted to go on it herself. We were told we were very lucky to have been there that particular week and should definitely go on the trip. We paid for a family of 4 £220. However the problems included: - the advert told us it was an open top boat called the Blitz. What turned up to take us was a ferry. - We stood around on the dock for an hour with nowhere to sit, before we could get on having been transferred far too early. - The ferry was cramped. There was indoor seating but the windows were too dirty to see out of and there were many elderly on the boat. - the outside standing areas were noisy, dirty, smelly and cramped. - the crew were under the influence of alcohol and brazenly drinking in front of us. - the toilet facilities were disgusting, no toilet paper or soap provided. - We arrived at the harbour of Positano one hour before the firework display and left standing on the boat. - the display lasted 10 minutes. - there was no commentary to explain what the festival was about. - the return trip was 45 minutes yet we'd been kept on this ferry for 3 1/2 hours unnecessarily. - we learned that there had been fireworks in Sorrento that night as well which we cold have watched for free. This makes the excursion seem even more of a ruse to just make money out of us. On return Amy (who did not join the trip and instead had chosen to watch them from her flat in Sorrento!) admitted that we had been missold a product. Despite this excursion being run for the first time there was no Thomson presence on it, nor it would seem had anyone thoroughly looked into the planning and execution of this trip beforehand. There was a lot of confusion when we got back to shore about which bus we should go on. We were moved from one bus to another and then back again! The excursion was a massive let down for our family. We work hard and save hard in the year in order to be able to enjoy our holiday. Normally we are happy with the service Thomson provide. This was one of two excursions we bought from you. I know that there is considerable mark up on excursions when we buy from you. I know for example that the other tour we bought from you at a total of £360 could have been purchased at £200 directly in the town of Sorrento. But I accept that in return for higher price comes the the promise of a good trip. In this instance it has not proved to be. The timing of the excursion also put it at the centre of our week in more ways than one. Because of the cost and late hour of the trip we decided on the day of it to have a quiet day at the pool, followed by another one the day after. The impact therefore on our holiday was more than just financial but took a chunk from our week long holiday. We also had no more money to pay for other excursions having spent what we had saved. I am concerned that when we first raised this issue (as did many others) with Amy, she kept saying that it was not Thomson's responsibility. Furthermore, when we visited your office in Sorrento to express this concern, my wife was put on the phone to talk to someone called Kate. When my wife explained that we were put on the ferry and we knew we should have had the Blitz, at first, Kate denied there being another boat, it was only when we said we had taken a picture of the poster advertising it that she admitted that there should have been an open air boat, that they had sold too many tickets due to the interest in the trip and they had changed the boat at the last minute. It is concerning that you are working with dishonest operators. Also, why were tickets continued to be sold by Thompson, when knowing that the people could not be properly accommodated? Clearly the only concern here was to make money and not great family memories. Thomson's name was on this, it was in your literature and we would like you to take responsibility for it. Therefore I am asking for a full refund not to just cover the cost of the evening but because of the upset caused during the one week of the year we can afford to go abroad
Helpful Report
Posted 6 years ago
Avoid disabled partner forced on a coach as no special assistance taxi at airport to take her to airport reps not interested or of any help just wanted people on coach and away no one to speak to when got home just round and round in circles worst. Example of service ever
Helpful Report
Posted 6 years ago
Worst customer service I have ever experienced.Two hours on hold to sort out a problem with our booking only to be told that only the lead passenger can do anything.The lead passenger was with me when we first phoned up at 5.50pm.Unfortunately by 8pm he had gone to work.Absolute joke of a company.Couldn't even arrange a call back like most other companies do.Last ever holiday we will book with Thomson.Should have looked at the other appalling reviews for them first!
Helpful Report
Posted 6 years ago
Florida flight cancelled, wouldn't offer flights for remainder of holiday duration saying they only offer 7 or 14 day duration even though their web site had flights !! When checking flight status it said on time when it turns out they cancelled it the night before (8 hours previously) but had not chaged the web page hence wasted trip to Gatwick from Oxford. Just to top it off after requesting our money back for additional seat allocation were told no refunds for flight extras !! To end this good old Virgin Atlantic came to the rescue.
Helpful Report
Posted 6 years ago
We booked our dream wedding and honeymoon in Colchester's Thomson branch back in May 2016. We got married on 8th August 2017 and during that 15 months we received the most appalling service. The first error made was that they booked the wrong day for our wedding ceremony stating that the venue we wanted in Malcesine, Malcesine castle, was unavailable on that date. After we were informed of this my then fiancé contacted the town hall and made his own enquiry, only to be told that our date was available?! When we complained they told us that the date was unavailable because we had made enquiries already for that date. I find this impossible to believe as we only contacted the town hall AFTER Thomson informed us that our date was unavailable. They blatantly just booked the wrong date but wouldn't admit it. When we tried to get our deposit back as this was a red flag to us so early on in our wedding planning, they refused and said that they would book the correct date for us. I had a really bad feeling after this and unfortunately that gut feeling was to be proved right over the next 15 months. There were a catalogue of errors, miscommunications and lack of advice you would not expect when planning a wedding, all of which were topped off 3 days before our wedding day whilst we were in resort when 2 of our wedding party were booked into the wrong hotel and resort! Seven of our wedding party were booked into the Capri hotel in Malcesine, whilst two were booked into the Capri in Bardolino an hour and 15 minutes away. They used the same booking reference as our other guests, who all booked in the same Colchester branch and were in our hotel, so quite clearly a mistake. Mistakes happen, and it was upsetting but more devastating to us this close to our wedding was Thomson's refusal to put this mistake wrong! They refused to swap our two guests into a hotel nearer to us, at the very least in Malcesine would have been acceptable. But instead due to the Colchester branch of Thomson refusing to take responsibility, we had to plead with a Thomson rep in our hotel to help us. The best she could do with her limited budget was offer our guests one night in a hotel in Malcesine. They still had 6 days of their holiday remaining. So in the end with no guarantee from Thomson that they would book and pay for accommodation in Malcesine, our two guests had to pay for two nights and we paid for two nights. It was the most upsetting and traumatic two days I have ever spent on holiday, let alone the fact it was three days before our wedding and we were having multiple meetings and phone conversations with our rep. My two guests are still fighting with Thomson to get the four days accommodation costs back and at this time of writing they have only agreed to pay for two nights! Thomsons and Thomson Lakes and Mountains did their best to ruin our dream wedding and honeymoon with their incompetence and refusal to put their errors right. Yet it was still our guests fault apparently?! There were so many admissions and errors with our actual wedding day, a lot of which was to do with their non existent communication and poor attention to detail. Just some of the omissions included; not informing us we could write our own wedding vows, not informing us we could have a personal reading as part of the wedding service, not telling us that we could have a playlist of music whilst guests awaited my arrival (half an hour wait). There is also a sailboat available for hire by wedding parties which we would have loved to have hired for after our ceremony but instead we were only offered a 'party' type boat which was not as appropriate for a wedding. When I informed Thomson Lakes and Mountains of this they stated that they did not have a contact for this sailboat but could make enquiries if asked. My argument is that I do not know Malcesine, so we did not even know this sailboat existed so how would we know to ask for its availability? Obviously by the time we were aware of its existence it was already booked up, but I am sure it would have been available 15 months earlier when we first booked our champagne boat reception. We also asked about suitable restaurants for our reception which had a lakeside location and were offered two venues which required 30 guests for exclusive use. We only had 21 persons in total which would have cost us a total additional cost of £810 for meals that would not even be eaten. They thought this was our most suitable option?! Due to this I was forced to book my own reception and chose a lakeside restaurant which allowed us exclusive use for 21 guests and I identified this using trip advisor. The whole experience has left me in a grief like state, grieving for the wedding and honeymoon we should have had and paid for. I do wonder what we actually paid Thomson for with regard to the wedding as we did a lot of the organisational stuff ourselves as they were so bad. I have sent a complaint letter and to date I have received a response from Thomson Lakes and Mountains admitting no responsibility but offering us 2 x £50 vouchers to put towards a future holiday with them. Are they for real?! As if I would ever holiday with them ever again. They have passed the buck in relation to nearly all the issues I raised and I am now awaiting a response to my complaint from Thomson, but due to their lack of care to date I do not hold much hope that they will do right by us. This is by no means a full list of our grievances but hopefully gives you a flavour of the poor service and disgraceful way we have been treated. I would advise anyone contemplating booking a wedding or holiday with Thomson to steer clear and use either a wedding planner in the resort they are wishing to get married in or another reputable firm, which is not Thomson! They just do not care! Also I believe they are rebranding and will be calling themselves TUI in the near future so steer clear of them too! A blatant attempt to shake their evident poor customer service on social media searches as I have since found out that we are clearly not alone in the poor service we have received. I feel like it's my duty to warn other unsuspecting brides and grooms to be, as I would hate anyone to go through the heartache we have. For the money we have paid you would expect an excellent level of service but our experience has been like something out of a nightmare. I just want people to be very careful and pay their hard earned money to a company that cares.
Helpful Report
Posted 6 years ago
Just returned from Club Sirensis Aura in Ibiza and I feel as if I have been mugged. How you can you class this as 4 Star is unbelievable, 2/3 star at best. Water park aside the facilities are non existing. one 3 euro broken pool table and 2 table tennis, outside in the wind next to the bar. What is the point of that. Thomson reps useless and some downright ignorant treating you like a moron. pool area overcrowded with towel on beds at 7.00. This is the first time I have come back to Thomsons after previous disasters and I am now kicking myself. My big regret is I have another holiday booked with you which I am seriously thinking of losing my deposit on. Thomsons do not care about the holiday maker but just shafting as much money as they can. Rooms not cleaned every day IN A 4 STAR hotel, you have to be joking. Not much to be positive about. I will be taking to Facebook and Twitter when I get chance. No wonder there are so many shocking reviews online about you.
Helpful Report
Posted 6 years ago
Dont book with them. Worst customer service. Full of misleading information. Indian based customer service they dont know what they talking about.
Helpful Report
Posted 6 years ago
Dont book with them. Worst customer service. Full of mislead information. Indian based customer service they dont know what they talking about. We have booked a holiday on march to go on August. on May i have told me my wife is not fit to fly i would like to know what can i do next. no replies. I have called them and they said you will need to pay first to cancel. I have paid it all then when i try to cancel is 800 that i will lose 800 pound. Called them again they sent me the same email to write to. i have got reply after days they said now you can not cancel you will lose all the money. i have sent them my wife letter from the doctor she can not fly. Does not matter. THIS IS UK BIGGEST TRAVEL AGENT. What else i can say.
Helpful Report
Posted 6 years ago
I had a bad experience of customer service last year but thought I would give the benefit of the doubt this year as the manager I complained about apologised (after making me feel bad because the feedback form goes straight to him). This year I booked two holidays one in Europe for 10 people and one in Mexico, in total about £10k. When I spend this type of money I expect some customer service. I have 25 days before I go on holiday and I emailed the shop asked why I was receiving emails about late check out as I already booked it and I asked them to check. I got a response 2 days later saying no and do I want to book it. My immediate response was yes, we are travelling with 3 youngsters and flight home isn't until 10.30pm. No response again after that. I decided to phone the following Sunday to be told Fiona from the Trafford centre branch would contact me on Tuesday as she was off Monday. On the following Thursday I emailed again, purely due to having tried to call at various times and NOBODY answers the phones. 3 days later nothing so I resort to social media. I wrote asking for help on Facebook at 11.20 today, since then I have wasted my day off being messaged by three different people asking me to private message them, when I do I get ignored again. My review therefore is that Thomson are quick to get you in the door to purchase a holiday or two but when you need their help you get pushed to the back of the queue and ignored. TUI are taking over the holiday market and this is the service and worse I expect we will get in the future.
Helpful Report
Posted 6 years ago
DO NOT BOOK WITH THOMSONS IF YOU ARE A GROUP OF 9 OR MORE!!! I've had a terrible experience with Thomson holidays. The staff are not interested in anything you have to say and they refuse point blank to transfer you to a 'manager' as they will tell you the same thing. Booked my holiday for my family of 17 spent 18k and we were looking forward to the hassle free holiday as Thomson's offers 'online check in' 7 days before departure and all you have to do is input your API!!!!! What they fail to tell you ten days before travel is that this perk is a) complimentary and b) NOT APPLICABLE TO GROUP BOOKINGS!!! NOWHERE ON THERE WEBSITE DOES IT STATE ANY OF THE ABOVE AND GIVES FALSE INFORMATION TO ALL TRAVELLERS. THEN TO TOP THAT THEY ARE COMPLETELY DISINTERESTED IN MY COMPLAINT AND WILL NEITHER ALLOW ME TO SPEAK TO SUPERIORS WITHIN THE COMPANY OR PROVIDE ME WITH A COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE. I AM WAITING TO HEAR FROM THE ADVERTISING STANDARDS AUTHORITIES AND I WILL BE TAKING THIS FURTHER UPON RETURNING FROM MY HOLIDAY!!! NEVER EVER BOOKING WITH THOMSONS AGAIN AND WILL BE TRAVELLING IN FUTURE WITH JET 2 WHO ARE FAR SUPERIOR WITH THRIR CUSTOMER SERVICES. IM TRAVELLING TO LANZAROTE WITH THEM IN SEPTEMBER!!!
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Posted 6 years ago
If your not German avoid this hotel - club princess
Helpful Report
Posted 6 years ago
Shocking customer service! i booked a holiday with them online and everything was finer until one day i checked the status and they had changed my hotel to an inferior one! so i contacted them through email and at first they said i will get a reply within 72 hours, when i did get a reply it said that they are investigating it and would let me know again within 72 hours, well 5 days later and no information on what was happening, so i emailed them again asking what was taking so long? a few days later i got a reply saying that the investigation is ongoing and they will let me know within 72 hours, so i waited and waited 72 hours passed again then on the 6th day i emailed them again and since then i have had NO reply and emailed them again and guess what NO reply! Now for a reputable company like Thomson Holidays i would expect good customer service especially when they have made the error! BE WARNED! this could be the beginning of a company collapse, as a company which relies on its customers to pay for everything they should bend over backwards when they have made the mistake!
Helpful Report
Posted 6 years ago
Well, I think it's safe to say that the days of Lunn Poly and Britannia airways are well over. These brands alongside Thomson, were renowned for excellent customer service. In reality modern day Thomson are a poor money grabbing enterprise that have little regard for their customers. I have booked with Thomas Cook over the last ten years or so, but this year I decided I wanted to experience the Dreamliner, so booked both my annual Mexico holidays with Thomson. What a mistake I made. After reading some reviews about thefts at the Riu Vallarta, I decided I was no longer comfortable staying there. I decided I wanted to change for a hotel that was £300 more than the one I had booked. As I would see this as an upgrade, I didn't expect to be charged amendment fees for spending more money with thomson. I had an instance a few years ago when I wanted to upgrade and Thomas Cook were more than happy to oblige without any amendment fees. However these issues are only the tip of the iceberg. Try speaking to somebody who actually works for thomson directly. The only people I have managed to speak to, are outsourced overseas robots who keep quoting the terms and conditions, assuming you can actually make out what they are saying. Appalling for a brand that built its name on customer service. I'll be sticking to Thomas Cook going forward. They are human beings, UK based call centres and are genuinely more pleasant to deal with. The trip on a Dreamliner is not worth all the hassle you will get should you need to converse with Thomson.
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Posted 7 years ago
Very worried about flying in 10 days! We are at the point of not going and just losing our £4k!! .... We should of gone with Thomas Cook again! Thomson are a joke and do nothing to help and keep you at ease!! They try to screw money out of you for anything they can!. We had a fantastic holiday last year! Thomas cook helped in every way they could!. NEVER GO WITH THOMSON!! I'm going to the papers with my stories and we don't fly for another 10 days! (if we make it back alive!) if their planes are anything like the staff...... Death is on the horizon!
Helpful Report
Posted 7 years ago
Thomson Holidays is rated 1.9 based on 98 reviews