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UNSAFE HOLIDAYS-ABDUCTION-MUGGING
This is a real situation that happened to us in the Port EL Kantaoui resort in Tunisia on 11th July 2019. We want to make all tourists aware of the risks so that they can make an informed decision before traveling and more importantly avoid a similar incident happening to them. Please read and be warned that this is very real.
We travelled on a package holiday with Thomas Cook and stayed in the Mahaba Palace, Port El Kantaoui in Tunisa.
Having spent the evening at the hotel and at the suggestion of one of the waiters we went with them over to the Puca Irish bar (opposite) to have a drink with them when they finished their shift. At approximately 01.30 we left the bar and went outside to return the short distance to our hotel. We were suddenly swamped by a large group of men (looking Tunisian in origin) who intentionally came between me and my boyfriend forcibly splitting us up. He was taken in one direction and me in another. Looking for him I asked them where my boyfriend was and they told me he was at the end of the road and that they would take me to him. I followed them down the road and then realised that he was not there and went to head back in the direction I had come, they said that it was not safe for me to walk alone and that they would drive me to him. I was scared, in shock and unsure what to do as the put me in their car and abducted me. I asked them to take me to my boyfriend, which they said they said they would. After a period of time I realised that they were not taking me back to him and asked them to stop, but they continued to drive. I am unsure how much time passed, but I was then transferred to another car, which the driver said was his cousins, this vehicle had another white female in the rear seat, who like me appeared shocked and subdued. They again continued to drive around with me continually asking them to take me to my hotel. They kept asking me for money and I told them that I did not have any money with me, or even a phone, but if they returned me to my hotel and I would pay them. I was in complete shock and felt shut down and unable to challenge them through fear of what they might do to me. They continued to drive until they were stopped by a police officer who looked at me and the other female in the back of the car and then upon seeing my hotel wristband said to the driver ‘ she is a tourist and needs to be taken back to her hotel as she will be missed’. A cab then arrived which returned me to my hotel at approximately 4.30am where he waited for my boyfriend to get money from our room to pay him.
While I was being ushered away and enduring this ordeal my boyfriend was surrounded my men outside the bar and pushed and jostled about while being asked for money. The main person kept waving a phone in his face and kept saying ‘money’ to him. At the same time the others stole all the money he had from his bag. As soon as he was able, he returned to the hotel thinking that I was there and upon realising that I wasn’t tried to raise the alarm with the hotel staff and security on the perimeter of the complex (virtually opposite the bar) that I was missing and to call the police. Despite repeated requests the night staff on the Mahaba Palace staff refused to call the police, saying ‘no, she will come back’. He then spent the remaining hours until I returned traveling the streets asking people if they had seen me, including the police officers at the port using a photo on his phone – none of whom offered to help or take the matter seriously. One of the security guards on the perimeter of the complex even told him that I had returned, when I had not.
Upon my return we contacted the Thomas Cook representative who took a full statement from us and told us that she would send it to the local police station. She also spoke with the hotel day Manager who had not been informed of the incident by her night staff. The Mahaba Palace Hotel has a duty of care to their guests and they failed in that care by refusing to help a guest in desperate need. At our request, due to us both being in a shocked and vulnerable condition we requested Thomas Cook arrange a ‘welfare flight’, at our expense, to bring us back to the UK via Manchester that afternoon.

It is unclear if this is a regular occurrence and planned with or without the involvement of the hotel staff. It is possible that females are taken and driven around and their partners made to pay for their return – we don’t know, but the comment from the police officer who stopped the car and ultimately enabled me to return to the hotel really concerns me ‘she needs to be taken back as she will be missed’, suggests that maybe something far more sinister was planned; I have no idea what happened to the other female who was in the car.
Thomas Cook are looking into the matter but seem reluctant to give us specific information requested . They have told us they will speak with the hotel regarding their lack of support for a guest who was clearly in need of help and support, but say they are unable to do more than this. We just want to make sure that other guests and tourists to the area are made aware of the dangers on their doorstep and hopefully by reporting this you are able to ensure measures are taken to minimise this happening again.
The British Embassy in Tunisia have been made aware of this incident and are looking into it.

Reported that I had had an accident whilst on holiday through no fault of my own, on arriving home my suitcase looked like it had been dragged behind the plane and we had no rep to help with a doctor who did not speak much English.
response- sorry to hear that you could not contact one of our reps but you can contact them via an app, it was written in your holiday documents. really.
I was asked for some paperwork to prove that my luggage was damaged because a photo and my word are not good enough. so with an injury I was meant to wander around the airport at 4am on a Sunday morning.the caring that was shown there.
My injury statement is being referred to someone who will be in touch. I'm still waiting.

THOMAS COOK SOUTHAMPTON NEGLIGANCE
MY 19 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER TAKING INTO HOSPITAL AND PUT ON A DRIP DURING HOLIDAY IN GREECE AFTER BOOKING 4* ALL INCLUSIVE HOTEL THROUGH THOMAS COOK.

My daughter Nadine and her friends went to Greece staying in an all inclusive 4* hotel recommended and booked through Thomas Cook Southampton.

The first day they arrived there my daughter was stung by a hornet and was really ill as she had an allergic reaction and had to be admitted to hospital and put on a drip.
The room she was staying in had Hornet nest on the entrace to the door of her apartment.
The floors and walls were smothered and had to go through them to get into her hotel room.
This was immediately reported to the hotel staff and Thomas cook were informed.
They asked the hotel move them into another room and to have this treated so no one else gets hurt.
The hotel never treated the nest and left the girls in the same room for the whole duration.
My daughter and her friends saved for a long time to go on holiday and paid a lot of money for the all inclusive hotel and didn't have the money to move to another hotel, Thomas Cook did nothing about this and never once offered to move the girls to another room or another hotel.
My daughter didn't want to worry me as it was her first time abroad so she didn't tell me until a day before she came home.
When she told me what happened and described the place she had to live in I was horrified so I asked her to send me photos and when I see them I cried. I have never seen anything like it, and the thought of her and her friends having to live like that for 7 days is discusting.
The hotel told they will not move them and that if she got stung again then they will pay for her hospital treatment and then told the girls they have had enough of them complaining.
They then contacted the travel compsny who they booked with which is Thomas Cook in Southampton and they did nothing they left them there for the whole week.
I sent the pictures to Thomas Cook and still to this day nothing has been done, at first they said they appologised and said they will look into this and I thought they were genuine.
I told them over 2 months ago that I want this investigated and the hotel to be removed of there website until fully checked. I also told them that I want a full refund for my daughters holiday and that they are lucky we are not going to take legal action or publicise the emails and photos between me and Thomas Cook Manager.
They have had months and I've had enough so this is why I am now going to take action and I have an appointment with my solicitor who are going to seek legal action against Thomas Cook due to negligence.

I hope I can post photos on here so you can all see and I will post this as many places as possible.
Shame on you Thomas Cook

So the reason i have given Thomas Cook a bad review, is for two reasons, firstly i booked with an outside company but Thomas Cook Airlines were the company i flyed with, we had 4 people flying but was allowed only 2x cases, when using Thomas Cooks online booking 24hours before flight i was surprised to see it said 4x hold luggage, i was unsure of this but 4x cases was so much easier than 2x cases for four people for two weeks, we got to the airport and had hand luggage bags ready just in case this was a mistake, but they took the 4x cases no problem, we then landed in our destination, in ACE Lanzarote, and they had lost my sons case, this ruined the first two days of our holiday as my son is of a bigger size, and we could not get any swimming clothes, we did get the case back, so at the end of the holiday, we went to put in our cases at check in to be told i only have 2x cases allowance, i argued this and showed the checking a screen shot of the online booking saying 4x hold luggage allowance, she just said no, go to the swissport desk and pay, I did go do the Thomas Cook help desk and there supervisor did come up and try to explain, but he said this happens all the time, even though i had no money i was forced to pay €110.00, so i complained to Thomas Cook and was told to wait 28 days, the 28 days came i had already emailed to see if there was reply yet, but no reply, so i called, i was in hold for 45 minutes, i then got through, the customer service agent then put me on hold again, this was to then read the email i had sent, she then said there will be no refund on your cases as you only had 2x cases booked, i explained about the website but she said you got it wrong, so i said i except that but i would like to speak to a Senior manager to see if we could get the website changed so it was more clear, so other people don't get caught out, but I was told no senior manager would talk to me, i was spoke over by the customer service agent and was made to feel not valued, I then believe as there supervisor said this happens all the time, that Thomas Cook are very aware of this and are making lots of money.

And in my mind this makes them no better than a con merchant.

I will never use Thomas Cook or there sister companies again due to there poor customer service, and if you call the recorded message says customer service is very important to us, i beg to differ !

So people please be aware if you book online and it says 4x cases and you have been told peviously only 2, its not Thomas Cook being kind it means that is the total both ways you can take and if you use outbound you will have to pay on the return.

OK the holiday started badly in June with a 6 hour flight delay. S*** happens and all was forgotten when we were on the beach the following day. Where I think their customer service was excellent was the ease to claim compensation. Their dedicated page on their website was easy to use. All it required was my details, lead passenger name, date of travel, flight number and departure and arrival airport. Within 28 days we had an email to confirm compensation. I phoned them to check payment and had it confirmed that we would get the full £700 (£350 each) or we could have two £450 vouchers. Next week we are looking forward to a weeks all inclusive holiday in Tunisia for a net cost of £365 thanks to the £900 voucher which has already been credited to my credit card. ( It almost makes me want to be delayed again.... but not quite )

Couldn’t cope with a crisis on the ground so thank goodness nothing happened in the air!!

Air stewards hid from angry passsengers due to a divert as permission not granted to do an automatic landing due to fog! Needless to say the other planes from Dalaman who had pilots capable of manually landing all went into Manchester around the same time no problem!!

Meanwhile after an already delayed flight we were grounded for several hours and I personally asked to get off at Liverpool as the children’s Dad had driven from Manchester when he saw we were diverted! I felt like a hostage and as the door was open and stairs attached can’t understsnd why it was too much trouble to be transported a few metres when I had my hand luggage with me!

One passenger was so frightened they ran off the plane and legged it only to be arrested!!

Mothers has ran out of milk for their children and I heard a steward say she didn’t have enough cups to go round but I did see a few trays of water materialise!

As the crew had reached flight times we then had to wait for a new crew to be dispatched from Manchester who’s attitude was none of what happened was Thomas cooks fault and they turned the situation round as quickly as they could! Hardly an acceptable explanation for my just turned four year old son!

So Thomas Cook my questions to you are as follows

1- Why do you prevent passengers from checking in and printing paperwork for both journeys in the comfort of their own homes. Other airlines do it or was it because I was hand luggage only and your Turkish workers were waiting to screw over a single mother travelling alone for the odd kg over weight on luggage??? My luggage was not weighed at Manchester and I travelled back with less items so how does that figure??

2- Why was the ‘pilot’ unable to land the plane manually?

3- Why was I held against my wishes when I asked to get off at Liverpool

4- Why were you staff so poorly trained that they were unable to cope with the changes to the point of almost tears and hid away with no control over the plane

5- Why were there no emergency rations to suit each age group of passenger?

Would book again , just got back from the cruise we booked to Med - A little expensive but night life good !!

The help me throughout the tour..great traveling experience..

Nothing too fancy, but everything just worked

We have booked with my travel 3 times, prices are great, descriptions very accurate and good standards and a very reasonable price.

When we arrived at our destination we were informed that we couldn't go to our hotel, because it was occupied. This was despite booking 5 months in advance. It took us three days to finally sort our rooms out!!

they gave me great deals and a really spectacular holiday and i really enjoyed it......

good company

A cheap last minute holiday to Gran Canaria sorted me and two mates right out. Booked it 10 hours before the flight over the phone for about £180. Nice apartment, good location. We got what we were expecting!

good service and care