I am yet to go on my vacation to Europe that I have booked through Thomas cook, on one of their premium tours called European extravagance, scheduled for 17th April. When I first contacted them for my holiday, they were sooo coy and treated us like kings and told us all the sweet things they were offering on the package, until I paid the advance amount and thats it, after that we are being treated like beggars. A few of my experiences with them till now:
My first bad experience happened a few days after I paid my advance and was told on Thursday night that I were to travel early morning the next day(1st of march) to their Bangalore office for the UK visa. I reached there at 10 in the morning, and the guy(one Mr.yatheesh gowda) who was supposed to meet us and direct us was not available for the next hour, when he was actually in the office and chatting up with all their dumb females around in the office. He finally came at 11.30 and took us into a cubicle only to ask if the kid with me was my son(NOW, WHAT WAS THAT?, would I bring my neighbors son for my vacation?), it was only for this question that he had asked us to come to their office, when he could have directed me to go to the consulate directly and sent someone with the documents instead. when I asked for someone to accompany me to the consulate, as I did not know the route, he took another hour to tell me that everyone was super busy and I should hail a rickshaw instead(DONT I KNOW TO HAIL A RICKSHAW BY MYSELF?) by the time I reached it was around 2pm thanks to the ever busy people in Thomas cook.
after our UK visa was approved and we got our stamped passports on 17th march, I immediately called up their office and asked them to send it for the shengen visa and also told them that I would like to clear my dues and requested them to send me the invoice for the package, I dropped all the necessary documents and passports to their office in 2 days and still did not get the invoice. this went on till april 6th. On april 7th they sent me an invoice with an additional charge of Rs 6900/person stating that Rs 3000 was fuel surcharge and Rs3900 was JN tax that was being charged by the airline. When I enquired Emirates, they said the maximum JN charge for the Europe sector was Rs.2173( out of which I am liable to pay only the increase). when I asked the TC manager here in Mysore (Mr.NandaKishore), he took 3 days to give me a response and only when we finally went and sat in front of him, his explanation on the break up of Rs3900 was as follows:
Rs.2000- JN Tax
Rs.1250- Late Night Charge
Rs.106- Sales Tax
Rs. 544- Euro city tax
Now, has anyone in this whole wide world ever heard of an airline imposing a late night charge on their ticket because they fly early morning before 6 AM? I even called up emirates customer care and they laughed at my idea of late night charge on their tickets and told me that there was nothing even remote called as late night charges on their airlines for all their flights flying at any time.
Rs 544 of euro city tax. Just browse it on the net and you will find that it is a tax that some of the hotels in Europe charge and not something new and not something that I am liable to pay now. when I asked them to give me the above mentioned charges on their letterhead, they flatly refused ( YOU KNOW WHY)
I have talked to TC managers in Bangalore, Mumbai and Mysore on this, and no one has got a logical explanation on the new charges.
When I finally asked the manager in Mysore, he tells me to either cancel my tour( wherein I lose my advance of Rs 75000) or just pay up their invoice amount. The simple truth is they want to rob as much money as they can from their customers before we make the trip because they know we have to pay as our advance is with them.
I would sincerely advise everyone who read my review to not even go anywhere near a Thomas cook office, because they stink rotten big time and if by any chance they get hold of a knife, they wouldn’t hesitate to rob you whole at knife point.
I only hope that my trip will be a good one now. Please pray for me until I come back because I am not sure of their services in a foreign country when they rob you in your own city black and blue!
I rest my case.