Overview:
Thomascook team failed in arranging VISA on time as assured(knowing that it’s less than 15 working days between Schengen VISA slot booking and travel date and we cautioned then) We couldn’t travel as planned for our first Wedding Anniversary. Now they are wrongfully charging huge cancellation fees with no fault of ours.
Approached the Service Quality team since then but there is no prompt reply. They are penalizing us without even speaking to us directly on our case. They terminated their employee who was held responsible(acknowledged their mistake) but not returning our money.
Additional Loss at our end:
1. 15 Days Leave each(for my Husband and myself)
2. Valuable Time and Money in running around the Managers to their offices
3. Chances of getting Schengen VISA approval for next booking
Feedback on Services:
1. Better communication with customers: Timely replies and having regular connect throughout booking process
2. Coordination amongst teams internally: better case tracking to avoid risks
3. Timeboxed customer support by Service quality team: open concerns should be answered within a set timeframe(3 days/1 week/ 1 month)
4. App: Sadly there are no package details yet reflected on our profile on Thomascook app. It’s blank yet even after 4+ months of our package booking.
Events in Detail:
1. We(Husband and myself) booked for Fusion Europe package dated August 19th 2022 by paying initial payment of 1 Lakh rupees on July 4th at Hyderabad Gachibowli branch.
2. Shared all the required documentation as per their guidelines within next 2 days required for slot booking. And arranged others as well as required for the time of verification.
3. Upon following up several times, we were told only on July 27th that the VISA slot is for August 3rd. When asked about the less duration and high risks of getting VISA, they assured that we will have the holiday as expected and asked us to stay calm.
4. However we didn’t get VISA by 18th and they cancelled our trip. Assured us of next immediate package on August 26th but mentioned about cancellation charges as well. We hence extended our leaves and waited for VISA.
5. We got VISA on August 25th and but its status was ’Rejected’ with reason ’Justification for the purpose and conditions of the intended stay was not provided’.
(Note: Our VISA processing date was mentioned as August 22nd on the refusal form - this implies that all the travel itinerary documents included by Thomascook team submitted for travel date of August 19th till 29th hold no more validity. Additionally, there were no hotel booking confirmations attached by Thomascook team and when asked about this they said they only block the hotels and it is as it is in other cases as well)
6. Reached out to the head office at Saifabad in Hyderabad asking about why its ’Rejected’ and if there are any ways to redo it. They mentioned that rejections are reasonless and even if we appeal we might not get any reply. They said the consulate is loaded with such appeals but generally they don’t reply. When asked about refund, they said they will get it done in next 2 weeks as it’s a genuine case accepting that there was a fault from their end for not arranging VISA on time.
7. On September 12th we got a mail from the Telangana tours head mentioning that we are charged of 45K per person for the cancellation and VISA.
8. We then wrote to the Service Quality team of Thomascook detailing what exactly happened and requested for rightful refund of 85K excluding the VISA charges which is a must.
From then we have been writing and contacting them detailing our case multiple times stating that the SOLE REASON for cancellation was LATE ARRIVAL OF VISA. There was no fault of ours in the whole process and in fact we cautioned about the risk in getting VISA on time.
There are no prompt replies, they wont answer calls and take 2-3 weeks to get back on emails. The decision is still the same since 3 months(45K charges per person). We reached out to the GM as well but there is no help.
WORST PART IS THAT
1. We don’t have a payment acknowledgement receipt yet
2. We don’t have information on our flight tickets or other services i.e., they didn’t share any bookings with our names yet but they are charging.
3. They mentioned our charges on email like this:
Visa Charges – Approx INR 10000/- x 2
Flight Charges – Approx INR 35000/- x 2
APPROX!? There no particulars of what is being charged and proofs of the actual transactions made to the third party.
Please help us to get our rightful refund.