More money!

[CRUISIN LINDA]

According to someone on fb, she was told by her TA that as from July 1st, they have to charge £25 for every booking that does a web price comparison.

 

Thoughts please?

[Julessmiles]

According to someone on fb, she was told by her TA that as from July 1st, they have to charge £25 for every booking that does a web price comparison.

 

Thoughts please?

 

Yet again, Thomson being ridiculous - they are doing this as their webprice is cheaper than the price they sell at in their own agents!!!

 

Why do they not just have one price for all wherever you book?

[Jakanne1]

Well, I've always booked through a travel agents and for the last ???? years have known which hotel or cruise I wanted to book, which date of travel, etc. Even before the advent of the online facility for researching, I used to get a pile of brochures and spend hours trawling through them before deciding where I wanted to go. I don't remember sitting for hours in a travel agents trawling through holidays and taking up their time although I know many others do.

 

Oh, just remembered I did visit a specialist cruise TA last year to see if they could find us alternative Caribbean cruises but all their suggestions were more expensive and had complicated methods of air travel compared with Thomson....and they did not deal with Thomson! So we booked on the Dream through a Thomson TA. :rolleyes:

 

I've only been charged the admin charge once and they dropped it from £20 to £10 when I expressed surprise at the charge. If I had booked online on the Saturday when I decided on the cruise instead of waiting until the Monday when the TA was open, I would have saved the £60 the cruise had gone up!

 

I paid my balance at the TA yesterday and when I left there was a huge queue of people waiting and they had been busy all day. IMO there will be no shortage of people willing to either pay the shop price or the admin charge for matching the online price. A lot of people don't have the information we share on here on on FB.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

If you book online, you can still pay the balance at the TA. I usually pay with a building society cheque, so do that instead of transferring the money into my bank account and paying on the phone with a card. Takes about 5 minutes :)

[davecttr]

When I booked my next two Thomson cruises the Thomson TA told me the same, head office have said they could NOT match the online price. Their price had to be at least £25 higher.

 

It seems they want to move their business away from the high street and save on staff!

 

In future it will pay to watch the online prices carefully for the low points of the week.

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Another point is that, whereas before it was £10 per person, it is now a flat fee of £25, so for solo travellers like you Dave, already paying huge single supplements, it is a double whammy :rolleyes:

[ormy]

Unfortunate - I prefer to find price online then off to TA, I always think much easier to deal with TA than online or premier phone numbers if any problems arise. I feel sure my TA will always match online price, just the other day they phoned to ask did I want them to check in online for me, very helpful.

[geomagot]

when i booked my jamaica cruise i visited my local thomson shop clutching a web printout of the cruise I wanted, they were adamant that i had to pay £20 fee for them to match the web price

 

I walked outside and booked online on my mobile phone....so did the guy behind me (who, incidentally was also clutching a web printout)

 

its bonkers!:confused: imho

[kruzseeka]

As dave says, looks like a measure to undermine the High Street thus concentrating the business to online sales to save overheads - plus cash in on premium numbers to contact them after booking. :rolleyes:

[Len Baker]

Wow. Presumably the TA prices are the same or more expensive than the online price otherwise its pointless paying to "match".

 

I wonder if they will match the Canadian prices?!!!!

 

I will say I'm comparing with previous years holidays & ask what deals they have. They do seem to be tightening up and the key factor is when you book which is aligned to supply & demand.

 

Personally I do not see what added value there is to be had from a Thomson TA. We have 2 in our town (goodness knows why) and they give very poor advice. If people don't have internet facilities or need assistance then I understand but there is so much more information out there than say 15 years ago.

[GaryT-UK]

When I booked my next two Thomson cruises the Thomson TA told me the same, head office have said they could NOT match the online price. Their price had to be at least £25 higher.

I always go armed with the online price (I've usually decided where to go), but use a different TA. They can often at least price match even if they can't give much more discount. Everything else is exactly the same.

[kalos]

Will Thomson put this "£25 charge" on the online sites ?

Maybe even put in the Brouchures that you can save £25 if you book online ?

They should be honest and up front about this so people have a choice of which way to book .

Also will this apply to all non cruise bookings ..Holidays and flight bookings ??:confused:

[joeholiday2]

What's next???

 

Charging for Brochures?

Deposit on them that's refunded on return to TA?

 

They keep squeezing us.......

 

We never use a TA and always book online, as Len says there is loads on info online, most of us on here probably know more about Thomson Cruises than many TA's.:rolleyes:

 

I feel for those who don't have access to the internet or do not have the confidence to book this way, it's those that are being penalised.

[Jakanne1]

I've just returned from my TA who reluctantly confirmed that there will be a £25 charge (but no more than £25) to match the online price. She also asked me where I had heard that. Also, it was for one booking. So for a single person £25 and for a party of say 10, it is also £25. There was no poster advertising this as I guess it would draw the attention to customers who are not aware that they can get a cheaper online price. My own daughter and son were not aware of it!!

 

She said that the advantages of using the TA were that they would help with any problems, make telephone calls as hanging on to speak to someone on an online booking to answer the phone costs a lot, they would print boarding cards, etc., book airport parking........etc

 

Then the girl serving me said we would get an email with our E-ticket four weeks before the cruise. So I said "Do you print them off for us?" Her answer was that NO, as they found that they were spending all their time and toner printing off e-tickets, but would help if requested. :confused::confused:

 

The manager did say she would do her best with prices for us and to be honest it is Thomson or TUI who are putting the TAs in a very difficult position with many of their regular customers.

[davecttr]

I've just returned from my TA who reluctantly confirmed that there will be a £25 charge (but no more than £25) to match the online price. She also asked me where I had heard that. Also, it was for one booking. So for a single person £25 and for a party of say 10, it is also £25. There was no poster advertising this as I guess it would draw the attention to customers who are not aware that they can get a cheaper online price. My own daughter and son were not aware of it!!

 

She said that the advantages of using the TA were that they would help with any problems, make telephone calls as hanging on to speak to someone on an online booking to answer the phone costs a lot, they would print boarding cards, etc., book airport parking........etc

 

Then the girl serving me said we would get an email with our E-ticket four weeks before the cruise. So I said "Do you print them off for us?" Her answer was that NO, as they found that they were spending all their time and toner printing off e-tickets, but would help if requested. :confused::confused:

 

The manager did say she would do her best with prices for us and to be honest it is Thomson or TUI who are putting the TAs in a very difficult position with many of their regular customers.

My thomson TA does for me, for P&O cruises, perhaps P&O provide free paper and toner :rolleyes:

[WeeCountyMan]

Our local Thomsons has also confirmed this "service charge" of £25.

 

Promised to help out sympathetically with any future booking - last time I booked we got a half price deal on selecting our cabin, so it sounds like a swings and roundabouts at the discretion of the TA.

 

I'm happy to book online if it saves me £25 on the bottom line.

 

As others have alluded to - it's hardly a vote of confidence in their High Street outlets and unfair on the staff......but that's Thomsons for you, they certainly know how to alienate customers.

 

PS - There is a major independent TA chain across central Scotland (same initials as the UK's principal telephone service provider) and I'm sure they will price match Thomsons online prices with no "service charge" added.

Edited June 19, 2014 by WeeCountyMan

[Sheila49]

 

PS - There is a major independent TA chain across central Scotland (same initials as the UK's principal telephone service provider) and I'm sure they will price match Thomsons online prices with no "service charge" added.

 

I have used that one in the past WCM. It was all done over the phone as they don't have a branch in our town. They were very good.

We normally use a more local independent TA who so far has always beaten the online price and no booking fee. We have never had our tickets emailed from Thomson but the TA will happily post them out to us and this year offered to do our boarding passes etc if required. They also phone to book our cabin as when I tried to do so using the number in the brochure I was told the TA we booked with had to do it!

[Jakanne1]

I have used that one in the past WCM. It was all done over the phone as they don't have a branch in our town. They were very good.

We normally use a more local independent TA who so far has always beaten the online price and no booking fee. We have never had our tickets emailed from Thomson but the TA will happily post them out to us and this year offered to do our boarding passes etc if required. They also phone to book our cabin as when I tried to do so using the number in the brochure I was told the TA we booked with had to do it!

 

Just noticed your Countdown, Sheila. Have a lovely holiday! :):)

[Sheila49]

Thank you Jackanne1. Really looking forward to it after all the recent good reviews of Majesty! I'm a bit worried because we seem to be quite organised, no last minute panicking, must have forgotten something!

Edited June 19, 2014 by Sheila49

[kruzseeka]

Thank you Jackanne1. Really looking forward to it after all the recent good reviews of Majesty! I'm a bit worried because we seem to be quite organised, no last minute panicking, must have forgotten something!

 

Have a wonderful time Sheila. :)

[carolynne15]

Think this is just another example of how thomson do not value their customer's there are plenty of other cruise lines and TA out there :mad:

[Sheila49]

Have a wonderful time Sheila. :)

 

Thank you Kruzseeka, I'm sure we will. Will report back when we return!

[happy v]

Have a nice time Sheila.:)

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Thank you Jackanne1. Really looking forward to it after all the recent good reviews of Majesty! I'm a bit worried because we seem to be quite organised, no last minute panicking, must have forgotten something!

You sound like me. I always expect a crisis of some sort and panic if there isn't one! Have a great time :)

[Sheila49]

Thank you both!

 

PS (how do you quote 2 posts in one reply?)