My husband, two children and I went on holiday to Icemeler in Turkey first week of June 2010. On arrival in Turkey we were met by a Thomson rep and on the coach transfer to Icemeler from Dalaman the rep was very friendly but unprofessional. She was trying to sell the excursions on the coach ready for the following days welcome meetings stressing that we must book with Thomson and not with street traders selling excursions. In particular she stressed about Turkish Spas and how customers had been sexually assaulted in the past through booking on the streets and going to back street places. She told us about incidents of customers being touched up and told us that Thomson customers have been conned so you should book with Thomson as there are no hidden extras and nothing is seedy.
The following day my Mum and I followed advice and booked for a Turkish Spa and massage at the Thomson welcome meeting and arranged it for later that afternoon. We paid £30 each for Turkish bath with all extras including full body aromatherpy massage so everything was included.
The minute we arrived at the spa we were met by an English lady and were told what the treatment would entail and were pressurised to pay another 30 Lira each for face masks. She wanted extra money for all sorts of other things such as the jacuzzi but we said we would leave it, she did the hard sell but we declined.
After our Turkish baths we were taken separately for full body massages in private rooms which like the Turkish baths were done by men. It seemed very professional but I still did feel very vulnerable when he took my bikini top off and it was just the two of us in a very small room. After about half an hour he kept pointing to my back but didn't speak any English - he mentioned knots and smiled, he carried on for about five minutes and then disappeared. He came back with an 'interpreter'. Instead of bringing the English lady he brought a smartly dressed Turkish man who's English was terrible - alarm bells should have started ringing. He kept pointing to my back smiling saying he will be gentle and the massage continued. Turns out he was the spa manager.
After about 20 minutes I could hear my Mum outside asking where her daughter was, I could hear her saying "please do not ignore me and help me find her". My Mum came into the room and told me I had been conned for extras. The interpreter marched in and yelled "you book extra physio massage". Turns out the Thomson minibus had left without us. I jumped up and was literally topless with two big Turkish men standing over me demanding that I pay them 90 Liras (about £45). I ran out dizzy and nearly passed out because didnt have time to relax following the treatment and literally jumped up ran and got dressed. The way the spa manager invaded my personal space was awful and very scary especially with his angry manner.
After being bullied and shouted at for over fifteen minutes we demanded a Thomson rep come to the spa which was over half an hour away from our apartments. Eventually he shouted at me and said "get out of my spa if you can't afford to pay I will, I have loads of money". It was funny how his English suddenly seemed much better!! We left and were very shaken up. It turns out the same interpreter had tried to con my Mum too along with the other guests - we saw a Swedish lady also reluctantly handing over notes.
What should have been a relaxing day was awful, extremely scary and left us shaken up. It ruined our entire holiday.
Once back at the hotel I phoned Thomson Turkish office to lodge a complaint but was diverted back to Thomson Customer Service in England, the customer service rep I spoke to could not believe what had happened and was shocked, he put a note on their system and advised me to speak to my rep in resort the following day and log an official complaint. I spoke to my rep and she asked me to write a statement which I did, she refunded us the £30 we paid. I mentioned how unhappy I was and how scary it was, she said the statement would be looked into and seemed sympathetic. She said she could not refund any extras the spa made us pay but we could take this up once home.
I explained I was very shaken and upset, she said the complaint would be logged and dealt with, I asked if we could receive a letter back from Thomson Holidays once home to explain what had been addressed at the spa and she assured me this would happen. I am worried this will happen to customers on a daily basis.
On return home I sent a letter explaining what had happened expecting Thomson to respond to my complaint within the 28 days they promise. That did not happen. Ten weeks later and after numerous phone calls chasing them up I was left a 1571 message saying that a payment and letter was in the post. When I received the letter there was no payment just a £100 gesture of goodwill for my next holiday along with a standard template apology letter - no acknowledgement or explanation of what I went through.
I have chased this up a number of times since and each Thomson customer service adviser I have spoken to has been good and has said the lady who dealt with my complaint will phone me. Guess what ..... she never did. THOMSON CUSTOMER SERVICE IS APPALLING!!!! Eventually after being like a dog with a bone the Thomson customer service assistant phoned me. Oh my goodness she was sooooooooooo rude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She spoke over me and said that they merely resell the excursion for other operators and what happened is nothing to do with them. I could not believe her manner - so much for good Thomson customer service!!! I asked to speak to a Manager and have been assured one will phone me back ..... lets see!!
The interpreter was waiting for us in reception and was shouting aggressively at me pointing in my face - I cannot put into words how scary it was, he was very aggressive. I said I didn't book extra time and he was sarcastic and said I had. I explained I had no money and he said their own minibus would drive me back to our hotel and we could pay them there, the driver would wait until we handed over the money!!!! Many thanks to the lovely Thomson Holidays who did not even check if we were ok!!!
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