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Ski Beat - the worst ski trip experience ever?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Having read some of the threads here about the chaos over the weekend, I would like to give you all the details of my experience. There wil be a detailed account to follow, but I am knackered, and have a lot of stuff to catch up with on returning home. I am incensed enough to feel the need to put something down in writing now, so that anyone who is looking forward to a week with Skibeat will know which characters to look out for.

The short version is this; arrived 9.00am Gatwick for a 11.25 Titan flight to Chambery, with the ultimate aim of arriving in Plan Peisey by early tea-time. Smiley lady on check in says flight on time. Really? Err, no, but only a little bit late. Info boards say flight on time. As departure time comes and goes, departure boards say flight delayed by an hour. This goes on till 3pm. Next time I check, the boards say 'gate closing.' We gather up the piles of crap that 10 adults and 5 toddlers managed to spread around the departure hall floor after 6 hours in the airport and rush to the boarding gate, only to find there is no boarding going on. We mill around, spread our crap about again, try and explain to 2 year old that the plane can't fly and it isn't like Bob the Builder and we can't just 'fix it.' One year olds all just sit there and cry with exhaustion. Noone tells us anything. Noone has told us anything for hours now, not since the smiley check in lady told us everything was on time. And believe me, we have been asking for information.

5.30pm, the flight is announced as cancelled for that day. Accommodation will be provided at Crawley Arora. We should collect our bags and wait for the bus. Nothing else happens for over an hour. More milling around, more not being told anything. We call Skibeat, but they have an answerphone on telling us to call back on Monday morning. It is beginning to dawn on us that although we have booked a package holiday in order to have a tour operator smooth out any little problems so that a holiday with 5 toddlers is not hell, we are entirely on our own. An hour later and we have finally got out bags bag and look for someone to tell us where the promised bus to the hotel is. On closer examination, there is noone there to offer help or give info, so we catch a taxi to the hotel. Hotel is very good and well organised, even though apparently their first guests turned up by taxi before the airline had told the hotel to expect them! We are given no info as to what time to return to the airport in the morning. Friend logs onto her Blackberry and finds out we must be there at 8am.

Gatwick, day 2. Smiley check in lady tells us we will definitely be flying to France today. Err, can you be specific about where in France, exactly? No, but we will definitely be on our holiday by the end of the day. Of course, she was wrong on both accounts. We did not fly to France, and nor were we on our holiday by the end of the day. By the end of Sunday we were in Italy. More of that later.

Off we go to the departure hall again. 2 year old is asking where the aeroplane is. No updates are made on the information board, right until someone notices the flight is announced as closing again. We hastily pack up the toddlers again.

At this point, my computer has kindly deleted the second half of my post as I tried to correct a spelling mistake. I am too zonked to re-type it all in detail. So please bear with the shorter version. There may be some stronger language used to get across the strength of feeling in fewer words.

We are informed as we get on the plane that we are going to MILAN! Nowhere near Plan Peisey. But don’t worry, Ski beat are sending a bus to Milan to get us. In the meantime a friend of ours has managed to get to the airport, take off with another TO and airline, arrive on time, and is in La Rosiere having a pint.

We arrive at Milan at 3.30pm. After what seems like an age waiting for our bags (we are relieved all of our bags arrive,) we leave the baggage hall, passing reps with placards for Crystal, Ski Esprit, Total Ski, and some others I can’t remember. They are calling over their holiday makers and directing them to their buses. There is a noticeable absence of Ski Beat reps. There is a man in the airport who is on holiday but who once worked for Ski Beat. He tells us to sit tight, they are coming for us. The Titan bus rep tells us to get on the bus to Chambery or we will be stranded in Milan. We take a leap of faith and stay in Milan.

4 hours later a bus arrives with 2 Ski Beat reps on it. One tells us to wait where we are. Then we get a patronizing phone call 20 mins later from the same rep saying they are waiting on the bus for us, are we lost? We wake up our exhausted sleeping children and make our way to the bus. There is a different rep there, talking on the phone. We wait for him to finish his conversation and ask which bus we should be on. He tells us our bus is not here yet and to go and sit down. I tell him (over the sounds of several wailing toddlers) that we have been on the go for nearly 36 hours with no info at all – why can his company not give us any useful information, not even where the bus is? He yells at me that he is having a difficult day. I politely tell him to get over it and do the job he is paid for. He tells us to wait for 20 mins more for the bus and slinks off to sulk. We do not see him for another 2 hours, when the bus finally appears. It is a good job as we would probably have eaten him if he had stayed within eyesight of us.

At 9.30pm, 6 hours after arriving in Milan, we leave. The bus is filthy and full of rubbish, the driver is obviously knackered and veering across the road. He is asked several times to stop texting on his phone. The rep tells us the journey will be 4 hours. After 4 hours we ask for a wee break. We are still in Italy. The rep refuses to talk to us, as he is not the rep for our resort. His name is Phil, I believe he is the La Plagne rep. He is a rude arrogant tosser who was lucky not to have been shoved face first out of the bus onto the side of the road. Around 1am the driver turns the air con down to Baltic temperatures and switches the radio on full blast to try and keep him awake. He has driven alone without a break for over 12 hours. You can’t blame him, but we didn’t want to be on a bus with him. We make a detour to get a new driver.

Eventually, at 3.30am we arrive in Plan Peisey. Noone has even put the kettle on in the chalet. You’d think they weren’t expecting us. We go to bed having failed to get a time that the resort manager will be round to hear our complaints in the morning.

The next day the resort managers come to our chalet. Their names are Garry and Terry XXXXXXXX. Garry is an older man full of his own self-importance, and c0wdoo. He tells us all of the airports in France have been closed all day. I ask if this is true, or are there other factors, as we have been told nothing for 48 hours now, and are starting our holiday exhausted, fractious and feeling like we are on holiday with a company who couldn’t organize a p!ss up in a brewery. He explodes and tells us he is having a really hard time. One of our group raises her voice to be heard above him, and tells him she is not interested in his hard time, but would like it if someone, anyone, from Ski Beat would listen to us. He stands up and shouts ‘NO. YOU LISTEN TO ME!’ We are flabbergasted. We have only met 3 Ski Beat employees in 48 hours, and one has patronized us and 2 have yelled at us. The woman who asked him to listen walks out. I raise my voice even more to be heard above his shouting and tell him to listen to us. He tells us he doesn not have to listen to this and storms off. He returns after Terry tells him and us to calm down.

We ask for explanations and compensation. We are refused both. Garry will not talk about the airports after I reveal I am an airline pilot with 10 years experience flying to the Alps and that I think he is bullsh!tting and that there is more to it. I point out that I know other operators were getting their guests to their holidays and think there is a certain level of Ski Beat incompetence involved. Garry turns to telling us how difficult it is for such a small company to catch up when there is disruption. The woman in our group he yelled at earlier is not fobbed off with this excuse and tells him she is a ‘continuity manager’ for a major company and here day-to-day work involves making sure that disruptions don’t disrupt things, as it were. We are offered no further explanations for anything at all after this. Our requests for compensation are refused.

We later discover that along with the flight that sat on the ground in Lyons for 7 hours without letting passengers of before returning to Gatwick, our bus load of holiday makers has become the talk of the resort – ‘have you heard about the people who set off on Saturday morning and didn’t get here till Monday?’ kind of thing. We also heard that other tour operators had offered their clients a partial refund, no questions asked.

We had booked with a tour operator rather than a DIY holiday because we wanted to have someone else do the legwork wrt to tricky bits of a holiday. We had a 2 year old and 4 one year olds in our party, and travelling for 45 hours with no real end in sight, no information and no explanations was one of the hardest things I have done as a parent.

Plan Peisey was great, the chalet was OK, but nothing will take away from my memory the fact that this was the least well organized holiday I have ever been on, that we arrived nearly 2 days late. Ski Beat management were nothing but a complete shower of unpleasant and aggressive incompetence, and I can do nothing at all to recommend them. I am sorry if you are booked to go with them later in the year. I would not go on holiday again with them if you paid me.

Oh, and they had the second most uncomfortable beds I have ever slept on.

There you go – that’s the short version. I know there will be someone else along to give their version soon!
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
What an absolute shower of s***.

If you start of badly on a holiday like that it is very difficult to get any enjoyment out of it, all you want is revenge / compensation for being treated in such a shabby way. As you say that's the reason you went with a TO in the first place, for them to do the organising and hassle bit for you.

I'm just glad I do DIY holidays and I think in future you should also do the same, you cannot get it so wrong as these people. My advice is if you do DIY holidays with large groups / kids try to keep it as simple as possible, too many options means too arguments or trying to get everyone to agree. Fly to your chosen airport (you'll know from your profession the ones to avoid..), simple transfer by private transfer or train to your chosen resort, chalet with English owned or English speaking owners. The hassle with the French air traffic controllers strike could be difficult to deal with on a DIY trip but at least you'll be making the decisions and be in charge. If you are stuck, make the decision to hire a car or stay in hotel of your choosing - you're in charge of your holiday!
All the hiring ski's, lift passes etc can all be done before you go to avoid that hassle and expense before you even get there, so that's another problem you won't have to worry about when you get there.

Thanks for the report of your experience, we can now add them to the list of who to avoid, best of luck with your next trip.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Feel for you.

Showers of poo-poo like these deserve to go under.
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pandora, Wow my problems trying to find a suitable holiday pale into insignificance. You must be gutted. Well done for warning others.
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Quote:

I'm just glad I do DIY holidays and I think in future you should also do the same

Had that happened on a DIY trip, chances are you would have missed your holiday altogether. Where's the advantage in that?
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What an absolute shower, If I was booked with them now I would be beefing up my travel insurance for a start

I'm sure most people have had a nightmare package experience, mine involved my girlfriend and I ending up sleeping
on a reps sofabed for the first night of our holiday (naked couple, who presumably had broken in were sleeping in our
apartment room when we arrived in resort late at night) Blush

However the rep couldn't have been nicer or more apologetic. Next morning we were moved into her bosses
private flat for the week, so happy with that.

I now have 3 children under 5 and the thought of enduring your experience with my 3 is probably why I now holiday in Northumberland. This was further backed up with them complaining of the cold within an hour of of being out in the snow these last few weeks in the UK

Now I know why go Skiing with the lads only
snowHead
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
I have used Ski Beat to Plan Peisey a few years ago and cannot fault them. It all went very smooth. Chalet and staff were excellent. However I had no problems, the real test of a TO is how they deal with problems.
The attitude of the resort managers is sackable, you do not shout and treat customers in that manner at all.
If you feel strongley enough about it put a written complaint in. You should check with your travel insurance to see if your up for compensation as well.
Lucky for the resort managers that you were there and not me. I think I might have been a bit to testy to put up with a cock shouting at me. Smile
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Must have been a nightmare for the operators, but quite hideous for those involved.
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Last weekend seemed to be a complete nightmare as Frosty the Snowman, says, and bad for all concerned.

I am sure that all the travellers as well as being thoroughly pi**ed off with whole experience could also appreciate how difficult it must have been for the travel companies, tour operators, transfer buses etc - and it is at those times that the good rise above the bad. No doubt some other people didn't arrive until hours and hours after they expected to, but hopefully the better organisations at least kept them informed, got them safe buses, and appeared to be welcoming with a mug of soup, hot chocolate or something when they arrived.
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pandora, very, very sorry to hear about your awful experience Sad Best of uck with your complaint.

Last weekend was very bad, like Dwarf Vader says the real test of a TO is how they deal with this type of crisis and what they do for their clients. I would be really interested to hear of anyone who was stuck in the chaos and whose TO really pulled out the stops to make the situation as painless as possible for their clients.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Interesting to hear Bertie Basset's thoughts on the resort managers on the other thread (so sorry for two posts! Tiredness and dodgy computer combined to make me look just a bit daft.)

To answer a few comments, we normally do a DIY holiday - I am an airline pilot and own an apartment in Soldeu. I am used to not getting on the flight I want to be on as I fly standby, usually to Barcelona which is one of our more popular European routes and very often full. I am used to juggling my transport arrangements and making last minute alterations. I would not have struggled as much as you might think with the problems of last week - if I were making my own way there I would have been flying to Geneva from Heathrow (I am aware Geneva had it's own problems, but flights were getting in and out.) Then I would have hired a car. I am fairly certain it would have been a busy trip, but not as troublesome as the trip we had. Of course, I would have been able to get information the average holiday maker would not have been given. But this time round we were travelling with 5 toddlers, and wanted to have someone else take the strain. I often take big groups of friends out to Andorra and am tired of being the travel agent, tour operator and chalet host all rolled into one when I am on my own holiday. I wanted a bigger company to do all that for me so I could enjoy every minute of my holiday. Confused

As for the frustrations of the travel companies, I don't believe I have ever shouted at, or seen a customer shouted at by anyone at work. Delays and changes are all just part of the job - you shrug and do the best you can to get on with it. It's what we are paid for. I read elsewhere about Michelle being sat on the ground on her Easy flight. She didn't seem frustrated or shouty about it. These things happen. One of the things I try to do when delays happen is to make myself visible to the passengers - I put my hat on and go for a wander among them so I can answer any questions they have face to face and honestly. Even when it is not good news, I have found that passengers are often relieved to have someone giving them the best information they can get. Not knowing is very, very frustrating. I have no sympathy at all for the resort managers and rep who shouted at us. If they are not prepared to act on the occasions when things go wrong, they should not be in the job.

I will be making a claim on my insurance, but I will be writing to Ski Beat first, and giving them the oportunity to make amends. Not sure whether they will be interested though.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Irony is a friend went to same place with Ski Beat 2 weeks before and is re-booking as he thought it was so good Confused . Not excusing what happened but the transfers for everyone that weekend seemed a nightmare, sorry to hear that you had such a bad time.
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Quote:

I am aware Geneva had it's own problems, but flights were getting in and out

not all the time they weren't. Geneva was closed for 6 hours on one occasion, and last Wednesday (as I know because I took someone in there for a flight) it was closed for periods, when flights were holding because of too much snow. The departure boards were covered in red. And some Snowheads are still waiting for their luggage, two weeks after the baggage handling dispute caused problems.

However, I do agree that Geneva is by far the most reliable airport in these parts - and Chambery probably the worst.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
pam w, Done a few trips through Chambery but all been with TO's, very nervous of the place as it seems to reside in fog. At least with a TO out of Chambery you have some(cough) back up but doing a DIY out of Chambery with a low cost flyer is very risky. Geneva every time now. While everyone else was having hell in Chambery last week a friend of ours got out through Geneva, ok some delay but not the 24+ hours others had.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
pandora, sounds awful, these things happen and I am sure they tried their best (hotel, flight next day, coach organised etc), but I am sure you would have been a bit happier if the company had communicated better and there is no excuse for their rudeness and the way they acted

Lizzard wrote:
Had that happened on a DIY trip, chances are you would have missed your holiday altogether. Where's the advantage in that?


I know you have spent many years working for ski travel companies, but I am not sure that is the case at all; I have only ever done DIY trips (for any holiday actually that I have ever taken, now I think about it Shocked ) and in such circumstances I would be proactive, re-arrange flights (for my small group only), re-book transfer transfer (I would have their phone number or email) or hire a car etc., but the main thing for me is that I would be in control and know exactly what was happening and when it was happening (subject to airline) and make valued judgements that suited me rather than perhaps a group of 100 other travellers.

Travel companies can sort out problems, but so can the DIYer Very Happy
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
pandora, Please be warned we had a horrendous experience with that TO several years ago, I cannot make further comment.
My advice is to fight them all the way on a united front, we were 'let down' by one couple in our group who didn't want to make a fuss and go to court.

Recalling our previous experience with them I doubt this thread will be on here for more than 36 hours Sad


Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Sun 17-01-10 10:42; edited 2 times in total
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
thefatcontroller, exactly, if you are DIY it is best to fly with airlines with a decent stock of planes and to large airports with good public transfer facilities such as Geneva/Zurich/Innsbruck/Salzburg etc.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I've been to Meribel twice with Skibeat each time without fault. However, as mentioned, the measure of a company and it's staff is how they cope when things go wrong. Staff losing their rag with guests is unacceptable to the point of being gobsmacking. Skibeat management need to put these clowns on the first available flights back to the UK, but I'm sure that they'll just 'have a word' and hope that such scenes are not repeated.
I think your group showed great restraint, I know a couple of my mates would've sent Mr. Cowpoo back out of the chalet airbourne minus his Skibeat jacket if he'd yelled at them. wink
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Pandora your experience sounds awful and your TO should certainly offer compensation. The worst part must have been the awful coach from Milan to the resort. I would have been terrified if the driver had been on his mobile and not concentrating. At least you all survived the experience.
I doubt there can have been a stress free way to travel to the alps these past few weeks:
Scheduled Airline like BA - threat of industrial action which fortunately didn't happen
Eurostar - several days with no trains
Own car - snow covered roads in UK and probably difficult driving conditions to resorts
TO and charter flight - at the mercy of their back up plans (or lack of) in case of cancelled flight and there appear to have been many cancelled flights at Gatwick.
The main reason we have done DIY the last few years is to avoid being at the mercy of the TO. I was very tempted by Ski Esprit holidays in terms of the child care but didn't want to travel by charter flight and long coach transfer and they don't give you the option of anything else..I wonder what happened to their flights on the weekend in question?

The two skiing chalet holidays I've done with TOs (simply ski and neilson) both had awful chalet hosts and put me off ever doing a chalet holiday again.
We travel by train to resorts near rail stations and so far it has been fairly stress free. The recent Eurostar problems have made me slightly anxious about this but on the whole it has been an enjoyable way to travel. We have booked appartments through UK companies so we are not completely on our own. We have chosen resorts where the ski school and creche have good reputations. One TO I would highly recommend is Snowbizz who do not insist you use their flights and have excellent childcare and ski school. They are family run and we couldn't fault them.
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snowymum wrote:
I was very tempted by Ski Esprit holidays in terms of the child care but didn't want to travel by charter flight and long coach transfer and they don't give you the option of anything else..I wonder what happened to their flights on the weekend in question?...........


I know the answer through a friend. Moved from Chambery to Milan, long delays etc..., expected home about 4pm Sunday but got home 3.30am Monday via Chambery, coach to Milan, flight to Birmingham, coach to Bristol airport, car home. Better organised than the ski beat experience outlined above.
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snowymum wrote:
Own car - snow covered roads in UK and probably difficult driving conditions to resorts


We drove home the weekend everyone was having hell in airports. It was bad at times, the snow added about 3 hours to our overall travel time but not much else.
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pandora, what an absoloute nightmare.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
We had things go wrong with Esprit/Total when trying to return from Selva via Innsbruck due to a fault with the plane. A Total head honcho turned up in a dark suit and a trenchcoat. He took over operations, we were sent to Munich via coach, put-up in the plush Munich Kempinski, given free grub and drinks at 2am and flown out the next day. Each family received £250 compo a week or so later.
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Mollerski wrote:
We had things go wrong with Esprit/Total when trying to return from Selva via Innsbruck due to a fault with the plane. A Total head honcho turned up in a dark suit and a trenchcoat. He took over operations, we were sent to Munich via coach, put-up in the plush Munich Kempinski, given free grub and drinks at 2am and flown out the next day. Each family received £250 compo a week or so later.


have you booked with them since?
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I thought it was just me who had bad luck, sorry to hear of your ordeal. I went to la Tania and La Plagne last season with skibeat and thought they were fantastic. All staff very helpful and freindly, however staff change season to season and your experience highlights that a couple of 'bad eggs' can change the entire feel of a company.
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bertie bassett wrote:

have you booked with them since?


Went to Selva again with them the following year. DIY drove to Selva over Xmas 3 weeks ago staying here http://www.flora.bz/english/index.htm.

We've used the Flora a couple of times now, it's superb.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
So the basic difference seems to be that we were treated like mushrooms by Ski Beat, while the Ski Esprit model seems to be to have people there to explain the mess and fix it asap while handing out money and refreshment. Mollerski says each family on his trip (which I appreciate was a completely different trip) was compensated, and we were told by Ski Esprit holiday makers last week in Peisey that they had been given £100 per person, no quibbles.

As has been said already, it's not the problem that was the problem, it was how the company dealt with it that made all the difference.

Boredsurfing's short cryptic post doesn't sound especially good!
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
pandora, Size matters in this case, Ski beat are tiny compared to Esprit. We had one bad experience with Espirt out of Chambery and in fairness it was managed very well.

By the way your right to post what happened but surely admin should point this thread out to Ski Beat and give them the right to reply. Some people mentioned in terms they may not like Confused
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You know it makes sense.
Like a lot of companies, it's only when the shite hits the fan do you really find out how good they really are. Every company can experience problems which originate outside their control, but it's how they deal with it matters to whether they end up losing a client or keeping one and getting more.

If you'd had the same problems and they'd dealt with it properly, you'd have been posting on here, 'this is what happened, but look what they did for us, couldn't ask for more'

Their loss I'm afraid, they've lost a customer and probably a load more.
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thefatcontroller, I agree totally, size is the issue. Esprit/Total are a big concern, a company the size of Skibeat could ill afford MIB's (Men in black) dotted around Europe to fight fires.

As for Admin informing Ski Beat? Ski Beat will know of this thread by now for sure. wink A SH member somewhere will know someone from SB. Madeye-Smiley
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Mollerski, Cool Cool Good luck with your next holiday (doesn't last week seem a life time ago already Sad Sad )

Spyderman, The only one to gain seems to be the roads, soon there will be queues at the telepeage Shocked Shocked
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We had a bit of a nightmare on our trip out with a Thompson flight booked through Snowjet on Boxing Day, but to be fair - with the aid of my mobile I was able to communicate with Snowjet and felt quite well informed. So long as they pay the promised refund of £800 + we paid in the transfer disasters then I'll be a happy customer. Seems you were left completely high and dry though, it's not acceptable.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
pandora, really crap!

We thought flyglobespan Liverpool to New York was rubbish- but your experience sucked.

The delays I could cope with but not the attitude.
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Quote:

We drove home the weekend everyone was having hell in airports. It was bad at times, the snow added about 3 hours to our overall travel time but not much else.

But some self-drivers had very miserable experiences with eurotunnel, including some horrendous ones posted one here - it's just not been a good time for travel!
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
pandora, What a shower of poo-poo! I really feel for you and everyone else on the trip. As has been said already - the mark of good customer service is how they deal with issues when the arise. In this instance, very badly by the sounds of it. The irony is that I was looking at prices for trips away in March, and was looking at Skibeat........ I wont be using them now - problems or not, if they employ people whose idea of dealing with issues is to shout louder than everyone else, I will be giving my money to someone else!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
Boredsurfing wrote:
My advice is to fight them all the way on a united front, we were 'let down' by one couple in our group who didn't want to make a fuss and go to court.


Take them to court for what ?. Unless there was a breach of contract, you're not likely to get the outcome you're looking for.
It "seems" (as we only have one side of the story here) that there was a problem at airport due to snow/fog/etc, a plane was cancelled, the clients were provided with accommodation, they got a flight the next day, the staff "and" the clients were shouting at each other when the clients arrived at the accomm. Where is the breach here ?

OK - the staff sound as if they need a little bit of something (maybe training, sacking, counselling, who knows) but it seems (again from a disgruntled customer's point of view) that the 1st transport section of the trip was messed up by the weather and this was exacerbated by a lack of information to the stranded clients. When the finally arrive the staff response to shouting clients was to shout back (or it may have been the other way round - who shouted 1st, who knows, does it mater) and this is not what it should have been.
But, go to court ? and claim what ?

edit - best point out I have no connection with the TO and have never met any staff or the client.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Wayne, agreed. Rubbish staff, but the rest of it doesn't sound like anything you're going to get significant compensation for, nasty though it was.


pandora, when you write to Ski Beat, I recommend you keep it concise (bullet points are good), and concentrate on the attitude of their staff and the lack of welcome in the chalet when you finally arrived. These are the things over which they have complete control, and which need to be good enough to compensate for external disasters. Over-egged essay-style complaint letters get less attention than short rational ones.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
There are 2 references above to other operators paying compensation, one during the same week/resort. I wonder what the key differentiators were in the 3 examples.
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 You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
If Admin can make contact with Ski Beat on a Sunday, can they ask them to give me a call too? Had there been any communication last Sunday I might not be in a situation where I feel the need to tell as many people as possible what poor communicators they are.

As for who shouted at who first - I can assure you that I would not have gone out of my way to name the culprits if I had not thought that the way our group was treated was unacceptably rude. There was certainly noone in our group who initiated yelling or aggression, although there were raised voices from our side in response to Ski Beat staff talking over us in a very impolite way.

There will certainly be letters sent to Ski Beat from all in our group, and by the sound of it from the other groups who shared our experience on the bus.
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Pamski wrote:
Last weekend seemed to be a complete nightmare as Frosty the Snowman, says, and bad for all concerned
.

This whole season has been a complete nightmare on the transport front. If the weather in the UK did not mess it up, then the weather over here did.
I took a lady to GVA yesterday for her 3rd try at going home. No wonder the UK is going downhill, everyone is still here trying to get there.
Must admit this weekend has seen things getting almost on an even keel, not one red delayed/cancelled on the arrivals board this midday.

The new transfer drivers game had become, "who could photograph the board with the most red lines".
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