 Poster: A snowHead
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If anyone from Crystal is online can you please PM me as I have a problem with a current booking that someone with a sensible head on might be able to solve!
I've PM'd Simon Cross, but can't PM David Jarvis.
Does anyone know of any others?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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On the above subject can someone (for my own peace of mind) tell me if I'm being reaonable.
We booked a holiday for Canada for January 2012 back in December 2010 as the dates and location we wanted were very specific (travelling for something special)
Crystal this week have chaged their flight carrier and time which will reduce the holiday from 10night to 9 night. The flight times will mean a reduction in 1.5 days slope time from what we wanted originaly.
They originally offered us the 9 nights (not worth the travel to Canada for that)or 13 nights but we don't have the time available for that option and also they could only put us in two rooms instead of three (not an option)
I asked them to move us forward by four days where the internet said they had both flight availability and room availability. It was also cheaper that what we had paid originally.
They said they had NO rooms. (Hotel did, but they didn't and they didn't want to take on any more)
Anyway room has been found (flight fiasco has caused other people to cancel, freeing up rooms), but they now want to charge me £160 more
It not a lot of money - but I'm sure I shouldn't have to pay anything for what is the exactly the same holiday but moved by four days due to their problem with the flights.
If I ring and accept the rooms (flights and rooms currently being held for me) but tell them I am going to persue the extra charge would this be okay, that way at least I know we have a suitable holiday - or am I backing myself into a corner.
Travel agents are being as helpful as they can - but I'm wondering if my contract is actually with them and they should be covering the extra charge and claiming it back from Crystal?
Note: I'm one of the ones that travel a lot with crystal without any problems usually.
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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?
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Just had a call back fom the Travel Agents. Crystal won't budge so the travel agent (Thomson) are going to cover the cost. Round of applause to them for seeing sense.
So all is well in the world again (Just!)
Also had respose from Simon Cross (Wow that was quick and good service) saying he's forwarded the information I gave him onto the Customer Service Manager. No complaints with that!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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SnowboardVicky, nice result. Thomson and Crystal are both part of TUI, if you didn't know already.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Yes I did know that, but since they insist on seemingly keeping them separate, then we the public end up dealing with them separately.
I've sent an email to the Travel Agents thanking them on covering the cost - but I'm sure they would rather it came out of the Crystal budget rather than the Thomson shop budget. Must affect someones targets somewhere!
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A whole thread where you had a conversation with yourself and sorted out your own problem!!! must be a first for snowheads 
good that you got it sorted in the end though and here's to a a great holiday!
Was also going to say that Crystal and Thomson are part of the same group. Sounds more like the travel agent sales person you talked to didn't want to make the effort in the first place and looked for someone to blame.
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shoogly, Do you mean that Thomson should have agreed to cover the increase in cost straight away since Thomson and Crystal are part of the same group?
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SnowboardVicky, The increase in cost was going to be for you. It may have been a increase in income for Crystal .
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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.
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| Quote: |
A whole thread where you had a conversation with yourself and sorted out your own problem!!! must be a first for snowheads Laughing
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SnowboardVicky glad its sorted
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Crystal, have a history with me of accepting a booking and then letting me and my party down. Worst of all, they offered only sub-standard alternatives and wanted to charge us more for something we considered as an acceptable alternative. They blankly refused to budge an inch. Terribly poor customer service.
They have since got no further bookings from our group of 18-20 persons but I will waste no opportunity to be able to tell others about just how poor Crystal are. My advice to others is to avoid them like the plague.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Problem is they are almost always cheaper than the competition, so yet again I will travel with them at New Year. Most of the time things go ok. I wonder if people report more bad experiences with them here because the bulk of TO holidays are taken with them?
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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.
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To be fair, this is the only time I've had this type of problem with them and we use them a lot as they are the cheapest and simplest way of getting out to Jasper.
We have, on at least one occasion, had our hotel upgraded at their cost when there have been problems (once when a hotel in Livigno was shut down and the cost was probably quite significant to them). So I don't have any general complaints about them.
Did have two really useless reps one year though!
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Mr Marmot, in contrast, I had a problem with Crystal. Got in touch with Simon Cross. As with SnowboardVicky, he said he'd forward my observation to the customer services team. A few days later he contacted me, with a full explanation, and a very acceptable offer. So your experience and mine are starkly different. Of course, with a huge number of punters using Crystal each winter, there is bound to be extremes of good and bad - and maybe your experience and mine are at those extremes. Nevertheless, I may well use them again this season. My Wengen holiday was very good value for money, enjoyable, and supported by high-quality reps. I wouldn't avoid them like the plague. Each to his own. 
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You know it makes sense.
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achilles, I think having Simon Cross as a SH helps. Customer service was nil when we had a problem (despite the hol being worth over £11k). I have since spent my holiday £ elsewhere. Though slight confession - did use Thomson for our flights to Crete this half term as they were the cheapest All in all I reckon they've lost about £20k of my business though as I now book DIY. Silly silly First Choice/Crystal folks.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Just a slight update - It appears that my travel agent did lie slightly to me in telling me that they were covering the increased cost, when Simon Cross tells me infact it was shared equally between Crystal and Thomson Travel Agents. I shall hold that bit of information for future use!
So thank you again Simon Cross for gettng back to me - you obviously have some good customer service skills. You just need to teach them to some of the rest of your staff, so that when I book with you again (and I will) we don't have this problem again.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| SnowboardVicky wrote: |
| Just a slight update - It appears that my travel agent did lie slightly |
Thought as much!
nothing "slightly" about it. a lie is a lie.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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It's only right that those who think Crystal provide a better service than they gave me, take the effort to let people know.
But I can only tell of the experience we had. Despite Simon Cross hearing about our problem nothing changed, so our party all now avoid Crystal when booking their holidays. We all think that their customer services department and customer relations skills are abysmal and the company are not to be trusted.
I note the comments made that say Crystal are cheap. Maybe that is the problem. Everything is o.k. until there is a problem and they have no financial leeway to offer a solution that makes their customers happy.
I'd rather them try to be inexpensive rather than cheap. We avoid 'cheap' now because a 'cheap' product and a 'cheap' service is obviously all you get from a 'cheap' company!
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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?
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Can we finish this whinge now?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Nadenoodlee wrote: |
| Can we finish this wine now? |
Sure I can't tempt you to another bottle...?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Woops, seem to have staggered in here straight from Boris' bar..... 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Shimmy Alcott wrote: |
| Quote: |
A whole thread where you had a conversation with yourself and sorted out your own problem!!! must be a first for snowheads Laughing
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SnowboardVicky glad its sorted |
Does this set a precedent? Do you think airing things on SH like this would work for other things?
Like personal problems? "My girlfriend says that after we've..."
Or medical problems? "See, I've got this itch in the..."
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Or is Boris' bar the appropriate place for that?
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| Nadenoodlee wrote: |
| Can we finish this whinge now? |
No. I can keep it going until the cows come home. I promised Crystal I would let everyone know for ever more. And I will.
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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.
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Mr Marmot,
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I have no problems at all with Crystal and especially this year when my group of ski buddies had a few specific requests. Simon Cross responded promptly to my PMs and put me directly in touch with a member of his team who could help.
In fairness Crystal have our business anyway as they are the only TO out there that can cater to our needs, but in any case, they've certainly been helpful and having Simon Cross on here is invaluable.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Mr Marmot, Have you aired this problem with Crystal on this Forum? If so give us the link.
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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.
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| jzBun wrote: |
| Mr Marmot, Have you aired this problem with Crystal on this Forum? If so give us the link. |
jzbun, I believe that the thread containing my original gripe with Crystal was possibly the first time Simon Cross made an appearance on this forum. I think by the time he made himself known, my problem had already been poorly handled by Crystal staff and there was maybe very little he could then do without possibly undermining other employees. He certainly never came up with any sort of offer for us after his involvement. However, I have nothing against Mr Cross and actually I admire that he is prepared to come onto a forum as a representative of Crystal and even more that he has, evidently, assisted other SnowHeads with their Crystal problems. But it doesn't make my group any more enamoured of Crystal.
If you really are interested in reading the original thread (it goes to about 10 pages!) it can be found here;
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=66922
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You know it makes sense.
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Bergmeister, agreed, we only ever go for 7 nights, but it doesn't suit everyone.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Bergmeister,
With the original flight times we arrived in resort early evening, so allowing us to unpack have a meal and then ski the next morning.
With the new flight times we were not only going to lose a day by setting off back a day earlier than we had originally planned, but the outgoing flight time was much much later meaning instead of getting in the hotel early evening it would be the early hours of the following day. With the travel time etc , this would likely mean that we wouldn't ski at the very least that morning and possibly not at all. So we would lose 1.5 days skiing minimum. It was this rather than the numbers of nights that made it unpalatable.
I understand that's a choice that we made and others may have made a different choice - but I know of one other person that cancelled their holiday when this was the option.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Ah things are never simple. Got a call from the Travel Agents (again) this morning.
Flight cancellations bite again - this time with a positive outcome.
Air Transat have cancelled their midweek flight - rendering our holiday up in the air again.
BUT
Crystal/Thomson have booked us onto BA flights (including internal UK transfers) for no extra cost and included an extra night in resort at no extra cost.
Suits them - Suits us!
Well done to Crystal and Thomson for the first solution they offered being a good one.
Excellent service (please don't let me have spoke too soon)
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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?
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Over here in Ireland, Crystal (Ireland) are having a PR nightmare over an adert they put out last weekend selling a holiday in Andorra for about €60 pp. When the balance was asked for they were looking for about €900. The MD of the Irish operation has not been as decent as Simon Cross and has hidden himself (probably in the same bunker as Gadaffi!!) They were saying that it was an error on their behalf but have not manned up and honoured their commitment! I tend to agree with them on one score, it must be a major error, €900 for Andorra!!!! A bit saucy!
Off to family reunion in Germany for the weekend, maybe Crystal (Ireland) and their MD will be found in the near future and honour their mistake! I did not book a holiday and do not know anyone or have a connection with anyone that has booked the holiday!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Whilst in the case of SnowboardVicky, the travel agent was slightly to blame, it does in some cases highlight the value of the travel agent.
We booked a holiday with Inghams at the weekend using a First Choice travel agent (she diligently tried finding us an equally good deal using Crystal but was unable), we've used the travel agent and Crystal quite a few times and they usually do a good job in looking after us. As First Choice have no link in with Inghams the agent had to make an enquiry over the phone. According to the agent the Inghams call centre person was quite rude and miserable from the off!
Anyway, we went through everything we wanted, got the price and agreed to booking. As the First Choice agent was putting the costs on her system she noticed there was something wrong with the prices. On calling back to check the prices it seems that the Inghams call centre person had missed out a lift pass from the total cost, and admitted so. Upping the cost of the holiday by about £200 in the space of a few mins. We weren't 100% happy with this, so the First Choice agent asked Inghams if there was anything they could do and the call centre person said "yeah, I can cancel the holiday if they're not happy". The First Choice agent was furious!!
We didn't have to do anything more, the First Choice agent, her assistant manager and manager were then like a dog with a bone and wouldn't let it drop. They assured us that we would only have to pay the price that we'd been originally quoted, and they would fight it out with Inghams over the rest.
It really was quite impressive service.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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hammerite, It shows that Travel Agents do have their place.
Our travel agent, knowing us well, put off contacting us for 18hrs until they had the full information available.
I usually book summer holidays over the net, but they are about £300 as oppose to the £1000 for the ski holiday.
When things go wrong on the dearer holiday it's much easier (for me) to talk to a face and not a phone,
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| paulio wrote: |
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=66922&start=160#1597021
Hahaha.
Total posts: 38.
WINNER |
Hang on a minute. 38 is pretty significantly more than a handful at that point.
Meanwhile it seems Vicky's original issue has been sorted - that's why I'm on here, so, job done?
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It was actually sorted twice! My resurrecting the thread (which may have been my mistake), was to compliment Crystal on coming up with a solution (to airlines pulling out of their original slots) that was more than acceptable to me.
Can someone change the title to include the word 'solved' - as I don't think I can do that.
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SnowboardVicky, done for you. As OP you could have done it yourself, just go into your original post to edit it.
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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.
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Ah, so hat's how! - thanks - At least now I've learnt how to do something new today!
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FAQ
