Je leert een bedrijf pas echt kennen als er problemen zijn. Inzake een totaal verkeerde keuze van een bepaalde locatie ben ik als klant in de afhandeling zeer slecht behandeld. Een financiële tegemoetkoming laten afhangen van datgene wat TravelEssence terugontvangt, betekent feitelijk van jullie probleem mijn probleem maken. Een klantgerichte organisatie had dit direct met mij adequaat op orde gemaakt in afwachting van de vergoeding die jullie zelf zouden ontvangen. Uiteraard heeft de afwikkeling ook nog zeer lang geduurd en moest ik hier regelmatig zelf voor in de lucht komen. Daarnaast is er onvoldoende rekening gehouden met het feit dat wij met twee kleine kinderen reisden. Bovendien is het feit dat de reis in laat stadium omgegooid is (met verzwaard reisschema) zodat wij een (door een collega van mij aanbevolen) dag met Honé konden doorbrengen uiteindelijk onnodig geweest omdat Honé niet beschikbaar bleek (was namelijk toch in Utrecht op de vakantiebeurs). Ik heb hier geen gewag van gemaakt, maar dit is uiteraard ook een gotspe.
Ik kan aangeven dat mijn Net Promotor Score terecht een lage is.
Reactie TravelEssence:
Dear Mr Hol,
I have seen your feedback and based on this have taken a close look at the history of your trip and the communication between you and Michiel.
Firstly I absolutely agree that Camelot Cottage wasnt a very flash accommodation. We had never used it before but, having looked long and wide for alternatives, this was the only thing we could come up with for when you were travelling for around the budget available. I note that Renske had sent you a link to the property when she confirmed your trip and when I read their website and look at the images, they certainly dont position the cottage as a luxury or deluxe accommodation, they mention that the cottage doesnt have a sea location and they are clear on things like kayak use etc. I see they promote a double bed, which in NZ format is 140cm x 190/200 cm. Indeed not large, but a standard double nonetheless. It is also priced as a fairly basic property. Thus in that regard, it was as it is promoted. Of course we dont accept that it wasnt clean which is why we went after a refund, which they gave one night for and we refunded an extra night. I can understand that you didnt like the place, however ultimately you were refunded for 2 of your 3 nights there, and I believe that to be fair compensation for the fact it wasnt perfectly clean. We had the refund arranged and ready to pay at a fairly early stage but I understand there was an ongoing discussion as you wanted the whole thing refunded. Had you mentioned to us in advance that you didnt like the look of it then we could have looked at how to solve that property in another way. As it was we understood that you accepted it was fairly basic.
I note also that you werent happy with the room configuration in Wellington as you had no sperate room for the children. I have spoken with Michiel about this and whilst the 2 bedroom option was offered at the Museum Hotel, the one room at Grand Chancellor was booked due to your desire to keep the trip inside a certain budget.
With regards starting in the north and then flying south. In the time of the year that you travelled, this is the perfect way to do it- visit the north before the Christmas rush (1.5 million Aucklanders head 3 hours from the city) and be in the south where it is less busy after Christmas. Perfectly sensible, good advice. Further, I understand from Michiel that a friend of yours had said that they wished they had done Hone at the start, thus this also played a role in the way this was put together. Hone was in Northland when you were there but we had tour groups and was thus unavailble for a private booking. Vakantiebeurs in only in mid January.
With regards the delay at Europcar for the car seats- we have had ongoing discussions with Europcar with regards their child seats and the quality thereof. They have added 50 new seats in the past year because their seats they had were not of the quality expected. That doesnt change the delay you had, but it is a quality and availability issue that should be solved for this season.
Now maybe there is more to this than I have read that would warrant the feedback you have given. And if so then I would be very keen to read it. As you can see most people are very happy with us, so its certainly important to understand the details of anyone who isnt happy. If however I have all the details right then I would ask that you review your review as I dont believe the facts above warrant the review you have written.
Kind regards,
Andrew Morten
Managing Director
TravelEssence