We returned from Tenerife on 06/07/10 from a one week all inclusive package holiday. We had booked return flight extra leg room seats for £72 but were unable to have them due to the plane being a different design. I telephoned Thomas Cook the next day to enquire about a refund and duly sent copies of holiday booking, seat booking and boarding cards with seat numbers the next day. Seven weeks later I am still waiting for the refund! When I phone it can take up to 30 mins for the call to be answered, and up to a week for an e-mail to be answered. If my customer service was this poor where I work I would be out of a job!

Four of us booked a 2 week 4* holiday in Cyprus 12 months prior to departure. Thomas Cook in their wisdom and effort to make as much money as possible transferred us from the pre-arranged Thomas Cook flight to Air Malta (Excel) flights. Excel going under the week before we went away didn't concern us unduly mainly because we had booked with TC and assumed (wrongly) that the assurances given in the press were correct in that 'bookings made through reputable travel firms would be unaffected'. From the time we arrived at Birmingham airport for departure to the time we were returned to England via Gatwick, our holiday was filled with stress after stress. Complaints to TC resulted in eventually an offer of the taxi fare from Gatwick which hardly compensates us for our other expenses and the ruined holiday we had saved up so long for, Throughout and since we have been consistantly told everything was our fault because it was Excel flights but we didn't book with Excel, Air Malta or anyone else, we booked and made a contract with Thomas Cook and it was Thomas Cook who let us down, not the other way round. Customer Service is obviously a misnomer as far as Thomas Cook are concerned and maybe it was our own fault to think that we should be treated with a modicum of respect and not the supercilious and condescending total disregard we were met with at every turn.

I would NEVER EVER use Thomas Cook again and I would most certainly discourage anyone else from using them either!