Muddy Lees
1/5
We went to Flight Centre, expecting professionalism and a hassle free holiday. We got neither. Despite basic requests at the time booking there were a number of errors and items left off the itinerary and then a lack of any kind of assistance when this was brought up. This included;
Being booked into the hotel the day before we flew into the country, which we were billed for. When we contacted the assistance line I was informed that despite them also noting the obvious error, that they could not reimburse us and we would have to lodged a dispute with the local store. It was eventually re-credited to our account.
We requested adjoining/side by side rooms as we had young kids with us and there was no record made of this request. As a result, the hotel had us on separate floors and as they were booked solid, couldn't change the rooms. We were not the only family who booked through Flight Centre (different franchise) who this happened to. When this was raised, we effectively got a shrug of the shoulders from the TA and no offer to try and fix it.
Despite specifically requesting a breakfast package be included which would have reduced the costs (which we do every time it is available) it was not included or noted. The TA replied it was not available, despite three other families booking through Flight Centre, another family booking independently and it being available on the hotels website. When we highlighted this, the TA stated we had never requested it at booking, a blatant lie. Again, we asked for it to be included for the rest of the trip and it all seemed too hard for the TA and was never done.
After hitting walls in the emails from the TA we requested the direct email of the franchise owner and this was ignored with no further response.
Another family who also attended with us paid for transfers via Flight Centre (another franchise) was almost left stranded on departure when their transport never arrived. Thankfully, the local driver was a legend and after tracking down their details and that they had paid, he shoe horned us all into his van and got us to the airport.
You would think that recording this information and basic requests at the time of booking would be simple enough. Instead, on the first holiday my family has gone on in a decade we got mistakes, lies and then brushed off once the franchise had locked us into the booking. I would STRONGLY recommend avoiding Flight Centre Lavington and head to another franchise who employs competent staff…or just avoid Flight Centre all together and do it yourself. It is how I will be doing it after this abysmal experience.
