cancelation/Direct Greece

[James]

Help
We have just received a letter from Direct Greece/Thomas Cook canceling our accommodation in Nitsa Apt on Halki for 2 weeks, they are offering us 2 weeks in Rhodes instead which we do not want.The only reason given is contractual problems with the owner. Has anybody else receive a letter , we heard rumors last year on Halki that Direct may be pulling out is this the starts.

[jennifer]

Oh ... how disappointing for you

I think the owner of Nitsa has being doing work on the appts over the past few years (including dividing the top appt into two separate ones). I know it's all been a bit hit and miss so I suspect it's something to do with that rather than DG pulling out completely but ... what do I know

[harry]

Not very good customer service just because they have a problem , it shows how much they know about the people who go to Halki, if they expect people to swap Halki for Rhodes. Large companies do not seem to care about the clients all they are interested in is taking the money and i suppose it is cheaper for them to send people to Rhodes rather than Halki, there could be a lot of disappointed people who have booked the same accommodation

[Lizzie]

Hello there, we only booked Villa Nitsa for a week in May about three weeks ago. We got our cancellation letter (second class) yesterday. I thought there was something going on just after we booked because all the weeks that Nitsa had been available suddenly went all at the same time.
We were offered a villa in Pefkos, Rhodes, which although it sounded very nice just wasn't Halki.
There were no other properties available on Halki for our particular week but fortunately we are quite flexible and have been able to book the Elena Studio for the following week. The lady on the other end of the phone was very helpful and we even managed to get the price down a little.
I was looking forward to staying in a waterfront property again... we stayed in Olga last year, which has also been dropped by DG.
But at least we will be visiting Halki again so I'm happy.
Hope you get something sorted, James.

[sunfun]

I must say,direct greece were excellent with us changing our accomodation from the kaity to the villa elena :DWe did have to change our dates,so maybe you could change you dates to get alternative accomodation James?I do hope so as i know how disappointed we would have been if there had been no alternative Best of luck to you,i hope you get it sorted

[harry]

I feel sorry for the people would cannot move their holiday dates, what about those who have booked for the school holidays if they can cancel peoples holidays at such short notice, what is stopping them canceling other Holidays if they have problems, it does not give you any faith in booking a holiday with them if they take a booking for May and then cancel some 3 weeks later by second class post:'(

[sunfun]

Harry,i agree with you it's a shame if people can't change their dates :(However,if there is no alternative accomodation on the island,there's really not much direct greece can do.We have travelled with them for years now and always had excellent service,thats why we keep going back. 8-)Maybe James can get a refund and try and travel independently,although i must say,we prefer the package as it's less stressful

[Liz]

Mar 28, 2009 17:14:04 GMT harry said:

Not very good customer service just because they have a problem

If the accomodation is pulled from them, then theres not much they can do!
we've travelled to varous parts of greece with Dg and they have always been excellent

To answer James' original post DG have certainly scaled down their operation in past years and I don't think the Thomas Cook influance has helped
Have a good look round at your options-you may be able to book elsewhere

[carol]

That is rotten luck James, why dont you try emailing or phoning Zifos travel, Jane the former DG rep now works for them and I know she will help you if at all possible, Nissia are also worth a try as are some of the independant owners whose email addresses are on this noticeboard, we are going to Villa Yorgos this year, that is a two bedroom property, it may be worth a look. You will surely get the money refunded from DG/TC they cannot expect Halki visitors to want to transfer to Rhodes, as was said earlier it just shows how much they know about Halki really !!!! Good luck and let us know how you get on. Can I also add however that we have up until the TC takeover always received first class service from DG and the majority of their customers will say the same thing, hopefully this is a one off problem with Nitsa that will be resolved fairly rapidly.

[Liz]

James ..when were you due to travel ??

Like Carol says try Nissia ..or maybe look at some of the independants -theres quite a few links on this board

[bennielechat]

A similar tale from me too.

We were really looking forward to a week in Nitsa villa but we have managed to swap for Elana for the following week in May.
Hello to everyone I'm not sure who I was on the old forum, I may been Slinky, nice to see some familiar names.

[carol]

Welcome to the board Bennielechat, pleased to hear you have got your accomodation changed, I am sure you will enjoy your holiday just as much but it is dissapointing when you cannot have the property you chose ;D

[bennielechat]

Thanks for the friendly welcome Carol.

We know exactly where Nitsa is located and have pinpointed it out from photos we've taken. Also read that the Greek president had stayed there so our expectations were high.

That said I do prefer the other side where Elana is and though not on the waterfront I'm sure we'll manage.

Must say we've always found DG/TC OK and someone else on here made the point that their cancellation letter was received 2nd Class as was ours and that doesn't reflect too well on the company but I'll let let them off that one faux pas.

But being a North of Watford Gap flatcapper we rely on DG for making Halki affordable it's not been easy the last couple of years and we had to miss our September visit last year.

Roll on May.

[Deleted]

I think you will find that Papoulis stayed in another property owned by the same family.

[Liz]

Welcome to the board bennielechat