Major disappointment Blog #4

-
A slight deviation from my usual theme, but I really must get this travel-related incident off my chest.

Back in August 2022 my wife and I booked a 16-day Grand Tour of Japan with Great Rail Journeys (GRJ), which was to happen in April 2023. It was to be a 'special' holiday to celebrate our individual big birthdays and a special wedding anniversary. We have flown longhaul many times and so we booked upgraded seats (World Traveller) on British Airways. We are 'Gold Customers' with GRJ, having taken many holidays with this company. 

The whole trip was a considerable amount of money, so from August onwards we made monthly payments, making the final payment before the deadline in January 2023.

So far, so good. I booked a hotel near our departure airport, and we both started to research all things Japanese, the culture and the customs. We were really looking forward to our 'trip of a lifetime'.

In December 2022 we were contacted by GRJ asking if we'd swap our departure date to a week later. According to GRJ there was a party of eight who wanted to swap dates. With hindsight GRJ's reason and explanation for their request for us to move dates didn't ring true. They had offered us £600 in vouchers if we did move because the later holiday was that much more expensive. Anyhow, after some thought we told GRJ that we wouldn't move, but they still said they'd send us the vouchers. As at 2 January 2023 we have not received the vouchers. 

Then today the whole trip fell apart. We logged on to our GRJ account to make the final payment, only to find that the balance owing was a few thousand pounds less than we were expecting. Light bulb moment: the difference was exactly the price of our upgraded seats. A call to GRJ confirmed our suspicion: we had been bumped back into Economy and GRJ hadn't or weren't going to tell us.

The upshot is that our trip has been cancelled and we await the full cash refund. I am not a lawyer, but I am pretty certain that GRJ broke their side of the contract we had with them. My wife and I will be pressing for compensation for disappointment and upset.

Our trust in GRJ has been shattered. We will look at using other travel companies in future.

Please feel free to comment. 

Cheers 

Mike.
©Mike Young 2023.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Snapseed vs Lightroom Mobile: which photo editing app reigns supreme?

-
Welcome to my latest blog, which this week takes a close look at the Snapseed and Lightroom Mobile photo editing apps. I have been a fan and a user of Snapseed for many years; I was also aware of Adobe's Lightroom Mobile app, in fact of the whole Adobe photography ecosystem, and had dabbled with their mobile version over the years, but had always returned to Snapseed. I decided to take a deeper dive into these two apps and see what each of them has to offer and what makes me stick with Snapseed. In the age of smartphone photography, snapping a stunning shot is sometimes only half the story, the real magic often happens in the edit. Whether you’re polishing up your travel photos for Instagram or fine-tuning portraits for a professional portfolio, having the right mobile editing app can make all the difference. Among the crowd of editing tools, Snapseed and Lightroom Mobile stand out as two of the most powerful and popular options. But which one truly deserves a spot on your home scr...
Read more

7 days in Puglia: exploring Italy's hidden gem

-
Image
Welcome to my latest blog in which I hope to give you a taste of Puglia in Italy, from where my wife and I have recently returned. We had booked an all inclusive guided tour holiday with Great Rail Journeys, a company we have previously used. We have reached the stage of our lives where we sometimes, but not always, like others to do the organising for us. This was our first trip to this part of Italy. Puglia lies in the heel of Italy and is traditionally the poorer part of the country, which meant that for decades it has avoided over-tourism. It is therefore unspoiled, but is slowly being discovered by celebrities. We don't count ourselves as being in that category! We took an early morning flight from Gatwick with easyJet; in just less than three-hours we were in Bari, stepping out of the plane into 25c of late September Italian sunshine. Our coach journey to our hotel, the Porto Giardino, in Capitol, near Monopoli on the Adriatic coast, was an hour. I must be honest and say that...
Read more

Jet Lendon, Jo Bradford, and smartphone photography

-
Welcome to my latest blog, which is a gentle read about two smartphone photographers who, if you're into smartphone photography, you should check out.  I love my Google Pixel 8 Pro smartphone camera, but despite thinking I know its every function, I still read and watch anything I can get my hands on that has to do with smartphone photography. I recently watched a Zoom talk by Jet Lendon, a professional photographer who, like millions of others, only uses her smartphone to take her photos. The host for this talk was MyPhotoClub, and the title of Jet's talk was '"Just" a smartphone camera? Think again.' By the way, you should visit Jet's website to see the full range of smartphone photography courses and services she offers. https://www.jetblacksquares.com/ Back to her Zoom talk: after briefly introducing herself, Jet then gave the audience a quick spin through setting up your smartphone camera. Going through your camera settings can seem tedious, but if yo...
Read more