Gold Medal Travel Group - www.goldmedal.co.uk

Horrific Experience - £2172 out of pocket - Do NOT use Gold Medal

- Booked with agent on 23/06 booking ref GW769DE, no confirmation recieved, agent chased on 24/06 to be told there was no booking (£4700 paid)

- Agent then re-booked booking ref Gp769FP 25/06 no confirmation recieved - still no confirmation recieved from agent at 27/06 AM. At this point I requested a change to my return flight (1 day earlier) and asked if that could be factored in as still no confirmation - so assuming not booked.

Recieved confirmation on 27/06 PM - 5 days after booking and paying £4700

- I was told it would cost £1500 to change as I hadn't requested in 72 hours from confirmation, yet I only recieved this after this request...this was later reduced to £500 airline fee + £100 Gold Medal fee - why am I paying a Gold Medal fee for your delay?

- As it transpires Gold Medal had changed their systems hence issues - no apology, explanation etc.

- On recieving confirmation 27/06 PM there was a basic pdf - no e-tickets etc. So I went direct to airline to check to ensure this was booked - which it was - however, I'd paid £1300 extra for premium economy seats, only to find out only 1/2 flights was premium economy. I challenged this also and was told there was nothing they could do - bearing in mind still no e-ticket recieved at this point.

- I asked to cancel, I was told no.

- I only booked this holiday with Gold Medal due to the premium economy seats (which arent premium economy for full flights) - I had originally been quoted £3200 by Love Holidays and I wish i'd gone with them/economy seats. Which would have saved me £1300 on seats & £600 on flight change fees....

- I raised complaint via agent who was told they are aware the seat class aren't showing on their itinerary doc but it shouldn't cause mistrust... I had 0 opportunity to see that, or decline it. I had to find out myself on Delta website - post paying £1300 extra!!

- On the complaint response they offered to wave £100 Gold Medal fee but not £500 airline fee.

- Agent called today to book the revised flight & pay £500 - but was told this is now £436pp. I'm absolutely beyond livid.

DO NOT BOOK YOUR HOLIDAY WITH THIS COMPANY. They are a total rip off, they over charge the price of the holiday sometimes as much as 3 times than if you book it direct and they do not deliver on the quality, facilities or star ratings they claim.

Booked in a travel agency near my home and the Tour Operator they recommended was Gold Medal. I'd never heard of them and some of the reviews were questionable but the holiday ran smoothly from start to finish and I've now booked a second holiday to Mauritius for Christmas.

We stayed at Constance Belle Mare Plage which was lovely and I'd highly recommend for a retired couple seeking somehwere in the North of the Island.

Price was a bit more expensive than online but the advice given was really valuable.

Extremely poor customer service & communication.

They will not let us change or amend anything on our holiday without charging us a hefty £250 admin fee!

We have been completely over charged for the room we have booked as part of a package (we thought we were getting something else) and they are refusing to do anything about it.

When I ask for the customer services complaints or a manager - they say ‘there isn’t one’.

Shame on you Gold medal - you should be wanting to keep your customers that are willing to book holidays in these uncertain time’s - not walk all over them & charge them the earth because of a miscommunication on your behalf

Use this operator at your own risk.

My son and his girlfriend booked a round trip to USA for October.

They paid over £1,400 deposit and are required to pay the balance in a weeks time.

UK residents are not allowed to fly to the USA at present but they are still insisting on full payment.

A refund or a credit for future use has been flatly refused and a demand for full payment or lose the deposit has been stated.

From my personal experience because of the Coronavirus, airlines and hotels are being extremely understanding and tearing up their normal Terms and Conditions to assist and crediting monies back to customers or issuing credit notes.

I suspect that this company is profiteering out of this unfortunate situation. It appears that this is they way they operate, I would not be surprised if the close up shop very soon.

I booked a holiday with Gold Medal through TUI and the holiday has been cancelled due to the COVID19 Virus and they won't give me my money back. They are insisting on a voucher that must include flights with the same company. Every alternative dates they give me for next year are more expensive than the original holiday and 2,500pounds more than I can price it on my own!

I wouldn't even give them 1 star! Shocking!!! My parents went to a travel agent locally to book their holiday to Nashville, during the process, the travel agent contacted Gold Medal for information concerning transport to and from the hotel and the hotel was booked on the basis of this information, the information given by Gold Medal was incorrect. This error led to my parents incurring additional costs during their holiday. A complaint has been raised with Gold Medal and they are refusing to provide ME with a detailed response, refusing to own up to their mistake or rectify it. I have explained that my parents are vulnerable customers and they JUST DON'T CARE!!!

So they can go about giving false information and there's no Ombudsman service in place to force them to investigate complaints properly, own up to their mistakes and rectify them and they therefore seem to to use this to just ignore issues and complaints. It's so irresponsible, customer service and basic morals is not at the heart of this company!

We booked through Thomas Cook in September 2019 to go to Heathrow from Manchester And paid in full When Thomas Cook ceased trading we rang customer service at British Airways They said we had paid in full and our seats were confirmed Today we received a letter from Goldmedal that we have to pay again We said we had paid in full and BA have confirmed our tickets We have sent copies of our Booking reference and card payment receipts as well by email and waiting for a reply Our flight is on 26th October return on 2nd November When we rang them they took 50 minutes to answer the call We are elderly and my wife is disabled We are very stressed to get a demand to pay again and so close to the day of travel

Booked this holiday through TUI everything went well good flights had a private transfer booked and where picked up by Dayu who went out of her way to make the holiday special!! She took us on a day trip that lasted 13 hours then had to go back to the office so very very good she has now become our friend ! We stayed in four points by Sheraton in seminyak and could not fault a thing !!! Would defo go back fantastic holiday

we booked with Thomas cook who booked through goldmedal via telephone we was there nearly three hours arranging this once in a lifetime trip to Australia the first week to visit relatives in Melbourne so was basic and everything was fine.

the next two weeks was a two weeks holiday in Queensland we wanted all inclusive but as there was no all inclusive in Queensland we went for bed and breakfast we said it had to have a very nice room this was important for us, when we arrived we had a very basic room and very small we had to move after three days at a cost of £540 Australian dollars it was not b n b we had to walk ten mins up the road for breakfast to a café which was a limited breakfast order which we had to give a pass for, we was led to believe there was an onsite restaurant THERE WAS NOT, we wss led to believe we was on the beach there was a busy main road in front of the hotel then a childrens park then the beach.

I complained whilst there and on arrival home Goldmedal offered us £140 compensation. I will never book with them again!!!!!!