Tradewinds Travel

Tried to point out something to this company on Twitter. tHEY WEREN'T HAPPY. They swore at me and then blocked me. Not the best way to treat a prospective customer. I will never use these company. I recommend avoiding them like the plague.

Tried booking a trip to Jamaica through these folks and they were 30% higher than THE NEXT most expensive company. Don't waste your time with these people.

Spent over an hour waiting for our transfer Minivan When it eventually arrived it was clearly not fit for purpose as 2 other couples had joined us it was far too small.

There was no space for our luggage apart from the three rows of seats which WE passengers had to load with the driver

attempting to secure it from his drivers seat !!!

Us 6 passengers with our hand luggage were left to sit in a couped up space for a 40 minute journey.

All this after a 16 hour flight?

NOT ACCEPTABLE .

I'm a big fan of Singapore airline, but the agency they are using is not professional. I had one of the worst experience with the agency and the sub contractors.

1. It is not easy to get a hold of the representative.

2. I tried to contact them via manage my booking online, no one responded.

3. They are not accommodating

4. The service was unacceptable.

I couldn't book my package I wanted online and the agency never returned my call. I paid for the airport transfer, but ended up taking taxi with my

I'm a big fan of Singapore airline, but the agency they are using is not professional. I had one of the worst experience with the agency and the sub contractors.

1. It is not easy to get a hold of the representative.

2. I tried to contact them via manage my booking online, no one responded.

3. They are not accommodating

4. The service was unacceptable.

I couldn't book my package I wanted online and the agency never returned my call. I paid for the airport transfer, but ended up taking taxi with my

My wife and I originally booked a Tour of Vietnam followed by a beach stay in Malaysia, requesting an additional night allowing a visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels. This created an issue which failed to be resolved. I then received a letter informing me of building works in the adjacent hotel which may "cause some noise". Ringing Tradewinds I asked why I had not been informed about this work when booking only weeks previously. They could not answer the question but suggested I upgrade hotels at a cost of £250 plus a £25 pp admin charge. I said I would think it over. Eagerly they rang back three times over a couple of weeks. Each time I asked for more information about the tunnels, each time they said they would come back to me, each time they didn't. Eventually I booked elsewhere converting this booking to a week in Egypt. It was my wife's birthday and a special treat for her I needed to book the balloon flight. I found Tradewinds were unhelpful from the start and were unable to help. I contacted the hotel, The Steigenberger Nile Palace who were superb and made every possible effort to help. On arrival at Luxor Airport there was no greeter bearing my name or a Tradewinds board. I went from Tour rep to tour rep with no one able to help, including Thomas Cook rep. Eventually I was rescued and pointed us in the right direction to a Thomas Cook rep. Why didn't Tradewinds advise us to seek out the Thomas Cook rep??

Thereafter the hotels, its staff, the Thomas Cook reps in Luxor and Cairo were excellent throughout.

Nov 2007 we toured Costa Rica. A wonderful holiday spoilt by Tradewinds(Thomas Cook) not honouring their contract.

We had to pay for 2 evening meals which were supposed to be included. Our 5 day beach holiday hotel, particularly requested 3 months previously, was changed as we traveled there. No explanation has been received. This hotel insisted on taking £1000 from our credit card to pay for the stay as Tradewinds had not. This was repaid a few days later, but gave us a few sleepless nights! Our final night we had a voucher saying that bed and breakfast had been paid by the company. Apparently not. The hotel refused to honour the voucher and we paid an extra £100+.

Almost 4 months later we have received no satisfaction from Thomas Cook Group. They are using every delaying tactic possible e.g. did not receive the first complaint, the second letter took almost 3 weeks to be received, they are allowed ( by ABTA) 28 days to investigate and another 28 days if they need extra time.

I am told ABTA is of little help in solving such problems, so I am writing to the director.

Would think twice about booking with Tradewinds.

On the 30th January 2006 I booked a holiday for six adults as follows:

18th August 2006 at 20:00 fly from Manchester to Kuala Lumpar with air Malaysia.

Spend 3 nights in Kuala Lumpar and fly to Penang. Spend 9 nights in Penang and return to Manchester via Kuala Lumpar (transfers and hotels included).

Total cost - £6144 Plus £170 (approx for insurance)

The final payment was made on 26th May 2006.

The holiday was booked with Tradewinds through Going Places in the Trafford Centre.

At this time a friend of mine commented that he thought that Malaysian airways was no longer flying from Manchester.

29th May I phoned Going Places who checked with Tradewinds, and I was assured that my flight was a direct flight from Manchester, and they stated that Tradewinds were sending a new invoice confirming this.

I subsequently checked on the Internet and was unable to find a flight from Manchester.

On 30th May I phoned Malaysian Airlines who advised me that all flights from Manchester were cancelled from the 30th April. Tradewinds were notified on 25th March.

Tradewinds had booked us on a flight from London to Manchester for the return, but had made no bookings outbound.

Tonight, 5th June at 18:10, I received a call from Going places saying Tradewinds had called with the following information:

Malaysian airlines had cancelled the flight. For my family to travel I would have pay an additional £200 per person.

She stated she had been on the phone all day trying to get them to reduce this fee. She also stated that the only flight back from London would mean a 10 hour wait at London.

I said that I was not paying any additional monies, and that I expected Tradewinds/Malaysian airlines to honor the contract they had entered into, and that if a cancellation was the only option, they must pay out of pocket expenses and compensation, given that this holiday involved 4 people arranging their holidays at the same tine (this may not sound difficult, but I can assure you it is), and with the restrictions imposed by a school and a sixth form college.

My boyfriend and I chose to book our trip to the Maldives with Tradewinds. From the time of booking they gave us inaccurate information, and they had no idea about anything to do with flights or the resort. All very worrying to find out once you have agreed to shell out 3K. We would never ever use Tradewinds again, and I advise anyone looking to book a long haul trip to book with a more professional, knowledgeable outfit.