Virgin Holidays- The Consumers Complaint List-In the Public Domain

On The 10th of july we set out from Heathrow Airport to travel to Ocho Rios Jamaica.
Our Tickets (Printed by Virgin)were with Air Jamaica and the destination airport printed on the ticket was Kingston via Montego bay.

We arrived at Kingston Airport only to find that only my wife's luggauge had arrived.
We sort help from the Air Jamaica Desk in the baggage hall only to be told that the other suit case was at Montego bay. Also that we should have got off the plane at Montego bay as virgin do not have a shuttle bus service from kingston to there resorts.

Stranded at kingston Airport we managed to get a taxi to our resort which was a journey through the capitol of kingston late at night which was a distress in itself as we feared for our lives due to the reputation of kingston.

When we arrived at the hotel our rooms were not ready and we did not get the champagne greeting as expected due to the time being around Eleven at night. The hotel gave us a temparary room for the first night and sorted the confusion the next day.

The following morning there was no rep in the hotel to greet us so we had to ask the hotel for his number.After tracking the rep down we were told he would come at 4:15pm that day. He did not show. A lady from virgin came and took the flight details along with a copy of the receipt for the taxi fare and said she would pass this information on to 'Norris' the rep. Norris arrived the next day with no appology or concern. He said he would look in to the ticket problem.

Later that day we realised that the return flight tickets were incorrectly printed aswell so we contacted Norris again who said he would check with the airport (Air Jamaica)but this would take a few days and that we would have to pay about $100 us dollars for each ticket home. We told him that we refused to pay this as it was clearly a virgin error as we had proof on our tickets. He said he would check it all out and get back to us.

To cut a very long story short after not meeting us after arranging times over the next week we could not enjoy our stay as we were both worried about getting home. Three days before we flew home he gave us a scrap of paper with a flight number and assured us the the airline would pay for the return flights and Air Jamaica would know all about the ticket problems when we gave them the flight reference number at the airport.

When we arrived at Montego bay airport the Air jamaica desk tried to charge us for the flights which norris said was sorted and that virgin would pay. After explaining everything again the lady at the Air Jamiaca desk let us fly home.

This was supposed to be our honeymoon dream holiday. Virgin have offered us the sum of £77 for the taxi fare and £200 worth of Virgin holiday vouchers. We are disgusted As this honeymoon cost £3600 and would like to know what we should expect to get after this nightmare honeymoon.

Please reply with your comments.

Dave & Sian (Just Married!)

Link to other Virgin Holiday complaints: Link1

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Editorial Comments

If you have any advice or tips for this couple please submit them here. Thank you. Meanwhile, a Right of Reply email has been sent to virgin.

We have had a less than perfect honeymoon though not half as bad as yours. The agent we used was Travelux. We paid through our nose in Greece, where things were cheap. Could not figure out how they charge so much. Moral; NEVER USE AN AGENT. buy your tickets yourselves. book hotels yourselves.
Norman Hui..3 September 2002
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Mr & Mrs Luker, I am sorry to hear of your experiences, expecially when the holiday concerned was your honeymoon. My self and my boyfriend recently returned from a Virgin holiday to Antigua which we were completely disatisfied with. We had no running wtaer for 4 of our 10 day holiday, no use of toilet and on the 5th day, due to poor and inadeqaute security, our apertment was broken in to and all of cash and many belongings stolen. We found the Virgin reps extremely negligent and we felt that we were completely unaided and had been "left to it" by ourselves. It was a horrible experience that we are still fighting to resolve now.

I have to say that persistence is the key. Initially Virgin offered us £200 worth of vouchers which we held on to but threatened court action (which at that point we were prepared to take) and we have recently been sent a further £350. This still leaves us down nearly £2000 but we will continue until we have sufficient funds to buy the holiday we feel deserve. Good luck in your pursuit for recompense of your ruined holiday, and be persistent! Best Regards
Abby & Mark .. 2 September 2003
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I BOOKED THROUGH VIRGIN HOLIDAYS AND I HAVE TOP SAY THAT IT WAS ABSOLUTLEY FANTASTIC! THE STAFF WERE SO HELPFUL AND FREINDLY. ME AND MY PARTNER BOOKED TO GO TO JAMAICA AND WE STAYED AT THE JAMAICA GRAND RENAISSANCE. THE SERVICE WAS SUPERB AND QUALITY OF THE ACCOMODATION SECOND TO NONE. THE FLIGHT WITH AIR JAMAICA WAS DIFFERENT BUT IT GAVE ALOT OF LEGROOM AND THE STAFF AND FOOD WERE GREAT.THE REPS WILLING TO LISTEN. I SAY THIS BECAUSE I HAVE BOOKED THROUGH OTHER COMAPNIES (KUONI/BA ETC) AND THE REPS/ SERVICE/ QUALITY WAS SO LOW AND WE HAD PAID THOUSANDS BOOKING WITH THEM. BUT ALL I CAN SAY IS THAT BOOKING WTH VIRGIN WAS WELL WORTH MY HARD EARNED CASH! STANLEY WATTS/SHARON ... 31 December 2003