Thomas Cook overcharges couple £600 for Greece holiday

A British couple has told how they paid £600 extra for a holiday bungalow in Greece - only to be put in a double room on arrival.

Ken Marlow, 68, and his wife Dorothy, 58, wanted to stay at the Belvedere Hotel in Skiathos, but were originally the told by Thomas Cook that all the rooms were booked.

The holiday company said they could pay £578.86 extra to stay in a bungalow on the property instead, so the couple agreed.

But on arrival, they were told there were no bungalows available, and were put in a double room in the hotel.

According to the Daily Mail, Ken said: "We were told that no bungalows were available and that we would have to stay in a double room.

"This, of course, was what we had wanted all along but a holiday that should have cost £1,118 cost me, somehow, £1,696.86, meaning I was overcharged by £578.86.

"It seems Thomas Cook and the Belvedere were not using the same data and, therefore, there was wrong information in the brochure."

When Ken contacted Thomas Cook customer services, the company initially said the brochure was "confusing" and offered him £260 in vouchers or £209 in cash.

Ken said there was no confusion on his part, and contacted his local paper, the Chronicle Live, who then also raised the issue with Thomas Cook.

And Ken is now delighted that the company has agreed to pay the full amount, in fact, rounding up the settlement to £700.

A spokesman for Thomas Cook told the paper: "At Thomas Cook we pride ourselves on offering the best value holidays in the market. We would like to express our apologies to Mr Marlow for the inconvenience of additional charges incurred while on holiday.

"These were due to a pricing discrepancy caused by a technical fault at the time of booking.

"Thomas Cook would like to reassure customers that such pricing errors are rare and a full investigation has been carried out to ensure that there are no further issues of this nature.

"We can confirm that Mr Marlow has now accepted a full refund for the extra costs and has stated that he is looking forward to booking his next holiday with Thomas Cook."

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