Thomas Cook India Complaints & Reviews

My parents had booked Asia tour many months back after I insisted they need to travel the world. I advised them to use Thomas Cook as I felt it was well reputed and when I was c=visiting Europe I saw few people travelling with them. Thomas Cook (TC) very well knew that this trip is going to include 3 countries. We were asked on September 8, 2022 to submit all the documents by Sept 13, 2022. We have submitted all the document to Mr. Emanuel at the Hyderabad office by the said date. There was no delay on our end.

All through the process, my father had been asking and communicating about the itinerary but no one replied back to him. A very poor customer service from the Indian organization of the prestigious TC. Then about few days before the actual trip on Oct 13, 2022. my father insisted that he needs to know what is happening, he was told that they cannot issue or give any itinerary because he has to pay the remaining balance- which was due as there was a change in the value to the INR from the time they booked the tour and if not they were not going to issue the tickets.

Paying money was never an issue, but what really bothered my parents was that they were told that what rate was agreed to in the past, that rate had changed due to change in the value of the INR- understandable. They paid the difference of about 9000 INR. They were finally sent the itinerary for the trip 1 day before the departure on 12 October 2022 and were told that the visa to Malaysia was rejected. They were given 2 options- travel to Malaysia- stay in the airport and then travel onwards and complete the tour-staying in Malaysia in the airport or book a flight to Singapore at their own expense and then complete the rest of the leg of the tour. Mind you, this is 1 day before the actual travel date.

They could not understand what was happening and ultimately got fed up and helpless talking to Mr. Nadim at the Mumbai office. They had called him but he stopped answering their calls. I had to intervene and call the Mumbai office to help them figure this whole fiasco.

When I spoke to Mr. Nadim, he mentioned the same thing and told me that the only options left were for us to cancel the trip and that we would be charged the cancellation fees or to book our tickets on own to Singapore and continue the journey from there, skipping Malaysia, if we prefer.

What is really surprising is the way they told me this, very non-chalant and not a bit of sympathy or remorse for the mistake that was committed. I should really admire the manager-mentor/supervisor on how they have trained him. Kudos to them.

When I asked that how TC could book the tickets just few days before the trip inspite of the knowledge that the Malaysian visa was rejected, Nadim told me that they always to do it this way and advised me to refer to their terms and conditions.

Great planning by TC. I can only admire and be content about their planning skills from a great travel organization. I hope the training/planning team all the best with their policy. If your policy is to book tickets without visa and if the visa is not issued, there is nothing much you can do, I can only admire your boldness in telling me the same without any repentance. They also asked me to look at their terms and conditions as I was ignorant of their policies. Wow- great customer service.

I serve in the US Army and when I was deployed, I used to comfort my parents everyday and one of the days when I was talking to them, I had asked them to get of India and roam the world. They told me that they would not like to go anywhere as they don't know how and where to go. I took a lot of time looking for various options and told/insisted that they should go with Thomas Cook.

When I visited Europe with my wife in 2017, I saw a lot of Thomas Cook buses and felt that the passengers were all Indian senior citizens and felt that they were well taken care. I, based on that stupid excuse/experience, insisted that they have to go through Thomas Cook. I looked up the number for the Hyderabad office and got them in touch with an agent who spoke to them and convinced them that this is going to be an awesome trip. I was excited that they chose Thomas Cook and they were excited to go on this trip.

What really bothers me is the kind of deceitful practice that the Indian part of Thomas Cook has done in this whole scenario. They have not only wasted the precious time of my parents but also hurt us emotionally and mentally. This will affect them for a long time.

TC clearly mentioned that the Malaysian site is down for 1 week, why did none of the so called travel agents from TC organization inform us that the site is down?
Why were my parents not informed about the issue with the Malaysian visa?
TC issued them tickets to Malaysia and sent these tickets 1 day before their departure date and did not even inform that the Malaysian visa was not issued. They came to know about this when they called the Hyderabad Office and then called the Mumbai office to find out what should they do next as they do not have the Malaysian visa.

Why were my parents not given details about the itinerary despite their repeated requests?
Why did TC issue a ticket and send the itinerary 1 day before departure inspite knowing that malaysian visa was not granted, when your travel agency well knows that it is impossible to get the malaysian visa.

Why did you force them to pay the remaining balance and insist that they have to pay additional money for insurance.

After all this, TC did not give us any options-they asked us to cancel the trip with the due charges that will be deducted and they said they will refund the remaining amount. We had made all the arrangements to travel. TC has not only wasted our valuable time but also did not keep us informed about what was happening.

I understand that travel and the whole planning process is very intricate and tedious but that is what Thomas Cook is good at, but they have totally screwed this trip.

If TC would have informed us that they still did not receive the Malaysian visa, we would have asked that the trip be postponed but they have not given us any information. There is lack of transparency and there was so much pressure from TC to pay that now it feels that the sole purpose of Thomas Cook in India is to deceive people of their hard earned money. Once TC got the money, they make their own rules about how to deduct charges and fees- very unethical, unprofessional and unlike the ideals of the organization.

Thomas Cook kept us in darkness about every process and also tried to just scam us into cancelling the trip so that they can charge the cancellation fees.

Forcing us to travel on our own to Singapore on our own cost and not do the Malaysian leg at all. Thomas cook has become so incompetent and money mongering- I have always felt that Thomas Cook has good ethics and I had informed my parents to only go through Thomas Cook for your reputation, but seems like Thomas Cook has hired incompetent people who don't know what they are doing and I will inform all my friends the scary tactics and manipulative techniques used by you guys to force senior citizens into spending their hard earned money on an organization that has moved away from serving travelers to just thinking of their own profits.

Naranath Chintala
Son of Vallabhendra Reddy Chintala Vallabhendra and Shobhana Devi Chintala
+[protected]

Due to covid restrictions, we were not able to schedule a US visa slot H1B in India for my brother. However, I paid the entire amount of Embassy Charges-14, 400, Service Charges- 2000, GST- 360 Total= 16, 800.

I have been following up with Omkar Joshi, Business Travel Specialist (Visa) ([protected], [protected]) to refund at least the embassy amount.
No reply till now for more than a year.

I am expecting a refund of 14, 400 which was not paid to the embassy due to the COVID lockdown and restrictions.

Request with ref no. FX00403217 for My transaction to buy Forex currency was canceled but no refund has been initiated. Why so much delay. I am paying interest on the money INR 92331/- The concerned person is not responding even after multiple emails done after the stipulated time of 7 working days.

Hello,

My name is Narayan and I had availed the services of Thomas Cook for an Europe trip in the month of August. There were two additional tours, which were charged extra apart from the tour cost and I decided to take both of them. All the payments were made before our departure.

However, once we were in Europe, we were told that one of the additional tours is not operational anymore. And Thomas Cook was already aware of that. I sent them a mail on August 30th, during the trip, stating that this additional tour is not operational but didn't hear from them.

When I returned on 12th September, I followed up with them and was told that the refund had been initiated and it will be completed in 9-10 working days. It's been almost 3 weeks now and I am yet to hear from them.

Kindly help me in this regard.

Regards,
Narayan

Hi this is Hari Prasad from Bangalore, i have contacted Thomos cook team Vishaka and Musthafa for Singapore trip on 25July22 and made advance amount of rs.10, 000 on 29July22. After payment done the next day told that vissa is not able to get for the trip date, so Vishaka told to cancel the trip and same advance amount will refund within 7 to 8 working days. After 8 days daily i am contacting and sending mails to refund still i haven't received amount. Kindly check and resolve the issue and keep company ratings high.
Adhoc reference I'd AD00177497.

Hi this is Hari Prasad from Bangalore, i have contacted Thomos cook team Vishaka and Musthafa for Singapore trip on 25July22 and made advance amount of rs.10, 000 on 29July22. After payment done the next day told that vissa is not able to do for the trip date so told to cancel the trip and same advance amount they told that to refund within 7 to 8 working days. After 8 days daily i am contacting and sending mails to refund still i haven't received amount. Kindly check and resolve the issue and keep company ratings high.
Adhoc reference I'd AD00177497.

We have booked a Europe tour, after consulting with Thomas Cook's sales rep. Until the initial payment was done, there was lots of follow-up and support. This led us to believe that Thomas Cook actually cared about its customers. Such was not the case later. At the time of booking, we clarified that if in case there were VISA delays, Thomas Cook would reschedule flights as necessary. They urged us not to worry, and that the package accounted for change of plans. Ultimately, our VISA was delayed, but not so much as to change our package date. They still applied extra charges to our account, stating different reasons. One of them said it was due to VISA delays, the other said it was due to not making the full payment on time. There were issues with their payment link, which we raised early on, but it was ignored. Every question that we had about these charges, or the process in general, was met with a vague response, as no one was able to provide a definite answer. We are trapped now, after losing so much money, but i would urge you to either go on your own, or with another travel agency.

Hello mam

My name is mukul and i wanted 1000 euros and i paid for it but due to using paytm bank the transaction was invalidated.
And i was promised a refund within 48 hours and i even got a mail for it.
But now i have been following up but it is getting delayed and i dont even have a refund reference number or any other official details for it.
They just keep on saying that we'll send it in noon and then again said we'll send it before 8 pm but nothing is happening

83000 rs is big amount for me
Please help i am begging you.

I took an education loan for my higher studies and i have very limited funds to take with me and those 83 thousand i paid was from those funds only.

Please try to understand my situation
And help me out, i can not wait more.

Hope you understand.

Thanks and regards.

Today I booked a ticket from your site and my money is already debited but ticket is not confirmed yet booking number is FB00083670.
Please confirm the ticket
I'm eagerly waiting for your response
Thank you

I have booked a holiday package from Thomas cook India.I have not received my refund amount from Thomas cook India yet.
CFT - 2202991 is my file number
Contact number - [protected] for more detail

THE FOLLOWING THREE EMAILS ARE SELF EXPLANATORY. PLEASE GO THROUGH THEM AND RESPLVE THE ISSUES WITHIN A RESAONABLE TIME OF 48 HOURS OPTHERWISE I MAY BE FORCED TO FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE STATUTORY BODY:
From: Rajvir Bhalwar
Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2022, 09:30
Subject: Re: Grievance from a customer
To: Nagar, Ekta, Banerjee, Sanjukta/EBIZ/TCIL, Syed, Sarmad/EBIZ/TCIL

Dear Thomas Cook Team,
1. I am Retired Air Vice Marshal Dr. Rajvir Bhalwar.
2. I have paid Rs 4.13 Lakh for 2 Air tickets for Sydney tour starting 23 Sept till 03 Oct. In addition Rs. 30K have also been paid as advance.
3. My a d my wife's VISA has been received.
3. Please resolve my following queries at the earliest:
A. How will I get the Air tickets. Whether you will send them to me by email / post / courier or I have to collect them and from whom and where?
B. Will there be some guide or representative ftom Thomas Cook at Mumbai Airport on the date of departure to help us out in the process of emigration and boarding? If yes, his / her details please?
C. What currency should I carry - American or Australian Dollars or both? What is the allowable limit per person?
D. The balance to be paid by me is Rs. 2.40 Lakh (Total cost Rs 6.83 Lac minus Rs 4.43 Lac already paid). When and in what modality are they to be paid.
E. Any other action to be taken by me or any other document to be procured for the tour?
F. List of DOs and DONTs for the holiday trip to Australia.
G. Please send me by email an itinerary of my holiday trip.
3. I also wish to put up for your information, the lack of interest and casual attitude at work demonstrated by one of your team members, Ms. Karishma. She needs to improve upon her work ethos.
Sincerely,
Dr. Rajvir Bhalwar


Banerjee, Sanjukta/EBIZ/TCIL
Aug 8, 2022, 2:18 PM (19 hours ago)

to Sarmad/EBIZ/TCIL, Thomascook_Intl_Sd, me, Ekta


Dear Rajvir Sir,

Greetings from Thomas Cook !

Be assured, Your all queries will be handled and answered properly by Suvarna .

Thanks
Sanjukta

PRINCIPAL RMC
9:59 AM (2 minutes ago)

to Sanjukta/EBIZ/TCIL, Ekta, Sarmad/EBIZ/TCIL, Thomascook_Intl_Sd


Dear Madam,
1. When will my queries be addressed?
2. By the way, who is "Suvarna". I do not even have his / her email or mobile number.
3. By the way I have started having serious suspicions about this whole affair and may be forced to approach a law enforcing agency if you do not send me the clarifications within next 24 hours..
4. Also, please send me the Air tickets costing 4.13 laks (for which I have already paid, both by email and the hard copy by a registered courier.
5. Please take immediate action so that I don't start getting doubts about your integrity.
Sincerely,


Air Vice Marshal (Retd) Dr. Rajvir Bhalwar
M.B.B.S (Lko), M.D (Public Hlth / Prev. Med) (Pune), Ph.D (Public Hlth / Prev. Med) (Pune), F.A.M.S., FIPHA
Post-Doctoral Training (Clinical Epidemiology)(INCLEN)
P.G Dip.Hosp.Mgmt(Del), P.G. Dip (Med Laws) (NLSUI B'lore)
Dean, Rural Medical College
Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences (Deemed University)
Loni - Bk, Near Shirdi, Tal. Rahata,
Dist. Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, PIN - 413736

Sir
My tour ID is CFT2201666. Booked a chardham tour for the period 11 days from 23rd June 22 to 03rd July 22. Due to bad weather the helicopter service couldn't used. The refund is pending with Thomas cook. The indigo flight from delhi to vadodara dated 03 july 22 was cancelled due to operational reasons. The amount of Rs 8550/- was approved by airliner.
Please do needful actions
Vangala Ramana Murthy
[protected]

27, 000 Rs charged by Thomas Cook because of Hefty usurious unethical inactive fees charged.
Bought a forex card - had some unused balance. did not use due to covid. and these fees are not disclosed at the time of taking the card.
STAY AWAY FROM THOMAS COOK THIEFS.
STAY AWAY FROM THOMAS COOK.

I had booked a trip from thomas cook india from india to dubai. There are some amount that was pending from thomas cook. I am calling them from last 3 months and they are just not doing anything. They are not processing my money back to my account. Please let me know if you required more information

I have booked a trip with Thomas cook on 10th of April to USA. for which I paid the booking amount of rs 30000 I was promised and given assurance of refund if I cancel my trip before 30 days of departure. Flights were an additional cost and was promised to be booked prior 2 months of departure date. My departure was scheduled for 13th of Sept.
Today 18th July, after so many mails and calls there has been no firm action taken neither for tickets nor any other updates from the Travel agency. They are diverting my calls to the other departments and there is no proper response till date. The booking person named Ganesh gupta is seen nowhere and disappeared. After mailing like 10 times to thomas cook I got a call and I was informed that MR. Nadim would take the lead and get back to me in like 1 or 2 days. Its already 4 days and I tried mailing and contacting but there is no answer. As the date is very close to my departure date I need to cancel my trip and for that I need my refund which also has no answer.
This is very frustrating and disappointing from a company like Thomas Cook.
I want my refund back thats it.

2 months ago I applied for Singapore visa on Thomas cook website and they charged me the visa cost of Rs 1715 but the very next day I got a email from them saying that they are currently not processing visa to any country and will return my money in 10 days. However it has been more than 1 month now and they are not picking up the call or replying to the email. Its like there is no way to contact them.

This is my second complaint on this portal, before when I submitted my complaint, I received a call from one of the Thomas cook executive (Riddima Tamang) and she assured me that they will refund my money in 15-20 days however it has been more than 1 month and they have stopped replying to the emails.

Please help me get my refund back. I'll never book anything from this portal again.

Following are the details:
Date: 4 April 2022
reference number: VI00131099

My friend and I had booked a trip via Thomas Cook for 26 Jun 2022.

We had made an advance payment of INR 36, 129 on 4 May 2022.

Unfortunately a few weeks before the trip, my friend suffered an injury and was advised by her doctor not to travel.

We notified Thomas Cook via email on 14 Jun 2022 and shared medical certificate on 16 Jun 2022.

We asked if we could get a refund

We were told we can reschedule the trip.

We agreed and asked for it to be rescheduled to 28 Aug 2022.

However, Thomas Cook changed their stance and said rescheduling is not possible and our entire advance payment is forfeited!

We were shocked as it is a big amount.

We escalated it and shared that their policy has the following clause -
"Also note that in case of any restriction/health issue( guest gets covid +ve), we will be avoiding charging any cancellation basis documets been shared .The credit note for the same amount will be issued which guest can use in future. During any amendment /cancellation - airline cancellation(wherever applicable) will be charged as per airline policies."

We had expected to get a credit note which is in line with their policies.

However, despite our escalation emails and calls, we were denied a refund.

It has been a deeply harrowing experience.

We hope that raising the matter in this forum will help us rightfully get our refund.

They have taken money of 50000 inr for Europe trip that they could not schedule on the said date then post which I requested to reschedule the trip to Singapore for which they informed they will use the full amount. But after that neither have they refunded not have they organized the trip. They have taken my money and do not pick the call or respond to emails

Hi, I just completed Honeymoon package trip organized by you guys to Maldives.Yes I enjoyed the trip with not much hurdles but I have few complaints regarding the data sharing.
1.After getting down at Velana International Airport at Maldives from Bangalore at 11:30, as per the ititnary we should have been at the hotel by afternoon lunch but after reaching Velana International Airport, we got to know that we need to again catch a dopmestic flight to Dharavandhoo and then a speed boat, which we didnt have knowledge about and since we had done full boarding(with lunch, breakfast and dinner at Reethi beach resort) we reached Resort at 5pm because of which first day lunch we had to spend from our side.Though i had informed my trip assistant Saif Shaikh(executive at Mumbai thomas cook), he just said i have forwarded the quiry and waiting for the response.When i tried to call him, the response never came.
2.While coming back from reethi beach villa, we were not given any preinformation from Thomascook about the transit, for 12:20 pm flight, we had to get ready at 5 am in the morning to catch a speed boat to Dharavandhoo airport.When asked the resort guys, they said that this information(regarding early morning transit) was already shared with Thomas cook which we never got the information a bit earlier, only 1 day before we got to know and had to hurry up.Also we had Water villa booking for the last night and we never enjoyed much for the stay at water villa.Also we had to have breakfast from our expenses even while coming back(only bread, butter and milk was provided while coming back from resort in the morning).I could have planned in a better way had the data been properly shared.I had to unnecessarily spend some 50 dollar for the food(1st day lunch and last day breakfast).
You can check the file number CFT2201243 for exact details regarding our trip.Also when i try to call Mr.Saif Shaikh, he doesnt attend the call and not even bother calling back.

A month and half ago I applied for Singapore visa on Thomas cook website and they charged me the visa cost of Rs 1715 but the very next day I got a email from them saying that they are currently not processing visa to any country and will return my money in 10 days. However it has been more than 1 month now and they are not picking up the call or replying to the email. Its like there is no way to contact them.

Date: 4 April 2022
reference number: VI00131099

I want my refund back.