Here it is its long so watch out!!!!
Back in January of this year my fiancŽ and I decided to book our wedding with Virgin Holidays through Thompson in Northampton. My fiancŽ spent a long time talking to the girls in Thompson about the wedding we wanted which consisted of 7 days in Las Vegas staying in a Pyramid Spa Suite at the Luxor, an April 3rd 2007 (our 3 year anniversary together) Wedding at the Luxor and flights to and from San Diego. Our 2 must haves where the Spa room and the 3rd of April wedding. My fiancŽ was told no problems with booking all of that so we went in on the Saturday to book
We spent 2 hours with the Thompson agent making sure everything was right, she then called through to Virgin Holidays to book and was told that the 3rd April 2007 wedding couldnÕt be booked because Virgin donÕt have a contract with the Luxor for that far in advance yet, we where also told that Virgin didnÕt have a contract with The Luxor to supply Pyramid Spa Rooms.
We where devastated as these where the 2 main must haves for our wedding, my fiancŽ was distraught and we left for a coffee to talk things over. We where then told that if we wanted to book for that time we would have to wait until the end of May but we could book up to the en, As we where asking our friends and relatives to come out to Vegas for our wedding we wanted to give them as much notice as possible, no wedding date means we cant send invites out which means our guests cant book flights etc.
We left the agents and had a coffee to discuss what we could do. During this time we also realised that the week we would be in Vegas would be the Easter 2007 period. Our decision was to move the wedding forward to either the 26th or 27th March (this allowed us to be on our honeymoon in San Diego for our anniversary and to book the Luxor before the end of March deadline). We returned to our agent and booked the following:-
2 x Premium Economy Return Tickets to Las Vegas from Gatwick on the 22nd March 2007
7 Nights Standard Room at the Luxor (more on this later)
2 x Return Flights Las Vegas to San Diego (we have our own accommodation sorted in San Diego)
1 x Deluxe Wedding Package at The Luxor
And all the insurance stuff as well
We where told that we would receive confirmation of our wedding date very soon (we had asked for either the 26th or 27th March).
I emailed customer services pretty much as soon as I got home to highlight the fact that we where given incorrect information, this wasnÕt a complainant but I wanted to raise the fact that giving a couple wrong information on which they based wedding plans could cause serious problems and I didnÕt want anyone else having the issue, it needed fixing - I received a full and satisfactory explanation of what had happened from ***** ******, a Virgin customer service consultant, his communication with me was extremely professional and I was very happy with how he dealt with things.
2 weeks later I emailed customer services and asked if our wedding date had been confirmed and was told by ***** ******** that my request had forwarded onto ***** (I donÕt have a second name sorry) who would be dealing with our booking - I hadn't received a reply from ***** by the 16th so emailed ***** again and I received a response from ***** saying 'At this time, I am unable to book your wedding, as the Luxor Chapel only allow me to do this when it is exactly one calendar year in advance. Please be assured that I have all of your wedding information to hand, and as soon as it turns 26th March 2006, I will action your wedding request!!'
I was surprised at this as we hadn't been told this when we booked in January. We where upset as that delayed our ability to send out wedding invites which we wanted to send ASAP. I realised there was nothing further that could be done so waited, On the 27th March I emailed ***** again asking for our wedding date (I didn't get *****'s email address so have been unable to email her direct) she forwarded my mail to ***** and she replied saying 'Unfortunately our contracts have not been finalised as yet, so I am still unable to confirm this wedding date to you. I'm sorry for the delay, and I hope to have some information for you by the end of April.'
At this point I was very angry as we had been told in January that we could expect our wedding date within two weeks then I am told I will have to wait until the end of march, then again we are told it is now going to be a further month. I know this is not *****'s or *****'s fault and wanted to let you know that they have been fantastic in dealing with my constant emailing for updates.
On 27th March 2006 I escalated my frustrations to ***** ****** who had dealt with our original issue back in January. I received a prompt, courteous reply the same day from ***** who took ownership of the issues and said he would get back to me when he had found out the situations.
He got back to me the following day (27th March 2006) saying 'After speaking with all relevant departments, I can confirm that the Luxor Weddings are currently on Stop Sale. This means that owing to unforeseen circumstances, agreements cannot be made between Virgin Holidays and the relevant hotel. I am left with the distinct impression that this will not be indefinitely and that we are likely to resume sales by the end of April early May'
I was pretty angry about this as we are still unable to arrange invites (and hence unable to determine final attendance and that means we can book meals etc) But as ***** had mentioned this is something out of his control.
At this point I asked ***** if it was possible to arrange the booking of a Pyramid Spa Suite - He told me that Virgin didn't have arrangements in place for those rooms but using the "rate request" system they could get me a price and book it on our behalf to ensure we got the room we wanted. I left this with him and was told that a reply about the room request should be back within 7 days (Virgin try for 48 hours but he did pre- warn me that this could take upto 7 days)
On the 31st March a received a courtesy email from ***** saying that my request was still pending with rate request team and that he would up date me ASAP, I was very impressed and happy that my situation was being actively looked into by ***** and that he had full ownership of the problem. On the 6th April I emailed ***** for an update (this was 9 days after the original request was submitted so 2 days longer then I was expecting) ***** apologised for not getting back to me quicker but he had been out of the office for a few days so a lack of contact was completely understandable. ***** immediately chased the Contracts team for the room rate and came back to me very quickly with 'Regrettably, I have no new news for you. I have chased again with our contracts team today and I will update you ever 48 hours until resolved., at this point I got very angry and vented my frustrations at ***** who very calmly told me 'this information is completely reliant on how quickly the hotel chooses to respond. Please rest assured that I am doing all that Virgin Holidays can do to get this information as quickly as possible' I apologised to ***** for having a go as I didnÕt realise the delay was caused by the hotel and not Virgin Holidays.
On Monday 10th April I emailed ***** for an update and was told the contacts team where still waiting for a reply from the Luxor and that he would chase this as soon as possible direct with the hotel but 'Owing to the time difference they will not be able to do anything much before 14:00 hours. Even then, as we need al the information in writing I do not anticipate having a response for you before Wednesday. Once the Rate has been received by Virgin Holidays it needs to be forwarded to our pricing team for it to be converted before being quoted to your good self, I am sorry that you have been left hanging on for this information. I will have it for you as soon as I can.
Again this response was very quick and explained exactly what ***** was going to do for me and although an answer wasnÕt available immediately ***** told me when I would probably have the reply, thus managing my expectations and making sure I knew exactly what was going on.
Wednesday April 13th I received an email from ***** with the room rate (which both my fiancŽ and myself thought was very reasonable) I asked ***** to add this room upgrade to my invoice and he said this would be done ASAP and my agent here in Northampton would be updated.
Although we have had our problems with this booking which seem to all comedown to a lack of communication/information across the departments within Virgin Holidays, everyone of my communications with ***** have been dealt with in a fast, professional and courteous manner. Im writing this to you as a congratulations for having a fine member of staff working on your behalf. I have always felt confident in asking ***** questions regarding my booking and every question I have asked has been answered fully. ***** took ownership of a few difficult problems and although we still donÕt have a wedding date as yet I am very very happy with the service I have received from *****. He is an asset to your team and should be congratulated
Sorry for the long message but I feel that the whole situation needs to be explained to ensure the correct context of this letter - I have had a nightmare time so far but im still happy - that is a massive feat
{mcuth: edited to remove staff surnames}
