If I could leave a -5* review, I would. We booked a 13 Euro Rail Trip to Budapest, Vienna, Prague and Berlin in December through Ramsay Travel. Only 1 x 20kg checked suitcase (for a couple) and 2 x cabin bags were included in the cost (£1,518). However, upon arriving at the boarding gate, we were faced with an additional charge of £46 for the cabin bag as we were only booked to have a small personal bag each. We then had to add 1 x cabin bag to our return flight as we faced the same problem, resulting in another additional charge of £27.99. We raised this issue with Ramsay Travel immediately and were made to feel as though this was our error for misunderstanding their advertisement when it clearly said cabin bags were included. Not once did they ask for photo evidence of what we had with us to ensure it was in line with Ryanairs cabin bag policy. After sending proof of what Ryanair class as cabin bags, our complaint was escalated to head office, who immediately responded saying that no refund would be given. The receipts for these charges were sent to a private Ramsay Travel email, and we have now requested twice for the receipts to be sent to us. Both times have been answered saying they had been sent, but nothing has been received.
Upon arriving at our hotel in Budapest, the hotel was old, run down and not well maintained. We were booked into a twin room (for a couple) and one of the beds were broken. We spoke to the receptionist, who just asked if it could be slept on and would try get someone to fix it... after 2 nights, I suffered back pain and 2 uncomfortable sleeps.
We then had rail travel booked from Budapest to Vienna, upon boarding the train, we came to realise that no seat reservations had been made. The train was extremely busy and we were forced to stand for the journey, which is not a short rail journey at 3 hours 30 minutes, may I add. As a fellow Travel Co-ordinator, I would never dream of booking rail travel for clients and I am absolutely appalled that this happened, especially given that reservations would not have cost much.
We then arrived in Vienna, and again the hotel was extremely aged and not well maintained. The pillows in the room were very soft, and after asking the receptionist if it would be possible to have additional pillows, were told "no, wait until morning, I don't know where they are". Another night with a poor sleep. After 1 night, we noticed that there was a fly infestation in the bathroom, which resulted in us having to be changed rooms.
Our train from Vienna to Prague also did not have seat reservations, and we had to pay an additional £6 to make these reservations as we did not like the idea of standing on a busy train for nearly 5 hours.
Same again for our train from Prague to Berlin, which was another additional cost of £5. At such a low cost to add seat reservations, it begs the question why could Ramsay Travel not have booked these in the first place? In the response from head office regarding this aspect of our complaint, it is stated that "seat reservations were not part of the package price", at no point were we made aware of this and I would expect a seat reservation to be made for such a long journey.
This is without a doubt, the worst holiday I have ever been on and feel extremely let down by the Ramsay Travel staff, and disgusted at the lack of professionalism and standards that they set. We had also booked a trip to Thailand back in January through Ramsay Travel and airport transfers were booked for the wrong arrival and departure flights... sums up the staff to be honest. No attention to detail what-so-ever.
Never again will I book a trip through Ramsay World Travel, I wouldn't trust them to book a train from Edinburgh to Glasgow. I strongly recommend NOT using their service. read more
