AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Our experience with Tropical Sky (TS) has been a living nightmare spanning 2.5yrs. With their reviews plummeting (3.1 on Trust Pilot), clearly we aren't the only ones. We booked our honeymoon with TS 04/20. COVID hit, we requested a refund but were scaremongered into rebooking + told we would likely lose all costs (10k) if we didn't. We shared concerns about COVID prolonging, they confirmed they would refund us if the rebooking was cancelled again. So, we rebooked to 04/21 thinking we had nothing to lose. As the time neared, we contacted TS about the booking being cancelled. As front line workers we realised COVID would prevail and didn't want to rebook a second time. TS stated they were awaiting Foreign Travel Advice + repeated that we will be refunded if it's cancelled. In 02/21 we received an invoice from TS who REBOOKED our holiday to 11/22. This neglected our clearly stated preferences + contradicted that "every effort has been made to either rebook or refund the client in accordance with their wishes." During COVID (submitted by TS to Companies House). The booking changed the destination + reduced it from 2 weeks to 5 nights, meeting their criteria for a 'significant change' + subsequently breaching their T&C's: "If circumstances are such that we are forced to make significant changes to your holiday, we will immediately contact you to discuss your preferences... In such circumstances, you will be given the option to accept the changes + any resulting change in price or opt for a cancellation + full refund." Customer service were initially confused, responding, "did you not rebook this yourself?" After weeks of attempting to gain answers, we finally received a response: "We did this in your best interest to maintain ATOL protection". We articulated ourselves in an assertive but calm manner + at no point did this warrant their unpleasant attitude (on 2 occasions we were hung up on mid conversation). We also noticed when we called from our mobiles the phone was picked up + hung up so only got through by hiding our caller ID. In 08/21 we formally complained + requested all data as per GDPR. They were only able to provide telephone recordings after 10/20 because their computer systems "changed". A striking coincidence that this is the timeframe evidence of their misinformation occurred. Their response to our complaint was: you aren't eligible for a refund because you made the decision to rebook the holiday. No acknowledgement given to the fact they had taken the liberty to rebook a second time. We were getting nowhere + in 02/22 attempted to rebook. TS acknowledged we wanted to reduce the budget and said of themselves "the facility of itinery changes without change fees is one of the most flexible in the industry". Unsurprisingly, they went back on this. After receiving disproportionate quotes, we researched the same holidays and dates ourselves + found prices to be quarter - half of the price cheaper. Their quotes also didn't match their own website guide prices for the same months (about £500-1000 out). They finally admitted they had added a "change of holiday fee of £100pp". We reminded that they promised to not add change fees. They then changed the reasoning of the additional costs to be a "downgrade fee". When we pointed out that 100pp still didn't account for the obscene overpricing, they said "we need to make money somehow". We asked for an itemised quote to trace this, they refused. They have made finding a holiday within our generous budget and open criteria impossible intentionally, so they keep our full deposit. We will be using every platform available to share our experiences. We hope this will protect prospectus customers from believing, as we did, that TS are a "friendly team" who "answer calls within three rings" + your money is "safe". So that TS can identify us our booking references are: TSR556967 + TSR617901. If TS wishes to resolve this we will only be too happy to move forwards + update our review. It is sadly more likely that we will have to take legal action. read more
