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holiday complaint
having made the initial complaint and having recieved a an un satisfactory reply. is there a time limit that the company is bound by law to answer my further correspondence?
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With very few exceptions (which certainly don't apply here), nobody is required to reply to any correspondence. As far as the law is concerned, any company can simply put all complaints straight into the bin. It's then up to the complainant to pursue their complaint through other means.
If a complaint is referred to the courts or to the arbitration service of an organisation such as ABTA, it will be up to the complainant to show that they gave the company reasonable time to respond. Unless 'reasonable time' is defined in an organisation's code of conduct, it will be up to the body considering the complaint to decide the appropriate length of time.
When making a complaint to a company, it's generally wisest to state your own definition of a reasonable time interval for expecting a reply. (e.g. "I look forward to receiving your reply and trust that I will receive this within 28 days of your receipt of this letter. Please note that, should a satisfactory reply not be received within this period of time, I intend to refer this matter to . . .").
ABTA's code of conduct (which is not law and only applies to ABTA members) states this:
"f you have a complaint about your travel arrangements you should write to the ABTA Member concerned. They must provide you with a full reply within 28 days. If you remain dissatisfied you should write again pointing out the areas of dispute. Again the ABTA Member must respond within 28 days [Code 5B]
If you fail to reach a satisfactory position with the ABTA Member you can have the matter resolved through the ABTA Arbitration Scheme (see [Code 5F]."
http://www.abta.com/codeguide.shtml
This page has further relevant information:
http://www.abta.com/howtocomplain.shtml
Chris
If a complaint is referred to the courts or to the arbitration service of an organisation such as ABTA, it will be up to the complainant to show that they gave the company reasonable time to respond. Unless 'reasonable time' is defined in an organisation's code of conduct, it will be up to the body considering the complaint to decide the appropriate length of time.
When making a complaint to a company, it's generally wisest to state your own definition of a reasonable time interval for expecting a reply. (e.g. "I look forward to receiving your reply and trust that I will receive this within 28 days of your receipt of this letter. Please note that, should a satisfactory reply not be received within this period of time, I intend to refer this matter to . . .").
ABTA's code of conduct (which is not law and only applies to ABTA members) states this:
"f you have a complaint about your travel arrangements you should write to the ABTA Member concerned. They must provide you with a full reply within 28 days. If you remain dissatisfied you should write again pointing out the areas of dispute. Again the ABTA Member must respond within 28 days [Code 5B]
If you fail to reach a satisfactory position with the ABTA Member you can have the matter resolved through the ABTA Arbitration Scheme (see [Code 5F]."
http://www.abta.com/codeguide.shtml
This page has further relevant information:
http://www.abta.com/howtocomplain.shtml
Chris
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