Golden Sun

just found this on another forum:
Golden Sun
Hi,

I have just received this message from the Holidaytruths forum re Golden Sun Holidays:-

The Civil Aviation Authority yesterday withdrew the bond on Golden Sun Holidays and Airglobe Holidays, both members of the Golden Sun Leisure Group.

Rumours circulating suggest the operator was struggling to meet staff wage costs and suffered disputes with hoteliers over unpaid bills.

If you, or anyone you know, has a holiday booked with Golden Sun the CAA has opened an advice line on 01668 686868.

Free online advice available here:
http://www.caa.co.uk/cpg/atol/gstravel/default.asp

oops.....anyone hear chickens coming home to roost? look at my post from 2 yrs ago in reply to Mavis.....

anyone see the tv programme the other night? crikey!

Dont travel with Golden Sun, they are cheap & nasty. Stayed in Marriannas Apartments at Laganas and they were awful, very noisy. Never saw Rep until last day. Zante itself was lovely but Golden Sun should not even be allowed to operate, they just don't care. Flight with Excelaire was excellent, airport & transport fine.

Well when we first arrived I thought what on earth have we come to??? Airport was manic and we had to wait nearly 3 hours for our suitcases. Made up for it though when we got to Nanas which although basic was fine and close to the beach. Didn't see a rep - but in all fairness didn't need to. Transfers were on time and airport as well organised as it could be going back. Would use Golden Sun again - but only take hand luggage!!

Just got back from our second holiday this year staying with Golden Sun. Had a great time and went on "Lush" this time which was great.

Accomodation was changed 3 days before we were due to fly. Golden Ssun basicly told us if we didnt take the alternative accomodation, we would lose the holiday and our money. The alternative was at the other side of the resort of Laganas (good for the beach), is was always noisey, rooms were very small, and pool was just about acceptable. We didn't see a rep once at the hotel, and until close to the end of the holiday, there wasn't even a notice board up with contact details or reps name. I would NEVER go with Golden Sun again, and I would tell anyone else to avoid them.

you haven`t read any of my last few comments then Neil.
end of discussion I reckon.

In the last few years I have praised on the net:

Airtours (and the rep Melissa)
Thomas Cook (and their rep Kate)
JMC (and their rep who came down after my phone was nicked)

Also have written to the companies praising all three of the above.

Read my posts on this site and you will see them, click on the tour operators pages. The only problem I ever had was with Golden Sun, and that was posted 2 years ago until you brought it up.
As for booking a 5 star hotel don`t be so childish. I`ve been to Zante 8 times and know what to expect.

it appears chris you enjoy taking vendettas against uk tour operators and their staff. while many of the issues youve raised are clearly NOT accceptable - can i make a suggestion - next time you book a holiday - be prepared to shell out more cash and book a 5* hotel - then maybe? you wont encounter all these problems. like i said earlier - you get what you pay for and self catering in greece is very basic. im saying this merely as a suggestion not sarcasim.

and for the record when I`ve had good rep service I`ve written to the respective companies to tell them! I realise it`s a lot of hours to work for them and last year physically intervened when one rep was getting a barrage of vicious abuse from a drunken tourist.

and Fiona as I posted below I`m not blaming all GS reps. The flat I got this year was the pits, and I`ve sent the photos to Thomas Cook of the loo covered in faeces, the smashed windows and furniture and filthy linen etc, but the rep did what she could. I was merely posting on my experiences with GS, which weren`t sadly satisfactory, not a personal comment at yourself or anyone from the company who didn`t have some part in a less than enjoyable hol!

Karen, you get a life. I posted 2 years ago, it was only reactivated as Neil queried my points.

I knew full well what the flights would be. that was not a problem. However how would you like to find you`d paid for a room for the extra night and found your cases thrown outside, ripped and things stolen from the flat?
The reps at the airport and in general had a very bad attitude. I`ve never said that was ALL GS reps, I referred to the ones at the airport, and I`m not going to retract that.
Contrast that with the rep service from Thomas Cook rep Kate this year who was VERY helpful and available.

we had great flights (with excelair) leaving manchester at 4am sunday 11th july and arriving at zante at 9.30am. the return flight was on sunday 18th july leaving at 5.30pm so we more or less had 8 days there which was a bonus. i requested extra leg room on the plane as i'm pregnant which they kindly honoured - i didn't expect any of these seats to be left so it was a shot in the dark! the cabin crew were pleasant even though the food was s**te - isn't it crap with all flights though?

we didn't bother with the transfer on arrival and got a taxi to tsilivi which cost 14 euros which is pretty reasonable. we didn't want to bother with the coach as we thought they'd be making loads of stops on the way. we later found out that our apartment was the second stop and that the coach was air conditioned so i wish we had saved the taxi money now.

the rep at the airport was a bit of a gobs**te - we told her we wanted to get a taxi and she sent us off in the completely wrong direction for our welcome pack before walking off without so much as a 'goodbye' or 'enjoy your holiday'.

the accommodation was pretty basic. it was clean, we had a bed, a fan, a shower and a balcony although there was no view. however, they didn't change our sheets or towels once whilst we were there. the woman who said this is normal for greece is talking out of her a**e! we got clean towels and sheets when we stayed in corfu and also the girls who were in the next room got clean towels and sheets. we didn't bother to complain as we were there to enjoy our holiday, not to kick up a fuss over the small things! we did mention to our rep, lyndsey, that we weren't happy about it so that she could maybe raise the issue with the owner so it doesn't happen again. instead of apologising, she said that you are supposed to take your own towels and bed sheets. erm.....okay, if you say so lyndsey!!! apart from that, she was a bubbly girl and really nice to talk to. i wouldn't have liked to have gone to her with a serious problem though as she seems the type to fob you off. the reps get crap money and i think they're there for the lifestyle in a warm climate.

we didn't bother with the meetings. this is just the reps opportunity to flog you stuff and besides, my partners mum lived out there so she showed us round and told us about the good places to go.

the great resort of tsilivi made up for any shortfalls in the service.

Before you write off all Golden Sun Reps Chris, I worked as a Rep on Zante in the year 2002.
They did have a really bad year with there choice of Airline..but how can that be the Reps fault. Did you ever noice that not matter how long you were delayed for (even in the the case where it was so long that you were taken to Hotels and provided a meal in a Restaurant rather than sitting out side the airport) that a Rep was always there looking after you?
On delays there were numerous times when I was the brunt of an english holidaymakers temper, How much abuse should a Rep take???

Golden Sun rectified the Airline problem as soon as they could, but you cant just get new airlines and flight space that easy. If anyone should have been annoyed at the constant delay's it was your Rep as we endured it week after week. Ask yourself, would you still be bright eyed and bushy tailed?

I lived on site with some of my guests, I had 1 day off a week which was clearly stated on my noticeboard, but did that stop me from helping any of them when they knock on my door at 7.30am with little complaints such as a leaky tap?? No the tap etc would be fixed by the end of the day.

On the flip side I loved my job. I would like to say a big Thank you to Jane Allerdice for your kind comments, It's people like you that made it all worthwhile.

Its not the Accommodation, the Airline, The Tour operator or even the Rep that makes your Holiday. They contribute to it yes but YOU are the only one that relax and Enjoy it.

Chris - get a life. Don't you have anything better to do than slag someone off from 2 years ago.

Neil, I appreciate that mate. In the past I have (both on this site and by email to the respective companies) praised reps such as Melissa from Mytravel last year and the lad from JMC last September after my phone was nicked.

There is some excellent reps, no doubt about it, sadly we found that with Golden Sun they didn`t want to know, this was a case purely on that holiday alone, I would certainly never generalise about reps in general!
The big lass with glasses 2 years ago from Golden Sun was very poor though mate and I will not change my opinion on that lol

chris - wasnt slagging your job off - each to their own - and im sure you work hard but a sales rep hardly deals with deaths,hospital cases, police station visits,bar crawls,domestics etc - not to mention the endless complaints - all for a wage of £90 a week!! the only point im trying to make is reps work very hard and unless youve done the job - you CANNOT understand what its like. guests are very quick to start slagging reps off and getting very personal - perhaps they are jealous because they wish they had the balls to go and work abroad in the sun - i dont know. BUT at the same time if there is a genuine problem - the rep is there to TRY and rectify it but they are not miracle workers. and often reps are in a difficult situation trying to keep both the guests and the hoteliers happy - who remember they have to work with for the entire season. all im trying to say is people should stop making these personal,mis-informed comments about reps - when really you dont have a clue.

I actually work as a sales rep mate doing a lot of hours a week, and have been doing it for 6 years. This involves being on call to customers practically 24/7.

If you look under Airtours and JMC I have praised them for the service they gave.

If you want to open this can of worms mate fine ;-)

I have to pay for the room again in July for the last night BUT:
I will not expect to find my suitcases thrown in the corridors and the food and drinks stolen

I don`t expect to find a TCX rep throwing a scene from some disaster movie about finding a ticker

I have been 7 times to Zante, I know exactly what to expect. However because Golden Sun is SOMETIMES cheaper it doesnt entitle the staff to be miserable, unhelpful and to have cases ripped and thrown into corridors does it?

GO MAVIS!!!! I agree completely. I worked as a Rep for a rival tour operator in zante during the same season. With all due respect, ive worked in the travel industry for many years now and GoldenSun are not the 'most expensive' tour operator - you get what you pay for,its not rocket science! The main problem being is most people book a basic studio in Greece for like £150pp and turn up with the expectation that they will be staying in accomodation comparable to a 5* Hilton Hotel! When will people grasp the concept behind night flights?? When you arrive in the early hours - that room is reserved for you from midday - the day before - to ensure you can occupate it immediately upon your arrival. This is why that counts as the first night of your holiday! And hence why you will have to pay for a courtesy room on the night of departure. Its swings and roundabouts, if your travelling on a night flight, you pay little or no flight supplement - if you travel on a day flight you pay higher flight supplement but obviously will not have to fork out for courtesy rooms!! And Chris Chadwick, Reps are only humans just like you!! They do a highly stressfull job for very little pay and quite poor conditions sometimes. Its not difficult to get flustered when youve got 150 customers on a flight delay all asking the same questions and acting like spoilt children! You try being a Rep for a day Chris - you wouldnt last five minutes matey!

When I saw the Golden Sun comments I just had to add my own. I have been coming to Greece twice a year for the last 10 years and have nearly always booked with golden sun until two years ago when they left two girls sat on their suitcases outside their apartment in the middle of the night down a dark lane with no lighting, no keys to get in and then didnt bother to come back! After numerous phone calls to the office another rep turned up approx. 6 hours later with a set of keys to another apartment and cases had to be dragged for miles just so we could get some kip, when eventually the right keys turned up the cases had to be dragged all the way back to our original apartment and a whole day had been wasted messing about and making numerous phone calls. For wasting one night and one day Golden Sun very generously offered 10% off our next holiday with them, well you can keep your 10% Golden Sun we wouldnt travel with you again if you offered to pay the other 90% as well.

Stayed at the Glavas studios in Tisilivi, very satisfactory it was, however i think your rep Sam needs a little training when it comes to her people skills, not very helpful and a bit of an attitude problem, she let your company down in what otherwise was a pleasant holiday!

First time with golden sun, booked easily via internet, good value for money, cabin crew excellent on flight, my daughter has a fear of flying, they were great. slight hiccup, we ordered a cot and it wasnt there, and we discovered we had to pay to hire one, cost 42 euros, first night baby had to sleep in parents bed. transfers were on timeand we didnt have long to wait. ordered special dietry meals on the plane, only got one on outbound when two ordered, but it was rectified for return journey. i would use them again, althoug airport in zante depressingly slow, they cant cope with amount of flights, but reps did their best in a bad situation, they made it as smooth as they could

We've been to Laganas 6 times in the last 3 years, and are going again next week, (all with Golden Sun) Our experiences on the whole have been good. We were burgled on one holiday, and Wendy (the manager)came out to us at very late at night, and moved us to another apartment at 2am. she came with us 4 times to the police, to help us sort out the problems we had. (Our passports and tickets had ben stolen). It's a cheap holiay, far cheaper than most of the other companies that go there. At the end of the day, you get what you pay for.

Stayed at the Dimitris Studios last year which were fab. No sign of any delay that I worried about before going! Have booked up again for this year and am really looking forward to it!

PS. Reps were great too! Thanks Fiona!

GREAT HOLIDAY AT 2 BBROS 5 YEARS RUNNING - CAN'T WAIT TO GET BACK!