Thomas Cook

i'm writing this note to put a few things straight. i've been working for thomas cook/jmc now since 2000. the jmc unmasked all i can say is you are a coward for not putting your name to the comments you have made.
i have worked in zante for the last few years for the company and what you have written is a bunch of crap, you either got the sack or just not fully up to the job.
working as a rep is not the kind of job most people expect. the hours are long and targets have to be met.
yes it is a very sales orintated job but deep dpwn what job isn't. we are a company and we need to make money. who pays your wages. yes the wages are not great but that is not why we chose to do this job but for the life style we live. but sales has taken a back burner and customer service is way top of the job. because if we give out good customer service then they will travel with us again, which the bottom line keeps us in our jobs.
the reps no not get you to your meetings just to take money off you for trips. but to answer any questions guests may have. and generally make sure all is okay. yes the trips are slightly more expensive but if you look only just and at least if something goes wrong then the guests have got somewhere to complain.
the show us reps put on is very good. and all i can say is you mustn't of been there at the start of the season when all staff are working and training putting the dances together. we work hard and are very proud of the dances we have done. you haven't been to any of the other tour ops shows because they are not as good. and as you know all guests love it by the end of the night because they can see the hard work everyone has put into it. and as for the venue then you don't know the island well becuase there is nowhere else for us to do it. you seen the airport?
the company are so customer service focused now we have new managers on the island that just deal with issues and complaints. we pride yourself on the csq's and if you started with the company in 2000 when i did it used to be a very diffrent story.
as for the company looking after their reps. we do have to work very hard and always depends on the managment team. but i would not work for anyone else. we get our time off. we get bonus and parties at the end of season. chance to have winter work if you put the hard work in.
in zante this year the reps were the best the island has ever seen. thomas cook/jmc pulled in all the results yes we hit target in sales but most importanly we nearly halfed the complaints since years before. so we only want your money i'm sorry is just a load of s**t.
for people reading this what this rep has wrote is crap they would of worked for one summer if there lucky i've been with the company nearly 6 yrs and worked in many places. i f you have a problem with the way your rep is looking after you then say something while your there. but the reps are trained in the uk and in resort to look after your every needs and i bet anyone else will agree that most reps do work very very hard.
and i'm proud to work for the company even through my s**ttest times

By far, Jamie the best looking rep for Thomas Cook.

can someone please tell me which accommodation the sunset rep Jamie works at please.

we were well impressed with Thomas cook holidays. We flew out to Zante on 9th September and stayed 14 nights at the tsilivi admirals. Unfortunately i fractured my wrist 4 days prior to departure from manchester, and had to have emergency surgery. After being given the all clear by my surgeon to fly, i had to contact thomas cook to check that there would be no problems at the the check in desk at the airport. When we checked in at Manchester, we were told that our seats had been reserved for us on the plane, with no extra cost incured. We had front seats with loads of leg room, which i thought was a very kind gesture.
The hotel we stayed in was absolutely spot on, and the thomas cook reps did all they could to make sure everybody had a wonderful time. They also worked very hard at the airport to ensure that we all got through as quickly as possible. We would definitely book with thomas cook again.

Go out and book your own trips and save a fortune. Food at the Mediterranee in Tsilivi was O.K. and our room was fabulous. The reception staff were all excellent. The time we had to spend at the airport in Zante was totally unnecessary and needs to be reviewed. DO NOT BUY FOOD OR DRINKS AT THE AIRPORT - THEY ARE A TOTAL RIP_OFF! 7 EUROS FOR A SANDWICH. The flight back was horrible - Thomas Cook's planes have the smallest amount of legroom and seating space on any aircraft I have ever been on! I am 6 feet tall and my knees were scraped on the seat in front for the whole flight. We had to take turns in eating our meal, because there was not enough room.

zante was amazing,and ever since we got back all weve done is think about what we could be doing there!if you are going you are so lucky!its really worth the money and the travel,and all though the accomodation wasnt amazing the people,the atmosphere and the night life more than made up for it.my onloy advice,is do the night time events with reps,but if you want to go on a cruise,or go to turtle cove,or do any other day time activity,do it with the locals,its cheaper and much more personal.simon our thomas cook rep,we love you to pieces!love india charlie ruth rochelle jess rachel fran emma tasha.zante august 2004.the canadian hotel.simons girls!

If I were to rate the holiday by the standard of the tour operator, it would have been average at best (which it wasn't!). My advice is to divorce yourself from the whole corporate package on arrival and organise things yourself. Don't book any excursions with them as they can be found cheaper elsewhere. Same goes for car hire. Even with the free day extra package from Avis on offer when I was there in May, the local firm I used were half the price for more days!

Didn't consider the reps arrival talk worth bothering with in retrospect as it's just there to flog the tours, car hire, etc., and nothing is really said beyond what they tell you in the welcome envelope I received on the transfer bus.

Airline end of things was fine. Food OK and selection of movies good.

thomas cook did a good job at helping with everything

went on monday madness with kate and she's a top laugh

would recommend monday madness to all those young ones

2hrs of free cocktails and ouzo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the flat (not Thomas Cooks fault I must add) was very grubby, but the overall service was excellent and Kate the rep was always on hand for customer problems, full credit to her as she was certainly the most visible rep I`ve seen in 8 visits to Zante, would defiitley use them again!

just got back, we were in a huge group and LOVED every last bit of it, cheers to thomas cook and the reps (esp emma, simon and mark), would def book with u again, the holiday to end all holidays x

Me Kim and Jo have just been for two weeks we stayed in Commodore, had a fantastic holiday!! The apartments were really nice and clean. A big thank you to Chris and Lee our excellent reps!!

Me and my friend Natalie flew with Thomas Cook,we stayed at the Hotel Alexander from the 14th may to 21st may our rep Helen was very helpful and friendly,please give a big thank you to Helen and Mark!!

It isn't the travel reps fault if the coaches are late! Greece generally is known for running on "Greek time" meaning that they are laid back about things. And what does it matter if you are a bit late getting to the airport (obviously on your return journey), it just means less time spent in that sh!t hole they call an airport!

booked through sunset - a subsidury of thomas cook - once we got past the point of selling excursions we might as well of not had tour reps. at our hotel, the journey back to the airport was totally dis- organised, we were, along with approx. 60 other people (the majority of which were families) left waiting for the reps. to arrive outside the hotel for 20 minutes after the scheduled time (2.30am) and when they turned up they couldn't have been less bothered if they had tried- when i asked what was going on they said "the times are approximate" pity they hadn't told us or the bus drivers that!!

Booked flight only with Thomas Cook. Flights were pretty good and air crew seemed ok. The ground staff at Gatwick were fine too, unfortunately the ground staff at Zante airport were very rude and not particularly helpful. Shame really, let the company down.

Used Thomas Cook for 1st time. Very impressed in their service compared to other leading travel agents that we had previously used.

Booked the holiday at Roseland hotel over 12 months ago and were pleased to save £500 on the brochure price. Hotel looked good but we complained about the poor variety at breakfast compared with other Greek hotels we've stayed in. Rep. changed suddenly after 2 days and hardly saw the new one. He was never there on time and when he left us a note in answer to a query, he couldn't even be bothered to find out our names and addressed the note 'Dear Guest'. Didn't think the 'arrangements' on the last day were very good as we had to check out 15 hours before our pick up time. Feel Thomas Cook didn't really care and thought the facilities for changing and showering we were originally offered were poor. Stuck at it and the rep. eventually booked us into the hotel next door for a night for 35 Euros.....well worth it.
Took a taxi to the airport to avoid the inevitable long queues.
Didnt take any Thomas Cook excursions. Think they are well overpriced and by booking with an agent in Kalamaki we saved £100. Not our best holiday with Thomas Cook/JMC. but loved Zante itself.

Beware!!! If you arrive before 11am Thomas Cook will count it as one of your nights stay. We took off from UK at 00.30 and arrived at 07.30 and they said it was counted as us having the room for the day before!!
We were really disappointed by the lack of information that we got from Thomas Cook in the resort.
Beware of what is included in excursions. We booked an excursion to Olympia only to find out when we got there that entry to Olympia is not included in the cost of the trip to Olympia.
Thomas Cook's scuba diving trip really wasn't any good for qualified divers as they failed to let the dive centre know that anyone was qualified.
Make sure you know when you will get the coach back, we ended up having to phone the regional office, as there was a complete lack of info.
Our Thomas Cook rep didn't contact us when we raised concerns. Overall our view of Thomas Cook in resort has not been favorable, despite our positive experience of them in the travel agent shops.
Zakfaris is the one really good trip we experienced. We definately recomend that.

well done to Thomas cook, Jmc, Sunset etc i had yet another good hols with you, keep up the good work.

booked 13 months ago for 2 weeks in "Superior Delux" studio in Commodore Studios, paid £1700. Arrived 24.7.03, room 904, dirty, wet, bloodstained towels, yellow sweaty pillows, plaster from wall on floor, 15 feet from terrace was rubbish tip, cooking facilities rusty, old and very dirty, had sandwich maker that you didn't need to put your own food in as it had been left with the last guests remains!. Booked for 3 adults and 1 child, but couldnt all fit in as there was no room at the end of the beds for us to pass each other and only a 13 inch gap between each bed (very cosy). it stated it was for 4 but room so small they could only put 3 small chairs in, and then you couldnt move at all. Asked rep within 20 mins of arriving if we could be moved as for health and safety reasons it was not big enough and filthy etc, she came back 10 mins later and said no we couldn't move as this was what we had booked in the brochure (we didnt book with a brochure) and that this was a "Superior Delux" room!!, my dogs kennel was bigger. We asked if she could phone round and see iof there were any rooms available anywhere and we would pau, she came back, this time only 5 mins later and said she had been in touch with the resort manager and Thomas Cook had no rooms available on the island if Zante for the rest of the season, all we could do is fly home at a cost of £140 per person to be paid by us!. See you in Court thomas cook, luckily for us we had a camera and video, I strongly advice taking them if you go with thomas cook. Also on finding our own room independently at an extra cost of £1100 we found that Thom,as Cook had in fact already moved a family as they had double booked them. Funny that as we were told there were no spare rooms!.
Thomas Cook - "never book with Thomas Cook".

Stayed at Hotel Olympia in Laganas from 13th July to 27th July. Missed our welcome meeting but our rep came to make sure our tickets were ok and to introduce himself anyway. He was called Nick Prior and he done a fantastic job. He always had time for a quick chat to see how we were getting on. We had our CD magazine stolen on the second day from around the pool and he was great, filling in the necessary forms for us. Even when he was ill during our second week he soldiered on (even with that skanky scabby disease thing up his leg!) The best rep I have had on any holiday. An asset to Thomas Cook.

We went with JMC found the staff very helpfull and friendly, both flights Excellent(we've had a lot worse in the past). Missed the reps meeting, but he popped in the hotel most days. we would go with JMC again

went to kalamaki, according to brochure, 15 min transfer, took 1hr as they took us to laganas first, then back to kalamaki, only to realise the reason why was to try to diguise the fact that the hotel was literally across the road from the runway, good job we like planes, no cot in our room as requested, had to fight it out with rep, we were lucky, everyone else either had to hire at 35euros + 45 euros deposit, or put 2 chairs together as someone suggested for a 5mth baby! other babies were forced to sleep on very dirty z beds, planes were the most cramped that i have been on, other than that the reps did try to tackle all problems quickly.

I've been to Laganas two yearss on the trot with thompsons. Everything was excellant except for the accomodation but hey its Greece so thats what you get over there. The reps were helpful as you wanted them to be if you didnt want to join in on the guided tours etc then they respected that. NO hard sell. This is the 6th holiday i've had from tompsons and they have been brilliant. No cause for complaint. Might be a little more expensive than other tour operaters but I would rather pay more for thouroughly enjoyable holiday.