TUI Travel Center Thun — Bahnhofstrasse 12, 3600 Thun, Switzerland

I had had a very good service.

Anne-Maria Kohler

Fabienne Kaelin, the employee, was incredibly friendly, quickly prepared a quote, wonderfully addressed our customer wishes and budget, and always acted in our best interest. Communication between us was very pleasant and straightforward. We are looking forward to our upcoming trip.

Aggiato Fabio

-> Addendum to TUI's response: The aforementioned refund includes the money we received for the early return and for the repairs, which we had to pay upfront! The actual compensation from TUI for 5 ruined weeks of our 9-week vacation is approximately 760 Swiss francs! TUI shows absolutely no understanding or sensitivity for how much our once-in-a-lifetime dream has been ruined. We rented a motorhome for 9 weeks and paid a five-figure sum for it. We received a barely roadworthy vehicle that hadn't been cleaned. After persistently complaining for hours, we were able to exchange it, losing two vacation days in the process. The second vehicle was also unclean, and we had to spend two hours cleaning it ourselves. The windshield wipers were broken, which required an hour on the phone with the helpline and finding a garage. Then the battery was dead. Then an oil change. After three weeks, we had water in the vehicle and had to spend another four hours on the phone with support and leave the vehicle in for repairs for half a day. The damage to the roof was old and had apparently never been inspected. Shortly afterward, the battery was so defective that the vehicle was no longer drivable, and we had to spend another two vacation days driving back to Seattle. The third vehicle also had a defective battery. We had to cut our vacation short by three weeks, losing two full weeks of our six-week RV trip, with nine visits to repair shops and over 150 emails to the useless onroadcare service. Our vacation was ruined, and the stress took a toll on our health. The rental company is marketed by TUI as offering high-quality service and well-maintained vehicles. We documented everything, took photos, and informed TUI in advance. Customer service showed no interest for weeks; eventually, they informed us that they only deal with complaints after the holidays (which is incredibly helpful in the middle of a vacation). The branch manager received dozens of emails from us and never responded to a single one.

Daniel Marty

-> Addendum to TUI's response: For a CHF 12,000 trip, we received only about CHF 770 (plus a CHF 400 travel voucher after complaining) in compensation for five lost weeks of vacation. The amount listed in their response is for the unused days, as we had to cancel the trip entirely, and for the nine repair shops where we had to pay in advance. At no point did we experience any understanding or sympathy from TUI. Shameful. ______________ We booked our trip, which we had dreamed of for ten years, through a Swiss travel agency. TUI booked our campervan holiday with El Monte and described the company as reliable, with well-maintained vehicles and excellent service. We experienced none of these advantages. We experienced a nightmare that cost us over two weeks of vacation and a great deal of health. We had to cut our campervan trip short by three weeks. ______________ Camper 1: utterly filthy, bed black, mattress protector full of other people's hair. When I asked for clean bedding, I received a racist comment: "He's white—whiter than you." Also technically dangerous: the camper pulled sharply to the right and vibrated violently. Camper 2: also uncleaned, broken sink, everything sticky and peeling. Battery problems, the camper broke down, water leaks, and when it rained, there was a "river" inside. Instead of a vacation, we spent hours in repair shops and exchanged over 120 emails in two weeks with a completely incompetent hotline. Camper 3: finally cleaned, but again, battery and refrigerator alarms were going off. We barely slept and had to escape to an Airbnb for four nights. TUI completely abandoned us throughout this entire camper disaster. Despite massive problems, lost vacation days, technical defects, and over 120 emails and hours spent on the phone with the helpline in just two weeks, the branch manager of the TUI branch never responded. The official TUI customer service stated they could do nothing as long as the trip was still ongoing, even though we had lost so many vacation days and were suffering significant health problems. For weeks, we received no response from customer service – while we were in the midst of this nightmare. Even after multiple calls for help, detailed descriptions of the serious defects, and requests for support, TUI showed no initiative or commitment whatsoever. After we had to involve our legal expenses insurance, TUI informed us that they were not obligated to provide any compensation (mind you, we booked a campervan for 9 weeks, lost 2 weeks in repair shops, had to exchange the campervan, spent hours on the phone, sent countless emails, and the trip was cut short by 3 weeks). We then received compensation of 760 Swiss francs (and after a further complaint, a travel voucher worth 400 Swiss francs) for the booked trip, which amounted to a five-figure sum, far from adequate compensation for lost vacation time, additional costs, and health consequences.

Brigitte Marty

We booked a one-month trip to Australia with you. Since the trip is no longer possible due to pregnancy, and the travel insurance wouldn't cover the cancellation, we contacted you again. You suggested we submit a goodwill request – which was successful. As a gesture of goodwill, we received a refund of almost the entire amount. This wouldn't have been possible without your assistance, so thank you again!

Tamara R

Less than 20 hours before our scheduled departure, we were informed that our accommodation, booked two months prior, was overbooked. We were not offered an equivalent alternative – only a hotel that neither met our needs nor matched the room category we had booked. There was only this one, significantly inferior option. Despite our own suggestions for alternatives, these were ignored, and the company insisted on the inferior option. The customer service representative in Thun expressed understanding but, due to the short notice, was unable to offer any suitable solutions – even though we were the least responsible for the overbooking. We felt completely abandoned in this situation! According to the customer service representative in Thun, her hands were tied, and she had no decision-making authority. We repeatedly requested contact from someone with decision-making power, but to no avail. Since no suitable alternative was offered, we had to cancel the entire trip just hours before departure. The additional organizational effort was considerable, as was our disappointment with the opaque and poorly customer-oriented communication. ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . We requested a transparent disclosure of the hotel's email, but to no avail. Instead, we were only shown a cropped portion of the email, which lacked the hotel name, date, and sender. All in all, the experience was unacceptable and nerve-wracking.

Anja Z.