Halsbury Travel Group レビュー 234

I have taken some time to try and get some prospective on how a company could make such a monumental mistake! To cancel my daughters ski trip less that 24 hrs before they’re due to leave?? No communication, no apology, a small jester of compensation that in no way goes in covering the emotional distress caused and call me skeptical I am not convinced I will see any of my money!!
This trip was booked in Oct 21, I think two plus years to organise a trip is sufficient!!! After all you advertise as “specialists” in planning school trips! Clearly your not!
How can it be the same reason for so many schools? How can you run a company like this? I would like the director of Halisbury to go to each school affected and have a meeting with the parents and students and apologise and explain how badly Halsbury have let the kids down!!! I would like to know when I will expect our refund and compensation? 1 star is very generous! Absolutely fuming!!

Kids ski trip has been cancelled less the 25hrs before they are set to leave kids in tears absolutely disgraceful to cancel because they haven't booked a coach. This was my son's first time abroad and skiing what should have been a fantastic time has turned into misery. This had been booked and payed for 18mths ago and there should be no excuse to not having the coach booked disappointed is an understatement. Not only has this cost us a lot of money we have had to buy all the clothing to go skiing and a passport as this was his first time away. All these kids are so upset it's heartbreaking to see. Shame on you Halsbury travel.

Wish there was a way you could give no stars. This company do not deserve even one. Ski trip cancelled with less than 24hours notice. 65 children left confused and upset with no real explanation as to why. And to leave the teachers to explain to all the children the day before travel and the disgruntled parents. Utterly disgraceful. Children, parents and teachers deserve truthful answers. This is NOT good enough

I wish I could leave zero stars for this shower… my son and his friends should be on their way to Italy for a much-anticipated ski trip right now. Instead, this useless lot cancelled the trip with less than 24 hours’ notice yesterday. Apparently the coaches weren’t booked. How does a travel company manage not to book a bus?? Incompetent doesn’t begin to cover it. And I’m heartily sick of reading the same excuses cut and pasted into replies to furious parents with children who have been totally let down. Schools thinking of using this company for a trip should save themselves a lot of bother and choose a different firm. This lot are a shambles.

Halsbury Travel Ltd AVOID
Many parents and their children would have woken up this morning feeling disappointed, upset and very angry that Halsbury Travel have let down so many children because they failed to book a coach!!!

The explanation given by the company that it was an administrative error due to staff sickness may have a very small degree of plausibility when viewed in isolation. However after reading about other schools on Trustpilot, Google Reviews, Facebook (look at the comments under The Archer Academy post) the explanation begins to look less plausible.
Looking at the above forums, the schools affected are;
St Bernadette’s Catholic Secondary School, Bristol,
Chulmleigh School, Devon,
Hillview school, Tonbridge, Kent,
Chenderit School, Oxfordshire

There may be others, but those posting negative reviews have not all mentioned the school involved.

So, the explanation given to its customers is;

“When doing our final confirmation checks, we discovered that the coach we had booked for your trip had not been confirmed by the supplier. We take full responsibility for this. It was due to a combination of personnel changes internally and suppliers changing their bookings without notifying us”.

Plausible excuse for one school, but 4 schools?
Parents should be contacting Contact Halsbury Travel | Halsbury Travel Ltd | School Trips to explain the following; -
• why did the company not use its own coaches? According to Companies House it has its own subsidiary coach company = HALSBURY TRAVEL (COACHES) LIMITED. Presumably they must have been fully booked due the Easter holidays, so had to subcontract?
• However, I am just applying logic here, if it was my coach company that Halsbury Travel had provisionally booked coaches for 4 different schools at separate locations around the country, would you not be chasing Halsbury Travel up to win the contract? I am not implying the coach company is at fault, I am just posing the question whether a coach company would simply ignore such a business opportunity? Doesn’t seem plausible!
• Of course, the contract may not have been awarded to a single national coach company, perhaps Halsbury Travel, tried sub-contracting the coaches regionally? But wait, the explanation given was
“booking not been confirmed by the supplier & suppliers changing their bookings without notifying us”.
Again, perhaps plausible for one company, but are we to believe that 4 different coach companies all changed their booking at the same time. Tad unlucky!!!

Compensation, who pays?
I am no insurance expert, but I do know that if I miss a flight because I overslept, it is very unlikely my travel insurance covers my own failings. Similarly, whoever Halsbury Travel is insured by, is not going to pay out when Halsbury Travel has admitted publicly on severally forums that the holidays were cancelled due to their own incompetence! So, would the money have to be found from their own profit margins?

Let’s not forget that it will not be just parents seeking compensation. Presumably the hotels and ski instructors will also be seeking recompense!

If you know the name of the hotel, it might be worth contacting them just to see if the accommodation was booked and paid for! If Halsbury Travel forgot to book a coach, could they have also forgotten to book the hotel? Clearly gross incompetence if they also failed to book accommodation as well as the coach, but good news also, because it means they have customers coach and accommodation money sat in the bank ready to be returned!!!

Hopefully Halsbury travel has a healthy bank balance, because 60 pupils x 4 schools x £900 each is £216,000 and that is without factoring in any compensation.

Halsbury Travel ownership changed in summer of 2022, and is now owned by HURON BIDCO LIMITED. But fear not, because all 3 companies including HALSBURY TRAVEL LIMITED, HALSBURY TRAVEL (COACHES) LIMITED are all owned by the same 2 directors, Carolyn Halpin-Rose Chief Financial Officer, and Alexander Patrick Williamson. Ultimately the buck stops with these two. And it is these two that customers should be contacting to get a definitive answer.

If I could do 0 stars I would. The whole process from start to finish was a shambles. We had to chase them constantly and were regularly left in the dark. On the morning of our trip, rather early than a coach turning up as promised, we received two airport transfer vehicles that did not fit our group. After 3.5 hours of trying to organise our own coach to get us there we had to cancel the trip as nothing could be done so last minute. 23 very cold and angry people who will never use Halsbury again.

Shame on you letting down 60 kids 24 hrs before travel to Italy. You had 1 job to do. Why? Someone didn’t confirm coaches?
Complete ineptitude, heads should roll. These kids missed out on so much over Covid; this just adds insult to injury.
Seems this isn’t an isolated case. 100’s of children over the country very disappointed today not to mention parents that are out of pocket due to change of their plans for the week.

Total Shambles!
Cancelling a school trip 24 hours prior to leaving! This happening to several schools at the same time.
The story about mis-booking of coaches and changes in personnel doesn't add up. Either something is being hidden or it's total incompetence.
Very Sceptical!
Is there a cash flow issue and has the Company just taken the money?
Interested to see how the Company proposes to refund all these 100's of people. Hope I have to eat my words!
Still doesn't make up for the disappointment for the kids.

CANCELLED TRIP 24h before departure due to a coach not being booked . 50 kids devastated not going away . This is supposed to be a professional outfit .

I am unable to even give a rating after my daughters school ski trip was cancelled without any notice at the time they were due to leave by this travel company 89 girls who had spent months going to ski meetings, practice slopes and many for who this was a once in a life time trip and many with special educational needs are waking up this morning still reeling from the disgusting actions of this company. The girls aged 13-16 are completely devastated. The apology sent by this company was woefully inadequate. To let a school down on the day when staff are waiting for the coach to arrive in the street and girls had cases in hand is a reason to NEVER USE THIS COMPANY. We will be taking this to the press.

Not only did you let down a school in Kent whilst the kids were waiting on the playground you also did the same to a school in Bristol

Your CEO Robin Parry should be made to come to these schools & stand up & explain in person the cock up you’ve created

All the teachers parents & kids have put so much effort & their own time into making this a dream holiday for all going & a person in your company ruins it for all I hope you deal with this correctly

I know myself as a single parent how much extra money I’ve had to find for the skiing lessons for this trip & not mention as self employed person I’ve had to miss half days at work to get my daughter to these lessons

You as a company should be ashamed of yourselves & yes I stand by my comments that your CEO must come & stand up in person & be accountable in person & not hide behind a statement

Robin Parry grow some & come & be accountable

In fact one star is being generous

Utterly disgusted by this company 😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡

told by the company less than 12 hours before 41 children were supposed to leave via coach to italy that we had no coach. we were then told they cancelled the trip. absolutely devastated

Wow is all I have to say. After years of upset and instability for children across the country through Covid, I would like to understand the last minute and widespread cancellation of these trips? We believed that we were the unlucky ones, but it now appears like many children and families are unfortunately affected. Did this travel company fail to book any travel? Surely not!
I really hope that the children travelling ahead of examinations in order to relax are suitably compensated. Right now I’m pretty sure the least of any parent/teacher worry is financial.

Shame on you Halsbury Travel.
How can you justify cancelling a ski trip with less than 24 hours notice after 14 months of planning! Which numpty in your company needs firing? It’s absolutely disgusting that 60 Year 11 kids are now devastated at not being able to go on this adventure of a lifetime. Compensation doesn’t cover the missed opportunities, memories that would have been made with friends and adventures that would’ve been had. You Halsbury travel are an absolute disgrace. I would give ZERO stars if I could.

Today Halsbury Travel left my children and 62 other children from St Bernadette’s Catholic Secondary School devastated after cancelling their long awaited and planned for ski trip to Italy. The school was informed Thursday evening just 48 hours before due to leave by coach that the coach had only been provisionally booked and not confirmed. At this point we were told that Halsbury Travel had organised a chartered flight from Stansted. At 3pm on Friday 24 hours before originally scheduled to leave we were informed that the trip that I had worked so hard to pay for had been cancelled.

It was not just the money involved in paying for the trip there was also the financial costs of kitting out my twins with ski gear and all the essentials for the trip (yes 2 of everything) and also money put into lessons before leaving to get them a little used to the slopes so they could get the most of this once in a lifetime trip for them with their friends.

In total disbelief that this has happened to more that one school today, and I can’t stop thinking about all the young people that should have been off on a massive adventure this weekend and to the teachers who have worked so hard to make this happen.

This trip was booked well over a year ago and I am shocked that it was only this week that the travel company didn’t actually book the travel. Halsbury have offered 25% off further experiences with the school but I do hope that the school will never put their trust in this company with their sheer incompetence again.

Shame on you. You shouldn't even get 1 star. If I cd put a minus I would. 2 years in the planning and ski trip cancelled within 24 hours. Those poor kids. And stick your compensation it will not make up for this. This has had a massive knock on effect for all people concerned. My granddaughter is devastated 😡

Don’t ever book a school ski trip here they are bound to disappoint you.
This company has deflated so many students’ hearts . Tomorrow 100 of us were meant to be setting off for our school ski trip but due to the lack of awareness and responsibility this company have we cannot go . How does a company which specialises in school ski trips fail to provide transport and even then only realise less than 48hours before the trip is meant to take place , it is an utter disgrace the trip was organised before the new year and somehow you forget to book transport. This company is untrustworthy and has broken so many students’ built up joy and excitement for skiing .
Be ashamed Halsbury Travel.

Today Friday 31st March parents in Bristol were contacted to say there was no coach to take kids on their ski holiday to Italy. The trip was due to travel the next day (Sat 1 April). What is going on at this company, when I read other schools on the same day and even weeks earlier have been given the same story? This needs national attention. Please get in touch if you wish to talk!

Cancelled ski trip less than 24 hours before departure. No buses was the excuse but that stinks. Company changed directorship in June last year. Do not assume this is the same company you might have used in the past. Unreliable, incompetent and uncaring. Del boy and Rodney would be more trustworthy. Avoid if you want a good reliable experience at all costs!

School trip to Italy cancelled day before departure after a week of uncertainty due to no coaches booked, but they strung us along with promises of chartered flights to replace. 70 families (from just this school) now potentially having to change holiday plans for Easter - promises of compensation but are they even in a position to pay it???