I writing to provide feedback on my recent booking. Based on the poor customer service provided by our Southall Travel representative ( H)
This holiday was for two females, my daughter and myself, travelling alone to India for the first time. H was informed safety and convenience were paramount and the key reason we used what we thought at the time a reputable, and experienced holiday provider. The level of service provided by him throughout our holiday was poor. We received no information regarding visas, assurances that did not materialise and there was a failure to respond to calls and emails once the holiday had been paid.

Tourism from the UK to India has decreased, partly due to a change from e-visas to physical visas. This information is known in the Indian tourism industry but difficult to find online in the UK ( we have screen shots). A cursory check on the internet says that uk citizens can apply for e- visa to travel to India. This is not true. H failed to inform us of this change and it was only due our own research that we discovered this essential documentation was necessary. H negligence led to an additional cost of £300, which was not anticipated or welcome in our limited budget. It was also an inconvenience and cost for my daughter, a doctor, to take time off work to physically attend the visa office in London.

When we arrived in India, further problems occurred. H was aware we would land in Delhi at 04:50, and we had requested an early check-in. This did not happen. After travelling continuously for over 13 hours, exhausted, hotel staff informed us that we would have to pay an additional charge of £50 for early check-in. We were later told that the Southall Travel representative who met us at the airport, should have personally checked us into the hotel and checked us out. This did not happen; instead, he left us in the taxi before we reached the hotel to go to his home. I would recommend this level of service be addressed to ensure other customers are not abandoned.

Incidentally, I left a jacket on our house boat in Alleppey, entirely my own fault. The manager at our Kovalam Hotel helpfully phoned the houseboat, spoke to the houseboat's wife and tried to arrange for a driver to bring it to our hotel. In comparison, the Southall Indian agent just gave us the phone number and said no one had answered it.

For the rest of our holiday, Southall Travel representatives were present for check-in and check-out, in the Golden Triangle itinerary.

During the trip, we had two drivers for the Golden Triangle and for Kerala. Notably, Ashish Gandhi, our driver for the Golden Triangle went above and beyond to make our holiday special and we cannot praise him enough. Unfortunately I can't say positive things about our Kerala driver he was a dubious character but after our complaint the company did say they no longer employ him.

I returned to London Heathrow separately to my daughter on a 21:45 flight. In spite of numerous conversations with H regarding my late departure and the need for a late check-out, the hotel in Kovalam did not have this information. H had verbally agreed to arranged this but a written confirmation we asked for did not materialise, he had clearly not complete this task.

We understand the hotels cannot commit themselves because of availability but they were unaware of any request because H had not done what we had asked.

The unprofessional service provided by H and other staff led to unnecessary anxiety and dampened our experience of what should have been an once in a lifetime holiday. We would suggest Southall Travel address these issues with a matter of urgency should you want continued business from their existing customers and recommendations for future clients. We I am afraid cannot recommend them.
Since complaining to the company, they of course quote the small print regarding visas, but our point is this was a package holiday and the sales representative had a duty of care to their customer to advise and inform. Unfortunately they were more interested in their sales commission and not in customer satisfaction. Also after complaining the help desk representative stated the hotels were informed about our checking in and checking out, this was untrue and contrary to what they stated before in previous emails.