Beware WastelandSki

I just wanted to warn everyone about WastelandSki, a travel operator which organises the Ski trips for lots of universities. Be very careful about getting your damage deposit back from them. I advise you to take photographs of the room you stay in before you vacate it to prove that it is in a clean and reasonable condition or there is a strong risk that they will retain all of your deposit and claim that the room was left in a bad state. One of my friends recently went to Tignes with Wasteland and in the accommodation that she stayed in no fewer than 36 rooms (many with 3, 4 or 5 people in) had the full deposit kept back for cleaning. In total the hotel kept back very nearly 4000 Euros for cleaning! I believe this is a way of bumping up their profits to compensate for the discounted student rates thay offer. My friend said her room was immaculate when she left it yet she and her room-mates were charged 150 Euros for cleaning. She is really upset.

Reply 1

Riderz

Compared to the amount the holiday would have cost E150 between 3,4 or 5 people isnt much is it.................? Between 5 people thats 30 euros, or a night in the bar......

Reply 2

quitecontrary

Will I really don't think that is the point. It is theft to take money from people for no reason.

Reply 3

quitecontrary

And I guess the reason the company can get away with it is because people take the view that it isn't worth making a fuss about. My friend's share is 37.50Euros which for her is a lot of money.

Reply 4

Lamptastic

Wasteland rhymes with wasteman lol

Reply 5

quitecontrary

Yeah, exactly! Good point

Reply 6

You-Rock-My-World

To be fair you wouldn't expect much from a company with the words "waste land" in it.

Reply 7

brittanycaitlin

Wasteland is horrible! I went to tignes with them recently and they had me waiting outside for 6 hours because they messed all of our rooms up. Our rep was about as useful as a chocolate tea pot when it came to the room not being as described and general info. I slept on a bloody couch for crying out loud! DO NOT BOOK WITH THESE GUYS! My ski holiday was ruined because they messed up my ski lessons and wanted to charge me more than I had already booked. Also they sneak up with fees for the deposit. I got slammed with a 'communal charge' because some idiot trashed their room and everyone from our uni group had to pay the damages. If I can urge students not to go with wasteland and achieve this, I will be so pleased. They are the worst travel company ever and genuinely don't care about students. They just try to con students out of money.

Reply 8

LavenderBlueSky88

Yeah they were pretty rubbish with deposits when I went. My friends got charged for stuff they knew they hadn't done. Luckily ours was fine. I don't think that's wasteland though it's more the apartments themselves. To be fair our rep did warn us and encouraged us to clean /hoover before we checked out.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 9

Not_A_Number

Don't have an unauthorised accident because they have been caught saying that they can't get medical help and put everything down to drinking. No such thing as 'concussion' apparently.

Reply 10

fluffy13tom

Truly **** travel company. If your university has organised a trip with them, book your own stay in the same resort for a fraction of the price and none of the disappointment.

Reply 11

Jamesyboi

What a joke of a company! Wasteland travel is single-handedly the worst company I have ever done business with! Every single interaction I have either had with them or attempted to have has been a joke! We had a large group trip organised though wasteland to Les arcs in France for months but only found out what day we were getting the outward coach the day before it left! Despite 3 weeks of emails, social media messages and phone calls from our group asking the date, time and location of the meeting point, we were ignored! (Somebody needs to educate these clowns on what a email read-receipt is! Upon arriving they didn’t show us where any of our accommodation or meeting points were, no safety brief or even a welcome - they just stood with a clipboard looking like they didn’t want to be there then they slithered off back to wherever they came from. Again from the first day of being there we asked them everyday for the time, date and meeting point we would be returning to England from France so we could book onward travel and surprise surprise they said they didn’t know and would try and find out - we got the same answer every single day until we gave up and tracked down our bus drivers and they told us straight away. They day before we left when we told them what a joke they were in a bar they told us “ahhh your coach is tomorrow didn’t anybody get back to you?”! The only thing the wasteland travel reps know what to do was how to have a good time! Every single night one of them was back to one of our groups rooms getting rattled and moaning the block down! But it was reassuring to know they were at least good for one thing! Avoid these absolute jokers at all costs guys - I’d have more confidence using the cast of the inbetweeners to organise a skiing trip in Egypt then go through these again! AVOID

Reply 12

didiharvey

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Unfortunately, I have had the same experience as others who have reviewed below concerning return of deposit and I have been scammed. I was NOT sent an email to claim my deposit back and, as I was outside the time frame, the company have refused to return my deposit. Asked multiple times for the manager Guy Fowles to call but he cowardly refuses to take responsibility or return my calls !!! Also check out the terms and conditions paragraph 13 - the company pool all deposits and you will be charged if another person in the resort causes damages (what happened to insurance ?) BEWARE AND YOU HAVE BEEN INFORMED
CLAUSE 13 - You must pay a deposit for any damages (see condition 13.6) that you cause or which may be caused by other individuals in resort at the same time as you and on account of any other costs referred to in condition 13 (Damage Deposit). Your Damage Deposit, the value of which will be notified to you on the Booking Form, will be pooled with the Damage Deposits of everyone else staying in the same resort as you during your holiday in accommodation arranged by Wasteland.