BLANK HOLIDAYS Slit,—Travel agents are 'like retailers,' except:
1. You must buy cigarettes or a refrigerator through a retailer; hotels and transport organisa- tions will gladly sell to you direct, which is the real answer to those with complaints against agents.
2. Some agents quote official (government) hotel ratings in countries where these exist, but are told that they are unreliable. The difficulty of definition is inherent in the nature of what is sold, not of the seller.
3. Good agents find that over 80 per cent of their complaints stem from transport faults. What other retailers have to buy from monopoly suppliers who specifically remove most ordinary commercial guarantees at the time of sale (how many travellers have read the ticket conditions of British Railways and the airlines?); or else to charter under conditions which are barely economic for anybody because of a licensing system operated to protect these monopolies?
By not tackling these root problems Mr. Milne's Bill is off-target as a means of consumer protection. Controls multiply jobs for civil servants, but cost money and introduce obstructions, for which the consumer ultimately pays.
Previous page
