Freebie Successes by Letter / Email - What have you recieved? (merged)

I wrote about this in my very first post here (a reply on page six of "The Great 'Blagging hints and tips' Hunt"), I hope it's ok to repeat myself. :P

Now, this wasn't from a complaint letter, but rather a letter to Capcom Europe with a query about a product, and an enquiry as to whether any freebies were available and if there were, please could they let me know how to get some;



That's a hand-warmer (they actually sent two, but it seemed pointless to photograph them both), and three full games (I can't play two of them as I don't own or want a PlayStation 2 or 3, but still, I was stunned by their generosity! The DS game is being greatly enjoyed, that said.). Not pictured are two shirts which they also sent - one long-sleeved Devil May Cry 3 t-shirt, and one short-sleeved Okami t-shirt.

I sent a thankyou letter as soon as I recovered from the shock, of course.

My complimentary e-mail to Mr Kipling was a success; I got a £2 voucher for Mr Kipling cakes in the post today.

How about this for a reply letter to Haven? Comments would be greatfully appreciated.



I have received your letter dated 04/08/08 in response to my email of 26/07/08. I have many concerns relating to your response and will outline these below.


1. With regards to the gas fire in our caravan I fully understand that the
fire has to be vented to comply with Corgi regulations but you have
not addressed our central concern ie. How are we to know that this
noise is due to the venting and not due to the fact that it is about to
explode. Where does it state in that caravan that we are to expect
this horrific noise intermittently and that this is perfectly normal and
that it is not about to blow up. Also you have not addressed the fact
that sometimes the fire wouldn’t light when the gas had been
switched on the ignition pressed.


2. With regards to the fire blanket query the fact that a large majority
of caravans on your park are privately owned and sublet through
Haven is entirely irrelevant. You have stated that the caravan was
previously owned by a charity organisation however when we
booked our holiday with you we booked a caravan under your
ownership. As such it is your responsibility to ensure this caravan
was fully refurbished as necessary to avoid such an issue occurring
in the first place. I am sure a company the size of yours could afford
to put up some new wall coverings which would mean that the
numerous notices around the caravan would no longer be there to
cause confusion and alarm to your guests.


3. Your response to the issues regarding the smoke alarm I find totally
unacceptable and moreover most concerning. This one issue alone
is, of such importance to the safety of your guests and as such I
spent a great deal of time and care in my email to fully express my
concerns. I made it perfectly clear that we fully understand that
battery power can go down at any time and this was the very
reason that spare batteries and mains linked alarms were so very
important. I fully accept that you say the cleaners check the alarm
when cleaning the caravan but if you re-read our initial email this
does NOT mean that the existing smoke alarm system in that
caravan will be of any use even one day later. As such I return to my
original points and especially the fact that you are still relying on the
holidaymakers to ensure the safety of both themselves and the
holidaymakers occupying the caravan immediately after. This CAN
NOT be right or acceptable. However in your reply you have made
absolutely no comment about either:

a. The working effectiveness of the existing smoke alarm in that
particular caravan (bearing in mind that we stated that the alarm
did NOT activate with the burnt toast even though there was still
some small battery power left).

b. The fact that all possible battery malfunctions could be a non
issue with the fitment of mains fed smoke alarms.


Finally, on the smoke alarm points that you do not leave spare batteries because some of the guests take them home with them, this implies that you must have done this in the past otherwise how would you know that they are taken when you leave them. As such I would be most interested to see any relevant documentation and records that you hold to substantiate your claim. Assuming you have such records and that they do show a percentage of the batteries being taken away this could only mean that you have made a conscious decision to compromise the safety of the holidaymakers on relatively minor economic grounds. Surely again a company the size of Haven could afford to replace the relatively few batteries which would been stolen and as such can insure that a brand new battery is available and is checked that it is available on a weekly basis ie. When the cleaners do their caravan clean. In summary, I feel very strongly that I cannot let this matter lie here bearing in mind this is the only smoke alarm in the caravan and its effectiveness or otherwise could have been a matter or life and death for my family and myself


4. With regard to the concerns raised with the boiler in the hall
cupboard you have stated that the sooty residue is not a sign of a
malfunctioning appliance. Irrespective of this our point was that the
evidence of the sooty residue does not inspire confidence in this
boiler system and surely the residue should be cleaned off, again to
avoid any cause for concern for your guests. However, if necessary
I will have no hesitation in taking expert advice from an approved
Corgi registered heating engineer with regards to the possible
causes of such a sooty residue. You have stated that this residue is
generally due to guests lighting paper from the pilot light in order to
light the cooker or maybe a cigarette.

Two points here:

1. How would you know this?

2. Are you aware that the cooker in that particular caravan has a
working ignition switch and therefore who in their right mind
would stick anything into that pilot light in order to light the
cooker. Also, who on earth would seriously stick paper into the
pilot light in order to light a cigarette when there is a gas fire and
a gas cooker.


Finally, you have stated that carbon monoxide alarms are not part of the fixture and fittings of the majority of the caravans and are not part of any legal requirement.

One question immediately springs to mind:

1. What caravans do have them fitted and on what basis were they
fitted to these but not to all?


Also, you have totally disregarded our point that surely these alarms should morally be fitted to ALL your caravans; once again an organisation the size of yours could surely afford the cost if it were to save just one life in the future. All you have said is that they are not part of any legal requirement. I fully understood this at the time of sending you my email and as such was not arguing about legalities but about moralities


5. With regards to your reply about the alarm system it is totally
irrelevant to us as to who previously owned or will in future own that
caravan. When I booked our holiday I booked it with Haven and paid
the money to Haven and as such yet again, it is your responsibility
to ensure that the accommodation was fit for purpose. I have
previously covered the fact that you should have removed any and
all out of date or no longer applicable signage from the walls of that
caravan and as such will not dwell on it here. Except to say that you
will find the sign by the back door telling guests to set the alarm and
leave their passes for the next guests has not been ‘stuck’ to the
wallpaper as you have stated but has actually been put up using
four small blobs of blue-tack (as you can see in the attached photo).
I am sure it is not beyond the capability of your organisation to
remove this notice without causing damage to the interior of the
caravan especially considering that your wall coverings are made
from vinyl and not in fact the wallpaper that you have also stated.


Your point about the exposed wires of the alarm system once again illustrates a lack of understanding of my email and a lack of empathy with its content. You simply state that there is no power source to these wires and my point was that how were we supposed to know this. Surely you cannot possibly think it acceptable that exposed wires are left clearly visible in two separate locations without any attempt to either communicate that they are not live or to simply neatly tape them to the wall using wall coloured tape, thereby disguising them to avoid any cause for concern or confusion. Once again future owners of that caravan are of absolutely no relevance to us or to your argument.


6. With regards to our complaints concerning :

1. Window in rearmost twin room
2. Toaster
3. Microwave
4. Fridge
5. Oven shelves
6. Dining table edge
7. Living room bed
8. Triple ceiling light
9. Spiders
10.Back exterior door

You have merely given a one paragraph reply which is simply a general answer rather than a detailed explanation of these complains in turn. Indeed, worse that this you have given me the distinct impression that actually I was at fault for not reporting these to you at the time rather than your organisation being at fault for these issues in the first place. It occurs to me that as we did not discover all these issues all at the same time I would have been making many trips to your Reception to complain! As I stated in my email I, like most people would normally just put up with issues of this nature but as I also stated on this occasion I, upon reflection felt that why should I just let it pass and that is why I eventually emailed you in great detail.

Finally on this point, surely the cleaners, the caravan checkers or cleaning supervisors between them should have spotted and had corrected the vast majority of these ten points outlined above. The fact that you rely on your holidaymakers to report issues of this nature to you, means that your system of ensuring ‘fit for purpose’ accommodation has been ineffective on this occasion. What problems that we have identified in these ten points do you seriously think only present themselves through the use of the accommodation or the appliances and would not present themselves through the effective cleaning, cleaning supervision and/or caravan checking? To your knowledge how many of these issues have now been rectified? I would be most interested to find out.

7. With regards to the swimming pool issues I note that my comments
have been accepted as ‘constructive criticism’. What does this
mean in practice? You stated that the refurb was done to current
specifications so presumably this means that the possibility of
entering the pool in the way my husband did totally complies with
any Health and Safety rules and regulations. Does this mean that
there is no obligation at all on your part to install some form of
system (perhaps barrier rails) which would make it impossible to
enter the water at this very shallow depth? Once again I would be
most interested to receive a definitive answer from you on this
matter.

As you can see from my email my, T-Co complaint was of significant importance to the enjoyment of our holiday. You have accepted that your brochure states that T-Co operates throughout the season. As I stated in my email to you, this is absolutely correct because on page 202 it states that T-Co operates ‘at all parks except Far Grange throughout the season’. Please note no dates are given.

I have checked the definition of the word throughout using both the Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary and also the Complete Oxford English Dictionary Thesaurus

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Throughout: prep. in every part, at every point or moment
adv. in every; during; end-to-end [/font]

Complete Oxford Thesaurus

Throughout: All over, in every part of, everywhere in, all through, right
through, all round.
Through, all, for the duration of, for the whole of, until the
end of.

and as you can clearly see the way that Haven uses the word throughout in the phrase ‘throughout the season’ is completely misleading and opposite to reality. You do imply that T-Co operates on a daily basis for the entire season by using the very word ‘throughout’. You do in effect state that, by using the very word ‘throughout’. Also, is it or is it not the case that T-Co was scheduled to take place daily from Saturday 19th July (ie. the start of the English school holidays) as my husband was informed by one of your Funstar entertainment team (on the evening of Friday 18th July – the last night of our holiday!!!). The reason she gave was that it was on every day from now because it was the start of the English school holidays. Please note I am not asking as to whether or not T-Co did in fact take place every day from 19/07/08 but I am asking whether or not it was scheduled to do so. Once again I could not have made it any clearer in my email as to the importance, especially to my son, of the virtual non existence of T-Co during our holiday but you have simply brushed this aside and have merely replied that you can only apologise for any disappointment caused. I strongly feel that the Haven brochure is at the very least misleading and am considering very seriously as to whether or not I take my issues to the relevant Trading Standards body.

In conclusion as you can see I am not at all satisfied with your reply. I spent a significant amount of time and effort in compiling my original email to you and feel that you have not addressed them in sufficient detail or with any thought of any form of compensation. Neither have you fully understood my determination to get these issues resolved to my satisfaction and I feel that your overall angle has been to simply attempt to fob me off. If you look at all the issues in my first email could you seriously say that you feel we had the holiday experience Haven would wish us to have? It is all very well you apologising for any inconvenience or disappointment caused and sincerely apologising as you stated ‘IF we have failed to achieve to meet and hopefully exceed our customer’s expectations’ but the fact is you did fail to even MEET our expectations on many different levels.

To this end I feel that you have totally misjudged the seriousness of my complaints and the strength of feeling that I have regarding them. I am very disappointed in your overall response and moreover am still concerned for the overall Health & Safety wellbeing of your current and future customers as you have given me very little cause for comfort regarding the key Health & Safety complains I made. Our holiday experience with you whilst, enjoyable overall, was significantly affected by the combination of the complaints I made in the email. How many other customers do you think you have that have similar experiences and never return to you as a direct result? I feel that in light of your response I have been left with little alternative but to forward all relevant correspondence from you to me and me to you (including this email) direct to your Chairman - Mr. Peter Harris and your Board Director for HR Training and Development - Ms. Ann Horner at your Head Office in Hemel Hempstead by Recorded Delivery sometime in the near future.

In addition, the several points needing clarification regarding the various Health & Safety issues and Trading Standard issues may require me to contact the relevant bodies, in the near future.

If you wish to communicate with me in the very near future please do not hesitate to email me for an immediate response on either address below.

Hiya Angecull31,

Just a quick note, as I used to work as a oversea rep and we where responsible for health and safety checks (most areas of inspections).
Ask haven for copies of these reports, also gas appliances are HIGH risk and must be serviced by qualified staff and as such have a valid safety certificate.
Did you take photos and / or ask for a move?

there is a site called student free stuff and I have had tons of stuff!!! You can use it even if you are not a student