Avoid the Hop Farm, Kent

points_make_prizes

My family and I attended the Hop Farm "Fireworks Spectacular and Family Fun" on Saturday November 1st. The weather was wet, windy and cold, which was a shame and so obviously we didn't see the Hop Farm at it's best. Three quarters of the advertised attractions were closed, including the funfair and all rides.

We had chosen the 5pm display as my eldest son is autistic and doesn't tolerate loud bangs. Having arrived at 3pm, we tried to make the best of it along with several other families in the very run down Happy Hopper cafe/playarea. The leaking roof made the soft playarea slippery and dangerous. There was very little to entertain my children and not much in the way of family fun. The roof leaked in the War museum, the arcade and the toilets. The portacabin toilets were filthy and had no lights, hand towels or handryers. We sought refuge in the bar which was one of the only warm and dry areas!

At 4.30pm, we overheard another family discussing the fact that the 5pm fireworks had been cancelled. We were shocked and approached the nearest member of staff for confirmation. They didn't know but another staff member said that it was true and that "everyone had been informed". Clearly this was not the case as several families were already making their way towards the display area. My son was distraught as he'd waited all day for the fireworks. We were pretty angry at having wasted the afternoon in such a run down venue for nothing.

Back at reception. we joined other families asking for a refund. We were promised that this would be actioned on Monday. As of Friday 7th November my refund has not been received. My emails and telephone calls have been ignored. No manager is available to talk to.

All in all, this experience has shown the Hop Farm in a very bad light. The facilities were cramped, dirty and flooded. The way the cancellation was managed was appalling. The follow up has been non existent, with no returned calls or reply to emails.

Is this really one of Kent's best family attractions? My advice is avoid, avoid, avoid.............

spuds_2

Sorry to hear about your spoilt evening. I would get in touch with trading standards. Use this link:

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/

At the very least you need to report them as they have clearly not provided much of what was advertised (or paid for).

I do think that many attractions in the UK are poor value. we went to the Dinosaur Park, Tenby in April. It was very expensive - around £10 each I think. You then had to pay for other small rides when you got in. Apart from some large model dinosaurs and a few small animals to cuddle there was very little to do. Very poor value for money. definitely to be avoided.

I would look for other review sites where you can leave negative feedback too or maybe you could write to a local newspaper.

pulliptears

spuds wrote: »

I do think that many attractions in the UK are poor value. we went to the Dinosaur Park, Tenby in April. It was very expensive - around £10 each I think. You then had to pay for other small rides when you got in. Apart from some large model dinosaurs and a few small animals to cuddle there was very little to do. Very poor value for money. definitely to be avoided.

Totally OT but I took my kids there some years ago and they had a big wavy slide. Of course being a complete child I had to come down it and broke my tailbone

Crap place in every way, It never fails to amaze me when Im in the area that its still open.

simgranny

Our family also had a dreadful time at the hop farm fireworks. I phoned them at about 3.30 on the saturday and was told that the fireworks were going ahead I didn't even have to ask the question - the woman just said this when she answered the phone. I drove for an hour in the pouring rain to get there to be told on arrival (about 4.30) that the 5 o clock show was cancelled but the funfair was running and that the 8 o clock show would be less noisy than usual because of the young kids.

I don't know if this was the case because we did not stay that long - there being nothing for the kids to do and certainly no funfair.
I was told by a lady selling light up toys that the 5 o clock kids show was cancelled for health and safety reasons because it involved electricity and was dangerous in the rain . If this was the case, how could they be so confident that it was going ahead when I rang up? If they had told me that they had yet to make a decision on it I certainly wouldn't have gone.:mad:

spuds_2

Why don't you sent a message to the Kent Courier via their website. They might look into it.

http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/sendusyournews.html

Freddie_Snowbits

Force Majeure

points_make_prizes

spuds wrote: »

Why don't you sent a message to the Kent Courier via their website. They might look into it.

http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/sendusyournews.html

Thanks very much for your reply. The Maidstone edition of the Kent Messenger group of newspapers have taken an interest and were really keen to hear from others in the same position.

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kol08/article/default.asp?article_id=50904

:beer:

points_make_prizes

simgranny wrote: »

Our family also had a dreadful time at the hop farm fireworks. I phoned them at about 3.30 on the saturday and was told that the fireworks were going ahead I didn't even have to ask the question - the woman just said this when she answered the phone. I drove for an hour in the pouring rain to get there to be told on arrival (about 4.30) that the 5 o clock show was cancelled but the funfair was running and that the 8 o clock show would be less noisy than usual because of the young kids.

I don't know if this was the case because we did not stay that long - there being nothing for the kids to do and certainly no funfair.
I was told by a lady selling light up toys that the 5 o clock kids show was cancelled for health and safety reasons because it involved electricity and was dangerous in the rain . If this was the case, how could they be so confident that it was going ahead when I rang up? If they had told me that they had yet to make a decision on it I certainly wouldn't have gone.:mad:

Hiya :hello: ,

Sorry to hear you were subject to the same dross as us!
Did you ask for/get a refund?
Would you be interested in contacting the Kent Messenger newspaper about this? I did and they were really keen to hear from others affected.

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kol08/article/default.asp?article_id=50904

Take care,
Jenny

simgranny

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

Force Majeure

Yes, no-one can help the weather, and I would not have blamed them for cancelling the event but they were adamant that it was going ahead when I rang!
They were also adamant in their assertion (when we went in) that there was plenty to do despite the weather and that the funfair was open.
The place was in utter chaos - it was very badly planned and the staff didn't seem to know what they were doing. When we left there was a queue of furious people waiting to complain (I didn't bother joining it as we had 2 screaming kids with us and I didn't want to prolong our ordeal at this place)

simgranny

points_make_prizes wrote: »

Hiya :hello: ,

Sorry to hear you were subject to the same dross as us!
Did you ask for/get a refund?
Would you be interested in contacting the Kent Messenger newspaper about this? I did and they were really keen to hear from others affected.

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kol08/article/default.asp?article_id=50904

Take care,
Jenny

I don't know if you know this but in some places this was billed as the KMFM fireworks party - KMFM is some radio station that is part of the Kent messenger group. Indeed I recall seeing an empty tent with Kent Messenger banners on it next to the entrance to the (closed) funfair.

willsy30

I'm sorry to hear about your awful experience at Hop farm. I too have an autistic son and I know how hard it is when things don't go to plan and they have to wait around. I would have been just as angry as you if that happened to me. My son is severley autistic and can lash out when things don't go the way he expected so I would have been fuming.

There is no excuse for what happened to you but in the Hop farm's defence, I have taken both my children there a few times and they have always had a brilliant time. I took my autistic son during the Christmas period and although we didn't see Santa because my son wouldn't have been able to cope with the crowd, we did take him on the ice skating rink that they have every winter as far as I'm aware. My son had a brilliant time and when he tried to run away and ended up on the little car track the staff were lovely and very understanding. I took both my children back there in the summer and again we all had a lovely day.

It can be an expensive day out but fortunately the Hop farm have consessions for people with disabilities and carers so that was a big help.

I will bare in mind though never to take my son to any of their fireworks displays so thanks for the warning. I hope you got your refund in the end.

Sarah