Hiring private caravan at Butlins Minehead for next 3 weeks - Beware !!!

SUESMITH_2

he could prob have got more money for it if he had advertised it as available for spring harvest

Mupette

Wait until you get that cheque cashed.

For future refs tho if MIL can't get about much, there is a bus service in there that can take you out and about.

Not a member of staff, but used to work there about 20 odd years ago as a shallet monster

dmg24

Torry_Quine wrote: »

Spring Harvest has been at Butlin sites for years, it is nothing new.

It has - my first guests in 1998 were Spring Harvest ones. They had a rather unique way of complaining, 'I know I'm a Christian but ...', followed by various expletives and on one occasion a threat to burn down the customer services building!

[Deleted User]

marleyboy wrote: »

No I would be angry about it, but I would blame myself for not looking into it further, he has no MORAL duty to inform me of Butlins events, as a businessman, he has a choice to fill the caravan, or keep it empty REGARDLESS of Butlins events.

His only moral duties would involve the caravan itself, "the door is stiff" or "the caravan has a leak", his caravan could just as easily have a neighbour, known for burgling caravans during the all night illegal Rave's at the beach just behind the caravan, he has no duty to warn me of this.

It's no different to a landlord warning me of the surrounding estate's "gang" culture, prior to renting a house. Nobody is likely to rent the house from him, however nice it is, if the surrounding area is a threat to the tenants. These are the type of things a landlord would "hope" people have not checked out first before signing that lease.

There is nothing illegal about it, yes its not really the moral thing to do, but being moral does not guarantee making a sale - in his case quite the opposite.

His main concern is securing tenancy at any given dates, its how he makes his money, its certainly of no benefit to him to talk people out of it, he certainly has no "moral" duty to do so.

Maybe its just me then but if I was in his shoes and I knew that the party renting the caravan had small children and would be expecting to use the entertainment facilities, I'd have felt obliged to tell them rather than cause bad feeling. Maybe its just me then.

inneed

[quote=[Deleted User];31785973]Maybe its just me then but if I was in his shoes and I knew that the party renting the caravan had small children and would be expecting to use the entertainment facilities, I'd have felt obliged to tell them rather than cause bad feeling. Maybe its just me then.[/QUOTE]

No -not just you. Ok, it's a business to him, but how could he sleep at night, knowing he has upset children like that? I am going with my 2 year old grandson on the 26th, and I know he would be so disappointed if the promised entertainment was not on! It looks like it will be clear by then, but I'm going to contact Butlins just to make sure.

nikki2804

Watch that the cheque doesn't bounce!

Morty_007

no, its not just you Paulfoel! Why would you think you should research whether facilities will be open if it isn't mentioned to you that there is a festival on?? The caravan owner knew there was something going on that week so he could have mentioned it out of courtesy and allowed you to make up your mind. To my mind, the only reason he wouldn't would be if he was scared of losing the money.

If the caravan was on the site of Butlins you would expect facilities to be available unless told otherwise. Presumably the advertisement for the caravan mentioned it was on the butlins site...using the Butlins name and associated facilities to win custom.

You wouldn't consider asking if a bank had any money to give you unless you had reason to think it wouldn't have!! You wouldn't ring tesco before you went, to see if it had any bread for you to buy or whether they were planning on opening any tills today. You would assume they were...because thats what Tesco do.

A couple of months ago my DH and I booked a couple of nights at a spa hotel with a massage included in the price. It turns out that the spa part of the hotel wasn't open on the days we were there so we couldn't have the massages (gave us a discount when asked which I found more relaxing that a massage anyway ). Luckilly they thought to tell us this BEFORE we went so we were able to make our minds up about whether we still wanted to go. Would have been livid if they had just not told us and then said we "should have done some research" to make sure things were open.

Pleased you got your refund.

[Deleted User]

Morty_007 wrote: »

no, its not just you Paulfoel! Why would you think you should research whether facilities will be open if it isn't mentioned to you that there is a festival on?? The caravan owner knew there was something going on that week so he could have mentioned it out of courtesy and allowed you to make up your mind. To my mind, the only reason he wouldn't would be if he was scared of losing the money.

If the caravan was on the site of Butlins you would expect facilities to be available unless told otherwise. Presumably the advertisement for the caravan mentioned it was on the butlins site...using the Butlins name and associated facilities to win custom.

You wouldn't consider asking if a bank had any money to give you unless you had reason to think it wouldn't have!! You wouldn't ring tesco before you went, to see if it had any bread for you to buy or whether they were planning on opening any tills today. You would assume they were...because thats what Tesco do.

A couple of months ago my DH and I booked a couple of nights at a spa hotel with a massage included in the price. It turns out that the spa part of the hotel wasn't open on the days we were there so we couldn't have the massages (gave us a discount when asked which I found more relaxing that a massage anyway ). Luckilly they thought to tell us this BEFORE we went so we were able to make our minds up about whether we still wanted to go. Would have been livid if they had just not told us and then said we "should have done some research" to make sure things were open.

Pleased you got your refund.

You are spot on here..... :-)

Well, paid the cheque in on Saturday so just waiting for it to clear now...

marleyboy

inneed wrote: »

No -not just you. Ok, it's a business to him, but how could he sleep at night, knowing he has upset children like that? I am going with my 2 year old grandson on the 26th, and I know he would be so disappointed if the promised entertainment was not on! It looks like it will be clear by then, but I'm going to contact Butlins just to make sure.

Sound bit of advice there,

Never assume a businessman is going to have any morals, or sleep any less due to someone Else's problems. As in this case the caravan owner is NOT a member of butlins staff, is NOT an entertainments manager, and is NOT responsible for any Butlins events that are or are NOT available. It his neither his job to report it, his duty, nor does he need to be morally obligated to mention ANYTHING about Butlins, other than his caravan is on their site.

Originally Posted by Morty_007
If the caravan was on the site of Butlins you would expect facilities to be available unless told otherwise.

One might expect the use of the Butlins facilities to be available to anyone residing in a caravan on their camp, however one would not expect them to be inclusive to them, as Butlins also is not compassionate enough to give free passes out to the caravan dwellers over their Butlins Chalet dwellers, no matter how many young kids are with them.

Butlins are neither Morally obligated to do so, its how they run their business, its how they can make profit, no doubt Butlins staff also sleep soundly at night when turning down caravan residents to some free Butlins entertainment who dont have any passes.

Originally Posted by Morty_007
Presumably the advertisement for the caravan mentioned it was on the butlins site...using the Butlins name and associated facilities to win custom.

Presumably the caravan IS on a Butlins site - presumably the OP didnt book the caravan via the Butlins site, or through Butlins inclusively,I dare say Butlins dont even advertise this caravan on their site, also presumably because they would want people to book one of their chalets instead. Its how they too run a business.

Welcome to the real yet cruel World of business etiquette. I am sure he slept soundly asleep over it, but to side with his compassion, he has refunded, NOT MANY WOULD, should you wish to take them to court for a refund based on their "moral" grounds, they would quite rightly laugh at you.

The Onus of caravan owner, is to fill the caravan in order to make a profit out of it, there are no laws that say he needs to have compassion and morals when making a deal, so long as the caravan he is renting is fit for the purpose (i.e. a safe place to dwell), he has no other duties that MUST be adhered to. Ergo another silent nights sleep for him.

The onus is on the OP, to have spent less than two minutes googling "date" and "location" to find any events that may hinder or prove an asset to their holiday.

Morty_007

Sorry Marleyboy, I think you may misunderstand the points i'm making. Let me clarify...

1. you would expect facilities to be available unless told otherwise (I didn't suggest they would/should be inclusive and i'm not sure anyone else has either)

2.Presumably the advertisement for the caravan mentioned it was on the butlins site...using the Butlins name and associated facilities to win custom.
I don't believe for a minute that Butlins should have been involved in telling this family anything, I haven't said this at all....how would they even now they had booked? But it IS up to the owner to mention that the facilities won't be available if he is using the Butlins name to gain custom.

Must go, I need to get some shopping but I have to ring Tesco to make sure my regular branch hasn't closed the dairy aisle.