Champneys no longer a good spa, disappointing break

OnTheUp_2-2

Hi All,

I can't reply fully as I am on my blackberry at the hairdressers. I received another reply yesterday from the lady who sent the last reply.

I WILL as I told her be pasting it onto the forum when I get home, so that you can all see that she has replied to tell me I am a liar about how much I spent on my break.


I am so furious. She has stated that I have lied that it cost 500 to visit. Pls feel free anyone to quote me in the previous post where I clearly say that INCLUDED treatments. She is sayinh that I infact paid 127 to stay and I will enjoy scanning in my receipt for 150 AND a receIpt for 315 for treatments. Ok so 35 short.



I hope she realises how much worse she has made Champneys look. I am DISGUSTED. Don't even get me started on the rest of the email

All_the_reasons

I'm not surprised.
I went to the one in Leicester 2 years ago, it was awful.......
-dirty mouldy showers
- dirty & missing tiles round the pool. which was also cold.
- not very many facilities.
- not very well dusted
- staff not that friendly & tended to look down their noses at you.
& as stated before, this spa was lacking behind the times........

So the next month we went to Ragdale Hall instead, much nicer

mrcow

OnTheUp wrote: »

Hi All,

I can't reply fully as I am on my blackberry at the hairdressers. I received another reply yesterday from the lady who sent the last reply.

I WILL as I told her be pasting it onto the forum when I get home, so that you can all see that she has replied to tell me I am a liar about how much I spent on my break.


I am so furious. She has stated that I have lied that it cost 500 to visit. Pls feel free anyone to quote me in the previous post where I clearly say that INCLUDED treatments. She is sayinh that I infact paid 127 to stay and I will enjoy scanning in my receipt for 150 AND a receIpt for 315 for treatments. Ok so 35 short.



I hope she realises how much worse she has made Champneys look. I am DISGUSTED. Don't even get me started on the rest of the email

:eek:

I'm shocked!

Who is this pathetic woman? Is she customer facing?

If Champneys are that upset by the thread rather than harrass you, why doesn't someone from there grow a pair and come on here and explain what the heck is going on there? We're certainly not short of unhappy customers by the looks of it.

I'm truely disgusted that any company representative would be so unprofessional or rude (or stupid).

vikingaero

OnTheUp wrote: »

Hi All,

I can't reply fully as I am on my blackberry at the hairdressers. I received another reply yesterday from the lady who sent the last reply.

I WILL as I told her be pasting it onto the forum when I get home, so that you can all see that she has replied to tell me I am a liar about how much I spent on my break.


I am so furious. She has stated that I have lied that it cost 500 to visit. Pls feel free anyone to quote me in the previous post where I clearly say that INCLUDED treatments. She is sayinh that I infact paid 127 to stay and I will enjoy scanning in my receipt for 150 AND a receIpt for 315 for treatments. Ok so 35 short.



I hope she realises how much worse she has made Champneys look. I am DISGUSTED. Don't even get me started on the rest of the email

There you go. They don't even know when to stop digging their own hole.:D

OnTheUp_2-2

As promised the email I received-

Dear Mrs
Further to our recent communications as a matter of courtesy replying to a complaint is just a courtsey??in response to your request for reply to the specific points raised by you in the On line questionnaire I would reply as follows:

1. The room booked was a standard room relevance?. The linen throughout the Resorts is provided by a reputable and highly respected south east laundry company to include the provision of freshly laundered duvet covers, pillow cases and duvets. Linen is provided clean and changed daily and undergoes quality checks this may be so but at the prices charged most other spas offer egyptian cotton or at least pillow cases that tuck in at the end rather than those gross quick slip on style hospital ones. There is no heated towel rail as the room in question is unable to sustain the pipe work due to the roofing restrictions. There is an extractor fan if there was one it was silent?? and certainly didnt work as the bathroom walls were dripping and the room filled with steam, which is fitted within the bathroom area , as this is a building regulation requirement. The extractor fan is not excessive in noise, purposely and this may have been reason you were not aware of the same.
2. There are some 160 showers in the Resort with individual regulated temperature controls to ensure the water is dispensed at an appropriate temperature. Although the water pressure can sometimes have an adverse affect on the water, when adjacent showers are being used at the same time this should not affect the temperature. It is unfair for you to assume that all showers fluctuate in temperature. Oh so i am a liar? EVERY shower I used had changable temperatures including my room, ALL the showers in the ladies changing room AND the showers in the Thalassotherapy room???
3. Complimentary water and juices are provided throughout the day if your lucky enough to pass one when there filled!!and every effort is made by staff to ensure these are replenished frequently, although on occasions there may be times throughout the day when restaurant staff are busy,you mean like always too busy for example, during the lunch time period and unable to refill jugs as quickly as one would expect.
4. Communal areas are cleaned twice daily and when necessary in between on a regularly basis cleared. We can only apologise you were inconvenienced yes i was inconvenienced having to walk one end of the building to the other leaving my friend sitting alone when we should have been relaxing after dinner in having to bring this matter to the attention of the desk and that the area was not found in a manner one should expect it to be presented in, my understanding it was tidied quickly.
5. The pool and lounge area again are cleaned twice daily and fitness staff tidy and replenish these areas as and when required throughout the day, we can only apologise you found the area to be in a state of disarray during your visit.
6. If the robe supplied was in the state you describe, a request to change the same would have been dealt with immediately my guest was too put off to ask for another, afterall in her opinion if that one was dirty what were the chances of the next being the same, no she prefered to use her beautifully laundered one from home. All robes are laundered after every use and we are somewhat disturbed to find that your guest was provided with a robe that was obviously totally unsuitable. Whilst guests can chose to wear their own robes we encourage the use of Champneys robes for the very reason that oils etc can cause staining if not dealt with promptly. Housekeeping monitor and check the state of repair and cleanliness of robes. Please accept our apologies that on this occasion this procedure appeared to have failed, remedy would have been available immediately.
7. All produce is delivered fresh to the resort. The Chef at Forest Mere uses a fish supplier market of repute and local to the area. This dish was served to several other guests and all comments regarding the meals were of a complimentary nature. It is with regret your meal disappointed you but please be reassured all food produce of this nature is supplied fresh. they were not freshly cooked prawns. the menu clearly states that guest should allow something like 20mins for each course to be prepared as everything is cooked fresh. My starter arrived within approx 6 mins and my main within 4-6 min of my plate being cleared.
8. The cutlery and china provided are checked NO they are not otherwise I would not have used the disgusting crockery at breakfast and monitored by the restaurant staff who discard any which appear to be chipped or cracked in any way. The cycle of china and cutlery turnover is quite high so we are disappointed to learn the checks in place failed and you were unfortunate to receive chipped and stained china . Staff have been informed of this unfortunate occurrence so that more vigilance can be placed on the monitoring of china and cutlery. Remedy would have been available immediately.
9. This point, is an unfortunate one in that staff had not ignored the rules for quietness in place, a guest had fainted requiring First Aid to be carried out hence the voices and running through the corridors. We are sorry this happened but we are sure you will understand the need for such urgency and of course this was beyond our control. Sure :T if that was the case when I was left alone to get dressed the therapist should of apologised and explained on her return, that is what I class as professional
10. We would dispute therapists try to rush treatments and more interested in sales speech. All our therapists are trained yeah trained to push as many products as possible, I mean the therapist even tried to sell me 4 products just for a head massage??? to provide a high standard of treatment and thereafter provide information about the products used so that guests may enjoy the ’Champneys ethos’ at home. An after treatment prescription is industry standard and in the main welcomed by spa users.
11. We do not have a Jacuzzi oh my mistake, I thought a round small pool with seats in and bibbles was a jacuzzi, I guess that makes it even worse then paying all that money to stay and they do not even have a jacuzzi!!, read the other complaints for god sake the pool is freezing and I am not the only one who thinks it it is a whirlpool and the water is 2 degrees above the water in the swimming pool. The swimming pool water is maintained at a constant temperature and as an exercise pool is not as warm as one would expect of a public pool which is used as a play activity and not necessarily for exercise purposes.
12. The instability of the sauna area has not been reported to the maintenance team, by the fitness /housekeeping staff who monitor this area, but this has now been investigated oh its been investigated but you want to stay sheepish as to whether there was a problem??and if necessary repaired. Thank you for bringing this to our attention as of course as part of our Health and Safety programme we do take matters such as this very seriously.
13. As stated previously although at the time in question the weather was sunny it was still chilly and guests often open and leave open doors and windows to experience the beautiful surroundings. We can only apologise this happened but the heating was on. Behind glass the rooms appear warm and again this may be why guests chose to open doors and windows. It is however a subjective test as to whether you feel the cold or heat. The piano room does feel warmer than other parts of the building as it catches the morning sun and the heat is maintained. Throughout the summer months, guests find this area too hot at certain times of the day, although others enjoy the warmth of the summer sun. Ok look perhaps its just me who finds it weird to walk around all day in a dressing gown and slippers with every door open and gusts of wind blowing through, not my idea of relaxing
14. Portering is a physical job but all staff are required to maintain a high standard of personal presentation and hygiene. If the lack of personal hygiene had been apparent to the porter’s work colleagues this would have been addressed as the resort does have the facility to allow personal ablutions to be undertaken. We are sorry if this particular member of staff did not achieve the highest level of personal standards.

Accepting you have raised a numerically high number of points they are subjective oh? but in the first reply received it was stated that some of my points were valid?and in our position as service provider do not fundamentally undermine the Spa resort experience we strive to deliver.
To address your further points concerning the complaint process. Any complaints are usually addressed to the General Manager and if not resolved appropriately then forwarded to me, whereby I undertake an investigation into the specific issues, as I have done in your case. I respond as soon as possible and normally within a 2 day period depending on the method of communication. Email and telephone conversations obviously allowing matters to be addressed more promptly than the conventional method of correspondence.
With regard to the allegation of encouraging members errrr I have not alleged you encourage staff to engage in online debate, I asked whether you discouraged it of staff to enter into the forum debate, this we can categorically deny. We do know that one of the forum participants is a friend of a member of staff and having discussed the issues raised by you, this person decided to put across her perception of Forest Mere. :rotfl:We are not adverse to open forums or discussions but expect our guests to be respectful as we are of them Im sorry were not friends this is business if we were mutually paying each other fair enough but I paid for a service. Communication is a two way thing and we have communicated with you at every instance. We do not accept the threads you have posted are a fair representation of the Forest Mere guests in fact we believe them to be of the contrary so I am a liar yet again and so are other unhappy guests, even though you have agreed that numerous points were valid?. Our statistic show that over a year we average some 40000 guests, with 96.6 % of guests completing on line questionnaires indicating they will return. Hmmm thats what you say!! and those are the people that could be bothered to do the questionnaire so hardly a good measure!! This we would suggest is a far better representation of guests opinions, who visit Forest Mere.
As previously stated we are sorry you did not enjoy your stay, we do not always get it right as our statistics support, but a high percentage of the time we do.
You state you paid some £500 and saved weekly for such a treat our records show you paid £126 for the accommodation including meals and use of facilities.:mad::mad::mad::mad: READ THE THREAD AGAIN I CLEARLY STATED THAT THIS AMOUNT INCLUDED TREATMENTS AND MY BREAK COST £150 NOT £127. I BOOKED THROUGH A THIRD PARTY NOT YOU???

Whilst there should be no bearing on the amount you paid as to the service you received, the remaining £315 you spent was treatments you chose to partake, paid for with vouchers and we are happy to accept this method of payment.WHAT why might you have not been happy to accept vouchers?????The forum debate you have created seems to imply something less than the truth
We have accepted your stay was not as you expected and we are very sorry. We failed to meet your expectations so on this occasion felt there was no point in trying to win you back in view of your actions. :rotfl:

Oh and just a further point, didnt our break include lunch... we did not get any??



Yours sincerely

OnTheUp_2-2

You think its well written that I have been accused of lying about several aspects of my complaint?

At the end of the day all i wanted was agenuine explaination and an apology... I certainly never asked the employees to come on here and pretend to be happy guests just to belittle my thoughts on my stay


I agree I am probably being a tad picky but I guess thats human nature when someone gets your back up

sharnad

I think that is a terrible response from someone who is supposed to be in customer services

She seems to be calling you a liar

KABurnett

I have not been on this website before, but all of this has really put me off doing so again. To put the record straight I am not an employee of Champneys but over many years of visiting I have friends there who told me about what you had done. I was so incensed when I read it I thought I would put forward my experience of Forest Mere as a loyal regular vistor.

mrcow

KABurnett wrote: »

I have not been on this website before, but all of this has really put me off doing so again. To put the record straight I am not an employee of Champneys but over many years of visiting I have friends there who told me about what you had done. I was so incensed when I read it I thought I would put forward my experience of Forest Mere as a loyal regular vistor.

You may like it as you have mates that work there, but there are quite a few unhappy customers here and plenty more who will never now be customers due to the slating that the place has had.

Champeys should take note - don't take your customers for granted. Even if you don't think they'll come back anyway. It's a well known fact, customers are more likely to talk about a bad experience than a good one.

The fact that Champneys still have not offered anything to this customer by way of a refund for their unhappy visit speaks volumes. You may think they are great - but from where many are sitting, they have shown themselves to be shoddy and uncaring.

pulliptears

mrcow wrote: »

You may like it as you have mates that work there, but there are quite a few unhappy customers here and plenty more who will never now be customers due to the slating that the place has had.

Champeys should take note - don't take your customers for granted. Even if you don't think they'll come back anyway. It's a well known fact, customers are more likely to talk about a bad experience than a good one.

The fact that Champneys still have not offered anything to this customer by way of a refund for their unhappy visit speaks volumes. You may think they are great - but from where many are sitting, they have shown themselves to be shoddy and uncaring.

Exactly, this thread has highlighted their greed and non existant customer services. Its a disgrace to them and any other firm would be bending over backwards to put things right!