Haven Mis-leading platinum standards!

shegirl

Unhappy_Camper wrote: »

Yeah, I see what you mean. However, I think they need to be more transparent with their representations. I would argue why do not show the model they gave us as a representation of the platinum range. The answer would be if they did, people would not pay to stay in that model.
so it's quite deceitful of haven really to rely on that term.

Like I said before, it's like advertising a porche and giving a golf because it has the same engine size, same entertainment system etc.

It's not going to be the same is it


Edit, just to say that I just googled the swift model and I would of been happy with that. We had a willerby model and it looked nowhere near as good

Swift model




Just found ours

Ok,going by the pics...

The second one is like the one you had?Including the central heating in the living room?If so it could be down as platinum.

Also,from the caravans I've seen at Haven (and me and ds are regulars lol) on sale I've seen many like yours down as platinum..it depends on the model.

It's hard to know where you stand because you can't really base it on the photo they put on their website.There are caravans of varying ages and models but that doesn't make the difference in itself.

The matress and such should have been dealt with while you are there,I've always found them more than accomodating if there are any problems

Unhappy_Camper_2

artichoke wrote: »

hi

i agree the pictures are not exactly the same but in terms of what facilites they have they look the same and are a big jump up from standard which is what you are stating in your original post. You need to find out exactly what sort of van the one was you stayed in. It is much higher spec than standard plus and to me looks like the pictures in the ad but just an older model. Have you got any more pix?

From what i can see in the pictures it has the same features as the ads but just a bit older maybe?

sofa's in the advert and in yours rather than fixed bench seating in standard and standard plus

a dining table + chairs in both rather than the table and bench seating in standard and standard plus

the TV looks a much more modern TV than in standard or standard plus...

it seems to have central heating radiators which you certainly don't get in standard or standard plus..

and it is definitely not 10foot wide as are standard...

so it seems it has all the advertised facilities but is just not as new as the one in the advert...

have you got any more pictures of the one you actually stayed in? from what i can see the kitchens look the same......was it dirty?

and why did you think a travel cot would fit in the bedroom? did they tell you it would ? I have been in many caravans and have never seen one that would fit a travel cot next to the bed....



I am not sure you will have a case about them although i can see you are upset it was not as new as the ones in the adverts..

was it on a better location on the park than the cheaper models? their advert claims the prestige are in in Prime positions on the park - can you tell us the location and we can look at the Haven map and see if we would regard it as prime or not??

You asked for our opinions so i am trying to look at it objectively...

art

Good post.

The model we stayed in was a 2010 willerby model from the platinum range so it is new. This is haven words not mine.

The sofas that we had that you see on the picture were actually wooden, screwed to the wall. They just had cushions on them so were not proper sofas like on the other pic. If you look the are extremely small and they were very uncomfortable. The wooden seated area ran along side the window where the tv was, which you can see in my pic near the top of this thread.

I assumed that the travel cot would of fitted in the bedroom because they advertise reams of space. I've never been to haven before so i have no experience of there caravan range. Haven even apologised and said they got it wrong not making us aware at time of booking that travel cots have to be in the main living area. Had we of known we would not have booked as our son was not going to be sleeping on his own at three months old.

Now if it was just us two, all of this wouldn't have been an issue. But with a young baby you are extremely limited to what activities you can do. This meant staying in the caravan more than say what an older family would do who would be out and about more. We usually go abroad but that being impractical we thought we would try haven. The platinum range look spot on in the adverts as you can see on here. That's why we booked, but we got the other.

As for the positioning, it was in Woburn. Which was miles from anything on the park. (sea front, main complex etc.)

So all in all, not good.

From what I can gather from people's opinions and experience is that the model we stayed in was a deluxe. Yes, it was wrong of me to claim it was more like a standard in my o.p but I was angry and as I say I haven no experience with haven caravans and was going by the pics.

Hope that answers some of the questions.

Thanks

adviceforall

Not all caravans have to have a travel cot only in the lounge, in ours we have one single bed that folds down under the other one so you can then fit a travel cot in one of the twin bedrooms which is what a lot of our guests do.
I hope this experience has not totally put you off staying in a caravan in the future.
Just to show what a difference can be between a normal camera and one that is professionally taken, top pic is our caravan , next photo is a professional one for the same caravan


Hope the photo's come out ok

adviceforall

this one is a better comparison


or the kitchen
professional photo then ours



It just goes to show what a difference a professional photo can make, makes things look a lot bigger

artichoke

hi advise for all

your caravan looks great - what site is it on and where do you advertise it?

art

Unhappy_Camper_2

adviceforall wrote: »

Not all caravans have to have a travel cot only in the lounge, in ours we have one single bed that folds down under the other one so you can then fit a travel cot in one of the twin bedrooms which is what a lot of our guests do.
I hope this experience has not totally put you off staying in a caravan in the future.
Just to show what a difference can be between a normal camera and one that is professionally taken, top pic is our caravan , next photo is a professional one for the same caravan


Hope the photo's come out ok

But even on your photo, it still looks good. I havn't been put off staying in a caravan. When I got home I found out I could of hired a private caravan that looked exactly like havens adverts, for half the price.
If I do go again, this is what I will do. I urge anyone else to book direct with the owner, at least you will know what you are getting.

Plus we didn't even use any of the haven fun pass facilities so we wouldn't miss them

Unhappy_Camper_2

adviceforall wrote: »

Not all caravans have to have a travel cot only in the lounge, in ours we have one single bed that folds down under the other one so you can then fit a travel cot in one of the twin bedrooms which is what a lot of our guests do.
I hope this experience has not totally put you off staying in a caravan in the future.
Just to show what a difference can be between a normal camera and one that is professionally taken, top pic is our caravan , next photo is a professional one for the same caravan


Hope the photo's come out ok

artichoke wrote: »

hi advise for all

your caravan looks great - what site is it on and where do you advertise it?

art

Seconded. Would be interested to know.

artichoke

Unhappy_Camper wrote: »

But even on your photo, it still looks good. I havn't been put off staying in a caravan. When I got home I found out I could of hired a private caravan that looked exactly like havens adverts, for half the price.
If I do go again, this is what I will do. I urge anyone else to book direct with the owner, at least you will know what you are getting.

Plus we didn't even use any of the haven fun pass facilities so we wouldn't miss them

We go to Haven quite a lot - if we are going for 7 days or so we book direct with the owner and make sure the van is good and in a good location for us..... and i have just booked 2 holidays via the sun offer but have gone for the basic - knowing it will be basic - but it will be fine for a cheap 3 night stay....

we have a dog so can only book standard or standard plus via Haven, but often get higher quality van when booking direct as some caravan owners who hae dogs themselves allow dogs in their more luxury vans... I have found some great deals when booking direct and would highly recommend it for longer length stays... I just wish all private owners website would let you search for pet friendly vans...

Haven is great for us - our kids are 5 and 7 and love the shows and love the pool, and love the beach - so Haven is perfect for a cheap family dog friendly holiday for us. We will have been to Haven 4 times this year by the end of this season - 2 private vans and 2 sun deals!

art

NoahsPennilessMummy

we have only been once to Haven and hated it.....the photo of the caravan you stayed in looks identical to the caravan we had at Caister and that was a Prestige.

shegirl

Unhappy_Camper wrote: »

Good post.

The model we stayed in was a 2010 willerby model from the platinum range so it is new. This is haven words not mine.

The sofas that we had that you see on the picture were actually wooden, screwed to the wall. They just had cushions on them so were not proper sofas like on the other pic. If you look the are extremely small and they were very uncomfortable. The wooden seated area ran along side the window where the tv was, which you can see in my pic near the top of this thread.

I assumed that the travel cot would of fitted in the bedroom because they advertise reams of space. I've never been to haven before so i have no experience of there caravan range. Haven even apologised and said they got it wrong not making us aware at time of booking that travel cots have to be in the main living area. Had we of known we would not have booked as our son was not going to be sleeping on his own at three months old.

Now if it was just us two, all of this wouldn't have been an issue. But with a young baby you are extremely limited to what activities you can do. This meant staying in the caravan more than say what an older family would do who would be out and about more. We usually go abroad but that being impractical we thought we would try haven. The platinum range look spot on in the adverts as you can see on here. That's why we booked, but we got the other.

As for the positioning, it was in Woburn. Which was miles from anything on the park. (sea front, main complex etc.)

So all in all, not good.

From what I can gather from people's opinions and experience is that the model we stayed in was a deluxe. Yes, it was wrong of me to claim it was more like a standard in my o.p but I was angry and as I say I haven no experience with haven caravans and was going by the pics.

Hope that answers some of the questions.

Thanks

I've never taken a baby to haven yet I knew the travel cots where meant to go in the living room.How did you book?It's always been mentioned online and in the brochures hence how I know.Was it over the phone?

The problem is,a lot of this is down to reading and knowing there will be differences.But also,that things such as towels,bedding mattresses and such like could easily have been sorted at the park.I know whenever I've had an issue it's been dealt with ie last year our beds were not made up and there was no sign of bedding.One quick call to the park reception (rather than walking over and yes the better vans are further away from the park-people don't pay extra to stand the chance of having noise at night) and they arranged for someone to come and make the beds up,which was done while we were out having fun