Darwin Escapes, Hoseasons and Woodside-Bay

steviebuk

So this is my letter of complaint sent to Hoseasons after our recent holiday at one of the parks they are the booking agents for.


I doubt anything will come of it. Why should customers spend their holiday having to report every single issue in the lodges. Like the fact after complaining about the first lodge, you'd think they'd make sure everything would be fine in the 2nd lodge but nope. And then to not come and check the chemicals in the hot tub every day, surely that's a health and safety breach.

Then to top it off in the last lodge all the rubbish from the previous guests was left outside. I requested someone come and take it away. Assured someone would, no one did.


I've written to the General Manager of Woodside-Bay and she's not interested. She said her and Darwin Escapes are no further comment other than what was said when I was at the park.

We stayed at the Woodside-Bay site from the 19th May until the 28th May.
This was for my partners 30th birthday on the 28th.


We arrived on the 19th to find the lodge quite cramped considering it cost alot more than the other lodges. The so called ensuite bathrooms were wardrobes converted to bathrooms. Then we wandered into the main bathroom. This was when we discovered it stunk of !!!!. Not wanting to ruin the trip and being tired from the journey we ignored it for the evening until the next day.

That was when we spent most of Sunday trying to sort out a resolution. First the maintenance guys came to which I was greeted with "Come for your smelly bathroom". I'm all for lightening the mood but then when he went into the bathroom, exaggerated a sniff and said "I can't smell anything", didn't help the situation. So essentially you're saying I'm imaging it, I'm lying. I said nothing. The young guy was polite however and said he could smell it. I let them pour whatever it was down the toilet, although I knew it would do nothing. It was obvious the smell was because a kid had !!!!ed all over the floor and its been left to soak in.

They left claiming that would fix the issue. 5 mins later the smell was back. I called reception again, asking just to be moved. Was told they'd speak to maintenance again. I didn't want maintenance again, I just wanted to be moved. When maintenance came back. I told them it is pointless pouring the liquid again, it's clearly soaked into the floor. The young guy said he could smell it and that it had gotten worse. They went out the side to check under the lodge. After a while the young guy came back in with someone different. An older guy who checked and agreed he could smell it. I asked about being moved again and he said he’d speak to reception.

Having to wait again wasted more of the Sunday as no one from reception called. I called reception to asked to be moved. I was told everywhere was booked as I’d asked to be moved to a Yaverland lodge. I said that was odd because Hoseasons was showing the Yaverland lodges to be free.

Waited again after being told they’d called back. No one did. Every time I had to call them wasting my Sunday waiting for them to fix the issue.

Eventually a lodge was found, but again, I had to call them to find this out. We’d given up and gone out at that point. When we got back we moved as soon as we could. Despite this technically being a downgrade in lodge, price wise and space we were thankful to get away from lodge 82.

The new lodge 68, looked cleaner. However, clearly no one bothered to actually check it over fully. And this is the main issue. No one checks the lodges. It appears to be left up to the customers to check. Essentially all customers become free labour for Darwin Escapes and Hoseasons. As the customer is expected to report all issues. I’m not going to waste my holiday having to report every issue.

The new lodge required a UV-C bulb for the hot tub, this would of been spotted if someone was checking it every day, no one was. Which is odd as it’s a requirement under Health and Safety for public spa pools.

The block of knives were all rusted. The dishwasher had no salt and all the plates etc were left in it. None of the locks worked on the bathrooms. And the TV in the bedroom had sync issues then just stopped working. Also the TVs were registered under the previous guests. No one noticed this for over a day until I told them. I could of purchased several movies under their account. I informed reception of this. They changed the name but said on check out the movies are paid so the name issue would of been picked up then.

My point was. The TVs were registered under the past customers name. A person could of purchased and watched movies using their account. On checkout all is asked is “Did you watch any movies?”, to which the person could of just said no. If they then pointed out that movies were watched in that lodge, the person could simply say “Not under my account name” It not being that person's name on the account, that customer could quite rightly refuse to pay.

Then we come to the end of the holiday and decide we’d like to stay a few more days, despite the issues. I call up reception to see if there is an option to give us a large discount due to the issues. I was told no. We’d be moved as requested and if there were other issues they should of been mentioned. Again, why should I waste my holiday having to report all issues. I was also told they were fully booked again but I pointed out Hoseasons was showing them as free. We were told to speak to Hoseasons as the park had no way of booking these with their system.

I called Hoseasons. Again was told no discount would be given, especially as it was a bank holiday. I managed to get hold of the Woodside-Bay park General Manager despite being told she’d be unavailable as was in meetings all day. She was polite and explained clearly why we couldn’t book the room or give a discount. But told me to call Hoseasons and asked to be put through to complaints. I did but Hoseasons support wouldn’t put me through, just told me they couldn’t give a discount either.

I called Darwin, as the General Manager of the park said she’d speak to their account manager. This time and whoever I spoke to essentially said (and I have most of the recordings of all my calls made while away) Darwin Head Office only care about the park where they are, you need to speak to the manager of the park you are at. I gave up with that call.

Eventually, while trying to book those extra 2 nights and getting no help from Hoseasons, I got a call from Darwin. They apologised but again said they couldn’t give a discount. I told them of all the issues. The fact if you run a UV light across the bathrooms of the lodges you see no one cleans the walls and more. I was still told they couldn’t discount. I was told the person that could authorise this was there and is refusing a discount. Mainly because it was a bank holiday and the park was full.

So we reluctantly booked at the at the inflated Bank Holiday price. What happens the very next day? The price is dropped £100 and the park ISN’T showing as full.

To say I was annoyed is an understatement. After having been told by everyone that no discount would be given.

Then to top this all off, we move into this new lodge, lodge 15. Clearly no one realised I was coming back as this lodge was booked in my name and not my partners. The lodge is almost 1min walk from where you park the car. And outside the lodge was all the rubbish and linen from the previous guests, again, because no one is hired to go round the park and check the lodges on turn around. It is all left up to the customers. I called reception to ask if someone could come and remove this. I was told someone would be over shortly. No one ever came. The rubbish and linen stayed there for the rest of the two nights we were there. This, despite them requesting guests not leave rubbish out at night because of the local wild life.

This was the final straw. We’d had enough at the end of this. It ruined my partners 30th celebration and we’ve decided we’re never going back.

I appreciate some help was given in moving to another lodge in the first issue. But no one called me while I was trying to sort this out. I had to call everyone. And when we moved into the new lodge no one called to check everything was fine. Why should customers be expected to report all issues. The excuse from reception that “It is a large park” isn’t valid. You hire more people to do the checks.

I also note the park now charges for movies. When we were there last year, most were free. Seems odd considering how poor the Internet is and how poor the TV signal is. At least give your guests concessions of free movies.

I’m really disappointed in the state of the lodges and how we were treated by Hoseasons and Darwin escapes.

Here are some videos people might find of interest.

https://youtu.be/UuEfYzQ-U5c
https://youtu.be/aAAQbh2yKGw
https://youtu.be/P0VSVxQnlK4
https://youtu.be/YDisKBoNo8M

steviebuk

More annoyed by the response of the General Manager. Considering all the problems continued after the first issue. Why should anyone have to spend their holiday report all the issues effecting a lodge. Surely they should actually pay people to check them over.


After suggesting that someone should go round, on turn around, and check each lodge she did say "We don't currently do that but it is a good idea that we my implement in the future". Surely it should of been implemented ages ago. It's what hotels do with supervisors.

kingfisherblue

Sorry, I gave up reading it. Too much waffle. You're more likely to get a better response if you stick to the facts rather than emotion. Maybe bullet points would be better.

steviebuk

True but have to leave as is now as was getting close to the 28 days limit for sending in a complaint.

steviebuk

Hoseasons have essentially said they aren't interested as the original issue was fixed. That they do expect customers to spend their holiday reporting other issues. Even issues before you've checked in and had a chance to look. Even more worrying in is at least someone at Dawin Escapes doesn't understand that ALL hot tubs come with UV-C bulbs. She said "none of the hot tubs have them". Then why was our one showing a UV-C error all week? This is for water treatment. The fact maintencnce ignored it must mean they weren't checking chemical levels every day which they are required to.