Getting a refund for mis-sold holiday

Anon1978

Hi All,

We went on holiday earlier this summer with our 2 daughters. We paid for a 6 berth Silver Plus caravan.

Unfortunately the caravan had many issues, not least the fact it wasn't 6 berth, it was only 4 berth. We expected a pull out bed in the lounge area, but there was none. Although there were only 4 of us, our eldest daughter would have liked her own room, and we had paid for a 6 berth.

We had many other issues also, including that the caravan was dirty, smelled awful, the door had a massive gap at the top, the oven door didn't shut properly so cooking in it took a lot longer than it should, most the utensils were broken or missing, and the mattresses were filthy and you could feel every spring through them. Although the utensils were replaced immediately, and the door was fixed as well as they could (but still a gap), the fix for the mattresses was extra duvets, the oven didn't even get looked at, and the only comment I got about the lack of bed in the lounge was "if it's screwed down it's probably been removed". One guy actually said to me "look at it this way, at least all these things will be sorted for the next people" - oh good, that makes me feel better!!

On top of all this, we paid for a silver plus, and they insisted this is what we got. However, reading the description they give for the silver plus they say it's more spacious than a standard caravan (it was actually the smallest I've ever been in, including the tiny lounge, kitchen and bedrooms), and fixtures are of higher spec (the oven was broken and nothing on it suggested it was higher spec than standard, the fridge had the tiniest freezer possible and no shelves in the door for open milk bottles etc, and was also small, so nothing to make it higher spec, the microwave was tiny, with nothing to make it higher spec, and the TV was small). I wouldn't suggest this is higher specification in any way. Therefore, I dispute it was a Silver Plus, but more like a Bronze. We didn't get anything as advertised.

I've made official complaints to their head office by email. However, all they offered is a 7 night off peak stay at almost any of their sites. This is no good to us - it was a family holiday, we have school age kids, and can't holiday off peak. I've advised them of this, and re-iterated all of the issues, which were reported during our weeks stay multiple times so it's not as if we've just gone, had a holiday, then come home and tried to get it for free - we gave them ample opportunity to sort everything out while we were there.

A receptionist (I assume) from the site itself has now come back and said all they can offer is a voucher at the price we paid for our holiday so that we can pay towards a holiday at any time, or a 50% refund on the holiday.

Am I wrong to expect more than this, i.e. a full refund. They say they can only pay back 50% as we did stay there, however, we didn't get the holiday we paid for. We couldn't very well just leave and go home as it wouldn't have been fair on the kids and would have ruined their only holiday of the year. Again, I went in every day to complain about the issues, but apart from the door and utensils nothing was done (oh, and duvets that made absolutely no difference).

Just wondering what other's thoughts are? Do I have a case of mis-selling / false advertising (or similar)?

[Deleted User]

I think what they've offered is fine. You didn't up and leave you stayed for your holiday and they couldn't reuse the accommodation.

tacpot12

I think their offer of a 50% refund is fair. I'd accept it asap.

photome

Anon1978 wrote: »

Hi All,

We went on holiday earlier this summer with our 2 daughters. We paid for a 6 berth Silver Plus caravan.

Unfortunately the caravan had many issues, not least the fact it wasn't 6 berth, it was only 4 berth. We expected a pull out bed in the lounge area, but there was none. Although there were only 4 of us, our eldest daughter would have liked her own room, and we had paid for a 6 berth.

We had many other issues also, including that the caravan was dirty, smelled awful, the door had a massive gap at the top, the oven door didn't shut properly so cooking in it took a lot longer than it should, most the utensils were broken or missing, and the mattresses were filthy and you could feel every spring through them. Although the utensils were replaced immediately, and the door was fixed as well as they could (but still a gap), the fix for the mattresses was extra duvets, the oven didn't even get looked at, and the only comment I got about the lack of bed in the lounge was "if it's screwed down it's probably been removed". One guy actually said to me "look at it this way, at least all these things will be sorted for the next people" - oh good, that makes me feel better!!

On top of all this, we paid for a silver plus, and they insisted this is what we got. However, reading the description they give for the silver plus they say it's more spacious than a standard caravan (it was actually the smallest I've ever been in, including the tiny lounge, kitchen and bedrooms), and fixtures are of higher spec (the oven was broken and nothing on it suggested it was higher spec than standard, the fridge had the tiniest freezer possible and no shelves in the door for open milk bottles etc, and was also small, so nothing to make it higher spec, the microwave was tiny, with nothing to make it higher spec, and the TV was small). I wouldn't suggest this is higher specification in any way. Therefore, I dispute it was a Silver Plus, but more like a Bronze. We didn't get anything as advertised.

I've made official complaints to their head office by email. However, all they offered is a 7 night off peak stay at almost any of their sites. This is no good to us - it was a family holiday, we have school age kids, and can't holiday off peak. I've advised them of this, and re-iterated all of the issues, which were reported during our weeks stay multiple times so it's not as if we've just gone, had a holiday, then come home and tried to get it for free - we gave them ample opportunity to sort everything out while we were there.

A receptionist (I assume) from the site itself has now come back and said all they can offer is a voucher at the price we paid for our holiday so that we can pay towards a holiday at any time, or a 50% refund on the holiday.

Am I wrong to expect more than this, i.e. a full refund. They say they can only pay back 50% as we did stay there, however, we didn't get the holiday we paid for. We couldn't very well just leave and go home as it wouldn't have been fair on the kids and would have ruined their only holiday of the year. Again, I went in every day to complain about the issues, but apart from the door and utensils nothing was done (oh, and duvets that made absolutely no difference).

Just wondering what other's thoughts are? Do I have a case of mis-selling / false advertising (or similar)?

If it was that bad thats exactly what you could have done, if it didnt ruin the kids holiday then I suggest any refund is ok.


What is the price difference between a basic 4 berth and the 6 berth you paid for, that is what I would be asking for as a refund not a credit.


I do think expectations need to be low on some of these sites though, I went to Pontins about 30 years ago, my god it was awful

macman

If you booked a 6-berth and were given a 4-berth, why didn't you simply reject it upon arrival?

Alias_Omega

I would have thought you were only eligible for a refund of the difference between a 4 and 6 berth.

6 berth cost, minus, 4 berth cost = return value

LeicsRed

Thanks for the replies. I guess the opinion is fairly unanimous

With regards to the price difference between the 4 and 6 berth, if it was just that then I'd have been happy with what they offered me in the first place (though still of little use being off peak). However, it was that in addition to all the other issues, of which there were many. I'm not sure what the price difference is as we always go for 6 berth. We didn't notice straight away because my daughters wanted to share a room at first, but it was so cramped our eldest decided she wanted her own bed, which is when we found out there wasn't a pull out bed in the lounge.

It's not as if we didn't give them plenty of chance to rectify it - we'd been into reception every day detailing the issues, they just continued to insist we were in the correct caravan (i.e. Silver Plus, despite it not matching the description in any way), and didn't do much to rectify most of the other problems.

It didn't ruin the kids holiday too much because we spent a lot of the day times out of the caravan - we'd made plans for most days to go out to local attractions so going home would have ruined all of those. So we preferred to stay and try and get them to fix the issues.

We've always holidayed in the UK, almost always in static caravans, and ha ve never had problems as bad as this. There was one time where, when I was younger, my parents made a complaint about a problem, they were very apologetic and moved us to another upgraded caravan immediately. At this place however there were no apologies, and the most that was said about the lack of bed in the lounge was from a maintenance guy sat back with his feet on the desk saying "if it's screwed down then it's been removed". That helps.

theonlywayisup

LeicsRed wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I guess the opinion is fairly unanimous

With regards to the price difference between the 4 and 6 berth, if it was just that then I'd have been happy with what they offered me in the first place (though still of little use being off peak). However, it was that in addition to all the other issues, of which there were many. I'm not sure what the price difference is as we always go for 6 berth. We didn't notice straight away because my daughters wanted to share a room at first, but it was so cramped our eldest decided she wanted her own bed, which is when we found out there wasn't a pull out bed in the lounge.

It's not as if we didn't give them plenty of chance to rectify it - we'd been into reception every day detailing the issues, they just continued to insist we were in the correct caravan (i.e. Silver Plus, despite it not matching the description in any way), and didn't do much to rectify most of the other problems.

It didn't ruin the kids holiday too much because we spent a lot of the day times out of the caravan - we'd made plans for most days to go out to local attractions so going home would have ruined all of those. So we preferred to stay and try and get them to fix the issues.

We've always holidayed in the UK, almost always in static caravans, and ha ve never had problems as bad as this. There was one time where, when I was younger, my parents made a complaint about a problem, they were very apologetic and moved us to another upgraded caravan immediately. At this place however there were no apologies, and the most that was said about the lack of bed in the lounge was from a maintenance guy sat back with his feet on the desk saying "if it's screwed down then it's been removed". That helps.

Are you the OP?

LeicsRed

Yeah, that's weird

I had to create a new account on another computer because I couldn't seem to get into this account, but now on old computer (other one packed in couple of days ago, can't get it working), browser must have had details saved and didn't realise or check, just posted reply. Sorry for confusion