To still send an email?

[youarekidding]

I have been away with a friend and our 4 DC's for a last minute 4 night caravan holiday.

The site was great, entertainment great and in a beautiful location.

We however had a few 'niggles' about accomadation and false information and a complaint which was solved in resort when I indicated my intention to complain.

The main points are:

1. check in is 4pm. The sales office told us if we got there from 2pm there may a chance our van would be ready and we could check in early. We appreciated it was a 'may' but on arrival the receptionist was very rude to us about it and saying its the sales that always give that information and it's wrong.
   
   
2. On getting our caravan it only had 1 door whereas the 'typical' caravan of that spec shows 2 on the picture. It meant that there wasn't much air in the lounge but we are happy about the fact it was lovely and hot! weather.
   
   
3. When we made our beds some of the bedding was ripped, we were missing 2 pillowcases, the bathroom blind was broken and the freezer had no door. I rang the reception (OOH number). He told me the freezer would work with no door (it didn't), and he would arrange for the other things and a new freezer door to be sorted the next day. So friend and I had to makeshift cases out of towels. We went out the next day and on return reported to reception again as not sorted and said all our freezer food was ruined meaning we'd have to replace the food. Receptionist rolled her eyes, asked if we'd reported it to OOH security (I confirmed we had), she radioed maintenence who fixed the problems in half hour.
   
   
4. The next day the lovely receptionist was in and we were asking some directions to the beach and I mentioned the problems and asked if we needed to make a report with her as I would be emailing to claim back the cost of eating out due to ruined food. She gave us 3 ad and 3 ch vouchers to a meal in the restuarant (value £49). Obviously the food didn't cost the company as much to provide as the 'value' to us iyswim?
   
   
5. That night the computer crashed in the ents bar and so it was cancelled. I appreciate it's technology and although annoying this wasn't a biggy but just another thing on top of the others.
   
   We only paid £173 for the holiday and therefore the 'value' of the compensation, especially compared to the cost we paid for the ruined food! is great.
   
   We had a great holiday despite then problems and would return to the site again and use the company again.
   
   I just think if nothing is ever said then the same things will keep happening.
   
   AIBU to still send an email stating the problems?

[scotchmist]

If its a Haven site i wouldnt bother cuz they dont give a shit.

[FabbyChic]

YOu can do but be warned that they might never allow you to holiday there again, if you lightened the complaint with the enjoyable time you had it might work.

[HarrietJones]

I would , especially on customer services grounds. If they'd sorted you straight away with the freezer/bedding. If you'd paid full price/bad weather etc you wouldn't have been as happy.

[addictedtofrazzles]

You sound overly picky and should let it all go. You had a lovely holiday!
Yabu

[Shutupanddrive]

YANBU a freezer with no door? Wtf??? Send it

[youarekidding]

I would definately say how happy we were with the way it was eventually sorted. I don't think it would have been if I hadn't mentioned that we were planning on getting our money back.

Not Haven.

I don't want anything. We were only expecting the value of the ruined food back, although would have tried for the value of our meal we would have paid to eat out. We were going to a fish and chip shop restuarant which was £2.70 per child and £4.95 per adult meal. The ruined food was only £6 worth!

I wouldn't want to complain if they didn't allow us back, my friend won an adult singing contest there and is invited back for the park final, I would never risk her chances as that goes onto a national final.

I don't think it's being picky to expect enough pillow cases for pillows, a freezer that works and a blind left broken - which they new was broken and was replaced in 30 minutes. They should have done it all before we arrived.

I agree if we'd paid full price then it would have been even more annoying. A lady who arrived with us had paid £200 more for an extra 3 days (wk holiday). We didn't tell her what we'd paid.

I just agree with the poster above who said if you don't mention it they will keep doing it, although we had a 'value' compensation, the cost to the company was minimal and they can and probably will keep doing this.

BTW it was fridge with the freezer compartment - that was the bit with no door - not a whole freezer.

[youarekidding]

Oh and btw the weather was awful Thursday, ridiculous amount of rain but we went out and had a great day and then used the lovely indoor pool on site. The dampness encouraged millions a few earwigs in when we went to club, we left lights off, but they can't control the bugs. It was more the things they should have sorted and didn't.

[InstantAtom]

They will take no notice. Report it to Trading Standards instead.

[Kayano]

So they resolved your issues, gave you meal vouchers, you were satisfied with the holiday and they way it was dealt with...

And you still want to complain... Again? Jesus just leave it!

[youarekidding]

no I don't want to complain - if I did I would just sent an email. I want to email high lighting the problems but stating we were happy with how it was resolved. I think if vouchers are just given out in resort no-one beyond the resort will be aware. That's not solving the issues just making them less of an issue for guests.

As I said we loved the resort and would consider returning, we have discussed upgrading caravan and going for longer as we enjoyed it so much.

I am unsure whether there is gain in emailing to this effect or not?

[eversoslightlytired]

I would email saying that you enjoyed your time, would definitely return in the future, but just wanted to point out what happened just so that it doesnt happen to someone else. Like you said, if nobody pointed these things out, how are the company supposed to know that these things are happening at their caravan parks.

[39widow]

well i am guessing parkdean, or even if it isnt it could be someones caravan u are staying in - if u have already complained and enjoyed the holiday i would leave it

[ZillionChocolate]

Send in an email to give them some feedback so they can improve/train staff. Don't email to tell them it was the worst holiday ever and they've ruined your life and if they don't give you a million quid in the next twenty minutes then you're writing to watchdog.

[PerryCombover]

If you email a complaint like this you will be held up as an example of a customer who is never happy.
With each of the complaints they made an effort to sort them out in a timely manner
recompensed in kind for any loss.... which you accepted

They may have appeared rude in reception and that could be the thrust of your email.
Great holiday problems sorted out v quickly only problem really was rudeness and manner

[annieversaire]

If you'd be happy to go back then word it as such...say look, we loved it and will come again but please can you for the record sort out these issues as it will mean more of your customers will return.

they might take it as constructive criticism OTOH they don't sound like they care much and for the money I'm not surprised...it sounds cheap and nasty.

[follyfoot]

I would email them re your no. 3 complaint but the rest of the issues are so minor I think there would be no point bothering to even mention them.

[youarekidding]

Thanks ladies. That's exactly my reasons for emailing.

annieversaire summed it up in her first paragraph.

[lilmissminx]

I work in a hotel. Yes, you should email. Stating exactly what happened. Explain that you are satisfied with the eventual resolution, but that you feel the management need to be aware of some issues.
The caravans should be checked before you arrive: freezer / damaged bedding are not acceptable - someone isn't doing the job they are paid to do
Receptionist's attitude is shocking. She is representing the company and should behave as such.
We also explain to people that they can arrive early, but that accommodation may not be ready. This is not an inconvenience in any way, shape or form. It is either ready or it isn't. Simples.
I would want to know what my staff were doing when unsupervised. Imagine a mystery shopper's report on that stay

[PerryCombover]

annieversaire

good job! you managed to be mean about the cost and type of holiday. Well done for that.

[PicaK]

I think you should actually be writing a letter of praise for the receptionist who sorted things out. You got 49 quid of vouchers for 6 quid of food for heaven's sake.

Not having sufficient pillowcases is poor I admit.

[annieversaire]

Perry I don't understand if you're being sarky or not. I thought as I wrote it that it could be misconstrued as an attack on the OP but was too dozy to go back and edit. Sorry.

What I meant was the cost of the holiday was not huge - as the OP says - but when I've been to places where the cost is low, often the staff have pretty low morale, and the state of it was fairly nasty as the OP has described.

I wasn't attempting to pass judgment on the OP's choice of holiday but in a sense trying to say that where staff perceive their job as low paid, they won't care very much about doing it well.

It's a shame as it sounds like with a bit of effort it could be a nice place to go.

[annieversaire]

our flat is like that. The LL said to me, well I'm not going to bother fixing it up. It's cheap, so if you don't like it, find somewhere else.


I don't mind cheap and nasty though

[SquidgyBiscuits]

Honestly-

You chose to arrive before the check in time. Do you not realise that they have little time between one family vacating a caravan and another arriving to clean it properly, especially given that on a site, there will be numerous caravans to clean and service at the same time.

Did you tell anybody on site that you were disappointed that the caravan only had 1 door? Have you checked the small print of your booking confirmation, as I'm fairly sure it will say that the caravan spec is not confirmed or guaranteed. They cannot resolve that particular issue now. I work in hotels, and the amount of guests that complain about something like that after the event is unbelievable. Tell us at the time and we can at least try to resolve it.

You called an out of hours line regarding some maintenance issues. The maintenance team will be, I guarantee it, overstretched. It was out of hours, and all resolved the next day. I think that's actually pretty good. You complained about that to the receptionist who offered you compensation, which you accepted. Your food in the freezer was £6. I can guarantee that it cost them more than £6 to feed the 6 of you in their restaurant.

Technology problems happen. Nobody's fault.

Really, sending an email would do nothing other than highlight you as a moaner. Whenever I receive such letters, they get a standard "thank you, your feedback is valued" reply and tossed into the tray of nutter letters.

[youarekidding]

The cost of the holiday was because it was a last minute cheap deal eg. better to get some money than not at all. Full price was C£350 for same deal.

There were people who paid £400 for a week, are you saying they should get better service because they paid more? Surely not, a caravan spec is just that, a spec of what to expect regardless of the cost.

pika I have every intention of praising 5 specific members of staff highly. the receptionist, the bar manager, and the 2 entertainers and randomly the lifeguard! (he was just a lovely friendly guy!).

The jacuzzi wasn't working either but I am not mentioning that as it didn't have a direct impact on us, yes we would have used it but didn't miss out by not iyswim? The general state of the caravan was poor, mouldy around shower base, edges of cupboards hanging off, mouldy curtains in one bedroom. None of this was an issue, we weren't expecting the ritz in regards to accomadation just the basic facilities to be working. TBH I don't mind cheap and nasty either - its all I can afford.

lilmiss You have understood what I'm getting at. The problem is I used to be a rep. I know how hard it is for site staff/ resort staff when they can offer a free meal as they also know it won't stop it happening. Its as unfair on them as it is the paying customer. I use to encourage guests (in a shit hole I repped!) to complete a from with me in resort and I would do something nice for the problems. I would say though to write to the head office so they could get onto the hotel. I always got copies of any letters sent and all said how shit the hotel were but how the reps/ kids club and entertainers made it bearable. It actually made me feel good!