to ask for money off for a crap B&B stay???

[Poohbah]

I didn't get it though.....

Basically I paid £300 for a three night stay at a B&B (double room) in cornwall which was advertised as a family friendly hotel with a swimming pool and tennis courts.

The room was okay but had stained walls, a broken window, no decent view, poor products, no hair dryer, poor/non existent room service, a rickety stool which my son fell off and ended up with cut face.

The swimming pool was warm but the bottom was dirty and all the buoyancy aids were horrible and the roof leaked when it rained and there were garden snails inside the pool shed and it needed painting. The tennis courts were covered in childrens ride on toys which sounds great but the wire fencing was falling down so therefore dangerous to a four year to go near. It was all shabby and sad.

Also the owner made my son cry when he when in a room only designated for adults, although we didn't realise it as it had a billiards table in it so thought it safe for him to go there. Odd because he doesn't usually cry when told off by random others - I didn't hear what /how she told him off though. I asked for £80 off as the place was so horrible but the owners (a husband and wife) ganged up and basically barred my way out of the hotel until I paid up, stating that "This is cornwall" so what did I expect...I told them exactly what I expected but then they became quite horrible. I was there alone with my son and the place had no mobile reception so I caved in.

[Poohbah]

Wow, cumfy, I don't quite know what you are on about but it sounds excellently devious

Sethsstarkaddersmum - Cold comfort farm is one of my favourite books - love the nickname!!!!

[Wringford]

I would like to set the record straight!
The £300 booking was for a king size room for 2 adults and 1 child. For a huge room in the middle of August in a popular holiday area this is not expensive. The room is very large and has a king size bed, a 3 seater sofa, a recliner and a full size TV, with fridge etc. The bathroom is also large with seperate shower cubicle and power shower. The room rate was based on 2 adults and no charge was made for the child.

The window was not broken, it is a tilt and turn and the guest may not have realised. Though the room is so large there are 8 windows so not being able to open one would not be a problem. The view is over the rock garden and a fountain from one side, the couryard from the other and the fields and valley from the bathroom - however we would never sell a room on its view!

We are a B&B, as such we do not provide room service (or have ever said that we do) The same applies to hair driers. the stool was not rickety, but was a dressing table stool and so quite small as it tucks underneath the dressing table. It is certainly not stron enough to be used as play equipment by a 4 year old as it will fall over if not sat on properly.

The swimming pool is cleaned by a sand filter
and every day the sand in the pool gets topped up by children returning from the beach! meaning that when the pool has not been used for a while (1 hour is enough) fine sand may settle on the bottom, it is not dirt. By morning the sand has been filtred out again ready for the next top up. The swimming pool roof does leak a little when it rains a lot - the alternative is to remove the roof and have an open air pool - we decided to leave the cover in place as it keeps the water warmer and extends the number of weeks the pool can be used.

There may have been snails inside the pool area - the pool is in a field and they can creep in overnight. we do take them back outside again when we see them. We also may have newts, frogs and toads and sometimes grass if the grass area outside has just been cut. However the pool isconstantly filtred and skim cleaned twice a day. children will be children.

! week before this guest arrived a car had ploughed in to the tennis court fence, and on to the court. there is a note op apogogy on the reception desk - we are waiting for it to be fixed (not helped by the car driver being from Belgium and only just returning home now)

The son was not made to cry at all. he was playing alone in an adult only roonm (because it contains darts and billiard cues), his mother was some distance away still at the breakfast table. the little boy was alone, totally unsupervised. I held out my hand and said "lets go and find mummy" - he burst into tears - there was nothing done to provoke this I can only assume he didnt want to leave the room.

I feel that I should have expected this review, the guest made it quite clear that it I didnt reduce the price she would write as many bad reviews as she could in as many places. Not very nice of her. As I refused to cave in to blackmail I tried to stay calm and insisted that she paid. The real issue seem to be the money and the rest seems to be a mostly unjustifed rant. the guest knew the price at the time of booking, no charge was made for the child.

Several times the guest complained abut how much it had cost her to attend the wedding. H

The guest made no complaint over the 3 days of her stay. She only complained as she left and that seemed mostly to be about the cost. She did try to leave without paying , telling me to invoice her. She didnt "cave in", she paiid when I pointed out that this would be theft.

Reading all the comments on this page makes me feel sad that people are so very quick to believe the worst and happy to add their own negative comments. We have many families who come back year after year. we do our best to ensure they have a good time.

i think this guest may have been unhappy before she arrived as she had come without her partner/husband. If this is the case we didnt stand a chance of making her happy.

We really are good at looking after families - please come and see for yourseves and dont judge us on one bad review.

[tortoiseonthehalfshell]

Oh, goody, I was hoping the B&B would turn up here.

[Wringford]

I have never posted a review on trip advisor or encouraged people to post fake ones on my behalf.


If you actually took the time to read my reply properly you would surely become aware of the main fact in all of this - the guest did not make any complaint at all until she was told that we would not reduce her bill by £80.

[pinkfizzle]

Wringford - why do you assume that the op was not happy because she did not have a partner?

And as you have assumed that, that was the case, you then state that you did not have a chance of making her happy.

I find that all very odd, perhaps you dismissed her and thought you would not give her any customer service, as why would you when you have assumed that you can not make her happy and that she is someone unhappy because she did not have a partner at her side?

You should have refunded the guests money - rather than threaten her with being a thief - if she had asked to be invoiced.

I would suggest you check out the reviews for the top B&B's on Trip Advisor, not to plagiarise them, but to learn a thing or two.

The point is - she made a complaint - she made it before she left, you could have sorted it - you chose not to.

[Wringford]

I did not assume anything - I said "I think" and "may" - comments with the benefit of hindsight when you are struggling to make sense of why someone would be so negative. I suppose I was trying to find reasons to excuse her! I enirely accept that I may be wrong and she may have been perfectly happy.

I do not know of any B&Bs that invoice guests after their stay - but it is a novel idea.

No one will refund a guests money if there is not a genuine complaint. I state again, there was no complaint until I refused to offer a discount.

Must we all live in fear of being bullied on the internet if we do not respond to threats?

You are right she made a complaint before she left - I did try to sort it. There was nothing I could do or say. having said that unless I reduced her bill by £80 she would write a terrible review, she really left no room for negotiations!

It may be that some people would give in to blackmail - but I have chosen not to - it might have been easier if I had allowed her to blackmail me - but she may well have then written a bad review anyway.

I think it is what you call a no-win situation.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

To be fair, as none of us other than the OP has stayed at the B&B I don't think we can judge.

Just because she is a mner, doesn't mean she is right . Some of the stuff she said was a bit OTT, and the B&Bs response on here was pretty reasonable, and seem to adequately explain away many of her complaints.

Seems a bit unfair to vilify a business on MN because one person has had what they perceive to be a negative experience.

[traceybath]

Yes itsallgoingtobefine - I would agree with you normally but but but the line about not being happy because not having a partner with her - oh dear oh dear oh dear.

[saintlydamemrsturnip]

Agree with it'sallgoingtobefine.

That could mean that the guest complained about being alone though tracebath (bit of an odd thing to say without reason- I doubt the B&B thinks women can only be happy if accompanied by a man).

[iLikeDots]

Is this a wind up??

[pinkfizzle]

Well the simple point is if you had refunded the money - then you would not be in this position.

I mean you have admitted that the roof leaks near the pool, the tennis court is a mess, that one window out of 8 may not have opened.

It is a bit like if you go to dinner and the food is really bad - well you can mention it and you have have some of the cost deducted from the bill. Not very novel, I have heard of hotels, B&B's doing similar. I do not think it is very novel.

The pictures on trip advisor look pretty shabby, IMO.

[MisSalLaneous]

Until I got to the line where single = unhappy I might have felt some sympathies for the b&b owner. You lost me there though, very judgemental!

Also, on the "room service" point - if OP meant room making bed and quick clean of bathroom etc - of course it should be done daily?! Any b&b's we've ever stayed at had that. Ordering dinner to the room is something else, of course, but from later posts it seems the OP meant the former. Could owner clarify?

I do agree that guests should complain as soon as possible, but also, customer service is perhaps something these owners should work on.

I know I won't risk staying somewhere with this kind of reviews / replies to reviews. Sorry, just not a risk I'd be willing to take.

[pinkfizzle]

Yes having had a look at the response to the reviews on Tripadvisor this is an establishment that I would stay away from.

I also find it odd that the positive reviews are from new or singular reviewers.

[ivykaty44]

Good customer service is hard to find at times - this lady of a guest house when given a bad report - and there are three reports on trip advisor which are not good - the owner instead of opening the arena for making good, she defends.

Unfortunatley defense is not good when it comes to customer service, you need to get to the route of the problem with a customer and find out what you can do to put the situation correct.

for what can I do to put the situation right - a free meal a free bottle of wine, will often be met with either a no thanks or a thank you that would be good.

the British are rubbish at complaints and when they are offered reward for complaining - they often shun the reward or are wary...

To the owner of the b&b I would advice you actually taking soem note of the coments leeft on trip adviser and seeing if there is something you can do to put things right for others

A note to say thank you for the comments we will try to re paint and get hairdryers in the rooms - what a good idea

or we shall fix the roof over the pool which leaks as that isn't good and thank you for pointing that put to us - we rarely get time to swim for being busy working!

defense casues more upset and show you are not really good at customer srvice when things go wrong

i want to go and stay soemwhere nice i am not worried if they get htings worng but if it was pointed out and they made excuses -I wouldn't be happy.

i hope this all makes sense to you, one thing I did learn from from years of differnet customer service courses and practice on the public is how to make them happy and how to put thngs right when things go wrong

[pinkfizzle]

Hi Toughasoldboots - I do believe that it is illegal for someone to stop you leaving the premises - if indeed you provide your name and address and you have complained.


I wonder if a solicitor could come on and clarify the position?

Just one other point - I would have been really annoyed if the B&B had not bothered to fix a leaky roof.

[neytiri]

omg - wringford, you are coming across as a bit, well weird and scary unable to take any kind of criticism!

[neytiri]

...and i'd be more likely to believe the 'positve' reviews on trip advisor if it wasn't for the fact that looking at the pictures featured on the website, sorry but i've lived in nicer accommodation as a student!

harsh thing to say, but honest i'm afraid.

[Marchpane]

I am amazed that the B&B owner is trying to justify why things are poor or explain things from their point of view not the guests.

Instead of spending time defending every criticism why not fix them? It is a valid point if a customer raises it. To dismiss criticism is at worst foolish because you'll just get future instances and at worst rude and disrespectful which is not how I'd like to be treated.

Wringford you say you have not written any of the reviews on Tripadvisor. Has your co-owner written any?

[backwardpossom]

ivykaty44's post is excellent. Take heed, Wringford...

[WhatTheWhat]

IvyKaty - you're completely right. I would never ask for money off for a bad stay, I would simply never go there again. And I would certainly write a poor review, but then, I have many reviews (good and bad) to my (other) name on Tripadvisor, so it would not be seen as a hatchet job.

My aunt used to work in advertising and she used to train companies to take care of people who complain, because they do so in order to try to get something that they care about to improve. They're a business' best friend! You can guarantee that if that one person has complained, AT LEAST 10 more have gone away unhappy. Usually the rule is also that they tell 10 people that they were unhappy, but here, the number is obviously far greater than that. Whoops!

Incidentally, Tripadvisor is my bible. Even though I might apply a pinch of salt to the comments, I would certainly heed every single poor review. Especially recent ones.

OP - shame about your hols, but Cornwall is LOVELY!!! Please do go back! The nicest B&B I have found, which is along similar lines, but with less play equipment, is Nanscawen www.nanscawen.com/ (and no, I don't own it!). Last time I went (which is a while ago, but still) the lovely owner chap made fresh scones, tea and homemde jam for us weary travellers. And it did not appear on the bill!!! Pure class.