To be absolutely fuming about a misleading holiday description?

[FickleFingerOfCake]

I will try to keep this short - after much research and deliberation I booked a last minute cottage holiday yesterday, for a holiday commencing this weekend. Part of the cottage description reads 'Parking: In public car park, weekly charge in summer'. However, when reading through the confirmation they sent through after booking it informed me that parking is £30/week Easter-October Now, I am pretty sure the last time I checked that it is not currently summer and October is not traditionally classed as a summer month.

The charges are set by the local National Park, which is fair enough, but I am just so cross that I was not made aware before booking. I've phoned the cottage company and the person I spoke to was fairly dismissive of my complaint and just kept reiterating that the charges were set by the National Park. I know!! I requested to speak to someone more senior and a manager has just called me back and was more understanding but still hasn't agreed to my request that they reimburse me the £30 so my overall holiday cost stays the same. We haven't had a proper family holiday in years and this is spoiling my anticipation and frankly making a hole in an already tight budget

AIBU??

Sorry but I think you are being unreasonable.

Hmm, assuming you knew which car park you would have to park in, I think you might have been able to check beforehand? Therefore, I don't think the holiday cottage company are at fault.

I agree that the wording is (deliberately?) ambiguous though.

October isn't a summer month, but I would naturally expect 'high season' to include Easter school holidays and the October half term, and wouldn't be surprised if that's what holiday lets go by.

They could have made it clearer, but I think it's the sort of thing that most people would question if it made a big difference, and as the charges are set by someone else, you did really have a responsibility to double check.

Its not summer, so they need to change the description.

Its a bit OTT for it to spoil your anticipation of the holiday though.

Yabu

Would you still have booked the holiday if you had known about the charge? If no then YANBU. If yes, then I still see your point BUT YABU in the sense that you admit it is ruining your "first family holiday" in years. Put it behind you and focus on looking forward to your holiday with your family.

Well, Easter to October is often viewed as the summer season, in tourist places. I can see why you are upset when it makes a big difference to your budget. But really it is not the cottage company's responsibility - you ought to have checked, with them or elsewhere, if this is such an important issue for you.

A holiday season usually runs from Easter to end of Oct. It should be made clear ere in their literature but the onus is on you to check.

If this was going to be such a deal breaker, perhaps you should have checked the National Park's website beforehand. The National Parks do sterling work in looking after the environment that you will no doubt enjoy whilst on holiday. They often rely on volunteers to do some of the practical work in protecting many of our beauty spots. Perhaps you should put your experience behind you and see this as your contribution towards our natural heritage. The letting company are not directly benefitting from the misunderstanding and you should probably just get over it. There are bigger rip offs out there.

Thanks for reading everyone, they have phoned back and are sending me a cheque for the £30. I fully realise that I was getting a bit aerated over this but I don't know the area at all and was inclined to believe the brochure description as given. The cottage company make much of being 'local experts' etc etc and are based in the area. If it had said something different like 'summer season' then I would have checked further, or they could just have said 'see National Park website for parking details' then I would have trotted off there to check before booking. The omission rankled. No one likes feeling like they've been deceived do they? However, I will now lighten up and commence packing. Think I can safely leave the suncream at home...

Thats good of them

actually you should take suncream, still enough UV to burn in the UK at the moment.

That is very generous of them, considering the don't own/run the carpark in question.

*they

We're in for some very mild, settled weather this weekend. Have a lovely time.

Hm. Well I think the company have been more than fair here. TBH I think you were being a bit nitpicking. 30 for a week's parking is not that bad.

I agree that it's a bit expensive and cheeky of them not to say upfront the charges and exactly when they are applied. I get annoyed too about this kind of thing. Glad you got your refund.

Easter-October is summer season for holidays, but then I live in a resort town so maybe that's why I know this.

what would you have thought they meant?

It's not nitpicking when you are on a TRULY tight budget 5foot

OP is there anywhere else to park? I bet there is.