AIBU to think we were miss sold this short break by Haven?

[givemebooks]

I could really do with some advice with how to take this complaint we made to haven holidays forward

Just before the may bank holiday we looked for last minute getaways in the UK and we found a good deal for 4 nights min to fri to Haven Church Farm.

Even more great as we wanted to check the site and look in to buying our own caravan at haven

So i contacted Haven by chat as last year we discovered that both my son and husband were Coeliac so i want to check if the site did any gluten free food

As this was a break to relax!! Quick breakfast at the van but main meals would be at the restaurant while the kids enjoyed the pool and other facilities.

I was assured that they provide gluten free options and could ask for the menu or the allergy list in the restaurant, so we booked

Drove from yorkshire to sussex and arrived van was nice and we were happy we headed to to main complex and had a drink decided to ask about the gluten free menu or allergy list to look over while we settled in with a drink and order later.

The young lad on the bar just said we dont do gluten free stuff sorry!?

I was a bit shocked as so far we had never been anywhere that could not do something?

So i asked a waitress thinking as working more with the food she might know more what i meant! But again was told as they don't have 2 kitchens they don't do allergy food?? They could tell me the ingredients if i wanted but they were not 100% and she said they were very busy and really did not have time for stuff like this!!

I was quite shocked, we had our drinks and drive out to chichester to eat and go to tesco so long story short we spent the whole trip driving around to eat or trying to cook for 5 in the cara an with 1 shelf in the tiny oven!

I was so angry as i would never have booked this break if i had known the issue with the food so i tweeted haven to be given an email to contact customer relations

Not only did the chat service say they provided allergy food, they had a sign in the resturant and it was printed on the menus!! It is also in havens own terms and conditions!! On the website!

I was then told that haven would not respond until 14 days after the end of the trip???

I did mention it to the reception onsite they put notes on my booking but the only option they had for dealing with complaints was resutrant vouchers!! Which was they very thing we could not use!

So it took after much chasing 23 days for haven to FINALLY respond to the complaint

And the stated that they do not provide gluten free food it is a company policy all parks for bourne leisure follow this and they were sorry but that was it!

So AIBU to think i was miss sold my break? And request a full refund!? I replied to haven with all my evidence and its been a week and they have not answered yet!

I expect it will be weeks again!

So i am right? Should i keep going with this??

Also a heads up to ANY food allergy or Coeliacs Haven is a place to avoid!!!!!

I will try and attach pictures of the signs and email!

From reading this thread, it's clear from the second screenshot that the agent hadn't a clue what the OP was on about. It's already been established that Coeliac disease is not an allergy, so the moment the agent started replying as if it was, I would have heard klaxons and alarms so loud it would have hurt.

All of which doesn't negate the fact that Haven appear to have offered one thing and delivered another, and twixt the two there's enough to consider a small claim for an appropriate amount. Usual procedure - nice letter to Haven outlining the complaint and suggesting redress with a plan B to go through Moneyclaim Online if they decline.

@givemebooks If you're on Facebook, you should join a page called "Coeliacs eat out too". If you'd posted a query about this park, for example, it's likely at least one person will have been there and can tell you about their GF experience. Might be useful for future outings / holidays.

In your shoes OP I'd have waited at the bar until the book was found, if they still claimed not to have one, a trip to reception would have been in order to say you'd encountered this problem and could it be resolved asap. Another site could've emailed them the list.
You're right to make a complaint.

Personally I'd have been as annoyed at being misled as you are.

Escalate it to the top bods at haven. You are probably only at customer service level who are following guidelines. You need to communicate with someone high enough up who can make decisions.

I'm really confused, meat, vegetables, salads, all are gluten free, many foods are, as long as you order it sauce free what's the big deal? What sort of gluten would attach itself from a fryer or an over to things like a baked potato?

There was clearlyfood they could have had. Gluten free is one of the easiest dietary requirements to meet.

And now you want a full refund? That's just bonkers. All their terms and conditions state they didn't provide allergy free food, and there is only your word for it someone on chat said they do. They will have records of the chats automatically stored, so I'd be very careful if you're not being honest and trying to scam them,

Blatant misselling. I’d try for a full refund tbh because you wouldn’t have booked if you’d known that their specific representation was false, and you’ve had to waste hours driving around.

They’ll probably counter-offer you less, but no harm in opening high, that’s how it works, as long as it’s not utterly ludicrous. Bear in mind that Haven will also have a record of the chat.

What sort of gluten would attach itself from a fryer or an over to things like a baked potato?

if you were coeliac you really wouldn't be so casual about it.

YABU @givemebooks Sorry But Haven advertise all over the park and in the caravans that if you are unhappy with ANY aspect of your holiday then you can leave that same day and you will receive a FULL refund - no questions asked. You chose to stay....

Also, coeliac isn't really an allergy it's an intolerance. Also, those terms don't state that they provide gluten-free options.

Another thing, the chip shop which they have on ALL parks, have a gluten free batter? Ultimately though, nobody forced you to stay and nobody forced you to eat in the restaurant. There's an extensive shop on site you can buy food from, local supermarkets deliver to that park as well as local takeaways. You had tons of other options.

I'd be tempted to ask again on chat about the same park and screenshot the response this time...

@HappyLoneParentDay

Coeliac disease is not a food allergy or an intolerance, it is an autoimmune disease. In coeliac disease, eating gluten causes the lining of the small intestine to become damaged. Other parts of the body may be affected.

This is taken directly from coeliac.org.uk

For a coeliac even to have food that has touched gluten can have bad consequences.

Christ, some people's ignorance is staggering - for those in the back:

Coeliac Disease
Coeliac disease is an autoimmune condition. This is where the immune system – the body's defence against infection – mistakenly attacks healthy tissue.
In coeliac disease, the immune system mistakes substances found inside gluten as a threat to the body and attacks them.
This damages the surface of the small bowel (intestines), disrupting the body's ability to absorb nutrients from food.
Coeliac disease isn't an allergyy_ or an intolerance to gluten.
There's no cure for coeliac disease, but switching to a gluten-free diet should help control symptoms and prevent the long-term consequences of the condition.

Taken from NHS website - don't talk crap about something you know nothing about!

@Bluntness100 wow! I would never try to scam anyone!! 😮😱

I can show pictures or screen shots of every thing i have mentioned!!

I have posted the screen shots from the chat!! They said they provide gluten free!!

At first i thought i did not have them but i had used DH phone!!

I think you’ll struggle to get a full refund. But I understand your situation, taking a risk and eating there and then having either your DH or ds poorly wasn’t an option. However you specifically booked a holiday with an onsite restaurant and you’re relaxing break turned into a trolley dash at Tesco.

I hope that Haven understands how they have let you down, they promised something they didn’t have and that you specifically enquires about before booking, they seem to be contravening the law by not having an allergy list and their staff made you feel like an inconvenience.

Hoping they offer you a monetary competition and not just vouchers to use with their chain as I doubt you’ll be purchasing a holiday from them again!

Its been a week since I answered there answer to my complaint so I chased it today, just received an DM on twitter to say they have had no responce from me?

I sent screenshots of the email reply showing date and time, now suddenly they do have it? And have asked if they can raise it to manager level?

Sound like passing the buck but I will keep at it, if only for them to better address havens communication in regards to coeliacs!

The problem with deep fat fryers is if they use the fryer for breadcrumbs / batter with gluten the oil becomes contaminated hence contaminating the gf food / chips , hence why most coeliacs avoid chip shops because they use the fryer for all sorts even though the chips themselves would be fine .

It's an inconvenience, so absolutely no reason for a full refund. You had to eat somewhere other than their bar because you didn't insist upon seeing the book or special menu or whatever it is this couple of employees didn't know about. Someone would have known, a catering manager or even the general manager.

A voucher towards another holiday with them and the promise of ensuring all staff are fully trained in such things would be enough for most people I think.

Oh dear.

All I can say, OP, is:

A) you probably had a lucky escape not being able to eat in a Haven restaurant; and

B) good luck even getting a penny out of Haven - they're thieving bar-stewards (was an owner for a while).

C) don't ever buy a Haven caravan. See point B above.

My DH was diagnosed coeliac a couple of years ago, a couple of weeks before our long-booked holiday at Haven's Weymouth Bay park. Their restaurant was his first experience of eating out with coeliac disease and it couldn't have been better - the waiter we asked immediately went to fetch the chef, who came over and spent several minutes talking DH through all the menu dishes that were gf or could be made gf and it was clear he understood cross contamination. We ate there several times that week.

A year later we had a weekend break at Haven in Burnham on Sea. After our Weymouth experience we thought eating out on site would be a breeze. So we arrived in the restaurant, explained that he was coeliac and asked a waiter which menu items were gluten free. 'The jacket potato.' Is that all, we asked in surprise. 'Yeah, can't guarantee anything else is gluten free.' He couldn't have been less interested and if they didn't even think they could safely make, say, steak, gluten free, it really didn't inspire confidence in their food being coeliac safe.

DH had an extremely dull looking jacket potato for lunch and we spent the rest of the weekend looking for anywhere that offered gf options (and failed to find anything - Burnham apparently isn't the place to eat out if you're coeliac) and ended up cooking in the caravan every day - not our idea of a holiday and it's totally put us off going back to Haven again.

IsabellaLinton I don't know why you keep repeating that the OP got everything she paid for and suffered no fiancial loss. If you book a hotel that promised a pool, a gym, a spa and restaurants and these were not available during your stay then you would sould be entitled to compensation. Because your booking was contingent to the facilites on offer. You would suffer no financial loss if these facilities were not available during the time of your stay but you would not have booked had these it been made clear that these facilities were not actually going to be available. It is not complicated and is the basis of thousands of holiday compensation claims every year. If facilities are advertised and/or promised on a chat or other communication and the booking was made based on the facilities promised being on site then you have ever reason to claim.

Seriously coeliac is not an intolerance or allergy, it's a really serious auto immune disorder.

I wouldn't trust anywhere that you don't speak to the people in the kitchen. But it's not your fault. I hope they can improve their offering.

Don't buy a van!

@givemebooks - just a thought, since you don't have a copy of the original chat log, is it worth starting a new chat with their Customer Service Team (perhaps using a different email address) and asking again if they can provide gluten free food at the park you stayed at? You may be 'lucky' and get the same affirmative answer, in which case you will have your written proof. Like I said, just a thought.

Why do you feel you are entitled to a refund? The food was not included in the price. Even if they had 1000 GF options on the menu, you’d still have to pay for them. I can’t see what financial loss you have incurred. You said you wanted to go there anyway to look at potentially buying a caravan. Then you say you saved “so so hard” for this break (so how are you going to buy a caravan?). There’s nothing in their terms and conditions that guarantees GF food. But there are many things celiacs can eat that are not specifically GF-labeled. Meat, vegetables, salad, etc. I’m thinking about what I’ve eaten all day today and I don’t think I’ve eaten any gluten. Not planned that way it’s just how it happened. I still had a good selection of different things.

The point is Haven wouldn't have received ANY of their hard saved money had they known they didn't cater for her family.

The terms and conditions do NOT state they offer gluten free. Or allergy free for that matter. They state their staff are trained in allergenic foods and ingredients.

BUT, if this could be construed as ambiguous, and you took them to small claims, a law came in that states favour to fall on the side of the person who falls foul of said ambiguous clause.

As for Chat..... sometimes it really is chat. For the most part, you're actually conversing with a computer that works on keywords . And as you state you thought they weren't understanding...

Gluten free is one of the easiest dietary requirements to meet

I don't know whether to laugh or cry...