Hotel threatening to sue us for bad review

[Itsalongwayto]

Unashamedly posting in AIBU for traffic. We stayed in a truly dreadful place over the August BH weekend. I wrote to the owner afterwards expressing our displeasure and with a long list of complaints including unsecure blind pulls, a trampoline with no safety net, water features with no warning, general filth and 1980s decor (I expect more at £300/night). Additionally one of the curtain poles fell down on my head. He wrote back ignoring most of my points but stating that he was disappointed that I hadn’t said thank you to them for fixing the curtain pole so quickly . I submitted a review on reevoo and Tripadvisor, neither of which have been published yet......but he has emailed threatening to sue us if we don’t take our review down (I’m assuming he has been sent a preview). We have photographs of everything except the awful smell.
I’m assuming it’s safe to just ignore and block? I’m not taking my review down.

Good idea TitsOutForHarambe

Pictures didn’t attach to last post

They also have a caravan (think 40 year old free cycle pick up rather than modern shepherds hut).......but fail to mention that you need a 4x4 to get to it through the mud.

He can't sue if it's factually correct.

Blimey, that place looks dreadful! That blind chain could easily catch a child around the neck too.

I would not hold my breath with Reevoo actually publishing your review. I know them and they are suppressing a lot of bad reviews because they are actually making their money from the companies that are being reviewed. They do not give an honest or genuine peer to peer review.

Wow, that looks terrible, especially for somewhere that costs £300 per night! I've stayed at numerous backpacker hostels for £20 a night that were spotlessly clean.

What are the other reviews like on Tripadvisor? Do they have other bad reviews?

It looks like a dump. Good luck to him if he tried to sue you for telling what is clearly the truth! He won’t.

I'm weirdly fascinated by reading bad reviews on Tripadvisor, especially "worst hotel ever" type places.

I stayed somewhere years ago which was awful and I wrote a really bad review, which is very rare for me as I'm usually easy going and give most places 5 stars or the occasional 4. I occasionally look at the newer reviews of this place and there are still people writing bad reviews, for the same reason as me. For some reason I'm delighted every time a new one appears as it means it wasn't just me. I usually give good reviews to almost everyone, so it really does take a lot for me to write something seriously negative.

Tell him that if he threatens you again you will post the review on Google, FB and Twitter, with photos

I have also been asked to take down a review of a restaurant from TA after a terrible incident involving the staff. Because the place dealt with it they believed that I should remove the review, but it still happened and they were still responsible for it. Tough tits, provide shit service, get shit reviews.

Can someone point me to the hotel in Pembrokeshire so I can avoid please!!

@tectonicplates, there are a surprising number of positive reviews- perhaps through rose tinted staycation spectacles. Where anyone has written a negative review the response has been very rude and defensive. A glowing review was posted today....it’s almost like the reviewer had read my email of complaint and posted a counter post of all my negatives. I wonder how that could possibly have happened (said in a tone of complete sarcasm).

Yuck! where was that ceiling?

300 pound for that not even worth a 100

[quote Itsalongwayto]@tectonicplates, there are a surprising number of positive reviews- perhaps through rose tinted staycation spectacles. Where anyone has written a negative review the response has been very rude and defensive. A glowing review was posted today....it’s almost like the reviewer had read my email of complaint and posted a counter post of all my negatives. I wonder how that could possibly have happened (said in a tone of complete sarcasm).[/quote]
Something similar has happened to the one I mentioned above - I'm convinced some of the positive reviews are fake. But then another bad review will appear. I'm sure the woman who runs the place has asked her friends to write some good reviews for her, but the real reviews eventually appear too.

Name and shame

@Lovely1a2b3c collapsed ceiling was in the swimming pool area- not cordoned off or anything.

It was worse than anywhere I stayed in my backpacking days.

There is no excuse for them not having safe blind cords, when I bought new blinds over 20 years ago they came with the safety feature of the fixtures to the wall and snap open if there was anything heavy caught in them. They weren't expensive ones just big standard blinds.

@sugarlakesville - we got blinds fitted recently. If you didn’t have the safety blinds you had to sign a waiver. I don’t see how any establishment would win a case if a child died or was injured because they didn’t have safety features...the same with trampoline nets.

“Water features- a river with no warning just below the trampoline“

Where? You make it sound like one wrong bounce and you can tumble into a river off a trampoline. Maybe the owner doesn’t have a net because he doesn’t want younger children using it? Or bunch of kids on it at once? Despite signs, people always let more than one child jump.

Even if he DID sue you, the court would throw him out as you gave him a chance to remedy things when you first wrote to him. I would also add to the review that he's threatened to sue you. And that you wrote to him first before your review.

If you think that's bad, check out the 1* reviews on here!

TopThorn Holiday Cottages
Topthorn House, Farm, Kendal LA8 9EG
01539 824252
goo.gl/maps/FqcuzifD6vX5jMPL7

@Nekoness, sorry, not meaning to mislead. The river was about 20m from the trampoline- further down the field/bog. One kid, one adult....all trampolines should have nets.
We have stayed in plenty of places with rivers and streams. There are always notices which say ‘we have unfenced streams/rivers/ponds...please watch your children’. They also usually tell you at check in.