BEWARE OF BOOKING A HOLIDAY WITH PARKDEAN RESORTS!

[Yngwie]

It's that time of year when you might be contemplating next years summer holiday. Based on my experience this summer, if a static caravan/cabin/lodge holiday is your sort of thing I would strongly suggest avoiding any place run by Parkdean.

With a youngish family this sort of holiday has been great in the past and we've stayed at some really great places with no issues. However this summer we made the mistake of booking a week at the Sandford Parkdean resort in Dorset. In short the standard and condition of the supposed ' luxury ' lodge was awful. Tired and tatty would be accurate and nothing like the plush photos on their website. However, the major issue was the overall cleanliness of the accommodation which was awful and really not what you would expect for £1300. The floors were filthy with crumbs shoved under a sofa, it barely looked like even the most basic dust had been done before our arrival. Cobwebs and spiders a plenty and stains on on the bedding and chipped furniture. Cobwebs and spiders a plenty, stains on pillow case, chipped furniture. The shower in the main bathroom was useless with no ability to get a consistent flow or temperature. The En suite bathroom was tiny, smelt damp and the shower control unit was loose which is why we didn't use at all. The rear of the lodge was a mess and there were two rat traps.

We obviously complained but even after giving them two chances to clean the lodge properly we gave up as it was still grubby. After a long car journey we were all gutted but my daughter who is autistic and has ADHD was particularly upset. Ultimately, both my kids refused to sleep in the grubby bedrooms and ended up sleeping on the lounge sofa with my wife.

Such were the issues we decided to leave on the second day and booked into a nearby Premier Inn. When we handed the keys back at reception they barely batted eyelid. No apology, an offer of any form of discount or perhaps more appropriately an offer of alternative accommodation. They could not have cared less.

On returning home I sent a detailed complaint email which they batted away with the assertion that they had rectified the issues we'd had. In reality they never actually asked even after the second cleaning attempt and why on earth would we take the drastic and expensive decision to seek alternative accommodation? Currently, we have lodged a Section 75 refund claim through our credit card provider. The outcome of which is still out.

I do now bitterly regret not having done a bit more research on Parkdean. A quick check on Tripadvisor shows reviews from their resorts around the UK with recurrent issues around cleanliness and the standard of accommodation. Perhaps even more damning were two very active Facebook complaint groups detailing some horrendous issues and how Parkdean will dismiss out of hand any complaints. It was reassuring to know we weren't being overly fussy and that hordes of other people have had issues.

Please check out Tripadvisor and these two Facebook groups:

Parkdean Resorts, Complaints & Advice '

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1EbsXLZTWa/

Parkdean Resorts Complaint Group

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1CPm6cAo9g/

I hope this advice is useful as I would hate other families to have their hard earned money wasted by a poor holiday. Just maybe they do have some satisfied customers but I can only conclude they got lucky or their standards are much lower. How such a large company like Parkdean gets away with it is shocking. It really needs someone like Martyn Lewis or Watchdog or similar to investigate.

Apologies for the essay but hope I may help someone out there.

You literally couldn't pay me.

We've left Park dean holidays early before too because the accommodation and facilities were so filthy.
We've also had a couple of lovely breaks with them in upgraded accomodation. So it seems like of the draw. I wouldn't take the risk again.

We have had some excellent accommodation at Parkdean sites but as with everything in life, you get what you pay for. We pay for gold caravans or lodges and have had clean and new accommodation at Nairn and Cresswell. However like you I have seen bad reviews of other sites. It seems to vary widely between sites but Im surprised that you would book a holiday without reading reviews first.

Re ‘read the reviews first’, should clean accommodation and working appliances be the norm rather than something you can only expect by upgrading? I hope the OP’s claim for recompense is successful, these companies will only sort themselves out if their profits are hit.

It’s a shame that you couldn’t have overlooked a bit of shabbiness especially as it was cleaned for again and let your DCs have a nice holiday instead of going home early in a strip. I’m
sure they couldn’t have cared less about whether the bedrooms were luxury standard or not - autism or no autism. That’s you imposing your opinions on them. Stop complaining and make the best of things and don’t use Mumsnet to get your “compo”.

Blimey have you got shares in Parkdean resorts.
The OP has relayed her experience it sounds horrendous. Her lived experience is not comparable to your opinion.

We are now in November. You went on holiday in the summer.

What was it that made you suddenly decide to post this thread today, instead of having a good old moan about it on here at the time? How come it's taken you so long?

I’ve only ever had good experiences with Parkdean.

Having said that as with other parks like Haven you are expected to sort the issues before you leave the park. Any complaints after are usually just given a formulaic reply.

Also for some people It’s the only holiday they can afford.

Love Parkdean at Walton-on-the-Naze.

Been going for donkey's years and never had a problem.

Sounded like more than a” bit of shabbiness” to me ! The cleanliness and comfort of your accommodation is a major factor in the enjoyment of a holiday.

Nor had OP - until he did!

Yeah but you could say that about absolutely anything.

So unless I get a problem it's all good.

Shame for the OP and her family though.

We went to Park Dean Resorts when they were Park Resorts, we loved one Park so much we went 4 times in 2 years, the same caravan each time, we took my parents who are very choosy & even they enjoyed it. We have been to 2 other parks & always had almost brand new caravans that were spotless, several of these holidays were The Sun £20 holidays, we just paid to upgrade the caravans.

Not a very helpful response and a tad aggressive. I can only presume you don't think basic cleanliness should be the norm and you presumably don't have standards.

My kids are 12 and independently they expect clean bedding. I reference my daughters health issues because of the level of distress is greater for her.

And how exactly does posting this on here get me my " compo "?

I'm trying to help people and your response is really not pleasant

I give up with the negativity. What do you think my motive for posting now is? The process of complaining to them and the Section 75 process is ongoing and takes time.

This is first time I've ever posted on this site and thought it a good forum to potentially help some people. However, it will be my last if some of the negativity is indicative of some of the people who post here.

Coming along to give us all some advice and telling us what to do isn't really going to go down all that well.

Awww, you will be missed.

I'm not telling anyone what to do. I thought i might just be helpful. But hey ho

Why shouldn’t he? He had every right to criticise them. He wasn’t telling you to do anything! I hope someone who works at Parkdean sees this

We’ve been using Parkdean resorts (and park resorts) prior to the merger and have only had a problem with a caravan once to which we received a partial refund:we didn’t let the experience put us off.