Holidays from hell

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Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 2:23 am

I'd start at the head office.

Head Office in Lancashire
Pontins Ltd
Sagar House
PR7 5PH - Eccleston (Chorley)
Lancashire
Tel. 01257 452452
Fax. 01257 453030

Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 10:21 am

Different holiday horror story...

My sister and her family were going fine with a European holiday taking in London, Paris, the Alps (my nephew is a Tour De France fan) and Venice; but two days into their Venice stay, my brother-in-law developed acute pancreatitis and had to be taken to hospital by water-ambulance.

The two kids had to return as unaccompanied minors (all went well) and my sister remained in Venice to wait for BiL to recover. Well, news just in that he's out of ICU and able to eat after a fashion.

Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 6:53 pm

At the end of March :
Holiday resort chain Pontin’s has been bought by investment and management company Ocean Parcs for an undisclosed sum.

The new owners plan to re-vitalise the brand, with a vision of capturing the burgeoning market for value and environmentally conscious holidays in the UK.

The business, comprising seven holiday village sites around the UK has been acquired with the assistance of finance from Abbey UK Corporate Banking.

Ocean Parcs was formed by former Pontins CEO Graham Parr, Ian Smith, Clarke Osborne and John Parr, combining a wealth of experience and knowledge of the leisure, consumer and property development industries.

£46M it cost them.

Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 7:33 pm

Kids! back to the car!

Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 10:47 pm

"Ocean Parks" eh? Probably a rip off on Center Parcs but a good idea anyway. We stayed at a couple of CPs in the UK and had a great time. The days of the 1950s great British holiday camp are long gone.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

@Yastreb, a very painful and scary thing

We used to go to Haven at Ayr.
Tesco vouchers got us a great deal ( dont think they do it any more )
Anyway for a fixed rate we had 8 in the caravan ( us and kids and a couple of their pals ), kids clubs and swimming included
The entertainment varied from wrestlers to panto and " singers "

of course the drinks in the nightclub was where they generated revenue

But it was wonderful countryside, Burns Cottage, Electric Brae etc
oh and there were bats flying around at night, made me feel right at home
Very Happy

The worst holiday accomodation I've seen was when eldest went to New York
Exposed wires, dirty sheets , lift (elevator ) out of order but no warning across the door, wasnt the bed and breakfast etc etc
She still had a fantastic time seeing the sights of NY, being with friends.
Came home to a rail strike
Luckily she knew someone with a Volvo to pick them all up at Glasgow airport to take them home to Stirling

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 1:41 am

As stated many times above, please post on the appropriate forum/s about these nightmares on Tripadvisor. It will help many.

I've been a member for several years, and have learned a ton there - and am now learning a ton here.

An aside, since TripAdvisor is a travel related site, in terms of scams, well.... just go to the NYC forum, a MAJOR travel destination modality for scammers, (because of laws unique to the city) - Type in 'apartment rentals' and see the plethora of names you can harvest!

Of course, travel scammers target all major tourist cities in the world, but if you haven't already, you will see how it has become more and more prevalant, especially there.

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 5:58 pm

Trip Advisor review has been live for a few days now...
http://tinyurl.com/67d7ek

This is the reply I recieved to my initial complaint to them....

Quote:

Dear Mr X

Re: Southport Holiday Centre

Thank you for your recent corrospondence following your stay at our Southport Holiday Centre.

Firstly, may I say how dissapointed we were that you found it necessary to write to us concerning your visit to our Southport Holiday Centre, and we regret that you have found cause for complaint. Our aim is to ensure that all our guests have an enjoyable stay and it is dissapointing to us when this does not occur whatever the reason.

We were very sorry to learn of the problems you encountered with the accomodation you were allocated and we have noted the points that you have raised. It is our intention that all accomodation is fully prepared for incoming guests and that no problems will be encountered. In the circumstances we can now only offer our sincere apologies that this was not the case.

We regret your dissapointment with the quality of food and service in our Queen Victoria Restaurant and we have noted all the points you have made.. and we regret that this aspect of your stay should prove disappointing and trust that no similar problems will arise in the future.

Your comments with regard to a member of staff has prompted some concern. Any critiscm of staff is taken very seriously by this company and every effort is made to investigate the criticism thoroughly, with disciplinary action being taken where proven necessary.

Nevertheless, we can assure you that all your comments have been taken very seriously and the Senior Managment concerned with the specific areas of your complaint have been advised in order they may review the matters acordingly. We would also like to stress that customer comments like yours are monitored, as we endevour to maintain and improve the standard of holidays offered to guests. Pontin's continues to invest heavily in the refurbishment of our accomodation and facilites in order to bring them up to the expected standards, and rescources are also invested in the staff-training programme in order to enhance our guest care.

We do value our guests and try our best to ensure that their stay with us is as enjoyable as possible. In view of your dissapointment on this occasion we have enclosed a £50.00 Holiday Voucher which we invite you to use against the cost of another holiday.

Meanwhile, our apologies once again that you have found it necessary to write a letter of this nature in the first instance. We can assure you that we do look forward to welcoming you to one of our locations at some time in the future.

Customer Care Manager

To add insult to injury they even forgot to enclose the £50 discount voucher Very Happy

The youtube video has over 500 hits now (many from here) so thanks to all that have viewed and helped get the word out.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=msaofq0sf68

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 10:45 pm

Charming. They ruin your holiday and then engage an illiterate to respond to your complaints:

* dissapointed/dissapointing
* accomodation
* endevour
* facilites
* Managment
* critiscm

Quote:

Firstly, may I say how dissapointed we were that you found it necessary to write to us

Translation: Why don't you f**k off and stop bothering us.

Quote:

Your comments with regard to a member of staff has prompted some concern.

Translation: Watch what you're saying, there are such things as libel laws.

The rest is pure (badly-spelled) form letter. It's truly adding insult to injury. They obviously pay as little attention to answering complaints as they do to looking after customers in the first place.

I should write back and say how much you regret that they couldn't find the time to find a native English-speaker to answer your complaints. Tell them you are going to put this response onto TripAdvisor, as well.

In short, bait them. Cool

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 12:29 am

Your fifty pound payoff reminds me of the $50 gift certificate I received from Dollar Rent a Car. I had paid for a rental and when I got to the rental desk, an evening newsreader was yelling at the manager about their renting out her reserved car. My car was not reserved, it was paid for months in advance. They had no cars. They sent us to another company with a voucher, but that agency was also out of cars. When I returned to the first desk the same TV celebrity was ahead of me verbally slapping the manager. She promised TV coverage of the ineptitude. The best part of that was the celebrity was bring out all of my points, so I did not have to. She was yelling so loudly, security came over, but of course recognized her and stood back. My contention was that I did not have a reservation, but a contractual agreement, my loss of use would be compensated by them. I should have called a limo service. I never did cash out the $50 but did have Dollar pay for all of my rental costs.