Holidays from hell

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Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:33 am

Hi all,

Haven't had much time for baiting lately so unfortunately haven't been around for a while.

Glad to see you are all keeping all these lads on their toes Very Happy

I took my kids to a well know British holiday camp for our summer holidays (my first holiday alone with my 3 girls Smile

)

Unfortunately it wasn't the best lol

Please take the time to watch this video and warn all your friends what to expect if they go there.

Thanks all and happy baiting.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=msaofq0sf68

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 12:52 am

jeez, what a sh!t hole

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 1:06 am

What a ripoff of a kip, You guys would have been better off with a sheet of polythene in the middle of a cattlefield, with a tin of cold beans!!

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 3:00 am

That's disgusting....their response even worse.

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 3:19 am

What a beautiful place. And the staff seems to be very friendly.

I am sure you must have had a wonderful holiday and will surely recommend this outstanding place to everybody you know.

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 4:40 am

I gave you 5 stars. You need put in their compete name into the text so that the video shows up on a search engine. Having it only on the video gets around the bots.

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 5:21 am

Hi - De - Hi !!!! Very Happy

Disgraceful and the company's response is entirely predictable. I didn't even think the good old British holiday camp, errrr, I mean village still existed. You can have a great time in Spain for the same money these days.

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 6:06 am

That was -- *shudder* -- absolutely abysmal! Evil or Very Mad

And the "kind" offer of a discount on your next holiday with them? When would you use it? When it freezes in Hades?

Master Baiter Joined: 07 Oct 2008 Posts: 116

Oh, that's horrible! I feel bad for your kids.

We went through a nightmare here in Maine, at Point Sebago resort. I brought my teenage son one weekend and it was great - lots of fun activities and just a lovely retreat on the lake. We stayed in one of their motor homes on site. The next summer we came back and it was like it was a different place. Marauding, un-supervised kids everywhere, all the activities canceled without notice, and to top it off, boat alarms going off every 10 minutes all night long. I went to the office in the wee hours and they pretended they couldn't hear the alarms that were going off right at that moment. Towards morning, John had a seizure from continually being startled all night long. (he does have mild epilepsy related to his autism, but never in 10 years had a seizure on meds, except that night)

I wrote a letter and got no response, but a few months later the brochures started coming in for the next year. I raised a ruckus and at least got us off the mailing list.

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 8:00 am

We checked into our honeymoon hotel in a quaint Thames-side village to be told that the honeymoon suite was already, ahem, occupied. The buggers double booked it and the other happy couple got there first. We were offered an alternative room overlooking the kitchen extractor units which we politely declined and then got a room next to a set of traffic lights that illuminated the room red, amber, green, red, amber, etc all night long. Very disco. It was mid summer but the previous American occupants had demanded the heating be turned on because of the "cold" so the room was like a sauna and the windows were sealed shut because of the traffic noise from aforementioned traffic lights. We were given a "special dinner" which was crap AND we had to pay for and after a sleepless wedding night for all the wrong reasons we checked out at 7am, full payment was demanded, natch, and by that time we couldn't be arsed to argue and went home. I complained to the hotel afterwards and they kindly offered to give us another "special dinner" with a 10% discount.

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 9:04 am

Ewww... I'm sure it was all very smart when it was new in the 1950's. maybe it looks less bad if you pay £9.50 via the Sun, though to be fair it's the only holiday people with no money will ever be able to get.

It could be worse, according to Google, the 2005 entertainment was Timmy Bleeding Mallet!

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 9:20 am

I met Timmy Mallet once and yes, he's exactly like you'd expect only better.

Elite Baiter Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 1407

Wow.

1. I would be on the phone with my CC demanding a refund. I would submit your video and the sales brochure as evidence of not getting what you paid for.

2. I would contact the county health department and demand an investigation into the faclities. Crap on the walls would qualify as a "health issue".

3. Hopefully you got fleas, and not bedbugs. BIG difference. Bedbugs travel, and if you get them back to your home, you are F*cked. Do a google on "BedBugs". And pray you don't have them.

4. Contact a local newspaper/TV station. Sometimes they have a "Whats your problem/ Screwed customer" beat. They love to showcase these stories on slow news days. Particularly if they were as "accomdating" as your video shows.

Don't take this lying down. Raise hell. I wouldn't for a second!

Master Baiter Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 146

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-complain-after-a-holiday-from-hell

Adamu's soulmate Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 337

Baiter - Boi
Thats disgusting. I would personally approach Environmental Health Department at the relevant Councils offices and get them to take a closer look and fwd your evidence to them. They shouldnt be letting accommodation of that standard. If thats the standard of the rooms you have to wonder what hygiene standards apply in the bars/cafes/pool etc.

I once had a holiday issue and approached Trading Standards who were very helpful. Eventually I used the small claims court online to claim a refund. it costs £25 but no company will fight thru the small claims court unless they really have to so they tend to settle quickly so as not to incur legal costs etc.

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 4:45 pm

Wow!

Thanks for all the support. It was a fantastic thing to wake up to realise that so many of you took the time to view, rate and comment on the video. From the bottom of my heart my 3 girls and I thank you.

Just to answer a few questions that were posted:-

Enviromental health.. I reported the site to the Southport Enviromental Health department a couple of months ago, needless to say they weren't surprised to be recieving "yet another complaint" about this place.

Bed bugs/fleas... Thanks for the heads up on that one, my daughters don't live with me and I haven't heard from my ex-wife about any on-going problems but I will mention it in our next corrosppndence.

£9.50 holidays..... Sadly it wasn't one of these. It was in the peak of summer holidays so actually cost me more than it would have to take the girls abroad. If it had been a £9.50 I probably wouldn't be making such a fuss.

I have emailed Watchdog, Don't get done get Dom, ITV's Holidays From Hell etc and am waiting to see if I get any replies. (for the non UK members these are consumer type television programmes)

The video for me serves two purposes, the first is to warn others off from making the same mistakes and secondly to shame Pontins into taking some responsobility. The second only works if the video becomes popular and talked about so to speak so that is why I am so grateful that so many of you took the time to comment etc.

I will let you all know if anything comes up but in the meantime please tell your family/friends to avoid this place like the plague (hmmm wonder if i left with the plague whether I woulda got a full refund) Very Happy

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 5:16 pm

baiter_boi please do sign up at tripadvisor to do a review on this place. Many many travelers check the reviews on it, prior to booking their holidays.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/

Adamu's soulmate Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 337

I was going to add about Tripadvisor too I agree with Lotta its very widely reviewed.

I am really glad you are taking this further I get so fed up with hearing of awful experiences where they get away with it because people have neither time nor the inclination to pursue - and it takes a lot of both sometimes.

Personally I would check with Southport Environmental Health to establish if they have pursued your complaint - I beleive they have a duty to do so in respect of all reasonable complaints.

Good luck Very Happy

Elite Baiter Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 1407

baiter_boi wrote:

Enviromental health.. I reported the site to the Southport Enviromental Health department a couple of months ago, needless to say they weren't surprised to be recieving "yet another complaint" about this place.

Bed bugs/fleas... Thanks for the heads up on that one, my daughters don't live with me and I haven't heard from my ex-wife about any on-going problems but I will mention it in our next corrosppndence.

1st. Don't take "yet another complaint" as a final answer to your complaint. Ask for a supervisor, and ask to file a written complaint. Also contact the Mayor (I'm in US, don't know what you call them over there), and their tourism bureau. Really raise hell.

2nd. Get on the bug thing. Once they get into your home (bedbugs) they are nearly impossible to kill. It is a SERIOUS problem. In the US infestations are on the rise.

Here is some great info from Harvard University.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/bedbugs/

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 5:36 pm

Gnasher wrote:

We checked into our honeymoon hotel in a quaint Thames-side village to be told that the honeymoon suite was already, ahem, occupied. The buggers double booked it and the other happy couple got there first.

Heh!!! That happened to us on our honeymoon in Sri Lanka. To make it worse, they didn't even have a double room so we had single beds for the first week before they could move us.

Luckily, our first day there, the wife came down with one of the biggest doses of the shits I've ever had the pleasure to witness. So I didn't find her too attractive anyway.

Actually, thinking about it. Single beds was probably a blessing.

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 5:49 pm

lotta wrote:

baiter_boi please do sign up at tripadvisor to do a review on this place. Many many travelers check the reviews on it, prior to booking their holidays.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/

Duly done, I believe it is in the queue for approval.

Thanks for the heads up on that one.

With regards to the bed bug/flea issue I have checked with my ex and there are no on-going problems with that one thankfully but thank you for the very useful information.

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 5:52 pm

I bookmarked the tripadvisor page for future use.

Pontins had the sort of review you'd expect...

Quote:

daughter found someone sock under bed, so dont think they were cleaned very well Window frames were rotton and the wind howled...

Quote:

If this had been my only holiday I would have cried.

Quote:

I hope they shut Pontins down and demolish it

On the up side..

Quote:

Absolutely nothing to do but get drunk

Quote:

we went with our majorette troup

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:20 pm

The wife and i use to take our son to Pontins, last time about 15 years ago, been to Southport a couple of times had no trouble then.

Looking at it now, its a wreck, I believe Pontins as a company was sold but they are still using the name.

Did notice on their website that the camp at Wall Park, Brixham, Devon, is no longer with the group.

I would follow up your complaint, made at the site by writing direct to the head office.

I have found from experience that complaints made locally do not get sent to the head office.

Try to find out the name of the chairman and write to him personally.

Have done this with a hotel in London and Thomas Cook had satifactory results in both cases.

Seems other people have had problems with Pontins.
http://www.saynotopontins.co.uk/

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:26 pm

Intersting train of thought there.

I have been through the customer service department with no joy.

Wonder how one could obtain the contact details for the Pontins chairman?

Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:41 pm

I found the best way is to go to your local library, go to General Reference and look through some of the Business Directories.