haven holidays help

[shaileytuff]

this is a copy of letter i have just sent to them outlining issues what are my rights and what should i do next i.e how long to give them to reply >?>>>>


Haven & British Holidays
PO Box 127
1 Park Lane
Hemel Hempstead
Herts
HP2 4ZX

23 June 2006
Dear Sirs
RE: Complaint regarding holiday at Caister
I am writing further to our recent visit to your site at Caister. Our holiday was from 16 - 19 June 2006, booked through the Sun Holidays Promotion.
On arrival at the site we collected the keys to Chalets 32/33, chalet 32 was inaccessible due to the key not fitting, and chalet 33 was inhabitable for a family with 2 small children. The chalet smelt damp and musty, the fridge smelt of mould, the drawer fronts we hanging off in the bedroom and the smoke alarm was hanging from the ceiling, in no way was this chalet safe or pleasant accommodation. We went back to the Welcome Centre where we were told we could be moved to another Chalet of the same standard but without the broken drawer and smoke alarm, we felt that the standard of accommodation was substandard and we were not willing to do this, our only option then was to pay an extra £50 for a silver caravan which under the circumstances, we had between us 4 children 2 of which were under 1 and by this point we were just wanting to start our holiday. We did fill in a complaint form whilst we were there but unfortunately the Receptionist was inundated with people requesting transfers of accommodation so we didn’t receive full attention or even an apology.

On arrival at our new caravans Ramworth 18/20 we were pleased with the standard and thought we could begin to enjoy our holiday. Unfortunately the caravan was not very clean and I spent an hour hovering and mopping the floors before we could let the children crawl around. Over the course of the weekend we were disappointed to find you have no family changing facilities in your swimming complex, and you state in your brochure ‘direct beach access’ however it does not state you have to climb through railings to access the beach and that if, like us you have pushchairs it will turn in to a mammoth task.
Despite these issues we did proceed to enjoy our holiday, however we are absolutely appalled to discover on our return home that our bedding which we took with us, to avoid your linen charge, is now home to fleas. Our duvets and pillows have had to be cleaned at the laundrette and bedding duly boiled. This is in no way acceptable, the inconvenience this has caused us not to mention the bites which are not pleasant is not the lasting reminders we want of what was to supposed to be a pleasant family holiday.
I hope you will look in to the issues raised in my letter and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours faithfully

[callumsgran]

I would give them 14days, then tell them you will be taking them to court if they dont compensate you!

[go4it]

right, although I know very little about British camp parks, I've worked abroad on European ones and have come across various complaints over the years.

The quality of accommodation is unacceptable. Fair enough.

The sun promotion is interesting. On my campsites, we used to get all the 'Sun people' in at the end of August. They paid £9.50 for their holidays (or whatever price it was) yet other people who had booked ages ago were staying in the same accommodation at the same time and paid hundreds. A good money saving deal by you, but there are others who have paid lots more.

Beach access - on campsites people get drunk then go to the beach. They leave glass on the beach etc. People who aren't on the campsite go to the beach, get drunk, and then try to get into the campsite. Sometimes it is necessary to limit access to and from the beach otherwise your campsite becomes a free for all.

With family changing, if that is a facility you wanted you should have checked with the site first. The site is 100 years old and the plumbing of it all is probably set up for a male and female area. I've never seen a family changing area on a campsite.

I hate to say you get what you pay for, but the holidays are 9.50 for a reason. Not many people book through the brochure, so they get lots of people in cheaply and hope that you will spend £££ in the restaurants and bars.

[Rich44]

I hardly think that's fair comment at all TBH.

Caister on Sea holiday camp is hyped as a friendly holiday park ergo I think that you can have an expectation that the swimming pool would have family changing areas, it's not a difficult thing to do and they mention on the website that the pool is wheelchair friendly so in that case there should be larger changing rooms for the disabled visitors so there should therefore be some for families too - A family changing area is nothing to do with plumbing its just a larger changing room.

Also this isn't a campsite its a HOLIDAY PARK - big big difference

I have to also say do you not think that the site may just have had a few renovations in 100 years so the plumbing is nowhere near 100 years old lol.

You've obviously never been to Caister, its a relatively sleepy place about 3 miles from Gt Yarmouth. There wouldn't really be anyone on the beach in that area as the car park for the "public" beach area is a long way from this area so I doubt you would have many visitors who aren't at the camp "getting drunk" it's just not that sort of place.

As they state on their website about being wheelchair friendly I would be very worried if you had to climb through railings to get to the beach, are you sure that was the only way down and there wasnt another way somewhere else?

I have to say that i've heard similar stories from that park i'm afraid with people complaining about damp etc and being moved. I do wonder whether they stick the freebie people in the crappy accomodation to try and screw £50 out of you for an upgrade.

Go back and complain to The Sun about it too.

Good luck

[Rich44]

Oh another thought write an email to the evening daily press (local rag)

EDP24 - Eastern Daily Press - Norfolk news, sport, homes, jobs, cars

They love a good story, have a look for the contacts page there's email addresses on there.

[laurs28]

I just returned yesterday from my holiday at Wild Duck haven park in Great Yarmouth. My husband seem'd to get on quite well with the security guards of the park and was told alot about the caister park, as my husband and I were thinking of going there next for a holiday. We were informed that is not a good place to visit. Apparently 3 days ago a guest was stabbed and a security guard from the park in hospital due to being jumped on the head.
I dont think I will be holidaying with Haven again... I didn't have the best time on my holiday at Wild Duck either. Infact i had simlar problems with our 1st caravan and had to pay for an upgrade to escape being put into another squat!