John Fowler

[snowdragon]

Thank you Stu

 

 I have once again emailed  them back stating all these facts  but low and  behold silence from them.

I  am not letting this rest even though I am still recovering from  being taken to Hospital.

 

Thank  you all 

 

Sandy

[king12345]

Couple of things to point out.

Council won't be interested in dog's poo in the caravan as it is private property. 

At best the h&s department would take a statement and pictures and if it happened again they would act.

 

As the devil's advocate I would ask:

 

1. If you were so distressed to ask £4k compensation as suggested,  why did you stay for the full length of the holiday? Is it because your complaint was addressed and caravan cleaned?

 

2. Bed bugs? Where are the evidence? Couldn't it be another insect's bite? Most of the world population occasionally wakes up to a sore bite from unknown insects.  This can happen anywhere,  even in your house. Hands up if you have never experienced a mosquito bite in your house.

 

3. Manager took ownership of the problem immediately and fixed the faults.

What else could he do?

Move you from a caravan site to a 5 star presidential suite?

Did you ask for this in writing there and then or you accepted the fix?

 

4. They offered £500 compensation.

That's more than a quarter of the cost of the holiday.

I don't think a judge would find that unreasonable. 

 

5. Unfortunately the law doesn't act on ifs, so if something doesn't happen you won't get much interest.

IF your boy had eaten the poo, the claim could have escalated by a large margin, but you, as a responsible parent, prevented this and nothing happened to your boy who went on to have a jolly good time.

So unfortunately you can't claim for something that didn't happen. 

 

To better understand this, think about a window cleaner leaving his ladder resting on a wall.

IF the wind blows it on my car i could claim damage, but not before it happens.

 

So, my approach would be more pragmatic, by all means ask for more and see what happens, but £500 it's already a good offer in my opinion. 

 

For future reference, whenever i go to holiday parks, caravan sites etc., first thing I do is to clean the lot.

 

It takes an hour or so, but then i'm sure that i won't get any problems from hidden bacteria or other nasty surprises. 

I know it shouldn't be this way, but it is.

 

Us, the consumer,  have pushed for cheaper and cheaper prices and this is the result.

We need to adapt unfortunately or we would be in court every day.

Then there would be no time for holidays.

[snowdragon]

As they have not responded to me recently then no idea what to do,

we stayed as the holiday was for the 2 children, ages 5 years and 14 months,

we were not offered another caravan and  the  cleaner did not come straight away,

 

I was the one who had to  pick the mess up and bag it as it was late at night and there was no one around the  site to ask, nor did they answer the phone numbers given for this type of thing.

 

Whether it is  something to do with me picking this up or not I have since been rushed to hospital since coming home,

I had to have ECG and a CT scan as well as blood tests, had a constant headache since then,

but I am not  blaming that. Bed bugs? 

 

I said my daughter and her partner were woken  every night by  constant itching, 

her partner   was bitten, could been bugs, fleas whatever, 

 

they changed the bedding after the first week, we have  pictures of the dog mess, 

 the manager at  first was helpful but  a couple of times he came to us with an update the story had changed and he was rather abrupt with us.

 

Reading reviews for John Fowler sites  then most are  bad! 

 

We like to see for our-self  what a place is like and then make an opinion 

Yes they offered us £500 but not how it was to be paid, also  got offered a upgrade if we book with them for same site!

 

Sandy xx

[unclebulgaria67]

Agree with Kings post. 

 

Suggest you ask them how they will pay you the £500. 

 

I don't think you will get anywhere taking them to Court. No doubt, they will come up with cleaning records and a note from the last cleaner who cleaned the caravan, that the caravan was thoroughly cleaned etc. It would therefore be your word against theirs and they will say that there was no dog mess in the caravan, immediately prior to your occupation. 

 

You have to be aware that these holiday parks receive loads of these complaints and even if your own complaint is genuine, there are plenty of people who are willing to try all sorts of things to gain a refund of their holiday costs. Therefore these holiday parks are likely to defend Court claims.

 

The choice is yours really. Accept or negotiate the offer further. Or threaten to take this to Court and advise you are willing to let a Court decide on the amount of compensation. You could suggest an amount, but you need to be realistic, as you did  use the caravan, rather than leave the site, when no alternative accommodation was offered.  And if they don't meet the compensation you want, be prepared to issue the Court claim.

[snowdragon]

Why would anyone put dog mess  in a caravan?   we do not have a dog and  would never dream of  doing that, took pictures of it and they saw it. The cleaner  admitted she did not clean under the bed!

 

I will ask how they intend to pay me,  as they have not responded to any of my emails then  it maybe a long wait

 

Sandy

[unclebulgaria67]

Agree. Very unpleasant.

 

But I have heard of people doing things either as a joke or attempting to gain a reduction. E.g other holidaymakers placing smelly items in hidden away spots, thinking it is funny.  Why people would find it funny making other peoples holidays miserable, I don't have a clue ? 

 

With that amount of dog mess in a confined space such as a caravan, the smell would have been too much.  And it would not have been easy to get rid of the smell. 

[snowdragon]

the caravan did smell of dog, only reason we stayed  was   for  the children and the cost of the actual holiday, I did take our insurance

 

Sandy xx

[snowdragon]

I am so angry right now, I have been informed the person who  was/is dealing with my complaint has gone on annual leave for at least  a month and seems no-one else knows anything about it,  was also promised a phone call today at  around 3pm, am still waiting

 

Sandy x

[dx100uk]

formal royal mail is the only way to ever go forward with this.

 

[snowdragon]

ty DX

 

just had an email with the offer of £500 refund

 

Sandy xx

[honeybee13]

Haven't they already offered that, Sandy?

 

HB

[snowdragon]

yes HB, seems they not budge! I am still not  fully  recovered yet from being in Hospital so that's not helping

 

Sandy xx