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Hi all,
My partner and I recently went on a holiday to France with our one year old daughter, via Eurocamp. The holiday was booked as a package through EC, and included travel via Britany Ferries. The campsite was lovely but the Eurocamp mobile home we stayed in had a large number of serious faults and safety issues. In addition, staff had not provided items we had booked and failed to rectify our issues on a number of separate occasions. (see further below for full list of issues).
We paid £830 which included £530 for the campsite plus Ferry travel costs and a compulsory £15 damage waiver fee (on top of our own fuel / car travel costs etc.)
We complained to Eurocamp customer service once we arrived home, stating that unless our issue was addressed to a satisfactory level and an acceptable offer of a refund made, we would we writing a full negative review including the photographs we had taken, on Trip Advisor and Reevoo, advising people to stay well clear of Eurocamp and would be taking our complaint further to ABTA.
We finally received a response yesterday, stating the usual “Thank you for your feedback. We are so sorry and have rectified these issues etc.” They made an offer of 50% of the accommodation cost as a refund to us, which would have been very acceptable, except for the fact they are claiming that the NET accommodation cost is only £257 and so 50% is only around £128.
I responded to state that because the holiday was sold as a package by Eurocamp, I felt that the refund should reflect the whole cost of the holiday, as although there was no issue with travel etc. it was the whole holiday that was made miserable by the number of issues we had experienced. I also questioned the methodology behind their NET accommodation cost.
They have responded today, with no explanation to the NET figure they have arrived at and have stated that they think their offer is more than fair and wish to conclude the case amicably there.
I am just looking for some advice to see whether I would have a case going to ABTA and whether they would possible suggest a larger refund be appropriate. For clarification of the issues we had, here is an extract from my original complaint:
“Whilst the campsite itself was extremely pleasant, the service and standard of accommodation received by Eurocamp was absolutely appalling, unhygienic and quite frankly, unsafe.
When we arrived on the Monday evening, the first thing we noticed was that a number of items that had been requested when we made our booking were missing with no explanation as to why. This included a bedrail, a baby gate for the decking area, a baby booster seat and sun loungers for our garden area. We also found that the high chair that had been left for us was absolutely filthy, covered in dirt and was growing mould (see attached Image A); apparently Eurocamp believe the state of the chair left for us is suitable for a one year old baby to eat from?
We went to visit the Eurocamp reception and were told that there was a shortage of baby gates and bed rails (our visit was during low season!?) which is why none had been left and that someone would come by later that evening to clean (not replace) the highchair for us and to deliver a pair of sun loungers to us. We told the staff that the lack of a bed safety rail and safety gate for the decking for our daughter was unacceptable and requested that extra effort was made to locate these items for us.
A few hours later, a young girl arrived simply with a wet cloth (no cleaning solution or antibacterial spray) and wiped down the high chair, although the straps had absorbed so much dirt and mould and so remained saturated in filth. We asked when the additional items we had requested would be delivered, she simply said “I don’t know I’ve just been told to come and clean something”. We then had to buy our own cleaning equipment to ‘properly’ clean the seat before our daughter could use it (although even then we had to wrap the straps in cloth to keep the mould away from her). Due to the fact we had not had a bed rail delivered, we had to push the double bed against the wall and push duvets down the side of the bed to ensure our daughter could not slip through during the night. This is unsafe practice but was the only option available to us given the lack of equipment provided without any prior notification.
We visited the Eurocamp desk again the following day to chase up the outstanding items and were told that they had found a bed rail and would deliver this later along with sun loungers, but that all available baby gates for the decking had broken and so the only alternative would be a metal grill. Out of desperation we had to accept this as a solution and were told that someone would come round later that day to fit it. Later that day, a bed rail was finally delivered, but still no sun loungers and no baby gate was installed. We returned AGAIN the following day to complain about the lack of these items and were told that they had been busy but would try and get these to us today.
Eventually a ‘gate’ was installed, (see Image B), which was essentially an old metal bed frame cable-tied to the deck. This was not secure, was not lockable and would just fall flat when touched by our daughter – potentially being more dangerous than having no gate at all. – Again still no sun loungers were delivered and at this point after asking and being told they would be delivered on three separate occasions, we had lost the will to even try asking for some to be delivered anymore. By the end of our stay, still none had been delivered.
In addition to all of the above issues with our booking requirements, there were a number of other serious issues with our accommodation. The first of which was the toilet cistern, which was broken and continually ran water to fill the tank, unless we manually lifted the cistern lid off and pulled the mechanism back up after every flush – a very unpleasant and unhygienic process.
The tap on the kitchen sink was broken, causing water to run back down the spout and spill all over the kitchen side every time it was turned on. Until we realised why this was happening, we incurred a lot of food waste due to packaging and food itself becoming saturated with water. We also had to use our own towels every time we needed to run water to wash dishes etc., to stop the leaking water from spilling on to the floor.
Bed slats were missing from the main bed (see Image C) which caused us to literally fall through whenever we or our daughter sat or moved toward the end of the bed.
The light fitting and bulb in the bathroom was hanging lose and not fixed in place.
The high-up plug socket in the dining area adjacent to the shelf had a piece of metal sticking out, which was a huge safety concern and also restricted anything from being plugged in to the socket. Furthermore, one of the plug sockets on the wall in the bedroom was extremely loose with a large enough gap that a child could easily insert their fingers behind the socket which could have been fatal (see Image E) – I would advise you to ensure this has been addressed by staff on site BEFORE anyone else stays in there. “ -
So as stated above, these issues caused us a great deal of upset and frustration during our week. My question to the forum is that based on the above, do you think that 50% of the NET accommodation cost (however they have worked that out?!) is an appropriate level of compensation? Do you think ABTA would see this differently?
Any advice or guidance would be very much appreciated. P.S - I have uploaded a few of the photographs into a PDF document which is hopefully attached?
Many thanks in advance.
My partner and I recently went on a holiday to France with our one year old daughter, via Eurocamp. The holiday was booked as a package through EC, and included travel via Britany Ferries. The campsite was lovely but the Eurocamp mobile home we stayed in had a large number of serious faults and safety issues. In addition, staff had not provided items we had booked and failed to rectify our issues on a number of separate occasions. (see further below for full list of issues).
We paid £830 which included £530 for the campsite plus Ferry travel costs and a compulsory £15 damage waiver fee (on top of our own fuel / car travel costs etc.)
We complained to Eurocamp customer service once we arrived home, stating that unless our issue was addressed to a satisfactory level and an acceptable offer of a refund made, we would we writing a full negative review including the photographs we had taken, on Trip Advisor and Reevoo, advising people to stay well clear of Eurocamp and would be taking our complaint further to ABTA.
We finally received a response yesterday, stating the usual “Thank you for your feedback. We are so sorry and have rectified these issues etc.” They made an offer of 50% of the accommodation cost as a refund to us, which would have been very acceptable, except for the fact they are claiming that the NET accommodation cost is only £257 and so 50% is only around £128.
I responded to state that because the holiday was sold as a package by Eurocamp, I felt that the refund should reflect the whole cost of the holiday, as although there was no issue with travel etc. it was the whole holiday that was made miserable by the number of issues we had experienced. I also questioned the methodology behind their NET accommodation cost.
They have responded today, with no explanation to the NET figure they have arrived at and have stated that they think their offer is more than fair and wish to conclude the case amicably there.
I am just looking for some advice to see whether I would have a case going to ABTA and whether they would possible suggest a larger refund be appropriate. For clarification of the issues we had, here is an extract from my original complaint:
“Whilst the campsite itself was extremely pleasant, the service and standard of accommodation received by Eurocamp was absolutely appalling, unhygienic and quite frankly, unsafe.
When we arrived on the Monday evening, the first thing we noticed was that a number of items that had been requested when we made our booking were missing with no explanation as to why. This included a bedrail, a baby gate for the decking area, a baby booster seat and sun loungers for our garden area. We also found that the high chair that had been left for us was absolutely filthy, covered in dirt and was growing mould (see attached Image A); apparently Eurocamp believe the state of the chair left for us is suitable for a one year old baby to eat from?
We went to visit the Eurocamp reception and were told that there was a shortage of baby gates and bed rails (our visit was during low season!?) which is why none had been left and that someone would come by later that evening to clean (not replace) the highchair for us and to deliver a pair of sun loungers to us. We told the staff that the lack of a bed safety rail and safety gate for the decking for our daughter was unacceptable and requested that extra effort was made to locate these items for us.
A few hours later, a young girl arrived simply with a wet cloth (no cleaning solution or antibacterial spray) and wiped down the high chair, although the straps had absorbed so much dirt and mould and so remained saturated in filth. We asked when the additional items we had requested would be delivered, she simply said “I don’t know I’ve just been told to come and clean something”. We then had to buy our own cleaning equipment to ‘properly’ clean the seat before our daughter could use it (although even then we had to wrap the straps in cloth to keep the mould away from her). Due to the fact we had not had a bed rail delivered, we had to push the double bed against the wall and push duvets down the side of the bed to ensure our daughter could not slip through during the night. This is unsafe practice but was the only option available to us given the lack of equipment provided without any prior notification.
We visited the Eurocamp desk again the following day to chase up the outstanding items and were told that they had found a bed rail and would deliver this later along with sun loungers, but that all available baby gates for the decking had broken and so the only alternative would be a metal grill. Out of desperation we had to accept this as a solution and were told that someone would come round later that day to fit it. Later that day, a bed rail was finally delivered, but still no sun loungers and no baby gate was installed. We returned AGAIN the following day to complain about the lack of these items and were told that they had been busy but would try and get these to us today.
Eventually a ‘gate’ was installed, (see Image B), which was essentially an old metal bed frame cable-tied to the deck. This was not secure, was not lockable and would just fall flat when touched by our daughter – potentially being more dangerous than having no gate at all. – Again still no sun loungers were delivered and at this point after asking and being told they would be delivered on three separate occasions, we had lost the will to even try asking for some to be delivered anymore. By the end of our stay, still none had been delivered.
In addition to all of the above issues with our booking requirements, there were a number of other serious issues with our accommodation. The first of which was the toilet cistern, which was broken and continually ran water to fill the tank, unless we manually lifted the cistern lid off and pulled the mechanism back up after every flush – a very unpleasant and unhygienic process.
The tap on the kitchen sink was broken, causing water to run back down the spout and spill all over the kitchen side every time it was turned on. Until we realised why this was happening, we incurred a lot of food waste due to packaging and food itself becoming saturated with water. We also had to use our own towels every time we needed to run water to wash dishes etc., to stop the leaking water from spilling on to the floor.
Bed slats were missing from the main bed (see Image C) which caused us to literally fall through whenever we or our daughter sat or moved toward the end of the bed.
The light fitting and bulb in the bathroom was hanging lose and not fixed in place.
The high-up plug socket in the dining area adjacent to the shelf had a piece of metal sticking out, which was a huge safety concern and also restricted anything from being plugged in to the socket. Furthermore, one of the plug sockets on the wall in the bedroom was extremely loose with a large enough gap that a child could easily insert their fingers behind the socket which could have been fatal (see Image E) – I would advise you to ensure this has been addressed by staff on site BEFORE anyone else stays in there. “ -
So as stated above, these issues caused us a great deal of upset and frustration during our week. My question to the forum is that based on the above, do you think that 50% of the NET accommodation cost (however they have worked that out?!) is an appropriate level of compensation? Do you think ABTA would see this differently?
Any advice or guidance would be very much appreciated. P.S - I have uploaded a few of the photographs into a PDF document which is hopefully attached?
Many thanks in advance.
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