| Haven - Heaven or Hell?
1999 Summer Holiday
In 1999, we decided to book a one week holiday at the Haven
Hafan y Mor Holiday Park in North Wales, but this was a decision that we
were to regret as we experienced problems with: the standards of service
in the restaurant; staff attitudes; the cleaning of our chalet and finally
security.
Security
We arrived at our chalet on a Saturday evening in late August,
and during the time we explored the site that evening, our chalet was
broken into and £180 was stolen from my wife's purse.
We saw a Police Officer the next day and he demonstrated how easy it
was to get in through a closed window (without breaking it). The
windows on the chalet had locks, like ours, but
Haven refuse to provide their guests with the keys to lock their windows
to protect their property.
We noted that while Haven had installed security cameras at the site,
our chalet did not have security camera cover even though it was in a more
secluded area where cover would been more necessary.
We had applied all reasonable security measures like locking all doors
and windows and hiding valuables from view, yet Haven refused to accept
any element of liability for the theft.
Afon Garden Restaurant
While the quality of the food was good in the restaurant, the
standards of service, presentation and the attitude of staff leaved much
to be desired. Let me give you some real examples:
-
One morning my wife requested a boiled egg for breakfast, and this
request was met with a vacant expression. The lad opened some
cupboards and returned with a fried egg. On repeating the
request again, she eventually received a boiled egg.
-
I asked for bacon, baked beans and tomatoes for breakfast, and was
told by a girl that I could have baked beans or tomatoes, but not
both. I complained about only being given one rasher of bacon,
and was reluctantly given a second rasher.
-
We noted that the porridge and soup was usually slopped into the
dishes.
-
In both the mornings and the evenings at least one of the coffee
machines did not work as there was no discipline in emptying the drip
trays.
-
Every morning and evening, the trays on which we collected our food
were always dripping wet as they were never dried.
-
The cereal bowls were always dripping wet at breakfast time as they
had never been dried.
This was not the service we were expecting in the restaurant.
The Lakeside Inn Experience
Having had a less than satisfactory experience at the Afon
Gardens. we decided to try the Lakeside Inn one evening, even though we
had paid for our Afon Gardens meal, but this was unsatisfactory too.
We had to wait over an hour for our food but were not advised in
advance that there was any delay despite the rules stating that customers
should be informed of delays. We had two starving boys, who like us,
were getting impatient.
Eventually when our food arrived, my food had already gone cold, as it
must have been left standing for some time.
At least three people complained about the Lakeside Inn that evening to
the site management.
Housekeeping
Although a housekeeping and cleaning service was covered by our
holiday price, the cleaners either did not turn up, or when they did, they
did little work.
Summary
We nearly left the site early, but in the end stayed the full
duration of the holiday. But, in our eyes, this was no holiday, it
was Haven-hell. We will never take another Haven holiday.
Haven is owned by Bourne Leisure Holdings Limited and was owned by the
Rank Group Holidays Division when we took our holiday.
Feedback
Since publishing this page, we have had feedback from:
Mrs S.H: who also had an unpleasant experience and who reported seeing a rat.
That couple will not be returning to Haven either.
Mrs A.M. who wrote: Dear sir, I was very interested to
read of your experiences at this park. We too had dreadful problems there
during a holiday in 2000 pretty much along the lines of that you reported.
Also from Y: i know
you have had a bad time at haven and probably want to forget it, but i am in
court with them next month and would like to get other peoples complaints
that tie up with mine, i went on holiday 2 years after you and it is still
the same as you had if you want to help then contact me on.
X wrote to me: who is an ex-Haven employee and
explained that management compelled some staff to work from 9am to midnight
at times and that management told staff in the Lakeside Inn that they
were told not to tell customers that there was a severe wait for food! Other
comments were made about the ability of some employees to do the work that
was expected of them as management recruited staff with inappropriate
skills.
Mr R wrote in 2004: I had to laugh when i saw
your website detailing your holiday at Hafan-y-Mor. What you were saying
about the Afon Gardens restaurant rung true and let me tell you after 5
years nothing has changed. I thought the food was poor, of insufficient
quantity and rationed by over-zealous staff who couldn't give a monkeys
about customer service...it was like a cattle market and basically a canteen
rather than a restaurant. However we met up with some nice people who
thought the same so at least we could all suffer together and I'm talking 4
families who were fed up and that's just the ones who stayed in the same
block of chalets as us...we couldn't afford to go out at night because the
cost of buying a drink was so high and everything cost a fortune, so we all
sat out at night together having a few cans and chatting while we watched
the kids play...all in all a very poor holiday aside from the fact that we
met some really nice people who were just as fed up as we were...a really
crap site with poor over-priced facilities. What Haven tend to forget is
that people holiday with them because they generally don't have piles of
cash to throw around on their holidays and think they're getting a good deal
when they book only to get totally fleeced by the prices at the site.
example: Everydays Store 12 cans of Carling £10.99
Tesco at Porthmadog 24 Cans Carling £12.98...I mean I can understand them
making a slight mark-up on goods but that's ridiculous...whopper meal at
Burger-King Edinburgh-£3.79 at Hafan-y-Mor £5.29...I could go on...needless
to say I won't be going back...
Anyway, that's my little rant over with and thanks
for an entertaining site.
My conclusion now in 2004, is that it was
management at Hafan y Mor that are accountable for our unpleasant
experience.
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