I made my initial booking with the Fair Rigg Guest House over the phone and it is a combination of this and the fact that i did not check the subsequent confirmation email that led to me being charged for 2 nights stay (for myself and my partner) that i never had any intention of taking. The stay was booked (in April) as a birthday present for my partner over the August bank Holliday and when i spoke to the management on the phone i explained that this was the case. Although the lady had initial trouble finding the date of the August bank Holliday (which did surprise me since this is the only bank Holliday in August and must be one of her busiest weekends) she assured me that this was booked. I received a confirmation email shortly afterwards which i did not check due to the fact that we had only talked specifically about booking the bank Holliday weekend and that i was not interested in any other weekend. My assumption (which was clearly fatally flawed) was that the proprietor of a tourist business would have no problem identifying the correct date of a bank Holliday (the only one in the month). Subsequently, in my ignorance I assumed that all was well and that i had booked a stay for two people over the August bank Holliday that we would both look forward to and enjoy. To my horror and dismay i received an email promptly on the Monday morning (a week before the August bank Holliday) explaining to me that despite not turning up to stay at the B & B (for the weekend just passed)I would still be charged for the 2 night’s stay in accordance with the terms and conditions of the booking policy. Whilst i completely understood this policy before booking (which is a very standard policy) I am essentially paying (literally) for the proprietors mistake. I am also amazed that the owner of the B & B did not bother to make contact with me (by phone or email) after we failed to turn up for the first night. I had no idea of the unfolding events until i received the email telling me i was going to be charged. Not the sort of service you expect from a family owned B & B. After calling to see if there had been some mistake i was assured that i had not booked the bank Holliday weekend (which the email confirmation confirmed) and that had i wanted to i would have had to book early to get the bank holiday weekend (which i did – 5 months early). I was also told that it would be mandatory to book three nights over this weekend (which at the time of booking certainly was not the case) and that because of this ‘fact’ i could not have possibly talked about booking the bank Holliday weekend in the first place. Whilst i was more than prepared to admit that there had clearly been a crossed wire somewhere i was refused the possibility of transferring my booking to another weekend and instead was greeted with a particularly officious referral (at point blank) to the terms and conditions of booking. I find this way of treating paying customers completely deplorable, particularly the refusal to admit genuine mistakes and the open willingness to deny anything that would have compromised the complete referral to the terms and conditions. I also found the telephone manner of the lady very coarse and knowing (not to mention money grabbing).