Flat Wellington Road, Bournecoast
Value For Money
Flat Wellington Road, Bournecoast
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User Reviews
Value For Money
Very Dirty Holiday Flat With Cheap Furnishings
We decided to book through Bournecoast agents for a last minute, long weekend. Nicky, the agent, was very help and pleasant to deal with. We ended up choosing to stay at Flat 4, 65 Wellington Road for £225 for 3 nights, including booking fee. The agent said we we couldn't get it any cheaper as the owner has to consider their cleaning and maintenance costs.
The 'key' collection setup was innovative and although it was strange wandering around people's driveways at 10pm looking for a well hidden key box on the side of a house with no actual house number on the building, it did work well for us.
On arrival, we were pleased with first impressions as we were unsure of what we had booked due to the lack of photos but the place had good off street parking and the place looked as if it had been recently decorated. Although this meant we had to put up with the well known smell of new paint. Not great for some as I had a severe headache all of one day of my holiday.
Once in and unpacked we then realised the place was FILTHY DIRTY. Previous visitors' rubbish had been left in the corner of the lounge and bathroom. The FRIDGE looked very old and again was filthy inside and out. It had a tarnished, yellow look of age.
The floors were very dirty and it didn't look as if they had been washed or hoovered.
The bathroom sink and shower was 'scummy', very dirty and the bathroom tap had all old toothpaste splash water all over it.
Everywhere was long black hair…Uuurrhhh!
Generally we found that all the appliances and furniture was ultra cheap. Screws kept falling out of the dining chairs so the seats became loose. Not good when I have a toddler picking up sharp screws.
The electric trip switch would trigger cutting off the electric if you used the shower and toaster.
Even after complaining and getting send a second set of quilt covers we found that they just sent odd sheets covers, not a traditional duvet cover.
Where the lounge carpet was so thin the spikes attaching it were sticking through so we all had to wear shoes all weekend to avoid cutting our feet.
The TV didn't work, although I was notified of this prior to arrival.
The Pots and pans looked old and stained.
We were again told that price had to take into account utility costs yet actually everything ran on electric and there was a meter we had to fill up with pound coins.
One of the most irritating things was the cheap dining table was so light that we found we kept accidentally knocking it so drinks were continually spilled over the table.
The shower was difficult the regulate and kept getting scalding hot whilst having a shower.
Finally the internet connection kept timing out.
Once written this review may come across as if I'm one of those moaning people that can't be pleased but if the place had been cleaned the rest might have been ignored but when you see someone is happy to take your money, albeit not that much, I appreciate this is a budget place, but all the same if you are going to rent a place there comes a responsibility. I should know I run a not for profit management company and I too am a Landlord.
My partner & I also had an awful, stressful experience w/ Bournecoast, & w/ a property they let to us 4 weekend "break". No bed linen/towels though ordered, then v poor quality bed linen brought round; later in eve we were locked out of property for 1.5 hours in dark & pouring rain til midnight, no offer of shelter or alternative accommodation, due 2 old rusted lock & swollen door..eventually got in, after damage by locksmith Bournecoast called, & now I'VE been asked 2 pay,on top of the rental, a FURTHER £177, for damage to door we did not cause. This claim from owner of property #passed on by B'coast# who falsely believes we're liable due to inaccurate report passed 2 her by B'coast. B'coast offered small goodwill paymt #£70# eventually. But claim for £177 still stands. We may have to defend legal action. The stress has been incredible. Go on holiday, get locked out in pouring rain, & have unfounded allegations made about u, & claims for £177 made against u. Worst holiday experience ever.
We have had an awful experience with Bournecoast Holiday Lettings. I have left a separate review of all the details. Bottom line: after very poor customer service, no bed linen or towels on arrival, very poor quality when it arrived, we were locked outside property in pouring rain for 1.5 hours until after midnight due to broken rusty lock, when eventually got in, no one from Bournecoast bothered to contact us all weekend to check we were OK - after all this, Bournecoast response to my complaint is to blame my partner and I for what happened, make false accusations against us, apparently misrepresent the situation to the owner of property and demand FROM US a FURTHER £200 for the privilege of a partly ruined birthday weekend. I usually leave VERY positive reviews. Shocked and appalled at treatment. Like above reviewer, I usually leave nothing but very positive reviews. Have never in my life had cause to complain like this. I don't do it lightly but cannot risk others suffering this.
I am really saddened to read the tone and content of the above reply from the lettings agent. I have also complained to them and am shocked that this reply they have given indicates to me that their customer service response is defensive, at points irrelevant and not polite - why do the "[sic]" thing after a typo by the complainant? It comes over to the reader merely as childish, and what is it trying to do, prove grammatical superiority? A matter not obviously relevant to the complaint. I would like to know what thoughts went through the mind of the Bournecoast employee or Director as they pointed that out with their "[sic]" to highlight the terrible deficiency of making a typo by the reviewer. What were they thinking?! It only makes the firm look unprofessional. Also, the whole tone of response is denial, attempted shifting of blame, pointing out that so many testimonials and awards have been achieved - how is that relevant to resolving a complaint? - and an attempt at what comes across as some legalistic type point by point rebuttal as if the aim of customer response is to "defeat" the customer's views. Its an astonishing buck-psssing and adversarial way of responding and i find it hard to believe is in tune with the original family ethos of the firm. In my dealings with the company I have also been promised an investigation, and told they would have to liaise with the owner, but I do not see how it is relevant to the core of my complaint. I really feel for those caught in these kinds of situations, especially those, as in the case of this reviewer, with young families. To have serious problems arise on your holiday is bad enough, but to receive publicly this kind of attempted rebuttal, point by point, and raising irrelevant matters in response adds insult to injury and is not appropriate. I never usually leave any reviews but I feel strongly about this.
Sadly, I have also had a very very negative experience with this company, and it is ongoing. And as disappointing as that experience is, it is even sadder that their customer service response, as below, is defensive, at points irrelevant and not polite - why do the "[sic]" thing after a typo by the complainant, it' comes over to the reader merely as childish, and what is it trying to do, prove grammatical superiority? A matter not obviously relevant to the complaint. I would like to know what thoughts went through the mind of the Bournecoast employee or Director as they pointed that out with their "[sic]" to highlight the terrible deficiency of making a typo by the reviewer. What were they thinking?! It only makes the firm look unprofessional. Also, the whole tone of response is denial, attempted shifting of blame, pointing out that so many testimonials and awards have been achieved - how is that relevant to resolving a complaint? - and an attempt at what comes across as some legalistic type point by point rebuttal as if the aim of customer response is to "defeat" the customer's views. Its an astonishing buck-psssing and confrontational way of responding and i find it hard to believe is in tune with the original family ethos of the firm. In my dealings with the company I have also been promised an investigation, and told they would have to liaise with the owner, but I do not see how it is relevant to the core of my complaint. I really feel for those caught in these kinds of situations, especially those, as in the case of this reviewer, with young families. So I am adding my voice to the reviewer's in the service of helping others with young families avoid these kinds of ordeals on what is a well earned and intended to be relaxing break, and avoid being on the receiving end of these inappropriate customer response tactics.
Dear Mr W
We are very sorry to note your comments on the many websites you are posting your complaint onto.
Bournecoast have been established for over 50 years and receive hundreds of compliments and testimonials per year, which are held in our offices for inspection and some are printed on our holiday brochure. Occasionally there may be circumstances out of our control which we do our utmost to address and rectify.
We pride ourselves on both the service we offer and our properties so we take your comments very seriously.
As a consequence we have investigated every point thoroughly but due to restrictions on this website can only offer brief responses to each of your comments and apologise for the briefness of our responses.
1. We are delighted that you felt Nikki provided you with a good service and that she was “very help [sic] and pleasant to deal with”.
2. You received a discount of £40 prior to booking as the TV wasn't working = less than £20 per person per night for peak season.
3. ‘key safe’ option is used for last minute bookings and late arrivals - 10pm is out of office hours.
4. There are a total of 7 photos of this one bedroom flat on our website.
5. As soon as you phoned our office we immediately offered to send someone over to re-clean but you declined saying that you had already done it yourselves.
6. Each year Bournemouth Tourism inspect all our properties for condition of furnishings etc. All passed as 'Good'. We will now take this up with their inspectors.
Many of the other points were not reported to us, but they will all now be investigated and we thank you for bringing them to our attention - albeit via third parties.
As we said, we take all comments very seriously and are very sorry the accommodation was not to your satisfaction. As a booking agent we work very closely with our landlords to ensure property standards are met and maintained and feedback such as this is invaluable to us, so we thank you for taking the time to detail the problems you experienced.
We will investigate all outstanding issues above and liaise with the owner.
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