Holiday Parks Don't Get Done Get Dom

'I've battled for consumer rights for years,

'but it seems some companies are still not getting the message.'

The consumer is technically paying your wages

and keeping your company afloat.

'Day in, day out, thousands of you are being taken for a ride

'and it's always the same old things -

'shoddy products, the small print and bad customer service.'

Customer service is really important

and, if a company's good, I'll go back to it.

'Too right! But some firms are driving you barmy,

'causing you sleepless nights

'and making you feel like you're the one to blame.'

But don't despair,

because I'll take them on to make sure you don't get done.

'We work hard all year round and when we take a well-earned break,

'there's nothing quite like it - relaxing, sun-filled skies

'and good times.'

But what happens when your holiday

turns out to be nothing like what you were expecting?

'Unfortunately, that's what happened to Dave and Leonie Robinson.

'They shelled out £560

'for what they hoped would be a family holiday to remember.

'But as their photos show,

'sadly, it ended up being one they'll never forget.

'Their Pontins journey began when Leonie and Dave had just celebrated

'the birth of their son, Jacob.

'With two other children, James and Oliver, money was tight.

'When it came to booking their yearly holiday,

'Leonie and Dave decided to stay in the UK and take their family on a trip down memory lane.'

We decided to go to Pontins because of my memories as a child.

I have memories of it being fun and happy, things like that,

lots of activities for the children to do.

They can experience the memories that I had as a child.

'After flicking through the glossy Pontins brochure,

'Leonie and Dave decided to take their family

'to the Brean Sands park in Somerset.'

When I rang Pontins and asked about the sites,

they said this was one of their best sites,

so we thought this would be the one for us.

'Then after taking a look on the Pontins website,

'images like this sealed the deal.'

We expected Pontins to be a lovely holiday.

We thought it would be clean and tidy.

We thought we'd have space, where the children could be in the chalet.

We've caravanned before, and with a new baby we thought it would be too small to do that.

So we decided to book one of their chalets.

The children were very excited that they would meet the Crocodile Club

and do the things that were advertised in the brochure.

'But when the family arrived at the Brean Sands park,

'the reality shattered all their dreams.'

When we first got there, we realised that there was a lot of heavy machinery about -

concrete mixers, things like that.

At least 50% of the site was getting refurbished,

which we weren't told about when we booked the holiday.

I nearly cried when I walked in. The room was horrible.

The entrance looked like it had been kicked in.

The window wouldn't lock, so when they fixed it,

they had to screw it shut so we didn't have a window to open in the middle of summer.

What bed linen we had had holes in it. The bathroom was filthy.

'After the initial distress, Leonie and Dave headed to reception to complain.'

They said, "We can't do anything. You have to go to where you collected your linen from."

They sorted the basic bits out -

the lack of pillows and duvets and things.

We were still in a dirty tiny room where we had to move the furniture round to get us all in.

'Leonie and Dave tried to remain upbeat for the sake of the children

'and decided to take them swimming, which is what they love to do.'

We booked Pontins after asking specifically whether their water slide was working.

The day we went into the pool, not only was it too cold to go in,

but the water slide was out of order because they were under-staffed,

so the children couldn't even use the water slide.

The holiday was rubbish

because it was too cold to go swimming in the big pool.

The swimming pool facilities were disastrous.

I used the female changing rooms with my two youngest children.

They were just filthy. Nobody had cleaned them.

There was rust on the wall where the disabled chair had been pulled off.

The changing mat was dirty. It was supposed to be anti-mould.

It said "anti-fungal changing mat". It was covered in mildew and mould.

It was filthy. I daren't even put my baby on it.

'That was the final straw.'

I decided that was it, I wanted to go home.

Any family holiday should leave you with memories that you treasure

for the rest of your life. Unfortunately,

with David and Leonie, it's a different sort of memory.

I'm about to find out what went wrong.

'Leonie and Dave feel they're at a dead end as they've had no luck

'talking to anyone at Pontins about their horrendous holiday.

'I've come to see if there's anything I can do to help.'

-How you doing? Is Leonie in?

-Yes. Come on in.

If I said "describe Pontins on that first day in one or two words",

Leonie, how would you describe it?

A disaster zone. It was awful.

-What would you say, David?

-Filthy, unsafe.

Must be a huge disappointment. You'd just had a birth, hadn't you?

We tried to make the best of it. We thought, "We'll see how it goes tomorrow."

The next day, we went to the pool area.

There was dirt everywhere. The grout between the tiles was green and black.

There was empty packets and dirty nappies just abandoned all over the place.

-What happened when you went to complain?

-We asked to talk to the manager.

We were told the manager was busy so we said, "Fair enough. We'll wait."

We were there a couple of minutes and the manager came out of the back room.

I said, "I want to go home." He talked me round. He was very pleasant.

He said he would upgrade our accommodation

to nicer accommodation that had been refurbished

and didn't have a 1960s dirty bathroom suite in it, and we could check it first.

'As it was getting quite late and the kids were hungry,

'the manager offered the family a free Sunday lunch and drinks.'

We thought, "They're trying to make amends and make things better for us."

On first inspection, it looked like it was quite nice.

It was more up-to-date and more refurbished.

When we'd stayed a day or two, we realised it wasn't that good.

Anything on the floor ended up dripping wet.

The floor was rippled, the lino, which had supposedly just gone down.

When you opened the drawers, they were falling off the hinges.

-These were supposed to be new.

-Were the beds OK?

My side of the bed was fine but my wife's had a dirty great spring stuck through the bottom.

-So you couldn't sleep comfortably?

-No.

When you check your accommodation, you see if it's clean.

You don't lay on the bed and check there's no springs sticking through or there's holes in the bed linen.

'Leonie and Dave were set to pack up and go home,

'but before they arrived at Pontins, they had forked out

'on expensive tickets on a nearby safari park.'

The children were looking forward to it. It was the only nice day of our holiday.

We stayed four days simply so we could go there.

We went to the zoo and it was fantastic.

'As soon as they got back to Pontins, Leonie started getting ready to leave.'

I handed my keys back and said, "We can't stand it any more."

Did you ask for a refund?

They said, "You'll have to e-mail us when you get home and complain.

"Send in all your complaints sheets."

When we got home, I decided against e-mailing.

I decided I was going to write a letter to the head office.

They then forwarded my letter to Brean Sands.

Apparently, all of their complaints are done in-house on the site where you stay.

Your complaint is forwarded on to the people you're complaining about?

They think, "We don't want to give their money back. We'll sweep that under the carpet and leave it."

'After not getting a response from Pontins,

'Leonie decided to give the Brean Sands park a call.'

They said they hadn't actually received the letter yet.

'Leonie waited a day or two then called Brean Sands again.

'They said they'd received their letter but hadn't read it,

'so asked her to call back in a few days.'

I just kept hitting brick walls when I phoned Brean Sands.

They kept handing the problem to somebody else.

Or say, "I'll get back to you after my lunch."

Or "He's not here at the moment. He'll ring you back."

Given up phoning cos nobody wanted to speak to us.

'Leonie says she spent weeks trying to call Pontins, but without success

'and gave up thinking she would ever talk to somebody about her complaints.'

How do you feel about them now, generally?

I'm so cross with them. So cross that they could take people's money,

head-earned money that you've saved up all year to go on holiday

and take your children and disappoint families - I'm so cross with them.

We thought, "We have to take photos cos people aren't going to believe what we're talking about."

We took photos on the camera. We took them on our phones.

Most people take photos of nice things on holiday.

We took them of nightmares.

We never got one nice photo of us together on holiday.

-Could you show me these photos? Where are they?

-Yeah. Over there.

'I'm glad Leonie and Dave have done the most sensible thing

'and taken hard evidence of the state of the Brean Sands holiday park.'

That's the ripped bed linen.

-That was in your chalet?

-In the room, yes.

That's the pillowcase that was all ripped.

-Not a very welcoming sight.

-Not really.

That was the cobwebs in the corner and even the spider still there.

Yeah. Surprised HE hasn't moved out.

This is the new drawers. The drawers don't shut properly.

These are the works going on.

-That's a building site.

-That's a concrete wagon.

-I'm pretty shocked.

-It should be a nice family safe area and it wasn't.

-What a waste of your first holiday for a year.

-It was.

-And the first holiday of my youngest son as well.

-Yeah.

It's the kids' memories.

-OK, David. Can you e-mail me those photos and I'll print some of them off?

-Yeah.

-Tell Leonie I said goodbye and I'll be in touch soon.

-All right.

'Unbelievable! Leonie and Dave have had a really awful holiday.

'Let's see what Pontins have to say when I ring them up.

'Pontins is one of the oldest and best-known names in British holidays.

'They've been around since 1946 and have five parks

'offering half-board and self-catering holidays

'with regular entertainment on offer.

'Their slogan WAS "All your want-ins at Pontins".

'Sadly, in November 2010, the company went into administration.

'It was bought by the Britannia Hotel Group,

'whose trading name is Britannia Jinky Jersey Ltd.

'This company has kept the resorts open and the Pontins name alive.

'I'm going to try and get hold of someone at the Brean Sands park where Dave and Leonie stayed.'

PHONE RINGING

RECORDED VOICE: Welcome to Pontins.

Please hold for one of our holiday advisors.

Your call may be recorded for quality and training purposes.

'A Pontins holiday advisor answers.

'She'd prefer her voice not to be broadcast.'

I need to speak to somebody about a problem with one of the chalets that's been rented out.

'She asks which park I'm referring to.'

It's Brean Sands.

'She informs me that usually complaints about the accommodation

'are dealt with at the park by the customer services desk.'

It's gone beyond that. 'The lady then puts me on hold.'

That's quite interesting. As soon as I spoke to that lady, she was very polite,

and said "I need to speak to you about a problem" she said "normally they're taken care of on site".

That wasn't the case for Leonie.

If that is the case, why weren't they taken care of on site?

'I'm transferred to one of the managers at the head office,

'who would also prefer that we don't use their voice.'

A Customer of yours complained to us about a holiday they've had very recently.

They did take it up at the time with the people at the park

and they weren't able to resolve it.

They've asked us if we can try and sort this out.

'I quickly learn that she's a sales manager,

'so can't help with a customer complaint,

'but she will call me back with a number for Eileen Downey,

'the Operations Director of Britannia Hotels.

'However, ironically, she's on holiday for two weeks.'

Smashing. Nice talking to you. Bye-bye.

Got to say - very charming lady. Most of my calls start off that way.

I've got the names of the important people. I'm going to send them an e-mail and wait for their call back.

Then I'll start the ball rolling, well and truly.

'This case has got me thinking about what our rights are when a holiday goes wrong.

'I've contacted Steve Playle from Surrey County Council Trading Standards to find out.'

UK holidays are covered by the Supply of Goods and Services Act.

Accommodation has to be supplied using reasonable care

and the services must be provided with reasonable skill.

Hopefully, that contributes to consumers having a decent holiday.

'A common cause of complaint is the standard of accommodation.

'What should you do if you're unhappy?'

If you're dissatisfied with the accommodation,

don't suffer in silence, let someone know that you're dissatisfied.

Find the site manager and give them the opportunity to put it right.

'If you feel that your complaint has not been dealt with appropriately,

'how can you take it further?'

Always put the complaint in writing. Use old-fashioned pen and paper.

Send it by recorded delivery. That way you can prove the complaint's got there.

Spell out what you want them to do to put the matter right

and give them a time limit in which to come back to you.

If you are complaining about a holiday, you need to be reasonable at all times.

If it gets escalated to a court case, the registrar will look at how you've behaved.

If you've acted unreasonably, it may well count against you.

Who else can we turn to?

It's always worth paying using a credit card.

You have some fantastic protection under the Consumer Credit Act.

'If you buy anything on a credit card between £100 and £30,000,

'you can turn to your credit card company if something goes wrong.'

If the holiday company aren't prepared to play ball,

sometimes you can bring pressure to bear by the credit card company.

Just cos it's cheap doesn't mean it has to be nasty.

One reason that Dave and Leonie were SO disappointed with their holiday

was that it simply didn't live up to the promises made in the Pontins brochure.

That could be the key to this case.

'I've asked Dave and Leonie to make a list comparing what the brochure

'and website claimed the park offered, and what they found on arrival.'

This is what we were expecting. They've said it'll be clean.

And they weren't. They were awful.

That's the door where you went in.

-This was all flooding and fag ends.

-Full of dirty smelly water.

It was horrible.

'A brochure could be a true reflection of what you'll see on your holiday.

'If what you get on arrival bears no relation, complain there and then

'and request to be moved.

'Always take photos and videos.

'If other holiday-makers are experiencing problems,

'get their names and addresses. The more who complain,

'the better the chance of getting a company to listen to you.'

Brean Sands advertises that they've got a heated swimming pool.

-In fact... Well, you know what it was like! It was...

-freezing.

'Send all letters by recorded delivery and e-mail

'so you can prove they received it, and always save a copy.'

Anti-mould changing mat.

The nappy somebody had left.

'Disgusting! The reality paints a very different picture to what they saw online.'

-It shows you the things that don't work!

-Yeah.

-Then they tell you

this long list of things to go out of Pontins to do.

'That's a solid list Leonie and Dave have got.

'That could prove handy evidence, if I need it.

'Back on the case, there's been a development.

'Five days after I left a message,

'Operations Manager Eileen Downey has rung on behalf of Pontins

'and spoken to a member of my team.'

She said that Pontins don't agree with what David and Leonie say

and that they wrote and told them that.

She says that they upgraded them to a brand-new chalet

and gave them food and drink for the remainder of their stay,

which was worth more than what they paid for the original chalet.

'Leonie, on the other hand, says she never received a letter from Eileen,

'that the new chalet they were moved to was in a poor state of repair

'and that they were only given vouchers for one meal.

'One thing IS for sure...'

Pontins have said that the couple never complained about the swimming pool facilities during their stay.

Well, they did.

Here is a copy of the form Leonie filled in while she was there.

'To be fair to Eileen, she may not have known about this when she rang.

'We sent an e-mail with full details of Dave and Leonie's complaint

'and asked her to comment on such issues as...

'Leonie and Dave's dirty room,

'the swimming pool being very cold, along with unclean changing rooms.

'Since starting this investigation, it turned out Leonie and Dave

'are not the only ones who've had a disappointing Pontins holiday.

'I've now also heard from Louise Duggard from Middlesex,

'who had a week's holiday to Camber Sands in September 2012.

'After they received a special offer via e-mail, the holiday cost £150.'

With our past experience, we thought it was an amazing price.

So we went for it.

'As soon as they stepped foot in the park, they weren't impressed.'

The dirtiness of the chalets. It was filthy rotten.

The games room was poor.

The ceiling was falling down and I was worried for my son's safety.

'As soon as they returned home, they wrote two letters of complaint.'

Three weeks after we sent our letter to the manager, we had a reply,

with the manager apologising and offering us 10% off our next holiday.

We thought the offer was appalling and that we'd never go back.

'In contrast, when Kirstie Harris and her family arrived at Pontins

'in Prestatyn in north Wales, first impressions were good.'

The park seemed nice

and the outside of the main building seemed lovely.

'But good vibes didn't last long.'

When we got into the apartment, I instantly saw that it wasn't clean.

The floor was dirty. The kitchen sides were dirty.

The mirrors were dirty and the settee was filthy as well.

I wouldn't have allowed the boys to go into the kitchen cos it was so dirty.

I certainly wouldn't be making bottles or the kids' sandwiches on the kitchen sides.

'Kirstie's boyfriend went straight to the manager to complain and ask for an upgrade.'

He was told that would cost us £40,

so we paid that and received the keys to a higher apartment.

And the same dirt shocked us again.

It doesn't matter how much a holiday costs, it should be a certain standard.

The rooms should be clean. The staff should be friendly. You should have a nice time.

'That's now three people who have been badly let down by Pontins.

'However, there has been a development for Dave and Leonie.

'They received a letter with an offer which sounds promising

'and the couple are considering it.

'Whilst they do that, I get back on the blower to Pontins' Operations Manager about Kirstie and Louise.'

PHONE RINGING

Eileen, good morning. It's Dominic Littlewood at the BBC.

'She responds by saying, "It's who? Sorry?"'

It's Dominic Littlewood at the BBC.

From Don't Get Done Get Dom. We're making a programme.

I sent you an e-mail six weeks ago... Eileen?

Eileen?

'Hm, how odd. Maybe it's a bad line. I'll try again.

'This time, I just get a dead line.

'Do you think it was something I said?'

I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll ring one more time,

just in case she pressed the "off" button by accident.

Can happen. CAN happen.

-CONTINUOUS TONE

-'It's obviously just not my day.

'I've been trying to get answers for all three cases,

'but nearly eight weeks have gone by since we last heard from Pontins.

'Since then, nothing.

'I've even e-mailed Alex Langsam, the MD of Pontins' parent company,

'the Britannia Hotels Group, but to no avail.

'I'm giving up hope of ever getting any answers,

'but I want to give it another try.'

PHONE RINGING

Could you put me through to Alex Langsam, please?

'The man who answers enquires into who's calling.'

Dominic Littlewood at the BBC.

'He then puts me on hold,

'but is soon back to tell me I have to e-mail Alex Langsam and arrange a meeting.'

So no-one can put me through to the boss?

'He says no. I have to make an appointment to talk to Alex Langsam through Customer Services.'

I cannot get through to Mr Langsam.

'Next up is Eileen Downey, the Operations Manager of Pontins.'

Can I speak to Eileen Downey, please?

'Apparently, today, she's at the Britannia Hotel Group office.'

The two people I'm trying to ring are probably in the same office.

What about if I left a message? Would you be able to get it to her?

'The lady says she'll write down a message for Eileen and pass it on.'

Smashing. Thanks very much for your help.

'I tried my darnedest to speak to someone at Pontins

'and their parent company, the Britannia Hotels Group, but to no avail.

'Although Dave and Leonie have received an offer from Pontins,

'I've heard nothing from them about Kirstie and Louise.

'So is there anyone else they could turn to?

'In all three cases, they felt the accommodation hadn't lived up to expectations from the brochures.

'That sort of thing is dealt with by the Advertising Standards Authority.

'One person who is an expert is Lindsay Taffe,

'Director of Communications for the ASA.'

The Advertising Standards Authority is the UK's regulator

for advertising and we regulate advertising

across all media - TV, radio, websites,

what you see in newspapers, magazines.

Any ads that mislead, harm or offend are removed.

That's the first step. We make sure that the ad is withdrawn and it can't do any further damage.

'Are there specific guidelines advertisers have to adhere to?'

Advertisers need to ensure that what they advertise is available

at the time the consumer expects to be taking advantage of it.

If it's not going to be available,

they need to make it clear, or withdraw it from the advertisement altogether.

If the advertisement shows a particular standard of hotel or facilities at the hotel,

that's absolutely what consumers should expect when they turn up.

'As in the case of Leonie and Dave,

'who think they haven't got what they thought they would, what can the ASA do?'

We'll take steps to have the ad removed.

Also, if we do uphold the complaint,

there'll be negative publicity around that advertiser,

which will damage them and will warn other consumers.

'The ASA can't help with financial compensation,

'but there are other bodies who can advise you.'

We'd always recommend contacting the advertiser directly, to see what they can do to put things right.

Contacting Trading Standards, who might be able to help.

Or contacting other bodies, such as ABTA or ATOL,

which have in place financial and other consumer help and advice.

'If you buy a holiday and it doesn't live up to expectations,

'you know who you can turn to.

'This could be useful advice for Kirstie and Louise,

'if they decide to take their cases further. Despite my best efforts,

'there is still no response from Pontins. Shame on you.'

We'd never go back to Pontins and we'd never recommend it to anyone.

It was devastating, really upsetting.

We had to leave and book ourselves in a hotel.

Pontins didn't make any effort to speak to me directly,

but they have been in contact with David and Leonie.

Let's see what they had to say for themselves.

-Hi, Leonie. Hi, Dave.

-Hi, Dom.

-This'll be the last time!

Can I come in?

How do you think I got on with Pontins when I tried to tell them about this disastrous holiday?

I hope you got on better than I did. I couldn't get through to anybody.

I found out who was running operations at Pontins, a lady called Eileen.

I got her phone number. I sent her an e-mail.

I listed all your problems. I sent the pictures.

I then tried to speak to her boss at Britannia Hotels.

-Guess what his response was.

-Nothing?

You hit the nail on the head.

Britannia Hotels and Alex, the boss of it, didn't come back to us.

I didn't even get the chance to address the situation with them.

All I wanted to do was to see what they were prepared to do.

-In the meantime, you've told us that you've heard from them.

-Mm.

-After I got involved.

-Yes.

In what format? Did they ring you up?

I received a letter shortly after you must have got involved.

-Right. Have you got the letter?

-I have. Yes.

-Read it out to me.

"Dear Mrs Robinson, further to your recent stay at the Pontins holiday park in Brean Sands,

"I have agreed to refund your holiday in full.

"Therefore, please find enclosed a cheque to the value of £556.75,

"in full and final statement."

-Where's the apology?

-There is no apology. Nothing.

-How do you feel about that?

-Very disappointed.

We're relieved to have our money, but we're cross, because it took getting you involved to do this.

I'm glad you got your money back.

-I wish I was here with something better than that, but you can wash your hands of them.

-We can.

You got your money back. Jacob's getting hungry.

-It's time for me to go.

-Thank you.

-Good luck with your next holiday.

I hope you end up having a nicer one. I'll see myself out.

-See ya later.

-Bye.

Hello, Jacob. You little tearaway! See ya later, son.

Leonie and David have their money back, and quite rightly so.

I always judge companies on how they respond when a problem arises.

In the case of Pontins, we may not have had all our questions answered,

but we have now had a response from the company who owns Pontins,

the Britannia Hotels Group, and they say...

We're relieved that we got our money back.

Because Dom got involved, we'll be able to take our family on holiday.