Needed a good clean
Review Submitted: August 18, 2009
Date of Stay: August 2009
The picture of the cottage portrays a clean crisp property but this certainly wasnt the case, in some places the build was not complete and the surrounding land was over grown, had old machinery and not very well maintained. There was a gravelled area to the front of the house with seating and ok views. The house was dirty when we arrived dry food on services, dirty dining chairs, a sofa filled with hairs and crumbs and a really smelly rug. You could have wrote your name on the cooker hood and i swept the floor twice and used a full pack of anti-bacterial wipes. The upstairs was ok however the dust was thick under the beds which isnt too good for allegies, the bedside cabinets needed a wipe and one of the showers had a cobweb and spider but the bedding and towels were clean which was the only saving grace that night after a long journey. I cleaned when i arrived as it was late and my partner spoke to the owner the next morning only to be told there where lots of other places to stay in the area! The owner and his wife both came over to the property and i was met with suspision as to why i didnt tell her the property was not clean on the night of our arrival, they laughed when we mentioned the sofas and many cobwebs and then decided that nothing they could do would make a difference and we should go. All we wanted was them to clean the place, which they did in the end, how much we dont know as the dust was still under the bed the only thing that looked different was the sofas. We stayed as we found it a bit scary taking 2 children around france looking for a new place to stay. The kitchen was ill equipt, we had to ask for an iron and the washing machine was in a dirty out house with no lighting. We wouldnt use the dining table because of the dirty chairs, so there was no comfy evenings in enjoying a meal and dvd with the kids. Vire and Fler where lovely especially the baths in Fler and we should know we rarely got back to the cottage before 8pm each night as we didnt want to sit in it. We where cautious of everything we used, touched and where we sat which is something we have never had to worry about holidaying in France for the last 3 years, all previous cottages chosen from Holiday Rentals where spotless. The owners didnt come over the night before we left to offer a save journey so needless to say we wont be going back and wouldnt recommend it. We are reasonable friendly, people and an apology and good clean would have made our visit alot happier.
Owner's Response: We have a lovely rural retreat in the grounds of our own property which has been enjoyed by guests all summer without complaint until the guests who wrote this review arrived. I do not think it is unreasonable to have expected our guests to inform us immediately of any concerns as we are only approx. 30m from the gite. I do think it is unreasonable to arrive on our doorstep the following day and describe our cottage as "rancid" All our previous guests had left the cottage in a very clean and tidy state - I clean every change over day but have never found the cottage in a rancid state so I apologise to any previous guests who may have read this (thankyou all for taking such care of our cottage)
The guests who chose to complain had not paid for their holiday other than a deposit - we therefore offered them 2 nights free accommodation to look for alternative places to stay as they seemed determined to find as much fault as they could. At the time they stated the upstairs was fine but they wanted downstairs cleaning - the reason they didn't see much change after is because there wasn't a big problem. On their return that night our guests informed us that all was satisfactory and they wished to continue their holiday in our cottage..
On at least 2 occasions I invited our guests to advise us of anytbing they felt they might need (we happily provided them with an ironing board and iron which are not listed on our webpage as provided)- They stated all was well and that they were enjoying their holiday.
We welcome, and ask for feedback from our guests to try and guauge how we may improve peoples' holidays. It is, in our opinion, better to voice concerns at the time of the perceived problem not to return home and vent feelings (many of which are subjective and inaccurate ) in a manner that is not constructive.
I would like to assure all future guests that our cottage is always cleaned and we are very open with providing what we reasonably can if guests feel anything is lacking.
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