“Despite the mention of a steep access ramp in the description, we did not expect it to be quite so steep and awkward to drive up.”
We feel that the context should be explained more fully in the property description, including a photograph, as the current particulars don't tell the whole story. The property is very hard to find in the first place and the ramp is extremely difficult to negotiate because of the hairpin bend at the bottom. Ideally, we would have liked to park in the main courtyard but weren't sure if all spaces were allocated to other properties.
We also had problems with noise: the first night we were kept awake until the early hours of the morning, i.e. gone 2am, by loud voices, screams, doors banging and heavy footsteps. The noises appeared to be coming from below although we weren't entirely sure. This property is clearly described as “ground floor” so we were surprised to say the least to find it is actually on the top of a three storey building! There are properties below and on both sides and the walls/floors are obviously not well soundproofed.
We raised these issues with customer services but, despite receiving a couple of helpful emails at the start saying the matter would be looked into the following day (Monday) when the local office was open, we had no further communication. I was asked to email photographs, which I did, and was told that "This has been allocated to Athena, who will respond to you" but we heard nothing further. However, even though I emailed a number of times during the week I only ever received standard responses asking me to quote my case reference number, which I had already done and in any case, I was using the Help Centre messaging feature in my online account.
There were some other minor issues that I won't go into here but I left a note in the property describing those and hopefully, they will be rectified.
We have booked through Heart of the Lakes many times previously and have generally been happy with the accommodation. However, on this occasion, we were very disappointed, both with the property and the very poor service received from your "Customer Relations Team".
- Mr Hammond, September 2021
