“I'm very surprised to read poor reviews as I have just returned from White Cross Bay, near Windermere having had a great long weekend. We were supposed to be at the Loch Tummel Holiday Park near Pitlochry but it had to be closed due to flooding. Mark at Parkdean Resorts was extremely helpful - he did a great job in finding us alternative and suitable accommodation. The lodge we rented was spacious and very well equipped. The facilities on the park were excellent and the area is stunning with loads to do. Our 4 grandkids had a ball!”
“LOCH TUMMEL CARAVAN PARK
Lovely wee maintained site great staff great location for walking etc would return to this site again this was our 3rd visit to you're holiday parks this year and away to you're Suffolk site in 3 weeks being using you're site for about 14 years now 2/ 3 times a year great value for money in between our breaks abroad keep up the great work Louise n David down”
“We had a Seaview caravan at ocean edge. The caravan was clean and the site and venue were clean and we felt safe . We have stayed at ocean edge before and hope to return. It was June when we came .Jackie”
“Absolutely shocking customer service..rang several times and no-one answers. We want to know why we haven't had the full refund from the break we booked for April and they cancelled due to covid. They refunded a third of the amount with no explanation. I've read quite a lot of the reviews and amazed at what a very poorly run company this is..I hope they're proud of themselves. I certainly won't be booking anything with them again.”
“i'm afraid nothing is good about Highfield Grange , checked out at 10am and still waiting for the police , as one of the cleaners has seen fit to steal my husbands WEDDING RING !!!!!! A week from hell not only was the caravan absolutely filfthy and had to wait until nearly 5pm to get in after paying for early check in , now we have been victim of theft !!!!!”
“Just come back from Withensea site, family had a great time we had 2 caravans which were really good. helpful & friendly staff. My only complaint is regard children ridding E/ scooters on the roads, with cars having to avoid them. I thought that normal road rule applied, ie not private land. we will be returning”
“Caravan a good but over priced fish chip shop beer 5iver a pint poor entertainment no acts just park Dean staff crappy bingo and quiz s nisa shop dear and whole camp prices miles to high caravan not ready told em be there 4pm twice had to q up over all poor night time entertainment”
“Unfortunately our stay last week fell short in both comfort and cleanliness
Beds and sofas were tired and uncomfortable after paying over 700 pounds for the caravan for Windsor 65 at Manor park
There were cobwebs inside windows and dust and fluff under beds
The veranda was green and had clock roaches
I have stayed at Manor park many times and have never had such dirty caravan and such uncomfortable sofas or beds they all need replacing
The grounds were lovely but swimming pool is very small for amount of caravans on park a is play area”
“We stayed at parkdean Whitley Bay resort from 13th to 17th September. The Caravan was Dusty, clear it had not been cleaned. Had to clean it and asked for a hoover. Microwave plate was the wrong one so not able to use, TV blew up and electric went. Asked for a comfortextra upgrade after booking through Sun holidays, if that was an upgrade then I'm the Queen of Sheba!!! Was told that all photos can be deceived on website! If that's the case then don't show photos if you can not provide as this disappointed us for our holiday plus if paying for an upgrade then it should be honoured!! The WiFi is appalling even though we paid for 2 devices, better off not supplying it! Despite this, would like to send our gratitude to Gloria, security officer who was very helpful when the TV blew up as she was quick in her response, helpful and friendly”
“Well i went to southview in skegness last may and had the parkstone caravan which was nothing like the pics. Everything was in brown dark wood flooring dark furniture and kitchen there was no light because it was so dark and radiators rusty. We complained about this all weekend and nobody was interested i even contacted head office. I was eventually told that some of the caravans ad had their day and was going to be taken off site however to my disapointment this caravan is still on the website. Also my nana and grandad came the sametime and paid more for a verander and outdoor furniture but unfortunately we was told there was not enough onsite we only went for 4 nites and spent first 2 days trying to get furniture that should have already been there. Absolute disgrace and customer service is appallingn stay away and go to the travelodge”
“Was sold an upgrade that did not exist was told it would be a Malpas caravan but apparently they do not do anymore no compensation was offered and this information was only brought to our attention when we tried to book next year's holiday what a pity they did not informed us but still charged us.?”
“arrival I went for a lie down on the double bed, ( I have spinal arthritis) traveling hurts my back, THERE WERE NO SLATS ON THE BED the mattress went straight through with myself resulting in excruciating pain in my back and my leg hit off the metal frame. 2nd complaint there was no concrete path anywhere near our steps to the caravan it was like a mud bath my husband slipped and fell onto the stairs he hurt his hands/arm and legs, he is a disabled man. 1 x pair of brand new ugg boots ruined £200, 1x pair of brand new WHITE nike air force trainers covered in mud. i have photos of the outside of caravan and the bed which im still sufferattacheding with extra back pain due to the incompetence of your housekeepers / inspection team as they should of noticed the condition of the bed when making it. My whole family have had a very disappointing experience and I would like to be compensated for all that we have been through. photos attached”
“Be aware of families that take over the park and abuse. Your children security are no help whatsoever spoke to complaints and they said they were happy. Just to say sorry after my children are talking to bits with their stay at this park Sanford”
“Parkdean has massively gone downhill. The caravan we stayed in was filthy, we were unable to sit down due to the state of it. We was told they would wash the sofa and clean it, but we wouldn't be able to sit down for 2 out of our 5 days there, we was also told to spend the day out of the caravan with the windows open so the sofa could dry (we have a newborn baby which they were aware of). We said this was not acceptable and they advised the only option is to move us.... to another filthy caravan. We asked for a refund and we'd leave... we was told they'd resolved it so we couldn't have a refund and there wasn't any point making a complaint.
Upon coming home, we made a complaint and was told by head office that they are satisfied with how they dealt with it.
Awful caravan and awful service. We do not recommend anyone wastes their money with parkdean.... go to Haven... they are so much better!!!”
“California Cliffs Mon, 26 Jun 2023 for 4 nights, on arrival at your caravan when we opened the door we were hit by the overwhelming stench of stale cigarette smoke so we returned to the reception and told them about it, the woman did not seem that interested but eventually said they would send some one round with an air scrubbing machine so we waited, once this had been done we went in it did not smell any better and then we found the sofa was damp and stained so i had a close inspection of this and found it stank of urine, human or dog i'm not sure, so back to reception to complain, the same woman again,so we explained it was no better smelling and the sofa was damp and smells of urine and we are not happy and want to move, she told us they have no other caravan they could put us in and basically if we don't like it we can always go home, great ! so what do you do when you have driven 4 hours to get there, we can hardly go home can we so back to the caravan, open every door and window and use out deodorant as air fresheners, the next day i go to supermarket and spend nearly £20 on every air freshener,sented candle, fabric spreay they had but the stench would not shift so i end up sleeping in the car to get away from it, in the mean time i kept complaining but got no where, if you dont like it go home im told more than once, so thats what we did, went home early as we could not bear to be in the caravan as it was affecting my copd and i could not sleep in the car any longer, i had already emailed a complaint before we left,i got a reply saying that what i said did not happen and that they had knocked on our door a few times to check everthing was ok, so i pointed out my car has a dashcam that recordes anyone coming near my car and as the car was parked by the caravan door it has recorded no one coming to our door what so ever apart from us so that was a lie, so i kept complaining, even to the CEO but got no where really, next its going to the small claims court.
They should be ashamed of themselves to rent out a caravan in that state !.”
“Carmarthen Bay parkdean resort. What a complete waste of money, absolutely nothing here to do, even worse if you have kids. Shop on site mega expensive ( get a supermarket delivery, 1/2 the price ) Food on site, no choice except for bar/restaurant again mega expensive ( main course, drinks £60/ 70 2 adults 2 kids ) need chip shop on site or pizza shop. On site entertainment non existent, been here since Friday its now Monday, no live entertainment ie singers, groups etc kids entertainment only starts at 5.30, absolutely nothing during the day, just arcade. Has rained every day , in the middle of nowhere, all of us completely bored. Can't even drive anywhere unless 1 hour drive. Why is there no daytime entertainment for kids and evening entertainment for adults apart from bingo. Yes there is a bit of a beach with sea coming into the estuary, but the water is full of jellyfish, bigger than I have ever seen, and not safe to swim in, when you get a bit of break from the rain. This is the worst holiday I have had in my life, and feel so ashamed that we have brought our kids to this. The Caravan is is in need of restoration, The bedroom door didn't shut, the cutlery draw fell off, the wind blowing through the windows as when closed there is a finger width gap around the window, the TV is that old, the controller says netflix,youtube etc that's a laugh obviously from a different TV, the software on the TV says 2014.
So many families complaining and saying they will never come back here, and same goes here.”
“Parkdean Holiday Resorts, Holton Heath, Sandford, Dorset.
To mention, we are both in our middle seventies and feel that we have been humiliated and discriminated against through no fault of our own.
Please read our story and see what you think!
We booked a Poole lodge on Sandford Park from the 16th to the 19th June. Then a Stoborough lodge from the 19th to the 23rd June as the Poole lodge was supposedly not available for a longer period. A very nice lodge No.16 Willow Way and with my wife’s recovering hip operation, the small amount of steps were just nicely manageable.
We were told that we could have access to our next lodge, No 4, Oak Avenue from 1 pm onwards of the 19th.
On arrival the outside of this Wooden Lodge was found to be covered in spider webs, general dust and mess, peeling paint that had obviously been like this for a very long time. In fact the unit must have been at least 50 years old or more at least and we were surprised that it was still being used! Looked like it had been in a ‘wild west’ shootout!!
Incidentally, my wife was very loathe to stay as we had seen a similar unit on the park which had been completely burnt out.
We noted also that this was the only wooden lodge on the park apart from odd privately owned ones.
But the main problem here were the SEVEN STEPS up to the decking leading to the unit.
As our ages had to be specified on the booking form, surprisingly no one had asked if we would be able to manage these steps, especially with our luggage etc!
And although mobile,I am severely disabled internally (Brittle Asthma Type two and Spinal rods) so this was out of the question for me and could, if dewy or wet would become a serious slip hazard. To mention, the decking was green over in many parts, (photos taken )and would be extremely dangerous when wet! My wife was very concerned over this as she is still recovering from a hip replacement operation as mentioned above.
So we were now ‘lodge-less’ and reporting this to reception, were told the female manager would be back at 2pm. So a wait of approximately one hour!
After waiting in our car in the heat with our little dog as we had to vacate Willow Way lodge, we saw the Lady Manager heading back to reception. Five minutes later we returned to reception, and were told, (seemed like a ‘fob-off’) by the young lady receptionist that the female manager was in a meeting. Rather quickly we thought! When we demanded to see someone who could deal with our dilemma we were offered the maintenance manager but was nothing he could have done to rectify our problem. This was obviously of long standing and had not been dealt with. We were now both ‘stressed out’ again told by the young lady receptionist that all were still in a meeting and would be there for the rest of the afternoon!
In other words, no one could be bothered over our problem. Just a moaning old couple!! Seems the so-called excuse of a meeting was more important than paying guests in a predicament.
After another ten minutes of trying to reason and the queue getting somewhat irritable behind us, we gave up and decided to travel the hundred miles back home.
To mention, the sale of goods act depicts that any item must be fit for the purpose of which it is intended. Well this lodge certainly is not. My wife noted that one of the doors was already open and was tired and dismal inside.
Instead of making extra money by still letting this old and worn out lodge, it should be demolished and replaced with a new one. I am sure that Parkdean could afford it!
To finalise, a customer resolution policy was thrust across the counter to us and we were told to use this to make a complaint. She could not or did not want to address our problem any longer. Our allotted time had, obviously run out.
This policy states,
During your holiday we will do everything we can to make sure you enjoy your holiday with us.
We ask for the opportunity to put things right whilst you are on the park. Absolute rubbish. No one was remotely interested in our predicament as there was no one around! What they were saying was, “if you can’t use the Lodge we have given you tough luck” End of, goodbye!
Well, not sure what happened with us as we were made to feel that this was our fault.
And also somewhat embarrassing for the people in the queue behind.
As with my problems, and not being on holiday for some years, this was as you can probably imagine, a seriously distressing episode for both of us, and felt like we were being discriminated against for being old and disabled!
So, as I am sure we are not the only ones on site who have encountered a problem, are you prepared to do something to appease our situation? I am loathe to let this problem lie as we have paid good money for this rather decrepit lodge which we could not use, or in my case access!
We look forward to any suggestions that you can give.
Namely a full refund of £505.00 as you could not supply us with suitable accommodation.
Incidentally, in the only reply from the park manager / owner, we were dismissed like two bags of park rubbish and told the case was closed.
Well, way to go. Get rid of the annoying old people but keep their money.
Then she says, we have not been discriminated against !!!!
Good one Parkdean. Do not bury your heads in the sand, do the right thing and refund us for our ‘non’ stay.
Incidentally, since writing this review, Parkdean have ‘arrogantly’ again sent another case closing letter! Rather nasty people.
Should change their name to ‘SHARKDEAN’ although this would be disrespectful to the Shark!!
Look at all of their ‘negative’ reviews and you will know I am right!
P.S. It asks below how long did it take to get a refund. WE DID NOT GET ONE! Very greedy and ‘non’ helpful people. Just bend the truth all the time.
My advise-KEEP AWAY! No stars would be more appropriate!
Regards - Jonathan Whitehead.”
