Claire Williams and her family had been looking forward to staying at Sandford Holiday Park in Poole, Dorset, but were sent straight back home from the caravan park
A ‘heartbroken’ family was ‘booted out’ of a holiday park caravan just minutes after checking in, all because of a small issue with the booking.
Claire Williams and her family had been looking forward to staying at Sandford Holiday Park in Poole, Dorset, for a week on July 21 in place of a friend who could no longer come along. The mum-of-three says she contacted the resort ahead of time, alerting them to the change in attendees.
Claire claims she forked out a £40 amendment fee to change the name on the booking, thinking nothing more of it until she arrived.
The 38-year-old was gutted after making the seven-hour drive there, checking in and then allegedly being told by the manager that there was a problem with the booking.
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Sandford Holiday Park has apologised following the incident and said that the incident was ‘not to their usual high standards’. Claire has been given compensation and the full cost of the holiday has been refunded.
Claire claims that the manager told her that having a friend pay for and book the £809 holiday was ‘fraudulent and money laundering’. Despite her 39-year-old husband Mark Williams offering to show proof of the email exchange and even ring his pal, they were ‘disgusted’ to be given just one hour to leave the site.
Claire says her kids were ‘devastated’ and that it was a ‘heartbreaking’ journey back home. After complaining to the CEO, Claire says she received an apology from the manager who offered them a full refund and £200 compensation.
Claire, from Lancashire, said: “I was so shocked to basically be treated like a criminal. We contacted Parkdean and asked if it was possible to change the name and go in our friend’s place and they said, ‘That’s absolutely fine, you’ve just got to pay a £40 booking fee’. After paying that £40 they sent us confirmation of the booking. From our point of view, we were going to go on this holiday. I didn’t even think that something would go wrong. I was excited to have some time away with my family and we had to travel a long way to get there.”
Claire explained how the holiday took a swift negative turn when they received a call from reception asking the family to come in for a chat.
“It was to do with the changing name. I just thought we’d go in and it’d just be a simple explanation that could just be fixed there but it wasn’t like that at all. [The manager] started saying, ‘You’ve not paid for this holiday’ and then she started saying, ‘That’s fraud’. I thought it was ridiculous and we explained about our friend,” Claire continued. “Technically we hadn’t paid for the holiday, but we paid £40. We had given our friends some money so that they weren’t completely out of pocket. That’s when she started saying, ‘It’s money laundering and it’s fraud’. They kept saying, ‘We don’t need to see the emails’. We said, ‘You can phone our friend and he can tell you’ but they were so adamant it was fraud.”
Claire claims she had to stand away and have a “panic attack in public” which felt like a “horrible” and “humiliating” experience. She added: “I thought my husband would just sort it out, but he said, ‘We’ve got an hour to leave the site’. I didn’t know what to think. I was so shocked.”
Following the “horrible” drive back home, Claire says she spent the whole of the next day making complaints to the holiday park. She says after emailing Parkdean Resorts CEO, the manager eventually apologised and they were offered a full refund and £200 compensation. Claire said: “It was heartbreaking. My kids were devastated and we were all upset. It was a disgusting treatment. We were looking forward to having a full week and then just to be sent home. “The drive back was horrible. I was just in so much shock to be called a liar, it was just so unbelievable. I personally think that would’ve been something that could be easily resolved on the day had they been willing to sit and discuss it properly. The whole situation was so preventable. “[The refund] doesn’t make up for what we lost. The compensation they offered us was an insult. They said they’d give us £100 for the petrol but that didn’t cover the amount of fuel and food and disappointment. A Sandford Holiday Park spokesperson said: “We’re sorry for Ms Williams’s experience. We have high standards for customer service, and what Ms Williams experienced certainly isn’t to our standards. When Ms Williams reached out to us to share what had happened, we fully refunded the cost of her holiday, including the booking amendment fee, and offered compensation towards her travel costs, which she accepted. With that being the case, we consider the matter closed.”
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