My name is Dale Gregory
I am a previous owner of an Atlas Florida 10*35 3 bed 2004
and I bought this unit in June 2006 at Cala Gran Fleetwood for £18,911(this figure
was advertised for the van only), the salesperson was Claire. I paid £4000 cash deposit
and £14,911 finance from Capital Bank. I bought the van on the understanding that
it was a private second hand unit but when I couldnt view it as the previous owner
was still in it at the time of viewing I was told to look at one that the site owned(rental)
to get a good idea wha the layout was like(the original one we had seen had been
sold).
When I saw the rental van I noticed several items damaged mainly cracked mirror
in lounge area and didn't take much notice to the carpets as they were stained but
since it was just a viewing of a SIMILAR van then why should I care. When we did
eventually sign up and received our keys we went straight to our van and it was the
rental van that we had viewed, as it had the same stained carpets and cracked mirror.
When I pointed this out the site said that the mirror was on order and that the carpet
cleaners were just in the process of signing a new contract or else the jobs would
have been done immediately. I said that I thought our van was a private one and they
said NO, and explained that we must have misunderstood them at the time.Buying the
van was quite a move and if I said that the thought of owning my own holiday home
was not exciting I would be lying so I may well have been swished along rather easy
and not paid as much attention as we should have done.
The carpet cleaners went in
and in fairness the carpets did clean up and they did repair the mirror. BUT IT SOON
BECAME APPARENT THAT ALL WAS NOT RIGHT. Upon checking further I noticed that there
was trim missing from every bedroom doorway, the freezer door was broken, BRAND NEW
STEPS that were paid for as BRAND NEW were in fact seriously rusty.I was promised
the earth with a verbal agreement that all jobs were rectified upon signing but as
soon as I signed I had to badger them to repair various items that were not put right
before I signed. I then spent £100 on flowers to make the area look nice and happened
to speak to a close neighbour who asked the usual questions. I explained that I was
renting the van for the summer period to Bourne and they recoiled in horror.(I was
told by Claire that if I rented my van thru Bourne from July till August then it
would pay my site fees for next season so I didnt delay in offering it for rent.)
When I asked what the problem was they said that they hd seen this many times before
and that it always ended in tears. I now had serious doubts about renting thru Bourne
and did enquire about canceling the rental weeks thru them and renting privately
but I was told that if I were to go ahead with my plans I would have to BUY the weeks
back, I had just paid a deposit of £4000 so I couldnt afford to do that, their reason
was that it had already been booked out and that I had been paid into my account
towards next years site fees. I was in no position to buy them back so I had to honour
the agreement. I exchanged phone numbers with my neighbour and there was not a week
went by that I didn't get a call about my RENTERS.
1) Screaming baby put on floor
in front of steps at 1AM for 30 mins
2) Running in and out of van thru open windows
3)
Broke into my green storage box and stole children's toys
4) Throwing stones/shale
at vans and on top of mine
5) All female parties that littered the van and base with
rubbish and noise
6) Gouged walls that were beyond repair by a family of TWELVE(it
was an 8 berth)
7)Site staff stole my CD/Radio that I had to go up and reclaim.
On
the same day I visited my van and saw that the inside was like a bomb had hit it
with felt tip pens on seating and carpets,cereal all over the floor 1 square yards
worth, filthy fridge, filthy oven, stolen items. The cleaners had opened the door"TO
AIR IT" as the stench was overpowering. When I reported it to TOBY general manager
that the van was disgusting he said that he would wetvac the van thru a carpet cleaning
company and that if the stains didn't come out I should wait till the end of season
and make a claim for all the damage thru my insurance. When i pointed out that this
was not the way forward I was told in no uncertain terms that if I do rent an old
ex rental van then what else would I expect. I then retorted that I was palmed off
with an ex rental, not my first choice and that I didn't think that a 3 year old
van was OLD. We agreed to disagree.
The other calls were about noise and nuisances
that maybe others find acceptable but the pitch were my van was was quiet with mostly
elderly people living there for the summer. Saying that my children went up with
me during August and 3 boys all similar age I didn't have one complaint so I can
only imagine that the complaints made were truly justified about the nice renters
we were promised who would treat our van like their own, I can only imagine how they
live then.
There was also the charges for a bulb £4 and a new smoke alarm( this was
broken by the same family who reported no smoke alarm).
I was billed £30 for a toilet
seat that a renter broke that would cost £7.99 from B&Q.
I had several bills for gas
at £50+ when I could buy locally for £30. When I challenged the site as to why I
got billed so often they said gas last 2 weeks or so. I went in August and if my
gas was empty I was going to bring a new cylinder on site at a cheaper price, both
were full. I was billed 1 day after I went home for a new bottle and when I explained
that I had stayed myself that week and that I had checked the gas and found them
both full or reasonably full they said that sometimes if a renter didn't know how
to work the boiler they would say that the gas had run out and that if Bourne had
to check an appliance every time that they would charge me a callout fee of around
£50 so it was cheaper for us to get a gas cylinder fitted and pilot light lit by
the same man.
HOW MANY MORE BOURNE CUSTOMERS HAVE BEEN RIPPED OF THIS WAY???
As the
holiday season drew to a close I was looking forward to going for weekends away,
using the club facilities and relaxing. I was staying up at Cala Gran for a week
in October and saw that the camp shop was becoming more and more empty of stock.
The assistant told me that the shop closed for the winter at the end of October and
reopened in March. I asked why the shop was shut if the club/bar/amusements were
open and I was suprised to find that the whole complex was closing in MID NOVEMBER.
When I asked about the XMAS and New Year Parties I was informed that there were no
functions from November and the complex was closed due to a refurbishment program.
When I explained that when I signed up I was told that there were functions and events
planned the site manager told me that they couldn't possibly have promised these
as all staff were aware of major refurbishment work commencing December.
There were
still at least 5 jobs outstanding in December 2006 and it was at this point that
we had come to the point that our HOLIDAY HOME DREAM was nothing but a nightmare
when I tried to sell my van.
