The Boathouse Cottage, WAYFORD

Rated 1/50 by Conntwo on 13th August 2018

"The Boathouse cottage is absolutely beautiful inside and out. It is decorated and furnished to a really high standard with top quality appliances and everything you might need for a relaxing break. It comes with complimentary canoes and rowing boats which were absolutely brilliant for our family of active boys and day-boat hire is also available close by. The welcome hamper was thoughtful and useful and the entire cottage was scrupulously clean throughout. It's ideally placed for exploring the broads and beyond and we were very excited to be there and very much enjoyed our first few days. However, following what was later described as a 'misunderstanding' I would never book again as our holiday and relaxation was completely ruined for the second half and I felt judged, under surveillance and very very upset. In twenty years of renting cottages throughout the country, three times a year ,I have never had a single issue. My children are well behaved and respectful and we always treat properties as though they were our own keeping them clean and tidy throughout our stay. The issue arose following a comment made by a seven year old that 'his brother was coming to stay' when we were being shown around and despite my explanation that he was visiting for the day (in accordance with what was advertised,) we were contacted by the booking agent to be told it appeared we had extra people staying at the property and to inform me we would need to leave if this were the case. It is not useful or interesting to go into an explanation of the whole set of circumstances, however, it was clear from the long list of questions asked that the owner had reached a judgement without coming to speak to me directly at all. A range of different reasons why there were extra people, all of which were incorrect assumptions was related to me and I had to respond to each allegation, all of which were misconceptions of events. After this conversation, I tried to contact the owner directly, but the number on my e-mail confirmation was out of service. I had used another number on the app by the booking agent previously but as my 'phone was low on storage I had deleted apps before leaving home and signal was intermittent so hadn't used my phone particularly at the cottage. In discussion, on leaving the owner pointed out the correct 'phone number was on the gate of the property and on paperwork given to me arrival and I hadn't noticed this, It was also pointed out that I could have e-mailed as this was also on the paperwork. I left of the opinion that far from being concerned or accepting that we had no extra people to stay and apologising, or agreeing that direct contact with me could have cleared up her concerns straight away and that the incident had really ruined the latter part of our holiday, the owner wanted to point out that I was somehow at fault. In fairness, she explained that she had contacted the booking agent to check what terms and conditions we had sent because I was clearly 'an intelligent lady' who wouldn't break the rules and they had then insisted on dealing with the issue, however, this still assumed that we had extra people staying when in fact the reverse was true we had one less than we had booked for on the night in question! Following my conversation with the booking agent I received a voicemail, later that day telling me that after our conversation she had spoken with the owner and it was okay for us to stay and finish our holiday. It felt humiliating to be accused and could have been avoided. This is clearly one experience only and, hopefully, an isolated misunderstanding, however, it was my experience and it was horrible."