I have this really horrible memory of really bad customer service ar a hotel we stayed at many years ago.

We had arrived at the coast excited for our UK break in Cornwall and the sun was shining. My kids were in high spirits and excited to be getting onto the beach and all seemed well.

We had booked an independent hotel not far from the sea and on the face of it everything looked amazing. The website looked glossy and inviting and the testimonial on the site looked good.

Sadly all was not as we expected it to be. The door handle felt sticky as I turned it and as we entered the hotel room there was smell – a pretty difficult to describe smell..but it was sort of fusty damp and dirty. Not at all pleasant. In our excitement at arriving though this didn’t massively register with me at first and we quickly unpacked and headed down to the beach. On our return, I began to really take a look at the room and oh my goodness. There was cold and damp on the walls and the flannels and towels and even the bedding felt damp

Our room was dirty too around the skirting and in the sink and between the tiles, like really, properly dirty (okay not as bad as the image above but REALLY not pleasant)  I so did not want us to have to sleep in there.

I went down to reception and explained the room seem damp and would they please move us to another. They refused point blank and said they were full. I asked them to come up and look at the room with me and they said were ‘too busy.’  I got annoyed and insisted and eventually, someone trailed upstairs behind me. They muttered that the room looked alright to them and took off. We asked for a refund but were refused as apparently, the room looked ‘alright.’

We left that night as we just couldn’t stay there and we found somewhere else. It really took the shine off our holiday. I put the photos on trip advisor and wrote my own negative review but I do wish I had done more.

I should have called CCSN who deal with customer service and would have pointed me in the right direction of who best to talk too. I should have made sure that I knew what my rights were in regard to this. I hate the fact that we were effectively out of pocket because we wouldn’t put up with this dank and smelly, mouldy, horrible room.

I really hope next time I am more assertive.

What would you have done in this situation?