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What I didn’t like about the place:
1. Poor WiFi Connection.
2. Facilities: The toilets and kitchen were quite a walk from the pod, which was inconvenient, especially with children.
3. Customer Service: As a business owner myself, I understand that even if you offer a great product, poor treatment of customers reflects badly. Customer service is about how people feel and feelings don’t lie.
We arrived on a Monday afternoon. My son fell seriously ill the next day (Tuesday), and I had to rush him to the hospital that night. We stayed two nights and returned on Thursday afternoon.
After returning, we used the kitchen to fry chips, the frying pan provided didn’t work on the cooker. We cleaned up after ourselves, disinfected the surfaces, and left the oil on the counter to cool. We were the only guests in the pod at the time.
The next morning, we discovered someone had poured water into the avocado oil and left it in the sink — clearly a statement.
We were returned to our pod when we met Lisa and guess what she said?“Please leave the kitchen the way you met it.” My husband asked what she meant, since we always cleaned up after ourselves. To me, the undertone was clear — it was a loaded statement implying that we were dirty/messy people.When I asked Lisa about the oil, she denied it. Its just her and her husband who go to check the place in the evenings...few seconds later she offered to replace the oil she knew nothing about...
She also told my husband to move our car because “another customer” was arriving and might need access, even though there was clearly enough space and that customer never passed through. The message felt like: “You’re less important, and others matter more.”
At one point, a man working on the planes said to my boys — who were quietly seated — “Hope you boys are behaving.” This came across as unnecessary and judgmental, especially since the children hadn’t done anything wrong. It suggested an assumption that they were likely to misbehave, mind you they hardly acknowledge us...what happened to what's the best part of your holiday or are you having fun?
On the day were leaving, Lisa asked: “Is everything OK in the pod?” She hadn’t checked it yet — the question felt like a passive way of suggesting we might have left a mess or caused damage.
All of these subtle remarks and actions created a very uncomfortable atmosphere for us. We felt like we were walking on eggshells.
This was the first time in 7 years of family trips that we felt so uncomfortable. We’ve stayed in places where we were the only Black family, and we were warmly welcomed. In fact, we didn’t want to leave those places.
We booked this trip for 7 days but left after 4 nights(2 nights at the hospital)— we simply couldn’t stay any longer. As soon as we got back i decided to google the area (Woodbridge), a few things started to make sense.
No, I didn’t raise a complaint because I didn’t want to deal with the emotional labour of being patronised or gaslit. Her internalised bias, poor communication, and passive-aggressive behaviour weren’t accidental — they felt intentional and very calculated.
I’ve included photos showing how clean we left the place, and the kitchen everytime we use it. Unfortunately, I would not recommend this place to anyone from my community.
They can come and do damage control to make them feel like they were the...but I really dont care hence why I did not have any conversations with her, i know it would have been a performance from her end.
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I'm disappointed to receive your comments on the Pitch up website and very sorry you didn't enjoy your stay with us.
We do have to consider all our guests, but not at the detriment of others. We tried very hard to please and responded to all your requests in a timely manner, as we would do for anyone who stays with us, this can be seen from our reviews of 10 out of 10 and previous comments left.
Lisa