Bill

Reviews by Bill

WA

Warner Leisure Hotels

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Jan 12, 2025

CUSTOMER SERVICE? INVISIBLE

Had a 2 night stay in their Thoresby Hall hotel and thought it was poor value for the cost. We had a heritage room, which was in desperate need of an upgrade. Stains on carpet, sofa; paint chips on floor. Needed redecorating. Found a half opened packet of mustard in top drawer of dresser. Doesn't anybody ever check these basics? We've stayed in one before (Corton) and were so far from the stage we could hardly see the show in the restaurant/theatre. This time we paid for the VIP package which guaranteed a good seat. It turned out the theatre was separate from the restaurant and was quite small. We were astonished to be shown to a seat as far away from the stage as possible. The seats at the front had no surcharge. When I said we wanted to sit near the front we were told that was OK and they would refund the VIP charge. It seemed this had been an issue before. The show with singer Keith Jack was very good (although the one on the following night with the hotel employees was dire). When we later received our statement a credit of £60 was shown and when we checked out it was around £52 after some drinks had been deducted. I asked the receptionist if we could receive our refund and was assured it would be credited to my bank card. Shortly afterwards I noticed the £8 something had been debited to my card meaning I was £60 in credit again and, 2 months later I'm still waiting for it to be refunded despite having sent 3 emails to them none of which were even acknowledged. Their Customer Service is appalling. How do I get them to repay me?

AP

APT River Cruises & Tours

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Sep 3, 2023

Perfect itinerary but a few niggles.

Perfect itinerary, cruising from Budapest to Amsterdam along the Danube, Maine and Rhine rivers. Lovely scenery and mostly good excursions (included in price). Food and service mostly good although the soups were always watery. Highlights were the classical concert in a palace in Vienna; the passage down the Rhine Valley; taking the chair lift to the Germania monument in Rudesheim. Lowlights were being given too much free time at the end of excursions, when many of us wanted to return to the ship; lack of flexibility on flights - we were booked on a KLM flight to Amsterdam leaving Manchester at 5.55am which meant getting up at 2.45am. We then had to wait 3 and a half hours for our connection to Budapest. There was a direct Ryanair flight leaving at 10am (giving me an extra 4 hours in bed!) but I was told by the agent (ROL) that APT only deal with the major airlines and that I would have to pay for it myself. I am a regular cruiser and many companies offer 2 deals - one with and one without travel. This would put me off booking with APT again. One final irritant was on the last excursion, which was a scenic tour of Amsterdam on a canal boat. Half of the seats faced backwards and all the forward ones were taken by the time I boarded. The guide was at the front of the boat giving commentary about sites in front of her which meant constantly having to swivel round. It was all fairly cramped, very uncomfortable and completely ruined the excursion. I couldn't help but notice that most of the other boats doing tours had seats which all faced forward. It was a shame the cruise ended on this note because the other excursions were very good (apart from the excessive free time). Finally, I must mention the cruise director Korana who was excellent.