“For our October holiday this year my wife and I booked Centerparcs at Whinfell for one week. The times don’t tie in with the Scottish school holidays as you can only book it from the Friday to the Friday, and so unless we take the children out of school for a day we had no option but to miss the first day of the holiday.
For one week for the five of us the cost was £1701, this included a
woodland lodge (entry level accommodation) £1608
a disposable BBQ pack of 2 £10.50
A family grocery pack £52.50 (shopping that in any shop would of cost about £10)
Cancellation Insurance £30
So, before we set foot on the park, we had forked out a total of £1701
My wife and I are very busy people and so we did not have time to pre book any activities before arriving at the park. However, it assured us on the website all activities can be booked during your stay. And so, we felt confident of have a good family holiday full of lots of activities for the children.
My family are my wife and I, a 10-year-old girl, a 5-year-old girl and a 1-year old boy (Still in push chair)
We arrived at the park on Saturday early evening, having missed our first day due to the booking timescales centerparcs run to. And so, we were looking to feed the children and settle into the lodge for the night. The first impression of the lodge was very mediocre, for £1608 for one week we felt that any equivalent priced hotel would have been a higher standard with the additional benefit of having clean sheets every morning along with breakfast and maybe a gym etc. However, this was not the purpose of the visit as we had imagined the various activities for our children along with the memories we would go home with. The shower head in bathroom was 1cm away from the mains powered electric light, and so a potential death trap, and certainly not up to code, or safe to place children under and so we had to use the bath every day for our children, the lodge itself was very cramped, and offered no privacy from surrounding lodges, the road leading up to the lodge was uphill and just over one mile from the main car park where cars were to be left when not dropping off or picking up from the lodges.
The first issue we came across when attempting to book seats at one of the 8 restaurants onsite was that none of these facilities had any availability and so a takeaway was the only option. Not a great start. We then ordered five meals from Hucks American Bar & Grill which arrived an hour and half later cold, rubbery, and very overpriced. We would have had a better experience simply staying at home and eating in.
However we managed to settle the children into beds that wouldn’t of looked out of place in any concentration camp then tried to to sleep for the night, with the constant drone of Centerparcs branded cars running past the windows all evening and night.
The next day again we failed to achieve any availability at any restaurants and so started to consume the meagre “family grocery pack” we paid £52.50 before arriving whilst we sat together and looked for activities to book for our stay.
Very quickly we noticed a theme when attempting to book activities that the activities we tried to book, like the restaurants, cycle hire, trek walk, etc were “unavailable for the duration of our stay” as labelled on the app.
Having to then explain to the children that all the things we told them we could be doing with them this week we couldn’t was awful, my daughters in particular were very upset and hugely disappointed to say the least.
Leaving the children and my wife in the lodge I walked to the only shop in the park to buy some food as we still could not book anywhere to eat. £86 pounds later for really very light shopping I returned to the lodge to find my wife and children and walked down to the nearest swing park and my key fob would not work on the door. So then having to leave all of my hugely overpriced shopping outside the lodge to go to guest services to ask for my fob to be recut by the time I returned to the lodge all my shopping had defrosted. It was only he first day in and Id had more than enough of this circus.
However, having spent the thick end of £2000 on a holiday we were not able to simply leave the park without a refund and so I emailed the head office that day. To no response, and in fact at the time of writing this review 13 days later, I still have no response from centerparcs head office. And the phone number 03448 267723 simply cuts you off if you try and call them saying they do not want to keep you waiting then hangs up.
As bitterly disappointed as I was, I suggested to the family we go outside the park that day to visit Penrith, a nearby village with a large Morrison’s etc. All of us as soon as we left the confines of this park felt a huge wave of relief. We spent a few hours going round Penrith then bought some shopping at the local store to return to our lodge, having still had no response from anyone at head office or guest services regarding my initial request for a refund.
We were met at the entrance to the park by a large security gate and a lady approached the car asking who we were etc, we informed the lady we were guests at a lodge and returning with some shopping wed bought out with the park. The lady looked very confused saying “I’m not meant to let you in with your car, but on you go”. My wife and I were massively perplexed as seven lodges surrounding ours had cars going to and from them each evening and, all of which had cars remaining outside of them during their stay, however we continued up the track in the car with our children and our shopping.
The next day, having finally had a good meal from the food we bought from Morrison’s we took he children for a walk through the grounds, we couldn’t cycle anywhere as the bikes were like everything else we tried to book “unavailable for the duration of your stay” and so the walks in the cold and the rain were the highlight of this stay. Still no response from anyone regarding my refund request.
Wednesday arrived and we were running low on food and supplies, so we took the children to Newcastle for the day. It was the best day we had, being out of the concentration camp style park and being able to sit in a restaurant for some food together. Newcastle is a two-hour drive and so by the time we returned it was 20,15 in the evening. In the back seat of the car were three very tired sleeping children and in the boot were a lot of bags of shopping groceries and toys.
My wife and I could feel the stress creeping back into us as we drove along the single-track road into the park only to be met by the “security” guard again. This time a different Lady approached the car asking who we were, and we went through the same dialogue, only this time the lady said she cannot let us take the car to the lodge. I explained to the lady I had three children in the back, one of which cant walk, we have a boot full of shopping and no pushchair and the lodge is a mile up a steep hill its raining its cold and they are all sleeping.
She simply said its company policy and we had to leave the car in the car park. This was the last straw I said to the lady if I wasn’t allowed to drop off my family and our shopping at the lodge then return the car to the car park, as others had done the entire time of our stay, including us, then simply bring my possessions along with my refund down to security and well go home.
She said nothing walked away from the car then returned with two other security guards, one of which a large man approached the car and said “you need to park your car” we all felt hugely intimidated by this but I refused to just give in to their bullying, saying I will not be humiliated and bullied into forcing my family to walk a mile in the rain simply because we spent money out with your park, and so he called his guest services manager who asked to speak to me, he handed me the phone, whilst I was sat in my car, and a very angry and loud women started shouting down the phone at me to “get out of my car!” it felt like something out of an action film with three security guards all wearing bright yellow high vis vests dressed head to toe in black surrounding the car whilst an angry lady screaming down he phone at me to get out of my car, at this point the children were all screaming and crying, all very upset not knowing what was going on.
My five-year-old daughter thought the women on the phone was telling us we cannot go home and became deeply upset, she is still today very upset. However as right as I may have been to ask simply to deliver my family and shopping to the lodge, with the shock being caused to my family I had no choice but to submit to their aggressive demands and park the car and walk the mile up the hill with our shopping in the rain and cold.
Once my wife and I tried to calm my children and advise them its only one more night and we will go home tomorrow, I walked down to guest services and asked to speak to whoever was in charge. I was advised that the line manager was busy but the lady who was shouting down the phone at me to get out of my car, was available. The lady then came out from a room at the back of the office very angrily saying there’s nothing she can do, we cant drive on the park out with arrival or departure times and refunds are only available via head office. The lady offered no alternative arrangements for my family to reach the lodge as in alternative transport dismissed the entire conversation then sat down on the phone talking to her friend on a mobile laughing loudly.
The next day I received a call from the manager, who was last night unavailable, he apologised profusely for my holiday being below expectations and although he couldn’t offer a refund as this was exclusively handled by head office he would like to help to make the remainder of our holiday as good as possible. I advised him that we first made the complaint on the Monday that no services, activities or restaurants were available for the duration of our stay on the app, and to offer us free access to anything now, on the last day was to little to late. Especially after the verbal attack and intimidation we received by the lady at guest services and their security team simply by truing to return to our lodge the night before.
I advised him I had contacted the local police station in relation to this attack and that we just wanted to go home. The manager said again how sorry he was and arranged for bikes for my children to use on the last day along with booking us a table at a restaurant, he also refunded the cost of my shopping id lost earlier in the week when the fob didn’t work, but he was unable to offer any refund for the actual stay, I advised the manager that we were being held as financial prisoners and the abuse, bullying and humiliation my family endured the previous night would only be impacted by staying any longer. However, with no sight of a refund I was then unable by this point to find alternative accommodation we had no option but to stay for the last night.
The next day when we left was departure day, the track up to the lodges was a swarm of artic lorries, cars, bikes, pedestrians, and activity. The track to return he bikes to the bike shed had clear signs saying no wheels beyond this point and so my two daughters 5 and 10 years of age were forced to sharing a single track road with oncoming HGV and artic vehicles. It was the most dangerous time I have ever witnessed for either of them, I simply could not believe the blatant disregard for the safety of my children.
I still have not heard anything back from their head office, who have proven to be completely uncontactable, I am now proceeding with legal proceedings both civil and criminal in relation to our stay. The harm they have caused my family and I will far outlast any potential memories we would have gained from our stay had it been as described at time of booking.
My wife and I have video footage from the camera, photos taken of the lodge, the track, screenshots of the app saying these activities were unavailable the video footage from my car, along with recordings of all conversations with the staff and emails relating to their blatant disregard, humiliation, abuse and awful stance they take on anyone spending money out with their park, and I will be taking this as far as I can to help to save any other family having to go through the same thing.
This has been the worst week of my life and that of my family and I hope sincerely no one else falls victim to their aggressive profiteering, abusive and humiliating tactics.”
