Let down in Cape Town

Item: Colors Of Cape Town
Rating: 1
Author: Bronwen B

I have a problem that I would appreciate your assistance with as I am at my absolute wits end and cannot seem to get help in any other way. On the 26th of January 2017 I made a booking online for accommodation for 2 adults from the 27th to the 30th of January 2017 in Milnerton Cape Town as my Boyfriend and I were going to attend the Cape Town Met Races. I went to the site for “www.colorsofcapetown.co.za”a after visiting an app called Trivago… I put in my dates I required and I was then redirected to an online Booking site called “Bookings.Com” . It was then when I decided to call the number provided for the owner on the official site for the Lodge. The person who answered the phone (a gentleman with a Dutch Accent) was quite abrupt with me when I asked if he had those dates available for two people in a private room sharing a bed, telling me “ I am not by my computer you need to book online to see availability and room description. So this is exactly what I did. On the official site for the Lodge it states that the following for a room with two beds with a shared bathroom as the following “Standard Room Perfect for friends or family members who’d prefer not to sleep on the same mattress, our six standard rooms are kitted out with two single beds each (Note: in 3 of these rooms a third single bed can be added upon request). Each room is just a short sleepy-eyed walk from a communal bathroom, and the standard rooms on the first floor boast a view of Table Mountain.” The room with a double bed that has its own private toilet is as follows “Double Room Ideal for couples who want their own private space, this room is slightly larger than the standard rooms, claims a comfy double bed and includes its own bathroom. For ease of access, it’s situated on the ground floor near the pool.” But when I wanted to book I was redirected to another site called Bookings.com as previously mentioned and then the description changes. I was looking for a double bed unit for myself and my partner with a bathroom in the room. On the Booking.com site it states the following The “Standard Room” is now referred to as “Twin Room with Shared Bathroom” And the “Double Room” is now referred to as “Standard Double Room” So I booked the Twin Room as I thought it meant a twin sleeper as in two people together one bed…. Ok confusion on my part but as mentioned above it was a bit confusing. ( please see attached ) furthermore nowhere in the confirmation of booking email that was sent to me was it mentioned that there was TWO beds not ONE!! Double bed. Never the less thinking that I booked the correct room I put my credit card details in and half of the R2 200 which I was quoted was debited off my credit card. On arrival we unpacked our vehicle and walked up to the gate and pushed the intercom to be let in to complete our booking. There was no answer we rang again and again still no answer. So next we rang the number which says owner on the sign next to the intercom…….. rang and rang and rang no answer. Any way after waiting for a good 15 to 20 min like homeless people outside our accommodation a scruffy looking guy pulled up in a blue VW City Golf and as he pulls into the drive way says to us “ ahhhh sorry man I was surfing hey and my phone died”. So we get to the reception with the…. still dripping wet from his surf young Dutchman manager. At this stage he asked for my booking number and name and confirms our booking for the dates we required. He then said to me that I need to pay the outstanding amount of R1100. The remaining amount of the initial quote. So I paid as he said I have to pay before I can go into the establishment. We then were escorted into the courtyard area where the bottom units, the kitchen and the pool was (((WHERE MY ROOM I THOUGHT I HAD BOOKED WAS SUPPOSED TO BE))) according to the description on the site. Then we were escorted up a set of stairs and that’s when I immediately knew he was taking us to the wrong room. As we walked into the room I immediately said “this is definitely NOT!!! What I booked” as my partner and I would never sleep in separate beds. Then the argument began and I asked the Manager (whose name I still didn’t know) what was he going to do about it ….my reply ? ..” nothing you booked incorrectly and we are fully booked so I cant help you” I explained the confusion in the descriptions on the site and on the booking site and I even said that I actually went through Trivago initially and that’s where I was redirected and then redirected again. He did not want to know our problems and basically told us “that’s what you booked sorry”. I told him that I had actually called him and he told me to go book online he said it wasn’t him (even though he had exactly the same accent and was clearly the only manager there). I then asked to speak to the owner he told me “ they are not here” I told him to phone them then! …. To which I got my booking paper thrown back at me and his laptop was slammed closed as he stormed upstairs with his phone (the same phone that died and the reason why he was late) out of sight from us to make a call to the owner…. We waited while we listened to him speak to someone upstairs (not on the phone an actual person) when he came down stairs he said he couldn’t get hold of the owner so I asked “now what?’ and he just shrugged his shoulders. So I asked who was he speaking to upstairs he said “that’s my girlfriend” …. At this stage my boyfriend who had not said a word who had witnessed this guy scream and shout at me and said nothing finally had enough. He told him in a calm manor that he needs to make a plan to accommodate us that he had watched him shout at me and throw papers and slam laptops and now it was time to sort something out as there was clearly a dispute with the accommodation and it was far too late to look for somewhere else to stay. Out of the blue !!!! all of a sudden without notice one of the “SUIT ROOMS” became available but he made sure he let us know that room was normally R1200 per night !!!! To which we rep**** “ thank you but we are definitely not paying that” and he agreed and showed us to the SUIT ROOM. My boyfriend then asked the manager if he could arrange that we meet with the owner the next day at about 7:00 am as we wanted to start looking for new accommodation as soon as possible ….. my favourite reply by far from the Manager ……”hahaha sorry sir but I do like to sleep in it will have to be later” (not a word of a lie!!!) I contacted Capitec whom I bank with as the transactions had not been processed and they said I need a letter from the manager to say we cancelled and we did not want to stay at Colors of Cape Town. Later on in the evening I heard the Dutch guy speaking to another gentleman and I saw him pointing at the room above and the Suit Room telling him what happened and the other guy just shrugged his shoulders too. The next Morning we were up bright and breezy waiting for any signs of life from the managers quarters but eventually he immerged at about 8:00 and My boyfriend went out immediately to ask if he could write the letter for us… we STILL didn’t know his name and there was no sign of any owner either. He showed huge concern about the misleading descriptions on the site and even said “ I really want to know because I don’t want this to happen to anyone else “ he mentioned nothing about a 100% cancelation fee if the accommodation wasn’t cancelled at least 2 weeks prior (even though we booked two days earlier and would never obviously be able to cancel 2 weeks prior.) We got our letter and promptly left. I then get a call from Capitec and they told me that they had contacted the owner (after several attempts ) and they had told him about the above mentioned cancelation fee…. The Manager (name we now had after the letter had been signed Gunnaz Goor) had told us in the beginning we need to get our money back from Booking.com which is vertically impossible as there is no reply to emails and no contact number for complaints. I know this is a long winded story for R2200 but the “I don’t care “ attitude we received all round really put a huge damper on our little get away and caused a lot of unnecessary stress and aggravation to try and find new accommodation. On such short notice with the Cape Town Met on …we ended up paying a lot more than we wanted…to out of shear desperation for accommodation. I am not the type of person to complain but I cannot let this go. PLEASE HELP!! L P.S. I have just managed to get hold of the owner Barry and after explaining my story and asking him if he was ok with being the type of person who takes someones money knowing they did not stay there for the remainding 3 days and his reply was " Yes i am"

Helpful (0)

Replies (0)