Picnic area / winery

Firstly, it’s exceptionally telling if a company or business turn off their recommendation section on Facebook. In this age of transparency, user reviews are far more valuable than curated and crafted messaging.

Needless to say Pont de Val have turned off their recommendations.

On Thursday 19 Dec, my party of 5 visited this place (4 adults, 1 pensioner).

The entrance fee to visit a handful of under stocked stores was R50 per adult and R20 per senior. I handed over my card not giving it a second thought - the transaction went through only to discover that I was overcharged by R100. It took over 15 minutes of standing in the blazing heat for the manager to arrive who informed me that she will look into it and come find me.

The security guards were horrified that this happened and apologized profusely.

Walking around didn’t take long (under stocked, overpriced and dismal shops). The picnic area was being worked and worst of all; music blaring on loudspeaker. Most offensive was the gospel (not Christmas) music - not everyone is Christian, Festive music is one thing; worship rock music another.

After maybe an hour, the manager found us equipped with a s**** of paper, told me she can only refund me via EFT and would do it the next day.

Up until this point, I was fine about this - mistakes happen.

After not being refunded as promised, I called and was told that their accounts department only do refunds on Wednesdays (which would have been Christmas). So now I was feeling a bit irritated. Eventually, on Dec 23 I was refunded R90 and not R100. What’s R10 right. Nothing but it’s the principle.

To date, they deny they ever owed me R100 and REFUSE to give me the contact details of the owner.

This customer experience is shocking. Their venue isn’t that life changing fantastic. There are other places far more tranquil who treat their visitors with respect.

Had they been professional the minute this happened and communicated with me in an honest manner I wouldn’t be wasting my time with this review now.

Avoid avoid avoid.