Free night at a spa

[Dee Sa]

Recently I won a comp in our local rag, free entry to the Essex Food Show which was fine and a night [they stipulated the 30th May only] in a posh spa at Stock in Essex, we were so pleased. I rang the spa to confirm and was greeted with - I know nothing about this so you will have to pay �125 unless I hear otherwise, so I rang the sponsor and they got that sorted. On arrival, it was raining so I asked where the disabled parking was, two receptionists looked at me as though I said I was from Mars, they consulted another two people and I was curtly told there isnt any park where u like ! my husband is blind and carries a visible white stick, they asked did we want a wake up call, yes I said 7am pls, do you want a paper yes please The Telgraph[ for the Herculis crossword] she handed me the key but did not mention our room was in the gods and up 4 flights of stairs and offered no help with the bags and no offer of a look around the spa [ all treatments were �60 each a bit pricey for us anyway] the last flight of stairs was really steep and a guest helped us up, I went to enquire was there any other room available and was told no.

Dinner was good and part of the prize but breakfast was �16.50 each, which was a bit steep even for deepest Essex so we declined, the wake up call did not materialise neither did the paper and we I made four journeys to the car and then went back to guide my husband down. No one even bothered [at the desk] to say goodbye, I asked had we any further charges to pay [ our pre dinner drinks we paid for at the time] and got a surly "no" as a reply.

Friends think I should complain,normally I do, but to me it sounds ungrateful, but I think just chalk it up as experience and dont recommend that any friends go there. What do others think/feel about this experience?

[everylittle]

Yes , definately complain. Write a letter of complaint to the manager and cc it to the head office of the company that own it (if it's a chain). I would also let the local rag that ran the competition know the score. You have been treated terribly by the hotel and they need to be made aware of this to prevent it happening again. You are not being ungrateful.

[helliebobs]

I agree, I'd still complain - it doesn't matter that the stay was a prize, you should still have the same service as a normal paying customer. Get writing!

[zipadeedodah]

Ditto what everylittle and helliebobs said. They should treat any customers better than that. Do make sure the letter is seen by head office - it might just be that those receptionists were particularly rude, which they would need to know about, as it's very bad for the image of the company. It could be that the whole company is poor, in which case the newspaper should not be sending people there as a prize, and as you say, you can know what it's like and certainly not recommend it!

[undercovers]

That was free to you but it wasn't done for charitable purposes it was presumably a marketing campaign for the spa to get lots of mentions or a write up in the paper as part of the competition, so don�t feel grateful to the spa feel grateful to the paper running the comp. but get complaining (they wanted to give you a good prize not a bad experience), bet it falls on deaf ears at the spa itself so I suggest you contact the newspaper with a customer review and mention the lack of facilities for the visually impaired.

[PhilBy]

See if your local rag want to run a follow up story on your lucky? experience. If they do run a piece fingers crossed some hotel manager with an eye for good publicity will offer you and your husband a second week-end :-)

[Lonnie]

Stock is only about three miles from where I live, close to Billericay, Wickford, and not far from Chelmsford, as others have said, complain. you have to, not only for yourseves, but for others who may follow, not only to the Hotel and the paper that ran the competition, but also to the local papers in the area, a call to BBC Radio Essex may not be amiss either.

[FUZZYBEE]

Dear Ward-minter whilst I agree with your comments in general I am disgusted that you would say such a comment about the cancer. There are probably thousands of people who read this and some of them may have relatives or indeed themselves be suffering with it. They lady in question said her husband is patially sighted have you not thought that he may have had a tumour and lost his sight!!!!!! You need to redress that quote and QUICK !!!