has anyone stayed at either of these villas?

We stayed at Cassa Marric last year for 3 weeks (haven't heard of the other name you mention) The villa itself was fine - alot of ants but they didn't bother us too much!! However we did have a major problem with the pool which totally ruined our holiday - especially for the children. We were assured it had never happened before and that it was just "one of those things" Not a very helpful attitude in our opinion.
If you would like to know more please feel free to e.mail me .
mansie@supanet.com.

Hi mansie ,sorry for your trouble ,have to know what was the problem with the pool?
gerry

Not a very helpful attitude in our opinion.

Hi Mansie, sorry to hear about your ruined holiday - what a terrible shame - I have a slightly different question to Gerry, were you financially compensated for the loss of the pool i.e. the difference between a villa rental with pool and one without plus a bit ?? That would seem appropriate. Or when we had something similar once (heavy machinery from 8am to 6pm at the villa next door), we were given the cost of our car hire to take us to the beach.

Also you comment that what you were told wasn't very helpful and I am not sure what they could have said to you, I am guessing they also apologised but perhaps not!!

The reason I ask is, I often wonder what I am supposed to say and do when things go wrong in my line, I apologise prefusely although it is often "one of those things", I make appropriate reparation, but I can't go back in time and make whatever it is not happen.

Mansie, this is a genuine desire to open up a debate about how to put right wrongs when do not have the gift of time travel, what would make something alright, what is appropriate compensation, what sort of things do we complain about, are we fair, we build holidays up so much. I'd like to see what people think.

Maddi

My question re- the pool problem isn,t just idle curiosity.I,m new to this villa rental lark and id really like to know what can happen to a pool that couldn,t be fixed in three weeks

Original posting says any further queries then people can email to get more info. Maybe poster doesnt want to get into discussions on the forum but would rather do it privately?

Hi Gerry!

Are you a villa renter and if so how can I find out about renting your villa/villas?

Whilst I don't think it would be fair to mention the specific details of the pool problem on this message board, I am happy to enter into a general discussion about rental problems - we weren't offered any compensation what-so-ever. The difference between a villa with a pool and a villa without would have been more than adequate - a box of chocolates and a bunch of flowers would have been better than nothing!!

The villa owners did apologise at the time over the phone and again in writing after I wrote them a rather long letter of complaint on our return (explaining how seriously the problem had affected our holiday and our children) but the reply gave me the opinion that they weren't really that bothered, as they said the problem was beyond their control.

It was our third visit to Carvoeiro (like most people we fell in love with the place on our 1st visit) We hadn't had a "big" holiday for a few years and so we saved up and treated ourselves to 3 weeks. I spent alot of time searing the rentals pages and Cassa Marric seemed the most suitable villa within our budget.

We booked for 3 weeks and payed the full amount - we didn't even ask for a discount for the 3rd week !!

The incident in the pool happened on the 3rd day of our 3 week stay - it took until the last few days of our holiday to persude our daughters to go back into the pool. We spent most of the rest of the holiday driving them to different beaches. Our youngest daughter was only 22 months at the time and we had also invited my parents to join us for part of the holiday. They are not "beach people" so the pool was a very important part of our plans.

If we had wanted a beach holiday we would have booked accomadation without a pool (it would certainly have been alot cheaper)

I feel that the villa owners were very unsympathetic - without wanting to seem to be threatening them I did suggest that they would loose alot of bookings if I broadcast what had happened over this message board. At the time I didn't know what else I could do - I contacted Steen for his opinion but he seemed to agree with the owners, so I decided not to persue the matter any further.

Our eldest daughter had bad dreams for quite a while after we came home and even now she still talks about what happened.

At Easter I took the girls on a coach trip to Torquay for 5 days (not MY idea of a good holiday!!) They talk about this holiday as if it is the best thing that has ever happened to them - they don't have many good memories of our 3 weeks in Cassa Marric.

Whilst I agree with Mr and Mrs Clarke (the owners) that there was virtually nothing they could have done to prevent this from happening - I think their response after it had happened was extremely poor.

Maddi/Gerry if you e.mail me (mansie@supanet.com) I will explain in greater detail - I would be interested to hear how either of you would have dealt with things.

Angela Manson

Hi Mansie

Thanks for that, to be honest I do have a temptation to email you for the actual details but that would be idle curiosity on my part, which is actually what I trying to not do.

I did genuinely post to open a debate about the sort of things that can go wrong and how much or little villa owners need to do to not attract bad publicity. I personally think that in our current culture of complaint (one of the less attractive things we have inherited from America), villa owners would find it very useful to hear that for the most part, complaining guests are genuine and would respond positively to some heartfelt apologies, empathy and a bottle of half decent port!!!

Fairly recently on this forum, someone had their accommodation changed at the last minute - in my view not drastically - i.e. a different part of the same complex - so no change of locale or available facilities: their initial posts seemed to suggest that they had already decided that their holiday was "ruined" and I think this is the sort of thing that some owners/operators find gaulling.

Thanks for entering into the discussion, and once again, I am sorry you had such an awful time.

Maddi

At Easter I took the girls on a coach trip to Torquay for 5 days (not MY idea of a good holiday!!) They talk about this holiday as if it is the best thing that has ever happened to them

Not my idea of a good holiday either - it is where I live

Maddi

p.s. a couple of years ago, we went away to Malta, Nerja, France and to a "Seventies Music Weekender" at Butlins, guess which holiday my daughter proudly proclaimed as her best ever and was the only one mentioned in her school diary

Sorry Maddie - I didn't mean going to Torquay was not my idea of a good holiday - it was the coach trip part of it that I didn't enjoy!! Torquay was lovely!!

It was late last night when I posted my very long winded message about Cassa Marric - I'm not sure how much sense it made to anyone really!!

All I would like to say is that I am not the sort of person to complain just for the sake of it - in our opinion the problem ruined our holiday and if the Clarkes are reading this I hope the message has finally got through (a year later!)

Hi Angela,

Sorry to hear your last week of holiday was spoilt by an incident in the pool involving your children.

Not knowing all the details but I hope it wasnt anything dangerous and if it was then surely you owe it to let other holidaymakers know that there is a problem with that pool - for their safety too especially if the owner didnt seem too concerned and might not have rectified the situation

It is stories like this that always sways me to staying with the reputable travel company we use which provides excellent accommodation all over ie. Monte Dourado. Having young children myself I have peace of mind knowing there is 'someone responsible' on call if there is a problem which touch wood there hasnt been.

I would be interested to know is there not a legal requirement in Portugal for property owners to have safety inspections for their properties if they are letting them out as has to be done in UK ie. gas, electrics, pool.

Some very good points there trish, which may possibly re-open the debate about the use of tour operators and booking direct with owners. I too would be very interested to know what safety inspections private villa owners are subjected to.

In 1999, we stayed at a private villa in a large family group, which included an electrician (my brother-in-law), he was chatting to the pool man while he went about his business and was stood next to him when he open the door the pool maintainence bits and pieces (technical jargon ) - suffice to say, Tony turned as white as a sheet and started having palpatations. Following which he refused to tell us anything as "you have all paid good money for this holiday, I am not going to be the one to ruin it for you!".

Well, they do say that what you don't know won't hurt you

Hi Maddie,

Can you reccomend a nice villa then?
We want a nice pool ,3 beds. at least 1 restaurant within walking distance and the kids want a t.v. with English language channels!

Think Alloway is being a bit sarcastic?? Or am I just a sensitive parent who would hate to see my children injured or killed in a pool which hasn't been maintained properly

A lot of people save hard all year round to afford to holiday in a villa with pool which is a luxury and I dont think it is asking too much to expect the Villa's to be safe