Reviews of Elmcroft Guest House, Epping
Review by Peig Hogan on 30th March, 2009
Add your review Date visited: 23/12/08
I RECENTLY MENTIONED TO A FRIEND WHAT A NICE STAY I HAD AT ELMCROFT OVER THE CHRISTMAS PERIOD - SHE CAME BACK TO ME SAYING THAT SHE HAD BEEN ON THE INTERNET AND THE PLACE HAD BEEN GIVEN A TERRIBLE REVIEW.
I CAN'T BELIEVE I STAYED AT THE SAME PLACE AS THE PREVIOUS REVIEWER! I LOVED IT!! I TRIED TO REVIEW IT ON LATEROOMS BUT BECAUSE I BOOKED DIRECT I WASN'T ABLE TO. REVIEWING ON THIS SITE WAS PRETTY EASY SO I'M WONDERING IF THE PREVIOUS REVIEW IS EVEN GENUINE - MAYBE IT'S THE OWNER'S EX WIFE.
ELMCROFT CERTAINLY WASN'T DIRTY - THE ENSUITE WE HAD WAS CLEAN, THE BEDS WERE GREAT AND EVERYTHING WAS BRAND NEW.
YES THE BREAKFAST WAS BASIC BUT YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
THE OWNER WAS REALLY FRIENDLY TO ME AND THE OTHER TWO PEOPLE STAYING AT THE SAME TIME - JUDGING BY THE COUPLE OF REVIEWS ON LATEROOMS THIS IS WHAT HE IS USUALLY LIKE.
MY ONLY MOAN WAS THAT, EVEN THOUGH I KNOW THE AREA IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO FIND.
DO STAY THERE BUT ASK FOR DIRECTIONS!!
Review by Hayes on 11th January, 2009
Add your review Date visited: 21/12/08
We booked our accommodation having found the Elmcroft Guest House website which offers 'a four star bed and breakfast welcome in Epping.' Naturally we expected an excellent standard throughout. In the event, every aspect of our stay was a disappointment. In general we found the service was awful (the owner was rude and aggressive) the accommodation was dirty and the breakfast was a joke. Full details of our disastrous stay below: Arrival procedure: Prior to arrival we were asked to provide an approximate time of arrival which we did. In the event we arrived ten minutes earlier than we anticipated. The guest house was in darkness. There was no response when we rang the doorbell and the mobile number with which we had been provided went straight to voicemail. We were at no time prior to our arrival given any indication that there might not be any staff member on the premises if we did not arrive at a precise time. The only means of contact we had been given were the Guest House telephone number (which appeared to be useless given that there was no one in) and the mobile telephone number which was not answered. As we had plans for the evening we decided to continue with them and telephone to arrange to check in later. This left us with the inconvenience of having to take our cases out with us and of being unable to freshen up before we left. We were met us at the Guest House at our later arrival time of 10pm and made to feel that we had inconvenienced the owner by 'missing our earlier appointment'. We were treated in an unfriendly manner. Despite our reservations about the quality of the accommodation we were shown, it was by then too late at night for us to make alternative arrangements. We (two women and two children) found the owner intimidating so said nothing at that time, fearing we might have nowhere else to sleep for the night. Security: Having been shown the accommodation and given the entry code for the guest house we were left on the premises without the owner or any member of staff present. We soon discovered that the children's bedroom did not lock and, since we were sharing our bathroom with the children we were also unable to lock our room. Any number of people might have had the entry code for the building so we spent the night anxious about our security. Cleanliness: The entrance hall, stair and landing had a generally grimy appearance, the carpet seemed particularly dirty. The bedroom had been recently painted and had a new carpet, however, there was dust on all the surfaces and dead flies on the windowsill and the bedside table. The carpet was dirty around the edges. The cupboards were extremely dirty inside with a thick layer of grime on the shelves and dirt on the floor. The hangers were also very dusty. The waste paper basket had a thick layer of dirt in the bottom. The bathroom had a dirty floor. The shower tray had grime in it. There was dirt around the taps and plug holes. The bathmat was very dirty. The bin was also dirty and had an old plaster in it. The kitchen was covered in a thick layer of dust from eye level upwards. The work surfaces and table had a grimy appearance. The floor was filthy. The fridge was dirty. For more details about our experience of the kitchen see 'Breakfast' below. Breakfast: The Elmcroft Guest House website states that a continental breakfast is included in the price and this was confirmed when we made our telephone booking. The 'continental breakfast' we were offered was totally unacceptable: We were expected to help ourselves to breakfast and eat in the kitchen. The kitchen was dirty. The crockery and cutlery we were expected to use was dirty. There were dirty dishcloths and a dirty tea towel screwed up on the worktop where the plates and food were left out for us. Four cartons of cornflakes and eight slices of brown bread were left out for us. There was a jar of decaff instant coffee, a few tea bags and some packs of sugar and jam. The milk (in an opened plastic supermarket carton), some yoghurt and orange juice was in a dirty fridge in the adjoining utility room. One of the three dishes of butter (also in the fridge) was dirty too. There was a (dirty) kettle and a toaster. There was one small round (dirty) table, a bench and two stools. On the opposite worktop there was someone's washbag with bic razors and some annusol pile cream sticking out of the top. General Faults Bedrooms: The children's bedroom door did not close or lock properly The TV did not work (we were offered the use of the TV downstairs in the dirty lounge but chose not to use it). The insides of the cupboards were particularly dirty and unsuitable for hanging clothes. Bathroom: The bathroom door did not close easily and did not lock. The shower only ran cold. The bathmat was extremely dirty and unusable. There were insufficient towels for the number of guests. Customer Service Whenever we had cause to speak to the owner we were treated with rudeness and aggression. There was no member of staff in the building and no telephone to enable us to contact anyone in case of problems/emergencies. When we phoned the owner using our mobile phones we most often spoke to voicemail. We felt intimidated and therefore found it difficult to address the problems we faced and when we did try to address the problems we were given no help and were treated with further aggression. For example: When we discovered that the shower was faulty we telephoned the owner using our mobile phone(since we had no other means of contact) Once again we were answered by voicemail. We left an urgent message asking for assistance with the shower at 7.50am. We received a telephone response from the owner at 9.50am during which we were informed in an aggressive manner that the shower had been working before and told, 'At least you had a bath.' Some time later the owner arrived at the guest house, he was still rude and aggressive. He discovered that the shower did not work and offered us the use of a shower in another room, however, by that time (two-and-a-half hours after we had reported the problem) we had all bathed. Check out At our first opportunity we secured alternative accommodation for our second night in Epping. We then returned to the guest house to collect our belongings and check out. We telephoned the owner and asked to be met at the guest house. We were phoned back and informed that it was not convenient for him to meet us so we went to his restaurant to speak to him. The restaurant appeared to be empty when we arrived two minutes later with no obvious reason for him to have been unavailable. We explained that we were not happy with the quality of accommodation at the guest house and that as we had secured other accommodation we would like to check out. The owner asked us if our houses were worth £1¼ million and informed us that his guest house was. We told him that the value of the property was irrelevant our problem was with the standard of service and the lack of cleanliness. He replied “I'm not used to dealing with people who come from council houses.” But agreed that he would only charge us for one night. We told him that we were not willing to pay £125 for the night since we did not consider that was a fair price for the service we received and offered him £50. He shouted at us and wanted to show us testimonials from previous guests. We told him we were not interested. He then began yelling and swearing at us so we left.
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