Darwin Escapes Arvostelua 

AVOID AVOID AVOID! Utterly pointless weekend stay, don't waste your money!
We originally booked with nearly 2 years ago and due to Covid it was cancelled and rearranged. We were excited to finally be enjoying our spa weekend away only to be told less than 24 hours before check in that a number of activities were not available. Luckily we had 6 treatments booked at the spa so this was less of a problem. I don’t believe it is fair or reasonable to email this less than 24 hours before our arrival, had we been wanting to undertake these activities it would be too late for us to cancel, in addition the bowling alley was also “out of order”.
We were then informed 24 hours before our appointments by Eden spa that only 1 of 3 treatments booked for Friday afternoon could be fulfilled, the others would be rescheduled to Saturday morning. This was less than ideal as we also had 3 further treatments booked for the afternoon and made plans around the original timings we wanted; 3 treatments each on Friday and 3 each on Saturday.
My mother turned up for her treatment on the Friday afternoon (the only 1 offered) and within an hour of her returning we received an email to say the remaining 5 of the 6 treatments were cancelled due to Covid sickness and one member of staff having an allergic reaction to the products (also alarming) and therefore was advised by her GP not to perform our treatments. As you can imagine we were completed devastated this was the entire point of the trip and stay at Cheddar Woods Resort and Spa.
We were offered a full refund, obviously! This is simply not good enough, I understand the restrictions with Covid but why would there be no contingency for such situations? The whole purpose of the weekend was to relax and enjoy the 6 pre-booked treatments, a birthday present to our Mother long overdue. Had we known we would have cancelled the visit entirely but instead we had travelled down, checked in and unpacked. In addition to myself and my sister taking annual leave from work owe are now also over £600 out of pocket, with accommodation, travel, food etc on a spa weekend away which we now need to rebook.

I STAYED AT CHEDDAR RETREAT
HOSEASONS RECENTLY AND WAS APPAULED AT THE ACCOMADATION
WE PAID FOR THE BATH WAS ONLT FIT FOR AN INFANT. THE DOUBLE BED WAS SO SMALL MY FEET WERE HAGING OVER THE EDGE. THEEEE CHAIRS TO SIT DOWN ON WERE NOT A BIT COMFORTABLE PLYWOOD SUPPORTS UNDERNEATH CUSIONS.BATHROOM FLOOR FALLING THROUGH. TOILET FLUSH MAKING LOUD NOISES WHEN FLUSHED. CARPETS ALL STAINED NEVER BEEN CLEANED. THE RETREAT ARE WAS SOLD ON THE IDEA THAT THE POOL AND STEAM ROOM/SAUNA WERE OPEN AT ALL TIMES. I DEFINITELY WILL NOT STAY HERE AGAIN AND WOULD NOT RECOMMEND TO ANYBODY.

Stayed at Piran Meadows Cornwall for the 5th time and have been disappointed in several areas. the caravan was missing vital items such as grill pan , curtain to cover the door , teapot , no toiletries supplied unlike previous years ,freezer completely iced up draws unable to open - all in all the caravan was tired . We did not complain at the time as who wants to wait in for these concerns to be addressed when on holiday they should have been addressed before our arrival after a thorough inspection.
On a brighter note the dvd lead on the tv was not working and on request the tv was replaced promptly
The pool used to have adult only swimming for 30 minutes each day which for some reason had been cancelled.
Piran Meadows is in an excellent position and the park is tastefully maintained and kept in a pristine condition.The staff are friendly and helpful.
Would not seriously consider another visit until the tired caravans are replaced,updated and properly inspected.
Come on Darwin Escapes you can do much better

Lovely area however the site at Thanet Well Lodge Retreat is dirty and falling to bits. Would not recommend try someone else

I cannot praise the Darwin Lodges Keswick Reach site enough. We had some issues on arrival and during our stay but these were very swiftly resolved by friendly and professional staff.

The quality of the site and our lodge was excellent but be aware the bedrooms have no drawers at all so whatever you normally put in them will have to stay in your suitcase and provide a trip hazard - especially at night.

The bar area is dog friendly and the food excellent, but it is essential to book in advance - in March, so doubly so in high season.

WE shall definitely return

Stayed at Woodside Bay Retreat. Wrong lodge given, I questioned at the time but was told the one allocated was bigger. Yes bigger but not the same spec and cheaper, no refund offered.
Ran out of GAS; lodge freezing, unable to cook, wash or use the hot tub. Reception never made contact to keep guests informed, we went to reception or called many times. Left to huddle in duvets. This was a 60th birthday celebration totally ruined and they couldn’t care less that we had been left with no basic facilities. No compensation was offered apart from an electric heater !!!!
We contacted Red Funnel to leave early at extra cost to ourselves they were absolutely amazing and accommodating. Thank you Red Funnel.
DARWIN ESCAPES NEVER AGAIN.

We have stayed at Woodside Bay Lodge retreat for 5 years now & for the past 4 times we’ve been here the boiler hasn’t worked, the first time it took 48hours before they gave up trying to repair it & moved us to another lodge with only one day left of our holiday. The second time it took 3 maintenance men to fix the boiler for it to go & break the following day and we just had to ‘deal’ with it! With a newborn baby! The third time we were moved again! And this time (we are here now) we’ve been without gas for 24hrs until they finally fixed it, and the light switches don’t work in the living room…..after all this stress and wasted money, the best they could offer us was a late checkout of 2 hrs! It’s disgraceful! You have lost our custom. And thousands of pounds of our money!

The lodges are reasonable quality with contemporary (as in, dark and stark) design features, including absurdly uncomfortable chairs. The site itself is bare and bleak, no onsite bar, bistro or spa. Two miles from Stratford and all its Shakespearean attractions of course but that’s about it. Unfortunately we had a major drainage issue right from the beginning of the holiday which couldn’t be resolved. Nobody’s fault but you’d expect the company to take responsibility for a ruined holiday. The on-site maintenance and reception staff are all cheerful, friendly, helpful and sympathetic, tried all they could to help, for which we are very grateful, unlike head office staff from Darwin Escapes, who dodged every concern we raised. After two days of stress and worry (not to mention the foul stench) a small amount of compensation was eventually offered, very grudgingly, along with non-equivalent alternative accommodation. The only other offer, after intervention and mediation from the booking company, was a 75% refund if we just gave up and went home. Or we could take our chances and appeal to arbitration for a full refund, but we were strongly warned this was highly unlikely. Which just shows the fallacy of the much publicised “hassle-free refunds”…. We felt we’d been backed into a corner, and after 48 hours of worry, constant phone calls, constant maintenance visits, inconvenience, lack of any sort of holiday, we’d had a basinful, so felt we had to accept the lesser of many evils. Result: a loss of money, a completely ruined holiday from the very beginning, zero concern from Darwin Escapes and even professional mediation from the booking company didn’t get us the full refund we not only expected, but deserved. I hope your holiday really is hassle free but be warned, if there is any sort of problem or issue, you are likely to pay very dearly.

We had a weeks holiday last week 15th -22nd @ Piran Meadows Spa & Resort Nr Newquay The Caravan Wadebridge 2 pet friendly was of a good size fairly clean but Kitchen let it down rather dirty in places lucky we brought anti bac cleaners and wipes Cuttlery had to be washed still had dried food on some of it as did the utensils kitchen drawers had dirt and grime in them worktops seemed sticky we washed all crockery before we felt comfortable using them , The Large sofa had seen better days springs coming up thru the cushions and very uncomfortable to sit on , but 2 chairs was ok the other issue we had if you are coming for a quiet stay dont book nr Caravans with Hot Tubs a few nights there were loud partys from what seemed to be stag or hen partys but it did stop at 11pm on a positive note the Beds and location was good sad the Resturant was closed due to staff shortages . The other point that is if you have disability problems The caravans all have steps up to the Door to enter and looking around the site i would say almost all caravans have steps up to the entrance doors i am waiting for a hip replacement and felt it a bit difficult to get up and down, do you not offer Ramps for disabled Guests?

Recently sold my caravan back to the Aberconwy site for a low amount, with not a lot of choice.
Unfortunately left an expensive Dyson hoover, and fan heater behind, by accident in a compartment under the seats. When I enquired to come and collect it they informed me that whatever you leave behind belongs to them. After much discussion they looked for it informing me that it wasn’t there, concluding one of there staff or cleaners have stolen it, as the new owners haven’t even looked underneath the seats.
Concluding that they couldn’t care less about anybody unless you are spending money.
I would recommend to anybody don’t buy from this site as it’s like a graveyard, facilities are poor, not even a proper lounge to have a drink and meet other people.

Just returned from a short break at the Darwin Escapes
Sandymouth holiday park and I felt the need to post an honest review of our experience for other holiday makers to see before booking .
On arrival at any holiday accommodation my first priority is always to inspect inside of the oven as this is very important to us after all your going to cook your food in it , you would not like to eat your food off of a dirty plate so why would you like to cook your food in a filthy oven .
We stayed in property number 48 on initial entry the accommodation looked reasonably clean however on inspection of the cooking facilities it was shock horror down right filthy is the only word that I can use to describe the state of the oven .
This was a repeat of our first visit Sandymouth where on inspection we found the oven to be also in a filthy state to me unusable without a thorough clean of which took me over 2 hours of hard graft to make this acceptable to cook in .
Because of our previous experience I thought on this second visit I would take some insurance by way of taking my air fryer and I’m so glad I did saved a major cleaning exercise on my part needless to say we did not use the oven .
I did of course report both incidents above to the reception who said they would pass this on to higher management but in truth this is just lip service .
Forgot to also mention on this visit when we stripped down the bedding on leaving we were also horrified to find pee stains all over the mattress protector this is just not acceptable I await the managements reply .

“WOODSIDE BAY RETREAT” Utterly disgusted with my booking, the customer service from all aspects was shocking. We arrived and all seemed well, When I went into the bathroom I was shocked at how dirty it was so I then went to assess the full place; and it was thick with dust; my husband assured me that it would be fine and we can pick up cleaning stuff, I didn’t want to let that ruin my full holiday, I knew the place was full so was pointless in asking for a swap ( or so I thought)
Second day in I was playing hide & seek with my 4 year old and I was disgusted to find her with sleeping tablets she had found under the bed. I was furious I marched down to reception to try talk to the manager it took me 2 days to eventually get hold of her and she returned my call the night before we left.

I got offered a measly bottle of wine to which I declined I discussed that I wanted to take this further and that I was annoyed that the place was NOT SAFE For families. She agreed that she would escalate this further, I had booked with HOSEASONS, so I got intouch with them also.

When I returned I had heard nothing back so decided to phone again to check up on this. The manager proceeded to tell me that the matter was closed.
I was shocked because when I spoke to a member of staff they had agreed that the situation was horrendous and that she would react the same.

I then spoke to Catherine dingle from customer experiences to which was very rude & unhelpful, I had requested a partial refund as I felt cheated we spent £1250 on 5 night stay as it was a “Diamond resort” and it would of been cleaner in a premier inn. It’s not what I expected and to be honest big companies shouldn’t be able to rob people of this. People want some where better than their house and I was shocked the panels in the kitchen kept falling, thus injuring myself & my family numerous times. No one has returned any of my emails after I declined a £200 refund.

I think you need to reassess your staff as a company as the customer service was appalling and the stay was filthy. I wish I had read the reviews as I wouldn’t recommend this company ever to anyone it’s not a name you should trust at all. And it’s not suitable for families it’s highly dangerous to be honest.

NOT SAFE FOR FAMILES DO NOT BOOK!

Cathrine at Customer Services decided to respond to my complaint by accusing me of lying, disagreeing with everything I said, not reading my emails properly, declining any request of resolving my issues, declining all responsibility of the cause of my complaint and was extremely rude! Never known such awful customer ‘service’ not fit for the job

Avoid buying your 'dream' holiday home with Darwin Escapes. They take your hard earned cash and deliver zero.
No wifi
Skeletal staff
No entertainment
Facilities closed long term
They don't miss an invoice though!
Speak to owners of the site for a true picture before you sign on thd dotted line.

In 2019 we bought a holiday lodge on a family owned park in North Wales. As we already owned a home in Spain, we looked forward to a peaceful and relaxing retirement, using both properties.
Unfortunately, Darwin Escapes took over ownership of the park in July 2020; my partner was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer and COVID restrictions meant that we were unable to travel to Spain.
We have been receiving emails from Darwin which have been accusatory in their tone, suggesting that we are in breach of our contract by not returning to Spain. As my partner is receiving chemotherapy and also radiotherapy for his condition- he is unable to travel, even if it were possible.
Darwin have admitted to obstructing our mail, marking it ‘not known at this address’ and have also accused us of making claims to the DWP for rent allowance which, if true, would be a criminal offence!
I have asked for explanation and evidence of their claims but they simply don’t reply. We find their attitude to be rather arrogant and dismissive and their customer relations skills non-existent.
This situation has become intolerable for us. Fighting cancer is hard enough without being constantly harassed by emails implying that we are in breach of contract or, worse, criminals.
It is difficult not to believe that they want to develop the land here and want all owners off the park. Many have left already but, unfortunately, we don’t have that choice.
I can only hope that other people looking forward to a retirement of peace and tranquillity, don’t find themselves in the same situation as we have.

AWFUL horrendous company who have had no SHAME in bumping numerous (mostly retired pensioners) of their life savings!! AVOID

We arrived on Friday for a well deserved girly break after booking a year in advance, after twenty minutes we could hear gushing water. Boiling hot water was coming through the ceiling from the room above onto our bed and was gushing out of the walls outside the lodge. The ceiling had big cracks in it from the water damaging it. Maintenance came and confirmed there was a burst pipe and that they had recently new showers installed. We accept that these things can happen but we're appalled by how both Hoseasons and Darwin's dealt with the situation. We waited over an hour to be told there were no other lodges but they could put us up in their hotel for the night. The whole point of our stay was to be in comfort, together to relax with a hottub etc. Hoseasons offered us a significantly poorly quality caravan or other accommodation that was almost a further 2 hours away. Some of our party were only staying one night so this wasn't a solution. Darwin's offered us a complimentary meal so that we were fed for the night since it was getting on for 7pm. Hoseasons have provided a full refund but I believe we should have been compensated for our inconvenience. We had to take time off work, arrange childcare, pay out for petrol, bought fresh food etc. They're now saying that the meal is compensation enough. Having just beaten breast cancer, the last year has been the worst one ever for me and we were all going to celebrate this and one of our parties birthday. I am completely disappointed at Darwin's lack of empathy and understanding, they clearly aren't bothered about us coming back as we proposed a discounted break or beauty vouchers.

Darwin are sharks. They have treated owners with such disregard. The way head office have behaved over lockdown and since is the icing on the dog poo cake. We pay more and get less!
Mis sold:
No WiFi
No facilities
No entertainment
No security
The local estate can buy membership and renters get priority over owners at New Pines.
Best advice is to steer clear and buy through a different organisation.
Owners leaving in their droves and we won't be far behind.
Greed is Darwin's downfall.

Darwin Escapes has just bought over Rosetta in Peebles. First contact an eviction letter. They did sued notices that caravans in our area of the site has to be off by 31/12/20. So much for an investment in a residential caravan. Some receiving the standard letter has been here for 20 year. No reason other than they want to develop this part of the site. Two vans changed hands at Christmas for many thousands. Get off. Makes you confident to by the Darwin Escape dream/nightmare.

I own a lodge on Aberconwy Resort & Spa. The treatment from the management is nothing short of extremely rude, arrogant and ignorant, not just the site management but also the directors and higher. Rude communications, refusing to enter into any dialogue. No site maintenance completed, no upkeep completed. 24/7 security isn’t worth the extortionate fees paid, only small section covered by CCTV, minimal patrols, anyone let onsite no questions asked. Not willing to help with issues arising because of COVID-19. Refund of 50% offered for time away in lockdown but no further reduction offered due to ongoing closed facilities. During the lockdown, thefts, damage and power outage took place, however, all reported to management, and it’s the owners' fault, not theirs. Disgusting customer relations. Didn't want to give it 1* ...