We had promised my wife's disabled parents a holiday with our two young children. We had been to the site three times before so we knew what to expect, cheap and cheerful, although the bungalow in August, number F47 Portreath, had set us back a total of nearly £700.
After an arduous journey of over 300 miles, it was soon apparent on arrival that the accommodation was not what we had been promised.
We had specifically asked for a bungalow with disabled access and facilities inside. There were four options afforded to us by the Toms management and we opted for Portreath as it was closest to the road.
Firstly, we were promised that the parking and access were all on one level, the car had to be parked some distance away from the door, and there was an incline towards the property, with the door accessed up a narrow alleyway which had overgrown nettles and stinging plants along it.
Although not actually confined to wheelchairs, neither my mother-in-law (who I shall call A) or father-in-law (who I shall call B) can walk for any distance and need the help of walking stick and crutches respectively. A suffers from chronic rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, angina and heart problems; B had a motorbike accident six years ago and had to have multiple operations to keep his leg, basically he is an invalid.
Steps are a problem for both of them, and the simple request of access on the same level was ignored by the management as there are two high steps to get into the property.
Once inside we were shocked to see that the interior decor and facilities were completely different to the pictures which were included on the website details at http://www.tomsholidays.co.uk/html/accommodation.html ....
There was promise of a three piece suite, and instead it is now two settees, one a two seater and the other a three seater - which is strange, as it is supposed to be a six berth accommodation!
On the far wall by the TV area, there was a dining chair, which presumably was supposed to make up for the lack of seating space for six people!
Conveniently now, there is only a picture of the one end of the kitchen/diner/lounge, with no view of the three-piece suite.
Looking round on arrival, the first thing we noticed was the horrific mustiness and outright damp conditions. Not to mention the dirty state of, well, everything!
The dining chairs' seats were in a disgusting state and needed recovering at the very least. There was sand on the floor in the children's bedroom. There were dirty damp marks on the walls and near windows - it was a terrible disappointment and my wife was close to tears.
She immediately sought to make her complaint with the staff that were still in the office at the site and was given short shrift. In fact, we concur with others who have complained about the complete lack of customer service during our stay.
The bathroom which was probably the most important aspect of disabled facilities which we required, was a joke. At home, A and B have a wet room, with a seat for the shower and we were promised a walk-in shower at the very least. However, it was just a normal square stepped up, cramped shower area with a pathetic curtain, no disabled access, the only concession to anything remotely disabled-friendly was a bar on the wall, which was probably there just as a towel holder.
There was no proper disabled toilet and A and B had to suffer the indignity of sitting on the toilet while the other one washed them down for the duration of the holiday, instead of being able to shower like they would have done at home.
The shower head itself was broken, the bracket for it would not stand up without some imaginative wrapping round of the shower hose to keep it in place.
We made the best of things but would advise people not to be taken in by any promises of disabled facilities as they are simply not forthcoming.
I don't know if Toms is affiliated to any holiday watchdog groups, but we will be seeking some kind of recompense. If nothing else, the facilities at the accommodation just did not provide value for money.
The furniture and storage facilities were sparse. In the room where A and B slept in there was no wardrobe, there was reference to a chest of drawers, which was in fact just a small bedside three-drawer unit with no room for anything else but underwear. A and B had to spend the week living out of their suitcase.
We can't fault the setting of the site which has been a favourite of ours for some years, although the accommodation has been hit and miss. We understand that the site owners can't always rely on privately-owned accommodation being up to scratch, but if it is then put on the website and hailed as being disabled-friendly when it so patently is not, then that, in my book is misrepresentation at the very least.
It is sad for us to say that we will not be staying at Toms again, but there are alternatives nearby so we can take advantage of this beautiful part of the world.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
