What should they do?

Kindly assist me here.

I booked accommodation in Mogoditshane in mid-month February. One of the rooms was not readily prepared as expected. I realised in the morning that the linen was dirty as I arrived at night, I called the one who offered us the room and showed him everything and he said he will come back to me.

I called them the following day. They gave me two options. Free accommodation or food and I told them I don’t trust anymore now. One employee kept on giving false promises that he will call back after talking to the manager. Another employee was so defensive of the company and told me I was given options and have declined them, so I can’t be helped. I asked them about their operational policy but they don’t want to share anything.

From 16th February, I have been asking to talk to the manager or director and the three I mentioned, they always have stories, that the manager is not there.

I paid P859 for this service and slept in dirty sheets. They don’t care about effects of their compromised standards in relation to health, in this era. Kindly advise me on the route to take, as I requested for a refund but no one wants to take responsibility.

This is completely unacceptable. When we spend our hard-earned money in lodges and hotels, we can expect certain things. Obviously the more we spend, the more we can expect but I don’t think it matters if we spend tens of thousands or just hundreds, we should always expect courtesy, smiling faces and, perhaps most important of all, cleanliness. Even the cheapest of places should offer us these things.

This place clearly doesn’t offer even the basics. You deserved clean sheets, a warm welcome and urgent action if something went wrong. A decently run lodge would have been shocked when you reported your complaint and would have moved heaven and earth to recover from it. They would have gone out of their way to make you a happy customer again. Rudeness, false promises and management who don’t care are the wrong approach.

I approached the management of the lodge and they gave me a very similar response. Blue ticks on Whatsapp, unanswered messages on Facebook and emails that received no reply. Do they want their reputation to be any worse than it already is?