 Poster: A snowHead
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Well, I don't quite know what went wrong with our week in Courchevel 1300 (Le Praz)! - The holiday advertising stated that our room would be cleaned 6 days a week, listed a super breakfast, 6 course evening meal with coffee and mints and cheese with Port and that unlike other Chalet operators, they only hired mature chalet staff.
The reality was very different and a complete joke. There were nine of us and all "looked after" by a single inexperienced 19-year-old. The apartment/chalet was dirty upon arrival with filthy floors (our socks went black almost immediately) A filthy scummy basin in our room and dust everywhere. A disgusting, filthy dishcloth kept in the kitchen sink along with food preparation, filthy work surfaces, oven, cooker and bin. I cleaned the kitchen surfaces including hob on the host’s mid-week day off as I could not face preparing our dinner on it.
Breakfast was supposed to be served between 8am and 9.30am, in reality this was not the case. It was on the table at around 8.15 at that was it! – If you got to the table at 9am you would have been faced with what was left and cold.
We all asked our "host" if we could have scrambled eggs for the Friday morning. These were ready when we all woke up but was only a small bowlful... just enough for about three of us. We ate this and then when the other four men came to breakfast they were told "no more eggs" - apparently there were nine cooked in the little bowl and that was our limit per day!!!! The coco crispies where absent from the table and seemed to have been locked in a cupboard. I asked if we could have some and our host said that we had eaten our allotted amount. Our daughter, one single little girl out of 8 adults and who hardly eats much anyway and whom I paid nearly as much as our adult price for was now denied her breakfast!
We expected Port with the cheese and biscuits after dinner, some was found in the cupboard and some of this was drunk buy a few of our other chalet guests. On the Friday morning, Tom quizzed us on who had drunk his Port and that he had paid for it out of his own money as he ran an honesty bar. This made one female guest feel particularly guilty and so she left some money on the coffee table before we all left on the Saturday morning. – Ski Powers own website states that they do not run honesty bars as they are illegal ☺
We all left with a sour taste in our mouth and became increasing more annoyed as Tom started to clean around us as we were trying to leave. We all managed to leave just before the 10am deadline by the way!
Overall the food Tom cooked for us was okay. Most of the stock was cheap own-branded and economy fayre and it seems many corners are cut here. The package is offered as their Diamond Service and you can visit their website to see how super this all sounds. We only paid around £280 and yes, it was quite good value, especially as the full price was nearer £700 - But, we waited and looked for a last minute bargain, we have done this for a number of years now. Enjoying great deals from Total Ski and Esprit but never a lesser service.
Tom had lied about the lack of eggs, the cereal gone, the filthy cloth being for the floors only which was simply not true. He produced a very basic breakfast each morning with none of the extras listed on the website breakfast menu. We had to ask for coffee or tea each morning… it was all very sub-standard. No mints or coffee after dinner either.
At the end of our stay Tom handed out customer satisfaction forms, we as well as the other guest decided it was not worth filling these in as there were just too many poor things to say... the previous weeks guests had completed theirs and these were left lying around, they had mentioned the lack of cleanliness.
Despite the chalet, all of us guests had a great week as the skiing was good and we laughed at how bad the chalet hosting had been (Great ski hosting though).
By way of comparison.. If you wait for the sales and find that the shoes you want are now in the sale, they are not damaged or sub-standard in any way just because they are in the sale!
On a positive note, the unlimited red wine was good and the bed sheets and towels were nice and clean. The chalet comfortable and in a great position.
Something is very wrong with Ski Power for all of this to be happening and I presume that they will not be around as a company for much longer.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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So what you are saying is :- We broke into the food store, nicked ingredients and a bottle of port which belonged to the chalet host, used the facilities to cook on his day off, and at no point took the opportunity to complain about what we perceived to be poor service not up to the brochure hype. We also refused the opportunity to complete feedback forms, but decided to attempt to seal the fate of a company by slagging them off on the internet.
Oh, and all this having paid the whacking great sum of £280....
Geez, it sucks to be you
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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The Voice of Reason, the price is irrelevant. They paid for a £700 holiday and expected to receive it.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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hyweljenkins, And they still broke into the food store, nicked ingrediants and abottle of port which was not theirs to drink, and used the facilities to cook on the hosts day off. I have seen people thrown out of chalets for less. They also took no opportunity to complain, and refused to fill in the customer feedback forms.
Yes, the price is irrelevant, but the rest of the comments still stand.
It must suck to be them
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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snowtown, what did Ski Power say when you contacted them after your trip?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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b]snowtown[/b], Did you follow the complaints or problems procedure which should have been within the booking T & Cs? These usually state that you need to make your complaints known as soon as possible, to a resort manager or similar, whilst on the holiday, in order to give the company the opportunity to address/remedy them. Again, by not completing the feedback forms, you deny the company the chance of a) knowing what the problems are; b) fixing them for future guests; and c) potentially compensating you if the standards or product fell short of what was promised. For example, you mention that the guests prior to yourselves had left THEIR feedback forms lying around the chalet, rather than send them to the company. If they had done so, YOUR experience may have been improved. If you haven't contacted Ski Power to lodge a complaint in order to give them the opportunity to comment or address the problem, it's unfair to use your first post here to castigate the company. As is often said here, much depends on the chalet staff in place at the time - mixed reviews of a property or company in general, can usually be traced to who was in charge of that property on a day-to-day basis. If problems are not brought to the attention of the company managers, how are they to fix them?
By the way - welcome to Snow Heads 
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snowtown,
Welcome to SH.
I am with you on this one, from your description i would have been spitting feathers - especially after the "no coco pops" fiasco. As is usual we dont tend to complain when we notice things are going wrong, in this instance it seems as if Tom had given up - possibly as there are only a few weeks left? Anniepen, has hit the nail on the head though - doing something about it at the time might of helped - but suspect it would have involved going to his manager. That said - the standard shouldnt have been as bad as it was.
The Voice of Reason, must have read something else or be having a bad day? see no mention of breaking into anywhere, theft, cooking fits the guests are to sort themselves out for one night in my experience and complaining at the time didnt work - ala coco pops. I expect you would have got it all sorted on day one? got the whole chalet cleaned? The chef in on time, breakfast as described everyday? and all the extras provided as expected? or grumbled and given up then let other SH know that things were amis?
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15 hours since the first and only post.
Fish on the menu?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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My God. You pay £280 AND expect Coco Pops? What a temerity.
To be honest, if I had paid £280 for a week in a chalet in Courchevel I'd have been wondering what the catch was. Seems like you didn't.
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bad_roo, the price is irrelevant. The OP booked a particular holiday which offered particular goods and services. Those goods and services were not forthcoming. I've booked late deals like this (£240 for 4* in Meribel, down from £800) and expected, and received, 4* quality. A discount does not preclude the supplier from offering the full-price service unless it's made clear at the start.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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In an ideal world, maybe. In the real world, c'mon.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Thanks for the warning anyway. Cheap last minute deal holidays might be a bit crap. Really? I'd never have guessed.
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Up to 36hrs now and no response from snowtown.
Me being cynical or is this a wind-up/axe to grind?
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You know it makes sense.
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snowtown,
1) There are aspects of the Chalet - particularly hygiene - which sound poor.
2) If you did't complain at the time, and didn't fill in the feedback forms (and send them to head office rather than leave them in the chalet) I don't think you have a leg to stand on now. How do you expect the company to fix problems? Certainly registering on this forum just to have a whinge at the company is out of order IMHO.
It's a bit like people who say a bottle of wine is corked, drink it all, then complain. 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Read this with interest. Just to put forward another experience of Ski Power, we went with them last Easter. Large group 8 adults and 9 kids. Chalet clean and comfortable, rooms cleaned and tidied daily, towels refreshed mid week or as needed, no housekeeping issues IIRC. We had 2 chalet hosts, Martin and Nicky, Martin was the chef and he was absolutely superb, the food was fantastic. Breakfast was whatever you liked from a full english menu cooked to order. The continenental items were plentiful. One day they ran out of bread but this was because some of group decided in the morning to request a packed lunch and hadn't pre-ordered it the evening before, they apologised and didn't run out again. We had unlimited very good quality wine, fantastic afternoon tea laid out every day, hors d'oeuvres, port and cheese, coffee, everything. It was pretty damned good and we re-booked for this year. Hope this may reassure anyone else due to travel with Ski Power.
snowtown, sorry to hear your bad experience and I accept that sometimes things are not up to scratch, but why didn't you complain to the resort manager at the time? IME they are visible and accessible enough.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Okay here we go... I'm still here! - just busy with work AND in the process of moving home. I very nearly didn't bother to post my original post, it took time to write, it's easy to be lazy but I wrote it because I thought that others should hear what happened to us.
NO we didn't break into any food store... where did I say we did?
We were told we could use all facilities on the hosts day off, it was just a simple small kitchen and as I said, I cleaned it doing us all a favour.
Another guest drank what they believed was left of the Port, It had said on the website that it was included after dinner (with the non-existant mints and coffee) please read my original post again - Tom was always in a rush to get off... we were left to our own devices, I can't blame someone for drinking that which they though was allowed.
This is certainly not a "slagging off" as you call it, it is mearly stating what we experienced. - We decide on where we will stay by searching the net for reviews (doesn't everyone do this?). We stay abroad a fair bit and find it very useful to see what others say about a place. I thought that I was adding to the forum by bothering to write... I usually don't say if I had a good or bad time. I have also left feedback on our overnight hotels there and back, one was dissapointing the other fab. It's about time I did this.
Yep £280 - a last minute bargain, we did not have much choice (La Plagne was another option at this price) but I have not found this level of cutting corners before with any other last minute chalets deals over the last 10 years!
What's all this "sucking" about ??  Don't we all expect a decent standard of service and hygiene? - Besides the overall cost for a family with travel, hire, passes, everything it all costs enough in the end. I just try to save on getting some un-sold space.
We ALL felt like complaining towards the end but it would have got us nowhere, that is how it FELT. At the begining it was all new and we took a few days to settle in with people we didn't know to start with but by the end we were all laughing about it. It really was so dirty we just couldn't believe it. Tom seemed to have lost interest, maybe he was OK when fresh at the start of the season.
And finally... Sarah, I read a review or post, possibly somewhere on here about a great experience at a Ski Power chalet in La Tania, it sounded great and that is why I booked with them. I think it was last year and reviews from 2008 praised them, maybe things have changed.
Ski Power are in a customer service industry, they know what makes for good or bad, they interviewed our chalet host and gave out the positions, if you search the internet you will actually find their ads for chalet and resort staff from before the season. They state that a chalet host will be assisted and must have experience!
Thank you for the welcome to Snowheads.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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snowtown, tripadvisor.com is your friend. Posting a review there can have quite an effect on a business.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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hi hyweljenkins, thanks, I do use tripadvisor.com and that is where I posted the reviews of the overnight stop hotels we used. I just thought it may be a bit harsh posting my all too honest review there.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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snowtown, why? I post there, warts and all. Usually my reviews are positive, though, because I decide where to stay based on what other people have said. I did criticise a hotel quite seriously, and had a long apology and explanation from the company's MD via TA, though.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Complain at the time to people who can resolve the issue there and then; all this school yard moaning when peeps gets home about how bad things were comes over as sour grapes and quite childish. Man up and complain at the time for the good of us all, even the TO !!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Doesn't this thread confirm what we all know (or should know), that the quality of the experience depends around 90% on the quality and attitude of the staff on the ground at the time? Snowtown had a mare, and I entirely sympathize with him regarding the lack of basics, I can also sympathize with the reluctance to complain at the time because doing so nearly always results in the holiday ending on a very sour note. I don't see anything wrong in complaining on return, and it doesn't devalue the complaint at all, facts are facts.
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Here is a typical view of the chalet kitchen sink and of Tom's beloved filthy cloth before it went missing on the Thursday evening (probably thrown out by another guest). This is how the sink was left after he had finished each evening. This cloth was worse than appears in this iphone pic. stinking and grey and brown (originally pink).
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rayscoops, sorry mate, but that's guff. It's not always the case the the 22 year-old Jack Wills-wearing yoof can either do, or be ars3d to do, anything in resort.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Don't think I can add the pic it doesn't seem to attach! Sorry
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Thanks for responding and thanks for posting. Too may people come on here, post once or twice and then disappear.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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hyweljenkins, maybe - but I think you need to give the company a chance to correct things - if necessary phoning the head office in the UK - whilst you are still in the resort.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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stoatsbrother, and what are they going to do? Parachute in the crack Chalet Air Service from the huge pool of reserves they have sitting around?
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Dr John, that's their problem. I agree with stoatsbrother.
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You know it makes sense.
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Hurtle, yep, granted, and everyone is free to kick-up as much stink as they like during the holiday if they think it's required, carry on and don't mind me. However, there are many people, and I'm one of them, who generally want to make the best of a bad job and get on with the skiing and the holiday as best we can and don't want to waste precious holiday time with endless complaining, choosing to do it in non-holiday time on our return. Unless the problem is genuinely life threatening it can usually wait, and a genuine complaint is a genuine complaint regardless of where the complaint is made from.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Dr John, there is a difference between one calm telephone call and kicking up a stink/endless complaining. If that telephone call didn't produce an improvement, then I too would be inclined to get on with it, whilst collecting up the evidence to whack them with - not via the whole world on the internet, in the first instance - when I got home.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Dr John, I see your point (and am not the keenest complainer myself)- but I think you put yourself in the wrong by not giving the TO a chance to fix it whilst they can - and it might even improve your holiday. If they cannot, then document what you need to, enjoy the skiing and complain when you get back.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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stoatsbrother, exactamundo - and I don't like complaining either.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Hurtle, stoatsbrother, if we're not careful we're going to find ourselves in complete agreement....
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Hurtle, having said all that, if the chalet in Mottaret we're going to on the 20th and dropped a large wedge on isn't in perfect condition in every way I'm going to team them a new @rsehole
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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snowtown, sorry I forgot to say welcome to snowheads, but welcome
I very much hope your experience was not typical of Ski Power's standards for this season, we had such a great experience with them last year and it was the last week of the season too so our expectations are already set!
It's a shame you felt it pointless to try to complain whilst out there, have you made a complaint now that you're back?
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sarah, thanks for your welcome too:) ! Dr John, is spot on here... One doesn't like to complain when on holiday for fear of spoiling the enjoyment and things WOULD turn sour in the chalet.. it could become all very uncomfortable. We had a great fun holiday. We had a roof over our heads and could enjoy our skiing during the day. I wrote about the quality of our chalet. I see nothing wrong with saying this on our return. I have read Ski Power's T&Cs regarding complaints. They will only entertain complaints when at the chalet with a call to head office. Bit of a catch22 don't you think? - We don't want to spoil our hols when out there.. no point complaining when back. Because of this I mearly point out our experience for other to take want they want out of the comments and leave the rest!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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snowtown, ignore their T's & C's, Trading Standards don't give a toss about them so you shouldn't. If you received service or goods below the advertised standard then you have a case for compensation, and if you have date/time stamped photos of the state of the place then all the better. Also I doubt the TO will want any adverse publicity or Trading Standards getting involved so always worth a polite but firm letter asking them what they are prepared to offer you by way of compensation.
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TO employs demotivated teenager shock!!
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FAQ
