Karting Almancil — Attraction in Loulé

I visited Faro for the first time in August and had the most incredible time. My worst experience was definitely this establishment which has no regard for its visitors, which is a shame given the exceptional experience we had in our time in Faro.

We arrived at this establishment for a late session (family package of 5) just after 7pm and after waiting 45 minutes to get our turn, we went onto the track, had the safety briefing, put on our equipment and were just about to get into our go karts when we were told that the flood lights were not working and we would therefore not be able to race. There was another large group that was absolutely furious (understandably as the establishment sold tickets while knowing that their flood lights were not working). The group before us was already at a risk as they raced when the lighting was quite poor!

While an inconvenience, especially since each day was planned with its own activities, we agreed and asked what our options were. We were told to take back the card tickets that we had already handed in for our turn and that if we could not return the next day, we could come and get a refund.

We had hoped to fit it in the next day but 3 of the 5 people due to race flew back to London and when the remaining 2 of us went back to the establishment the next day to get our refund as we could not all make it back , the tune completely changed! All of a sudden we were told without a paper receipt (ie our tickets were not proof enough, even though the manager remembered us from the day before), we could not get a refund! We were so shocked and even after we produced a copy of the transaction on a bank statement, the manager had so many excuses (he said he didn’t have enough staff to go onto the system to find a transaction from the previous day!! ) so without a paper receipt, he couldn’t give us our refund!

He told us to come back the next day which we did (clearly didn’t expect us to) and the story was now that the admin office was closed till the following Tuesday! How does a manager not know this the previous day ?

To conclude -it was this establishments’ fault that we couldn’t race and they basically stole our EUR100 with absolutely no intention to give us a refund despite all the proof (tickets) that we had been there the day before. The manager and the rest of the staff admitted that they knew we were there and that we were due a refund but without the paper receipt from the till (which we literally threw away when we went onto the race track as there was no need for it after we received our tickets) they were not going to reimburse us.

I travel a lot with my family and this was by far the worst thuggery I have ever experienced! Terrible people and terrible service! You will never catch me there ever again. Also don’t believe the niceness when they are at fault (I understand the flood lights often have problems) - they have no intention of refunding you if you cannot make an...

Not sure if it was because of start of season or staff were just having an off day. But we had a very poor experience. Unfriendly unhelpful staff that did not want to bothered. Especially behind main reception booking area. We were informed that only things opened were bumper cars, trampoline Park and go karts. We booked 2 boats for bumper boats. We have 3 children. Only one boat worked. Despite other boat loudly shouting it was suffering from low battery. We had to go and inform staff but they could not be less interested. Gave us another coin to replace one in broken boat and told us to use the one boat that worked. Not much fun in bumper boats when only one boat is working. But we thought it would surly improve . Next we had our kids booked on trampolines. We were not informed that only one trampoline could be used at a time. Also not much fun for kids by themselves. Time was very short and the fact the kids could not participate together was a major negative. It was meant to be a family experience. There was only 1 female toilet working as there seemed to be carrying out work on the others. It was in such a poor standard. Not clean and very unpleasant. I ordered 2 coffees from reception area the young girl seemed to be hassled by being asked, again most unfriendly. It was 5 euro for 2 tiny cups of coffee. We booked the go karting too. We were informed at reception that it would be available in 45 mins. Well 45 minutes came and went and so did another 50 mins before go karting commenced. No explanation provided or no apology offered. One child's go kart broke down and he missed out on the 3 rounds of karting as a result. The instructors on the go karting ring was much friendlier than reception area. But over all a very poor service. Definitely not worth the money we paid. Trying to get a refund was complicated and the whole staff interaction so poor . Now hopefully this is a one off . But I never came across such unprofessional and Unfriendly staff in Portugal before. I could not recommend this facility to any family. I never had to write a bad review before while on holidays in Portugal but as our experience was so poor I felt I must warn others. I love this country and feel this facility let's everyone down.if you go , I truly hope you have a much better experience. We will...

We visited Kartódromo de Almancil Karting Almancil 3 times during our stay in the Algarve.

2 visits for karting which were good fun (the karts were a bit tired some with very worn / split tyres and poor brakes - didn’t need to use brakes much).

But the buggy experience was hell. We chose the 2 hour trip. Managed to get 25% of the way after nearly 2 hours. The delays were caused by multiple breakdowns effecting all 3 buggies in our group. A loose battery connection; a broken drive belt and another with constant fuel or electric issue causing the buggy to stop every few minutes. All buggies had a number of other issues like no indicators, handbrakes not working (no cable). No brake lights etc.

Although we were told by staff on phone and in person all buggy experience was off road a very large part of what we did in the near 2 hours was on main and side roads in what turned out to be unsafe and unreliable buggies.

The 'responsible person' (a director) was extremely reluctant to come forward - kept denying he was anything but staff but finally did. This was after my group of 4 was taken back with a failed buggy on a trailer for 15mins with the so called ‘responsible person’ driving and not speaking to us at all. Not the sign or sound of an apology for the trouble we had experienced.

We were told by 2 staff that issues we experienced are frequent and they never give refunds. This experience! cost EU260. Thankfully after pushing we got a full refund.

No details about business ownership on Karting Almancil’s website. Breach of Rules (what a surprise).

Tip for anyone visiting – pay by credit card so if you have a bad experience you can claim for a refund from the card company if the venue declines. Or maybe better to find another venue where they really care about their customers.

I am surprised the local Police and Ministry of Transport allow venues like this to operate such poor and unsafe equipment. I hope this message stimulates someone into action to make...