In 44 years travelling to over 70 countries around the world, including 20 years managing tours, cruises and conventions, I’ve never experienced such a blatant disregard for customer care as with Raet Camping.
My husband and I had not been on vacation for 2 years, not wanting to leave our aging golden retriever anymore. But for a 60th birthday, we decided he could stay with our wonderful dogsitter for just one night, so we could overnight in a yurt at Raet and enjoy a nice meal at the restaurant too. The park was a place we’d often walked with our golden guy when he was just a pup. So on Aug. 5th I booked a yurt for the night of the 10th not thinking about cancellation policies since it was just 5 days away.
The very next day our dog got sick and, when he didn’t get better quickly, we sadly had to think about cancelling. On discovering the cancellation policy was 7 days advance notice rather than the 2-day standard, I emailed Raet, explained the situation and asked if we might have a “raincheck” in September or next year. The answer came quickly that they would be closed in September and couldn’t do it next year because “…we don’t know how things will be next season. There are a lot of politics about the area and the regulation plan.” One night in a yurt cost kr 2300 (230 euros), so it was a lot to just toss out the window. I wrote back that we could try to come before the end of August. Again, the answer came quickly with dates the restaurant would be open in August. However, the next day a new email arrived saying that the only dates a yurt would be available were the weekend of the 18th. I replied that we didn’t need to come on a weekend, maybe a weekday would be easier. Raet answered that they are never open on weekdays in low season, so I wrote back that low season had not begun yet. Then came the answer that it was “Arendalsuka” and that companies book accommodation with Raet a year in advance for that week. So I said that was fine, then, we would come on the 18th of August. That email was sent on August 10th and I never heard back from Raet. It seemed quite clear that they had made it as difficult as possible to arrange an alternative night for our kr 2300 because they simply did not want us to come.
In the meantime, our dog had not improved, and we had to make the most painful of decisions to put him to sleep in the coming weeks. Anyone who has ever loved a dog will know that this consumed our thoughts. After 5-6 days without any return email from Raet, I had basically forgotten the disappointment and irritation of the cancelled overnight. The 18th came and went without any thought of a yurt at Raet. Imagine my shock the next day, August 19th , when I got an sms with the number of the yurt we would stay in and the door code! The message arrived at 20.07 - 5 hours after check-in time on the day AFTER we’d requested, saying “showers can be found under the restaurant :) Welcome to us!” Obviously, we were nowhere near Raet Camping at that point, since they had never answered my last email requesting the 18th (not the 19th). As I sat on my sofa at home reading this sms, the purpose quickly became clear. In 20 years working in international hospitality, I cannot remember such an openly disgraceful move.
It’s one thing to happily accept our 230 euros without providing anything in return – the 7-day cancellation policy is written on the website. But to wait until 8 p.m. on the night AFTER the requested “raincheck” date to send an sms with key code and “Welcome” message can only be an attempt to make it look like you DID provide an alternative when you most certainly did NOT. It is not only a blatant and total disregard for customer care (and intelligence!), but just plain...
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