The advert has now been changed but this is a link to the trip on thier web site
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Customer Relations
This is a covering letter to complain about the Santa trip we went on last week on 10th December near Levi in Finish Lapland.
As far as we knew we had booked to go to Santa Park in the South which was a 7 hour trip including 2 hour transfers both ways. We were told this by email when we booked (see enclosed) and verbally over the telephone by Beaches travel. We were looking forward to the coach trip as it would have given us an opportunity to see some more of Finland. So we got up early to go on this trip and packed provisions for the day. When we were on the coach we realised something was amiss when the rep said it would be a fifteen minute journey.
We tried to make the most of it but what we were offered when we arrived was absolute rubbish and an extremely disappointing waste of our time. We had paid £108 pounds for this trip and we would have been better off going to any Santa’s grotto in any British town where at least they would have had more decorations and been given a present. I can’t believe how you can take so much money for such a pathetic experience lasting less then 3 hours total and mostly involving standing waiting in the freezing cold.
I will outline the pathetic activities you offered.
1) A ride on a plastic sledge. All the children get sledges just like this when they visit anyway so it was nothing special to any of them. They had to queue up for the one suitable small slope to get one or two goes if they were lucky on a sledge exactly the same as all of them already had. So coming for this activity was of no benefit to any of the children.
2) Pony rides. The children had to queue again for the pony which took them in a small circle lasting less than a couple of minutes. You could have at least had more ponies so they didn’t spend over 90% time waiting in the cold. This isn’t really a Christmas Lapland experience at all.
3) Sleigh ride. There were no reindeers as the children expected but one pony again pulling the sleigh slowly on a very small circuit. As you only had one sleigh we were all left to freeze in the cold waiting for this worthless experience.
4) Making biscuits. This was very unhygienic and something easily done in your own home. There was no where to wash hands neither were children asked to wash. It was all on one table which was not cleaned for the next group. Children were sneezing etc on the table. My children can’t eat biscuits but they didn’t miss out on anything here.
5) Snowmobile. This experience was the only one that was okay but it lasted only a few minutes and involved waiting for half the time for a turn. Certainly not worth wasting a morning of your holiday or all that money. We had already hired snowmobiles and had a much more exciting experience with them.
6) Santa. We had to queue a long time to see Santa and it wasn’t worth the wait. There was a ‘post office’ you could write a letter to him in while you waited but it was very cramped with room for no more than 2 children to write, it is much easier to do it in the comfort of your own home. Children expect when they see Santa to get a present but none was given and a lot of small children were coming out very upset by this and there parents had to buy them the overpriced ornaments that were on display in the waiting area to placate them. They took your photo with Santa and not until they handed it to you were you told it was another five euros on top of all the money you’d already been conned out of. There was no sign anywhere saying that you had to pay for the photo or how much it cost nor were you asked if you wanted a photo before they took it. Everyone had cameras anyway so this was really manipulative. Santa looked really fake in a cheap looking outfit and beard; children were saying he can’t be the real Santa as his eye brows don’t even match. My children said that Santa smelt really badly so I had to tell them not to worry it’s not the real Santa. Any Santa’s Grotto in any English town would have been a hundred times better than this. The decorations were really minimal and hardly noticeable at all. Children expect lots of bright lights and moving figures etc.
The experience appeared to take place in some abandoned farm building just up the road from the resort. We couldn’t believe we had arrived when we got there in the coach as we were expecting bright lights and decorations. I can’t see how this trip to ‘Santa’s Secret Home’ can cost the same amount as a 7 hour trip to Santa Park.
The coach did not even take us back to where we were staying; we had to walk about 15 minutes there and back to meet it at a hotel which was not close to where we were staying.
The rep Louise was not apologetic at all. She said you had had a lot of complaints about Santa Park but I can’t see how it could be worse than this and that would be no excuse anyway. It is obvious you have found a way to make lots of extra money for nothing. I heard other people complaining whilst we were there and nobody saying it was good. The rep however kept on telling us that some people told her they enjoyed it but then she was so loud and common and embarrassing they probably just replied they had a good time to get rid of her. People are put in a difficult situation in front of their young children that they have promised to take to see Santa and I think you have taken advantage of this to the full.
You should give us a full refund for this trip as it was not what we were told it would be. Also you should give us some compensation for wasting a morning of our holiday as it was expensive for us to be in Lapland and we did not want any of our precious time there wasted.
If I don’t hear from you to my satisfaction within the next week I will make sure that this information is on the internet in the hope of protecting other possible Inghams customers from being conned also. You cannot get away with this in the long run and will destroy your reputation if you continue.
Yours Sincerely
Susan Elias
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