Reviews of The Dog Inn, Wingham
Review by Arturo on 13th September, 2011
Add your review Date visited: 2006
Un sitio de poco fiar. Para empezar no nos registraron (lo cual ya es algo sospechoso), pero lo que si hicieron fue cobrar por adelantado. El sitio desde fuera es atractivo, pero las habitaciones dejan mucho que desear. Y para colmo, a la mañana siguiente descubrimos que nos habían engañado.
Nos dieron un precio y como nos pareció caro para lo que es (algunas habitaciones están mal acabadas o a medio terminar) cuando ya nos marchábamos nos hicieron una nueva oferta que aceptamos. De hecho nos engañaron haciendo parecer que nos hacían una rebaja para luego descubir que nos habían cambiado el desayuno inglés por uno continental (obviamente sin mencionarlo). Al quejarnos el propietario no sólo no quiso reconocer el asunto, sino que nos dejó sin desayuno de ningún tipo y nos amenazó con "ayudarnos a salir de su local".
Por supuesto fuimos a la policía y a la delegación local de turismo, donde pusimos sendas denuncias, pero en Inglaterra hay total impunidad para casos de este tipo. La policía sólo actúa si hay agresiones físicas, lo cual sabe muy bien el propietario, y las asociaciones de turismo sólo intermedian en casos que afectan a establecimientos registrados, que no es el caso del Dog Inn.
Al volver a casa estuvimos buscando otras experiencias negativas y encontramos 5. Al utilizar estas referencias como prueba en una nueva reclamación a Euroconsumer (que por cierto tampoco pudieron hacer nada), el propietario se puso en contrato con los anunciantes (dos foros como este) y les amenazó con demandarles judicialmente si no retiraban las críticas negativas, lo cual hicieron. Hay que hacer constar que en Inglaterra, igual que en USA, poner un pleito contra alguien es sólo cuestion de dinero, no de razones, puesto que defenderse cuesta dinero, la gente que tiene menos intenta evitar que los pongan por puro motivo económico.
Total, una pesadilla increíble. Alejaos lo más posible del Dog Inn y de su propietario.
Review by Richard on 23rd August, 2011
Add your review Date visited: 26/08/2011
We recently made a booking to stay at the Dog Inn in Wingham for our second wedding anniversary. The booking was confirmed by email and we were asked to phone back and pay for our meal. Four attempts were made to make this payment and each time we were told there was noone available to make the payment. On the fifth attempt to call, which was four days before we were due to stay, the payment was taken and we were told that a receipt would be emailed through to us the following morning.
The following morning no receipt was received so we phoned them again in the afternoon. We were told that the receipt would be waiting for us when we arrived. When we pressed the issue and said we were told that it would be emailed we were then told that our room booking was unconfirmed and that there was no room available. This is no nearly two months after we made the booking and four days before we are due to stay. We had email proof that they confirmed our booking but were still told that there is nothing that could be done.
I am disgusted with the service of this establishment as they have ruined a long planned anniversary event for my wife and I.
Review by Winston Feather on 16th November, 2010
Add your review Date visited: 6.11.10
Lovely stopover for our special family celebration (10 of us, children& parents, with our own set aside dining room adjacent to the bar). Dinner was great and breakfast had all the works which was very much appreciated after the night before!
Great old inns such as this have a very special atmopsphere which is why I chose it.
Thanks to Kelly and staff for the friedly welcome and personal touch.
Yours
Winston
Review by H. Norbury on 10th August, 2010
Add your review Date visited: 4th June 2010
On the outside the hotel looked lovely, would even use the word quaint.
Once inside things were a different matter, lack of lighting, and signs to say watch the step,we were in a room at the top of the stairs by the kitchen (door was wedged open), there were wide gaps under the doors, and once inside the rooms things went from bad to worse, things that were advertised weren't there, there was no phone should there have been an emergency, if you were too tall, you would have had trouble sitting on the toilet, the power shower broke on the last morning, the breakfast on the sunday left a lot to be desired, half a mushroom was a bit miserly.
We booked two rooms, elderly was so scared of the stairs leading up to her room, she came down stairs on her behind, her tv didn't work.
Overall a very disappointing and expensive weekend.
,
Review by Ben on 16th August, 2009
Add your review Date visited: 15th August 2009
Booked a room at the dog two months in advance as we would be travelling straight from holiday to a wedding in Wingham. Arrived having travelled since 7am to a c**ked up booking and were told to go to sister hotel which was a converted stable with a view of a fence and no electricity (at the time). We rushed to sister hotel (not ten minutes but twenty minutes away!) and back just in time for wedding and decieded that; as my wife was seven months pregnant and the whole point had been having a place close to the reception, and we also had been shown nothing by the staff that meant the experience would improve we would instead not stay but return to London. Having read these reviews I am glad we didn't stay for breakfast. At no point did any of the staff show any initiative considering their c**k ups and the fact my wife was pregnant. Don't go
Review by Mrs. Vandenheuvel on 27th December, 2008
Add your review Date visited: 23-26 December
Thru booking.com we had booked early November The Dog Inn for our 37th wedding anniversary and Christmas. I found the terrible reviews on this site after booking and feared the worst. Before we left we checked the availability and found out that apart from our booking (with shown picture of the room) all the others rooms were still available. On arrival we were shown to actually a small 1-person room with a double bed shoved into the corner where we would have to crawl in climbing over each other. We didn't accept that and referred to the room from the picture that stood empty (all the doors stood open and were empty). The owner was adamant, they were already booked and it was take it or leave it for this small "room". We could get a larger room at the sisterhotel in Ham, "The blazing donkey". The room was bigger, had a lumpy uncomfortable bed, extremely dirty carpet and a not working thermostate tap on the shower and bath. We were the only paying guests in this 23-room hotel in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately we came from Belgium for 4 days to Kent to walk and the sights of the villages and on the coastal trails were stunning, if we had not been walkers we would have had a terrible time. The website from the hotel is deceiving and his absolute neglect of the hotelpart of his enterprises is absurd. It has been the worst hotelexperience we've ever had in our life. That everything was booked in the Dog Inn, was a lie and the owners can't be bothered anyway apparently when I read the reviews, because they still have'nt cleaned up their act.
Review by newlyweds on 6th September, 2008
Add your review Date visited: March 2008
Such a shame about this place and the sister hotel - The Blazing Donkey in Ham - both ran by the same person (read these reviews too!) unfortunately reading through the other bad reviews we really have to agree and feel sad that so many people's special days are being ruined...the places have such potential and the food we've had there has been good, but the organisation and management are absolutely shocking! we would not recommend anyone get married at either of these places. We really felt like they took our money and ran!
We got married in March 2008 at the Dog Inn and we had 16 guests. We were sold the wedding package as a very flexible, personal service to make our day as special as possible. Our experience was anything but....
1. all arrangements for the setup of the wedding room and later on wedding meal were agreed with the owner Richard (who insisted we came in on a weekday to plan this beforehand - as they were too busy at weekends which meant we took a days leave as we both work full time). On the wedding day we found these plans were ignored and this meant the wedding party were moving tables and chairs around 10 mins before the wedding (whilst staff watched) and again we had to wait for dinner while tables were rearranged to what we had asked for initially!
2. the grooms mum made the wedding cakes and got them safely by car to the dog Inn near Canterbury from Maidstone . They were then passed to the staff to arrange and present. We found the cakes at the head table....many of the cakes had been broken and no effort made to tell us or even put the broken ones at the back!
3. Despite not wanting a wedding package (we really just wanted the wedding and meal) Richard told us this was essential to book the wedding. We were also told we had to have canapes as part of the package....all part of the quality service! (although not so flexible that we could have a few half lagers for non champagne drinkers as Richard said pouring the lager would delay the promptness of serving the canape drinks) on the day the canapes or drinks were not ready promptly despite the restaurant being empty and the groom had to ask for them....We also paid the extra per head to receive amongst other things tea and coffee for guests all day. This was not once offered and we alerted staff to this when one of the guests PAID for a (complimentary) coffee about an hour after dinner. No staff told the guest this should be complimentary. Tea and coffee were then brought out once we asked and plonked on a table in conference style flasks for us to pour whilst the member of staff went back to playing with her hair behind the bar! Two bottles of special wine we paid for to be delivered to two of our guest rooms never arrived.
4.. When we told Richard after the day about these (amongst other) problems initially we thought our complaint had been heard.....we agreed a discount for goods not received and were offered a complimentary meal for 6. we went off on our honeymoon and thought we'd receive the complimentary meal voucher in our return.... not to be....6 reminder calls to Richard and over a month later we still hadn't received it..we were not really bothered about going back to be honest but because of the principle we pursued it until Richard was rude to us and basically told us he was too busy to deal with it anymore! He said he had sent it,, but it never arrived with us. At the end of our patience we then reported them to the Kent County Council Registrars Office (who award the wedding venue licence) who also reported them to Trading Standards to deal with the parts outside their remit). Funnily enough we then received a copy of an email (voucher) sent to us by Richard. No apology just highlighted to show he had sent the email...as I said these things happen in cyberspace, but we hadn't received it..which we had tried to explain to him...he seemed more interested in proving himself right than providing any kind of customer service and why couldn't he have used that envelope and stamp to send us that voucher in the first place?!
I don't know how they can offer a wedding service when they so massively failed a wedding of 18 people (on a quiet night at the restaurant)...we feel we have to concur with the other reviews.
According to Richard they regularly have weddings of 150+! I don't know how! In our opinion, please do not risk your wedding day by booking it here.
Written without prejudice
Review by Anne on 22nd July, 2008
Add your review Date visited: 9th May. 2008
Having booked a buffet for 60 people and agreed a price of £600 i was 1) then charged £750 on my credit card
2) Unable to use the car park not even for those with disabled stickers. 3) shocked at the disgusting food and appauling presentation, Lack of napkins, innattentive staff, shortage of tea and coffee. And last but not least arrogance of the bully boy owner. who having got your money could not care less.. One of the biggest rip offs i have ever experienced.
DO NOT GO THERE !!
Review by Teri Collins on 26th February, 2008
Add your review Date visited: February 2008
This was one of the worst nights we have endured in a long while. The rooms are vastly overpriced and not as indicated on the plush website. The owners should concentrate more on getting the rooms right than the website! Our room was really bland; brown and cream, modern, but had an old-fashioned wardrobe that looked as it has come from a secondhand shop, a mirror propped up against the wall, no coat hangers, no vanity unit, telephone or sewing kits, all advertised on the website. The doors were extremely noisy and the central heating so loud that it kept us awake all night long. One couple who had booked the suite above us moved rooms as they were unhappy with the first, gave up on the second room they were offered and drove all the way back to Bexley – I only wish we had had the sense to do the same! £5.50 for a glass of white wine in the bar before our meal, we thought was more than we pay in pubs in Central London. Two different starters that we chose were off the menu, as were two others. My starter actually tasted as if it had been made the previous day. The rest of the food was OK, but didn’t begin to make up for the disappointment of our room and the lack of sleep all night. We actually asked for our money to be returned but did not get it. We felt extremely sorry for the poor manageress who was doing a very difficult job in horrid circumstances.
Review by Mrs Hearson on 26th February, 2008
Add your review Date visited: February 2008
Absolute rip-off from start to finish. Ruined weekend
Review by Dominic Watson on 20th June, 2007
Add your review Date visited: 7th June 2007
The rooms were decent although I booked three and one was enormous whilst the others were tiny. The breakfast was a bit strange - nouvelle cuisine style full English Breakfast. When we complained (only half-jokingly), the owner took great umbrage and promptly threw us all out of the hotel with two nights remaining whilst violently swearing at us. Truly incredible and he also hasn't refunded the money or even my deposit although he promised this.
I would be VERY wary about staying at this establishment - the owner is quite a frightening character and whatever you do.....don't complain about the food!!!
Review by Christine on 24th April, 2007
Add your review Date visited: 20/4/07
I am writing as it is rare you find a place with all the factors of a great evening together.
We tried the Dog for an informal 50th Birthday party, and had such a fantastic evening. the service was unrivalled and the menu is by far one of the nicer around. the 'wine man' James recommended great complimentry wines from their seperate english list, and the freshness of the food was evident from the great tastes. we will be back for the fantastic premises, the no smoking policy, and definatly the tapas starter!
Review by john riding on 19th February, 2007
Add your review Date visited: 14/02/07-18/02/07
Ejoyed a wonderful break with my wife.Stopped in the four poster room.The attention to detail from Richard,James and the rest of the staff was exemplary.The food,both lunch time and evening was consistently superb,backed up by a fine wine list.I would recommended this fine establishment without reserve.
John and Pat Riding
Review by Anne on 28th November, 2006
Add your review Date visited: 26/11/2006
Our table was not ready when we arrived so we sat on comfy leather sofas in front of a roaring fire while the maitre'd brought our drinks. What a grand start.
The menu was not extensive (my worry is that big menu = big freezer so that was a good sign) but was interesting and focussed on local produce. There were seasonal specials
The food was superb, bread was lovely and service was friendly. We travelled all the way down from London & were not disappointed.
There is a lovley farm shop just down the road if it inspires you to take local food home
Review by Will Matthewman on 2nd June, 2006
Add your review Date visited: 28/5/06
Fantastic food fantastic service, enjoyed it so much i have booked my wedding there!!!
Review by Theo Cruickshank on 31st May, 2006
Add your review Date visited: April 2006
A wonderful place to stay and eat. The food and drink were stunning and the rooms clean and comfortable. You will be hard pushed to find a better B&B public house in this part of Kent. Mr Ferraro must have been terribly unlucky but people are human and mistakes can happen.
I will most certainly be returning and cannot recommend the Dog highly enough.
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