Unprofessional Conduct and Complete Lack of Empathy
Late august 2024 was meant to be my third stay at Croyde Bay Campsite, and I have been coming to Croyde for 10 years, however this visit was cut short due to a family member requiring emergency surgery. The campsite owner, Stu’s reaction to my cancelation was nothing short of sheer disrespect. A letter of complaint was sent within weeks of my grievance. Stu’s conduct deserves public record.
I received a cold call from Stu. He immediately started lying, claiming he’d tried to contact me multiple times and implied that I was ignoring him. My records show no such attempts. I responded that I’d emailed him three weeks prior to push my arrival dates back, explaining that my sibling had been diagnosed with cancer. It was an urgent, changing situation with a lot of medical unknowns, and I was trying to keep him informed. Stu completely dismissed getting the email, despite the fact he had personally replied to it.
He shifted the conversation to my tent, wanting to know its dimensions. He wanted to move me to a smaller pitch, despite the fact I had booked nine months in advance, confessing that he was trying to fit more people onto the campsite. Disappointingly for him, he couldn’t move me due to my tent size. His greed explains why pitches are wall-to-wall with barely enough room for guy-lines.
The call ended and I was taken aback by the aggressive cold call, his blatant lies about our previous email, and his pitch-shuffling revelations. I spent time consulting with my family and there was no way I was going to be parted from my sibling during a cancer crisis.
I called Stu back 2hrs later to cancel my holiday. He reacted extremely unprofessionally, immediately moaning about my request to cancel, resulting in me having to remind him of my sibling with cancer. He expressed zero sympathy or empathy on the matter. Instead, he continued his disrespectful whining about how he held my pitch for two weeks, that he’s running a business, and how selfishly inconvenient this is to him, failing to acknowledge the magnitude of my family’s trauma.
The rants didn’t stop there; he continued, relentlessly repeating the pitch hold and talking down to me, consistently repeating my name in an attempt to guilt me into thinking this is all my fault. It boiled my blood to the point that I snapped, stopped his constant ranting, and gave him a good earful back.
That stopped his whining. Stu changed his tone, now acting all innocent and playing the victim, proclaiming he didn’t use profanity against me. In the heated confusion of the moment, I wrongfully apologized for my outburst, despite him being completely oblivious to his rude, relentless, and patronizing language towards me. It’s not me that should be apologizing. I can tell you now that Stu wouldn’t have dared to speak to my face in such a disrespectful manner.
The instant the call ended, my phone buzzed. I got a text message from him. The only text message I have received. Stu had the audacity to tell me not to book there again, and his reason: "I will not be sworn at by anyone."
I was fuming. The fact this text landed immediately means he was busy typing it out during his rants, completely dismissive of the crisis my family is facing. The nerve of this guy to play the victim card and take no accountability for his behaviour, instead choosing to think only of himself and double down on his disrespect towards me and my family.
Stu is a self-centered individual who thinks he is above others, viewing people as nothing more than invoice numbers. He has no empathy, and his hostile, unprofessional conduct would see him fired in a real job. Stu always gave off a bad vibe, but with this experience, he showed his true colours and crossed the line big time.
It is too late for any apology, Stu. It is my duty to publicly hold your behaviour to account, and it goes without saying that no one should do business with someone like you.