Villa Marchena

[Olivers Army]

Just thought I'd share my experiences last week with you...

We'd booked the Villa Marchena via Thomson Villas - the website photos looked nice enough as did the description. We've used Thomson Villas before without any problems.

The villa was apalling. The landscaping around the pool was such that you literally fell off the terrace into the pool, there was badly uneven & cracked concrete around the car parking area & the pool surrounds. There was dog muck on the lawns and when we turned on the taps in the kitchen, the drains backed up leaving a foul smelling mess in the sinks. The ground floor was dirty and nearly every room had either light bulbs out or missing or no working lights at all.

To make matters even worse, my 6yr old son was exploring around the outside of the property and found an external cupboard on the side of the wall of the villa - when he opened it, he found an air rifle inside!

This really tipped us over the edge & I was on the phone to Thomson within minutes - their holiday line were very professional and listened to our comments and kept us fully informed. We asked to be moved immediately.

The villa owner turned up - a voluble Spanish lady who informed us that there was nothing she could do about the plumbing (bear in mind that this was early Saturday afternoon) until Monday at the earliest and that we'd have to grin & bear it. The rental agent turned up and had an almighty row with the owner over the gun. The owner's son turned up to clear up the dog mess - with small dog in tow (no doubt the culprit)...

Thomson's holiday line rep advised us that the resort rep - a lady called Paloma - would meet us first thing on Sunday morning - and she did. She was very professional, agreed that the villa was not up to standard and took us to view the only other vacant property in the area. Fortunately this one was of a vastly superior standard so the holiday was only slightly affected.

Whilst the initial property was definitely substandard, I was highly impressed by Thomson, especially their local rep. So a big well done to them - and to anyone thinking of renting Villa Marchena - DON'T!!!!