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I arrived at Janet's Ukuthula in the afternoon of the 30th of April 2021 but checked in properly only at 23h00 the same day. Room no 3 was in sub-standard condition. The bathroom was dilapidated and there was terrible fungus and dirt on the upper walls and ceiling. I refused to take a shower in such a bathroom. I have posted video footage as proof of this. I immediately arranged alternate accommodation at a lodge about 2km away for the next day.
The next morning at about 8h20 I went to the breakfast room in the hope of speaking to Charmaine Gonsalves but she was not around. I told the domestic worker that I would be moving to a nearby lodge because of the inferior condition of the room allocated to me. She helped me pack my car and let me off the premises. As I did not have enough cash on me and also had not been given a professional quote with payment details I could not pay then.
I checked into my new accommodation, where I paid 100% upfront, and finally had a long awaited shower. I contacted Charmaine Gonsalves at about 11h00 to inform her that I did not like her place and had moved out. I requested an invoice with the payment details. She complied immediately and about an hour later I paid R500 via EFT which was the full amount despite the poor condition of the accommodation and me not having breakfast.
Later that day I was informed by friends that at about 9h00 Charmaine Gonsalves had posted a message with my photograph on social media: “Hi All..this chap has just left my BNB...without paying. He is a con artist...said everything was not up to his standard and left...he is in his way to con someone else. Please post wherever you can. Thank you. Charmaine. Janet's Ukuthula BNB" Here she falsely implied that she did not know my name and that she had no way of contacting me. Further she deceitfully did not inform me about her post when she sent the requested invoice for PAYMENT 2 hours later.
I immediately asked her to withdraw the post and to acknowledge that she had posted this in error and she had been paid: "Please inform everyone that it was error on your behalf. You should have phoned your guest first before alerting everybody else."
I sent her the recording of the condition of her accommodation to which she responded by threatening to further blackmail me: "Will let everyone know what you do when visit a bnb." I responded that I will post everything online if she refuses to remove the post. She asked me to never contact her again and blocked me on WhatsApp. I considered laying charges against her for defamation of character and for asking others to further spread her lie. But several close friends of hers asked me not to pursue the legal path.
However, my evaluation of Janet's Ukuthula stays the same: The lack of an official quote, the dilapidated state of room no 3 and the unprofessional handling of my complaints and checkout proves that Charmaine Gonsalves does not know how to run a BnB professionally. Instead she takes criticism personally and rather engages in arguments with her customers or even starts smear campaigns on social media. A horrible place run by an unprofessional and emotionally unstable person. NEVER AGAIN!
Date of stay: May 2021
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Sleep Quality
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