50 Reviews
L'Ermitage - Franschhoek Chateau & Villas
Franschhoek|2.8km from Hiking - Perdekop Hiking Trail - Mont Rochelle Nature Reserve
We booked and paid for our unit for 10 nights. The view from the apartment has nothing to do with what you see on the website. At best, we could see a slither of lake, electric fencing and construction scars. The nice people at the reception seemed to think that this wasn’t an issue. We did. The noise of sewer pipe construction was daily, loud and invasive. An overpowering sewer smell emanating from the bathrooms encouraged our guests to leave after 24 hours. The following day we informed the reception who acknowledged the problem and fielded our repeated complaints with the provision of “smelly-sticks” in bottles to mask the stench. The sewer problem was continuous until our early departure. We coped with this with by lightning-speed toilet visits and using the kitchen sink for washing and tooth brushing. We made sure that loo stops were made in local cafes or reception before returning in the evening. We also found that airline earplugs in our noses made showering possible. The hot water worked well though. We had no power back-up for SIX days. They furnished us with two Iittle electric portable lamps and we had to make do with these and the flashlights on our iPhones. Eventually, engineers appeared on day 7, did some work in the garage and then there was light. Day 5 and 6 saw the end of water. There was just a dribble, enough to cook with, but no showers, dishwashing or toilet flushing was possible At this point we asked our second guests to abandon their trip to stay with us as the sewer smells were still unacceptable. The wifi still didn’t work well upstairs (12.6 Mbps upstairs) but the water did. By day 9 the stink was so bad we threw in the towel and left a day early. Enough was enough and we did not feel well. We shared this information and a request for a partial refund with l’Ermitage who responded by saying “sorry” and would do better when we next stayed with them. What a disgrace.
