Misrepresentation?

[Quillan]

You don’t have to be on the GDF website, I know of two people who have taken themselves off the website for one reason or another. They are still members of GDF. You are, I thought, only obliged to be on it if you got a grant via them and only then until the agreed time period had run out. So not being on the website may not mean they are not members.

We have four rooms three of which are graded the other is 0.5M2 under the minimum size. We obviously don’t have a certificate to hang in it (yes we hang the certificates in the rooms) and if people ask for that room we have to say it’s not graded but then it’s cheaper but decorated to the same (high) standard. The ambiguity is created by GDF and Clevacances in that whilst they say it’s the room that’s graded they always put the grading against the property when publicising it.

Thanks Cassis for explaining the grant thing. Having never had one (more fool me perhaps) I never bothered to find out how it works.

My intention was try and give another possible [:D] side to the scenario although it could appear that there is none but as somebody else said in the thread that without the other owner being able to answer it’s difficult to understand if all is well or not. All we can do is take the original posters comments to be true in which case they are breaking the law and can be fined. What with business being business and all that I think I would report them.

[Cassis]

[quote user="Quillan"]

You don’t have to be on the GDF website, I know of two people who have taken themselves off the website for one reason or another. They are still members of GDF.  So not being on the website may not mean they are not members.

[/quote]

Good point, Quillan.   [:)]

[Invicta]

Aside from the GDF thing these people are still using the old photos of the dining room, guest living room etc, which were furnished with antiques by the previous owner and which I know have gone with them.  Now I suppose the new owners may have replaced with even better antiques but something tells me that in that case they would have reproduced their own photos!  So, someone looking for a B&B with elegant antique furniture may well be extremely disappointed on arrival at this B&B.  What I also meant when someone else said well don't worry, if that's the case they won't get repeat business, is that a lot of B&B business is made up of people touring certain areas just once and perhaps their first choice would have been an antique furnished place, but if not available, then my place may have been their second choice for their one-off visit to this region, so if the uptodate and truthful views of these rooms were used I could well have got the business instead![:@]

[Clair]

A couple of years back, a property down the road from us was purchased by a Dutch couple who were planning to let it as a holiday acommodation during the time they were not using it themselves.

They asked me for advertising recommendations and a few months later, they were listed as rated 4* with GdF with one of the listings I had recommended.

I knew they were not with GdF and brought it to the attention of the listing company, which has a strict policy of truthful advertising, as I believed it to be an inaccurate representation. They replied they would ask for a certificate/proof of GdF membership. Soon afterwards, all mention of GdF had been removed from the advert in question.

The advertising company's reply said they would always follow up on comments which might bring their own policy in question.

As an advertisier on their site, I was asked to 'certify' that all property details were accurate when I signed with them, and I know that all visitors coming from that advertiser can report me for any inaccuracy between the advert and the reality.

[Wendy]

Oh boy Chief, if you were standing within coo-ee of me now you'd be wearing the imprint of my shoe/boot/stilletto on your ruddy backside! How dare you suggest we have 'conned' people out of their money simply because certain guests have not looked at our ENTIRE website. We have photo's of our region in ALL seasons, and, if two twerps  land here in mid-winter and expect a spring-like environment just because they have seen but ONE photo on our website, then what are we to do about it?. Bear in mind that we have people book us several months in advance, during the Spring/Summer, and expect conditions to be exactly the same as when they arrive...mid-Winter?(!) Actually they do!.

Any northern European knows what to expect when travelling in Northern Europe during winter...so, should the south of France be any different?.

We represent our property completely, with pics of our property and surrounds, in all seasons. If people choose not to take heed then it is their fault, not ours.

How dare you suggest we 'mis-represent the facts' and that our guests are 'conned out of money'. Our guests are not charged anything before arrival.

Yes, we cannot do anything about the blasted weather...so why do people not do a bit of homework themselves regarding to where they are actually going to visit?.

Now, which do you prefer...boot/shoe or stilletto?.

Bear in mind, this is a 'family' website...

 

[Will]

I don't think that's what Chief was saying - merely that a website ought to represent how the place actually is in reality - which I thought was the point being made originally.

[Russethouse]

Wen, Chief specifically excluded the weather !

Why is it whinging?.  If a website misrepresents the facts, are you not entitled to be upset about the money you have effectively been conned out of.  A website of any nature should adequately reflect reality.  Now you cannot do anything about the weather, but if for instance you are displaying pictures that clearly misrepresent the reality...well in my book that is fraud.

 

[Cassis]

Will and Russethouse - if I had been Wen I might well have responded to Chief's post as she did.  Chief took Wen's post out of context - her post seemed mainly  related to people who expected it to be summer all year round if the website showed summer pictures.

[quote user="wen"]

Invicta, I feel that in the long run their guests will vote with their feet. That will hurt them more than anything. I'm wondering if others agree with me here, but, there are always SOME guests who whinge that what they saw on the website does not match their expectations.  Especially those, for example, who look at photos on a website taken in Summer and arrive in Winter when the landscape is considerably different. We have had such types... 'Where is the grass and all the flowers?'...said when arriving in mid-December. Anyway, if they are advertising something specific that they are not offering then they will have to cop the flack from the guests when they arrive. And serves them right. Let them learn the hard way!. Most of us do.

[/quote]

[Russethouse]

But th key phrase is 'Now you cannot do anything about the weather, '

I'll get my stilettos - (which might help Reading FC at this moment - they are desperate !)

[Jo Taylor]

"'Where is the grass and all the flowers?'...said when arriving in mid-December."

Wen, I wish you hadn't written that. Or rather that I hadn't read it just after sitting down with a glass of wine. Does anyone have handy hints for cleaning keyboards?

As to the original query, why not ring GdF with an innocent enquiry - you've seen this wondeful-looking B&B advertised as GdF approved but to your puzzlement can't find it on their website? Could they verify whether or not it's approved and to what level?

Jo

[Wendy]

Thanks Cassis, actually, our site shows our property and surrounds in ALL seasons. The OH is always out taking pics of the area and posting them. The thing is, some have looked at but one photo and booked. Many book us during mid-summer and arrive in winter expecting mid-summer conditions. Why do some english expect the south of France to be 20 degrees warmer in mid-winter than in England?. I ask this because we have had some who do!. Can we help it if people do this even though we have photo's depicting the region in winter?.

We have just had a Chinese couple stay here...they thought that the south of France was always warm. They did not bother to consult further, and arrived with nothing more than t-shirts and jeans. They nearly froze. She asked ' where else can we go in France where it is hotter?'. In mid January?. No homework done at all before they left home.  Anyway, we present ourselves as we are.

When we travel we bone up on where we are going, in all respects.

Invicta, you have obviously paid a visit to your competitors residence...have they been invited to yours yet?.

[sunnyd47]

Maybe, just maybe, the accommodation is higher than the reported GDF ranking anyway. I have seen many accommodations that still have various stickers etc etc on their premises yet no longer are affiliated to them. It is NOT always the owner trying to hoodwink customers, more often than not it is likely a "senior moment" after seeing such stickers and wording for a number of years. 

To all intents and purposes they are more likely innocently going on as normal without a thought of misrepresentation. After all, they could just be fed up with paying out for advertising, it does not mean that they have removed all of the factors from their premises that gave them a GDF ranking in the first place.

As an addon and forgive my ignorance...........Isnt GDF simply a website organisation charging people to join for advertising and ratings? Is it actually a goverment body set up to officially oversee quality and standards of gites and Chambre d'Hotes throughout France?

[Jo Taylor]

[quote user="sunnyd47"]Maybe, just maybe, the accommodation is higher than the reported GDF ranking anyway. I have seen many accommodations that still have various stickers etc etc on their premises yet no longer are affiliated to them. It is NOT always the owner trying to hoodwink customers, more often than not it is likely a "senior moment" after seeing such stickers and wording for a number of years. [/quote]

Yes, I had one of those. Occurred to me one day that I hadn't removed the GdF plaque from the gite some time after de-registering, went to do so and found the ivy had grown over it anyway!

[quote user="sunnyd47"]As an addon and forgive my ignorance...........Isnt GDF simply a website organisation charging people to join for advertising and ratings? Is it actually a goverment body set up to officially oversee quality and standards of gites and Chambre d'Hotes throughout France?[/quote]

GdF is governmental organisation, very official. It was set up in the 1950s to enable farmers to augment their measly incomes by letting out (usually pretty basic) accommodation. If you look on their website there is a history there (there's an English version). Also in most cases nowadays if any improvement grants for holiday accommodation are applied for, the application must go through GdF whatever the source of funding (CG etc.) And it is a serious offence to misrepresent the accommodation - Quillan quoted the fines further back.