Dar Tar Mange Reviews

James Villas Complaint

Ist Booking from the 5th Sept 2006 to the 12th

Gozo is a beautiful place all within walking distance, you do not need a hire car, most places are within a few miles of the main town centre and the buses are very reliable. Do not be told by the rep that you need to hire their recommended vehicles. You see just as much from the bus than from a vehicle and there are not that many places to go that are any different from the other villages on the island. The beaches are not too good even the highly recommended one is not as good as the beaches along the south coast of England. Food is cheap, very friendly people, watch out for the friendly taxi men who just look at you with money ringing in their ears, taxis are not needed either. Walk or take the bus you get to see more of the Island that way.

With regards to the rest of the holiday this was burdened with James Villas neglecting to inform us that there were major drilling works as explained below. The holiday could have been paradise had it not been for the noise. Some villas are very pretty and a joy to live in but others!!!!

Dar Tar Mange:

On arrival in the early hours of the morning it is noted that there were building works within a few yards of the Villa,
we asked the driver of the coach about these and he confirmed that there was building works in progress and had been for weeks previous. It was well known that there were problems because James Villas claimed to be in talks with the contractor.

On further enquiry in the morning several villagers mentioned that there had been problems with noise throughout the weeks with excavation works and indeed confirmed with the occupiers of Dar Tar Mangei 3.

We were offered to view another villa in Gharb. The representative was not too happy to find herself transporting us to the villa, the slamming of car doors and clear indication irritation with little eye contact. The villa in Gharb indicated that Barron Estates were working on the property next door, with the contractors shouting to each other and banging around, it was clear that this was not acceptable as an alternative. We were not able to view the property as the rep did not have the key to the property and the arrangement with the key holder meant more time being wasted. We declined to hang around for the key holder to turn up.

We returned to Dar Tar Mangie 2, to find that the drilling had started. The vibrations shook the building at the villa and the noise was unbearable.

San Laurance: A dark unpleasant smelling property on the main road with passing heavy trucks carrying building waste. Vehicles were passing every 10 mins, we timed and photographed them, how could anyone relax with this in progress? It was a nightmare. We called the rep and informed of the situation and that we would be returning to the previous villa despite the noise of that premises. We were told to find our own way back to the villa that proved difficult, as it was dark with very few lights on the main road. Not impressed.

Hibiscus 2: We were given this as an option, which at first appeared acceptable until we turned up to take it on the following day. There was a group of youths shouting and screaming, dive bombing in the pool and playing loud music. However, it was not what we had expected and declined the offer of that villa. Even the proprietor of Habiscus 2 had a word with the occupiers reminding them of the conditions of the villa, namely that they should respect others peace and quiet. To no evail, it just became worse. There was also a dreadful smell of sewage near the kitchen sink that was not there the previous day.

The James villa representative was most unhelpful and rude to us, she clearly did not feel that she should be transporting us to other villas and slammed doors in a tantrum when she was informed that we were not going to start paying for transport to other villas when they had put us in this predicament. She demonstrated much impatience for her own shortcomings when she realised that she had collected the wrong set of keys from a property, from the other side of the Island and accused us of lying about the colour of the key fob! Most unprofessional.

Warning! The brochures look great as do the villas but just bare in mind where they are positioned, there were several other villas right next door to us and three of them had screaming children, shouting parents or youths that played loud music at 3 in the morning. Relaxing it was not! James Villas were not interested in solving the refunding or compensation for the holiday either. To note that we had some items stolen from the villa but in the small print of the James Villa insurance we had to pay what would have been the cost of the items stolen, (£60) for each item, so it was not worth claiming.. In case you think this is a one off , think again, three other families were effected, we are in touch with two of them. My son went of similar in Portugal and reported similar experience with neighbouring Villas and an awful landlord that kept turning up every day and interrupted them.

PS, Thompson travel are the worst we have been on, from cramped leg room and poor choice of food, dreadful.

You have been warned, best wishes,