Eric Privett review: Worst overall service experience ever

Had not been to stay at Sun City for 20 years only visited for Nedbank golf couple of times. May 21st 2016 My Wife myself and 12 month old daughter decided to to take a much needed break after not being able to do much the past year with our newborn. Sun City was nice and close option to JHB. I was immediately rubbed the wrong way upon arrival when i pulled up outside the cabanas to offload luggage and was greeted by a woman flailing her arms at me frantically pointing behind my vehicle. i gestured to her to come over to my window to explain herself but she just carried on. I looked around to see that i was in nobodys way. Eventually after shouting across the car through the passenger window for her to please explain where i must go she rudely shouted "i Told You move back" i bit my tongue and reversed still not knowing why, a whole 3 metres and stopped now she was happy. Why not politely walk 2 metres around to my window and explain why she needed me to move ? I still dont know? Igot out the vehicle and asked generally in the direction of the rude lady and 5 or so other staff just standing around the entrance what i must do now. After asking 3 times finally one of them mumbled i must go inside. I asked go inside where and for what and what must i do with my car? Again blank stares is all i got. Now irritable i asked again for some bloody direction. This time i got a finger pointing inside and 2 words "check in" I reluctantly left my wife and infant and went inside. Once inside there is a counter to my right and one to my extreme left. No signage saying check in anywhere. I went o the counter on right and there was a small sign on the actual counter saying consierge. They told me to go to the other counter, i looked over and saw 1 lady there behind a counter with 6 or 7 computer terminals and she was busy with a customer and another still waiting. There were now 2 other families also trying to figure out what to do while staff loitered around the entrance. After standing at the empty check in counter for ten munutes with one staff and a cue of now 4 families I had to interrupt and ask her why is there no one working as it is 14;30 prime check in time when staff surely would be needed? I was given a dirty look and no response! i then leaned over the counter and could see 2 other staff sitting in the adjoining room behind the counter sitting on their ### doing nothing. Only once the one and only lady on duty was finished with her customer she slumbered over to the other room as slow as she could and said sometihng to the other staff members, sitting on their ###. 1 single man then emerged from the room does not greet me but just asks "checking in?" i asked him how only one person is working at check in time and why he was sitting there while all of us people were waiting? he says to me with an arrogant tone" i didnt know anyone was here" I replied "well if the lady next to you just said please help up front 15 mnutes ago you might have known hey?" Still no apology for inconvenience nothing. As he is checking me in i remind him to please check the cot and baby bath for my child i requested is on check in form and will in fact be in the room. This rude man refused to answer me and says NOTHING. 5 minutes later when he throws the check in form across the counter for me to sign. I again ask why he has not answered me and if the stuff is organized? He rudely mumbles "Yes" I asked why he could not have just answered me and again no answer. SO BLOODY RUDE WHAT A WELCOME.
We then finally get to the room now 15;00 and there are no towels so after travelling and needing the toilet nothing to dry our hands on after washing them. No Cot No Baby Bath. After another hour i found a nice lady cleaning the rooms if she was bringing the stuff and towels? she said she was sorting these rooms but knew nothing about it. another hour later we got towels and a cot. I am so irritated by this point i already want to go home. Now the next problem is they put us with an infant up on a floor with no ramp only 2 flights of stairs room 2625. So unless there is someone to carry the pram down the stairs and another to carry the child you are stuck everytime you want to leave the room you need both parents! This is now a problem as i was to play golf in the morning and wife now cannot get the baby and pram down the stairs to get to breakfast on her own! Well planned Sun City. Needless to say the whole 4 days and nights carries the pram with kid i it up and down 2 flights of stairs. Now tired and hungry we go to the pool bar to get some food. after searching for someone for 5 minutes finally someone came to take our order. I ordered a pizza. and requested a high chair for my daughter. I was brought a a broken chair with the clamps for the table broken back and sharp screws sticking out which would have cut my little girls knees to shreds had i tried to put her inside. The lady shrugged her shoulders when i showed her. A nice man came walking by 20 minutes later and volunteered to find a chair in working order. and took the damaged one away the waitress had just left standing next to our table. Whilst all this is going on 2 other couples tired of waiting for someone to take their drinks order got up and left in disgust. 18;00 at the pool bar and NO service. My pizza then arrived covered in cheddar cheese? and served to me in the box no plate no utensils nothing. On what planet do you serve a pizza with cheddar cheese? Disgusting. I asked the waitress to read the menu where it specifically says Mozzarella cheese as per any Pizza in the world! How in an upmarket resort can you try pawn off pizza with cheddar cheese. Just for the record my wifes food was also disgusting. Upon paying the bill i ask if the food can go on the room or must i pay cash? She asks me did the man at check in give me the option? I said no he refused to speak to me and have no idea if i need to pay separately for everything whole time i am here! Sunday morning after battling most of the night to keep my baby asleep with sound of Huge heavy aluminium and glass doors with no hydraulic door closers on them smashing shut all around us. GREAT DESIGN. ONLY HOTEL EVER WITHOUT DOOR CLOSERS. we are awoken at 4;51am by reception with a wake up call we never asked for! Baby awake again! Off to valley of waves next day after golf. When confronted with another enormous flight of stairs to get in with pram. we ask if there is another way to get pram in ? we are told not and have to carry all up the stairs. we find out once at the top there is in fact an alternative way for wheelchairs and prams, I found this later on a sign nowhere near visible to bus drop off zone and it is through the food service delivery entrance behind huge closed solid gates with no way to get in because there was nobody there! We then asked at the hotel if we could go to the Palace to have a look what it was like in case we decided to go stay there sometime, we were told sure the bus will take you. We got to the entrance of the Palace and the doorman rudely tells us if we are not guests this is as far as we go. I asked why our hotel told us we can come in? I got no reply just told i must book high tea if i want to come past front door. Not only was this unpleasant but embarrassing the way people around looked at us being blocked at the door. I am a higher income owner of several businesses and could very easily afford to stay there any weekend i wish to spoil my wife for a weekend, not some day visitor wanting to come in and loiter around the Palace lobby and pool. I will not even get into the dinner experience that night. On our final day on tuesday May 24th after myself playing 18 holes of golf and my wife a 10Km run and in dire need of showers i discover no hot water. I enquire at the front desk and they tell us burst pipe will be fixed in 30 min. 2.5 hours later we call again to ask why still no hot water? My baby needs to bath and get to sleep it is now getting late. They then tell us we will not be getting any hot water at all! We asked why after we sitting waiting they never bothered to tell us? No answer just sorry. After expressing our disgust of not being informed they volunteer to move us to another room, now we have to pack all of our stuff baby now screaming 19:15 at night and move. The lone porter rocks up and i end up carrying half our luggage across the cabanas to the other side of hotel only to get there and the keys have not been activated. We sit outside in the cold with Baby waiting for the porter to come back with key cards that work while baby screaming. Once inside our new room we try filling baby bath only to find there is no hot water in this room either. I leave the shower running on full hot for 20 minutes straight with water only getting just better than cold.We are now forced to boil several tiny kettles full of water to bath our now very tired dirty baby. I called the manager who told me to just run the water for longer and eventually it will get hot. I told him i am not stupid and after 20 miuntes on full hot it is not hot it is not going to get hot. I then have a cold shower as the manager suggests my only other option is to pack up baby all luggage again at 20;30pm and move to the cascades. The manager then phones me on my cell phone at 20;40 wakes my baby up which we had now finally got bathed and to sleep to tell me i was right, he had checked the neighboring room and he also could not get the water warm. I told him to just leave it and that his call had woke my baby and no point discussing further. Next thing my phone rings again at 20;55 from same hotel number! I did not answer as not to disturb my child trying to sleep. The next morning on checkout they comped my 1 last nights stay. Wow that sure made up for my horrible experience. Just for the record the staff at the lakefront bar and restaurant were really nice and friendly particularily the man with dreads in hairnet with glasses. Caddies at Gary Player course both days were great. I would love to hear what Sun City thinks of the way we were treated, What a waste of time and money. I dropped R10, 000 in their casino so i guess they happy couldnt care much now. Highly pissed off Eric Privett [protected]