UPDATE: in a rather forced e-mail "apology" to ben and i, a nice representative of kate's lazy meadow has wished us 'good luck' with 'trashing' their reputation. their service really goes the extra mile!
hey guys and gals! let's talk about ben and amber's stellar trip to kate's lazy meadow!
first, all requisites aside: it's very pretty looking. very cool. very hip. and even lots of bats flying around -- my favorite!!
but.
since ben and i have been a pair, we've stayed at the muse hotel, the algonquin, and the plaza (all for LESS than a night at kate's lazy meadow). we've also stayed at rustic bed and breakfasts, and make-do hotels off of interstates.
nothing has ever made us turn tail and drive four hours home... except this place.
but would YOU be unhappy for $275 a NIGHT? there was no way we were going to.
the place had been difficult to contact. it took a few e-mails and follow-up calls to get answers to any questions. then, when we got there, many of the things we had asked about were just not there. the kitchen with adequate pots and pans for cooking? cooking ramen out of a bag, maybe. cocktails made in your own kitchen? well, we didn't expect booze -- but not even a bottle of rose's lime juice? a cherry? something?
oh, and the phone didn't work. we were out of cell phone range. and the phone in the room did not work at all. (nor did the phone of the one other couple staying there. six cabins were empty.) the phone didn't work, and although we used a beeper number "provided" by the "staff" -- it yielded absolutely nothing. we HAD to beep them, you see, to ask them anything -- because they were not there.
it gets better.
after getting home at one in the morning. after calling am ex and telling them to flag it for dispute should any charge from these charlatans show up. after calling kate's lazy-ass to illuminate their minds. ben has the foresight to look at their website.
which has been updated to include what is now accurate information (more or less, minus the fact that they don't answer pages) about lack of long distance, ethernet cable, et cetera.
hmm. and why didn't we notice this text before?
because it had not been there for even two hours. this change had in fact been made within the hour. VERY much after kate's lazy meadow had received our complaint.
google's cache from the last time the page was updated, plus ben's handy pecking, proved that, rather than calling or e-mailing us to apologize, the folks at kate's lazy meadow instead endeavored to make their website look as though the things that they had fallen short on were in fact in plain print on their website, and as though they had been so all along.
check it out -- these are high-res and large, but notice the difference between july 28th's page, and the one that was updated -- oops! -- this morning after they got our note and voice mail.
i e-mailed immediately, thanking them profusely for taking the high road in this matter and neglecting to apologize to us directly, but instead trying to make their own site appear as though they were still within rights to collect money from us. apparently, they didn't know about ben's little trick of being able to see when a page was updated, and take a screenshot of it.
this seemed to change their tune, but only slightly. a very grudging e-mail was sent to ben, saying that of course they would not charge the card, and therefore no big confrontation would be necessary. as far as THEY could tell, "they" stated, the phones worked fine. and they didn't get any of our pages last night. oh. so which is it exactly? the phone worked fine and therefore they DID get our pages (because the phone works so very fine) or they DIDN'T get our pages... because, of course, their PHONE DOESN'T WORK? can't be both, can it?
and anyway, who's confrontational? hmmm? i'm tying a fly over here. i'm the one with the delicate peacock hurl in my hands. don't look over here.
fuck 'em, fuck 'em, fuck 'em.
now we're off to enjoy the movies, the food, the games, and the lingerie that had all been intended for this getaway weekend.