A one night stay ended up costing this couple £59,995 plus legal fees. This took place in 2022 under Royale Life's Management and Stuart Shanks as sales manager. 

Bought lodge CM52 at Cogenhoe Mill and we paid a £1000 deposit in April with balance of £88,995 due on the day we were moving in (due to selling our home in Northern Ireland to fund it). 

The site and sales manager of Cogenhoe Mill site, Stuart Shanks, knew we wanted it as permanent home and said that was fine as long as we used our daughters address for paperwork. He offered a postal service for a fee paid to him at CM also so we could have post to the site.

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He shared the site was going to be made open and usable 12 months of the year going forward also.

It was agreed we could put a fence around the lodge to secure the plot for our dog. 

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On the day we were moving we had a phone call from Billing asking who had told us we could erect a fence and telling us we couldn't. We informed them it was Stuart. 

We arrived late Tuesday evening after travelling all day to be met by a different person from Billing telling us we had to sign paperwork before they would hand us the keys to look at the lodge. They said we didn't need to read it as it was standard rules and read it at later date with no issues of having a fence. 

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Lots of problems with lodge when moving in - doors not closing, dishwasher flooded the kitchen as not plumbed correctly, microwave fell of shelf as not secured or plugged in, fridge door not fitted properly, shower room toilet water not connected- when turned on continuously filling, outside lights not working, no gate on decking, second parking space not laid. Damage to exterior of the Lodge on cladding, a window frame damaged, a missing roof panel to the rear allowing the elements in, electric meter box laid on the floor and a sink hole on the plot a few feet from the bank of the river. I would like to highlight this was sold as a BRAND NEW LODGE.

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The day after purchasing, when outside of the lodge, we noticed water running from underneath. We opened the hatch to find it flooded underneath and insulation hanging down from the lodge. Looked inside to find water pouring from under the washing machine which hadn't been used. Turned water off due to flooding and the electric sockets near to the flooded area and rang site.

Someone was sent out to repair the leak to the dishwasher and the toilet cistern but never rectified it the day we received the keys and paid, this was not rectified, however.

We called security upon noticing the flood under the lodge, was told no manager available and couldn't help. We stayed with our daughter and son-in-law for the night and the next morning went to the customer service office to ask for total refund from the duty manager Ryan Kamaris. Ryan Kamaris agreed we were entitled to refund for being mis sold and all the problems and would pass it to his boss which was sent to us in emails following this. 

They then refused a refund and wanted to repair damage, we highlighted they had an opportunity and was unhappy with how we were mis sold. 

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Upon speaking with citizens advice who said we were entitled to refund, we offered a dispute resolution scheme with a third party independent mediator and received no response. 

Eventually we had to go to solicitor in August as weren't getting anywhere. The solicitor eventually got them to court in December and we got court judgement against them but their solicitor got a stay of judgement saying they needed time to put a case together, they then went into administration.

After us getting in touch with the administrators we eventually got £30,000 back. The 18hr inclusive of one night stay in the lodge cost us a total of £59,995. We paid an additional amount for the parking space and decking which was never recovered either. This further excludes the costs of solicitors which again resulted in no positive outcome.