Name: Saint James By The Quay
Address: 17a St James Pl, Ilfracombe, Ilfracombe, Ilfracombe, EX34 9BJ, United Kingdom
Rating: 2

Smoke-free property

No elevators

General

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

Verity Statue

Ilfracombe Beach

Hele Bay Beach

Cardiff Airport

Saint James By The Quay

Ilfracombe

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

16-beds

17-beds

18-beds

19-beds

2-beds

20-beds

21-beds

22-beds

23-beds

24-beds

25-beds

26-beds

27-beds

28-beds

29-beds

3-beds

30-beds

31-beds

32-beds

33-beds

34-beds

35-beds

36-beds

37-beds

38-beds

39-beds

4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

Stayed in Apartment C, on the top floor, which is within the Hotel building. The owners website describes his apartments as 'luxurious', 'modern' & 'stylish' with every facility to make our stay a 'delight'. Based on photos/description supplied on the booking agents site and on owners website my friend booked us in for a one week stay. But our apartment was not at all as expected/described. I have attached a number of photographs, which speak for themselves. This is an honest review which I felt must be published as it is in the interest of the public to be able to judge for themselves prior to booking. The owner has offered no apology, but instead offered a small ‘goodwill’ payment to be paid only once we signed what he considered to be a 'legally binding agreement' between us. His ‘agreement’ document negated him from any liability and stated we must agree to lose any right to publish a review or post any photographs of his establishment on any medium (including Trip Advisor). Obviously we do not expect Hoteliers to behave in this unprofessional manner & request such agreements to be signed in order to receive compensation. We have therefore decided to forego any payment from the establishment, as we feel it is more important to post an honest review to forewarn others. 
I only speak for the Apartment we stayed in plus communal areas including the restaurant. The self-catering apartment had a number of issues raised with the owner & staff at the time of our visit; the only issues addressed were to move the fridge in the kitchen away from water leaking in from the ceiling. It was a fire hazard as the water was running over live sockets at the time! And staff members tightened a few locks on rattling window frames, which unfortunately continued to rattle & bang each night despite their actions. Every other issue remained as we found it (some issues are explained in the photographs), despite staff having access to our rooms on several occasions. Examples of what we found during our stay include a loose main door handle to the apartment (kept coming off in our hand), missing internal bedroom door handle, internal doors would not close properly, loose carpeting/lino, cracked kitchen window, sash window being held up by block of wood & pot of varnish (sash cords missing), long metal brackets left hanging off dining room wall, plug socket hanging off lounge wall with wires exposed & more. As for the description of the apartment having a ‘new bathroom’ (see owners website, we have a copy of this description just in case the owner removes it!) it was old, damaged & stained in parts with chipped painted walls, stained shower area, damaged bath surround, old grouting & holes in ceiling tiles. The only 'new' aspects were a new sink pedestal, lino (poorly fitted) & the toilet pan, all else was old. The furnishings did not match and most were old and in some cases badly marked/paint-stained in areas (including bedside cabinet in twin room, main wardrobe in double room, TV table & the hallway table). None of these bore any resemblance with the photos provided prior to booking which showed very modern, matching furnishings. The owner seemed unconcerned by the issues raised, and even blamed one issue on a previous guest, which seemed unlikely given the circumstances, but still didn't account for why it was not repaired prior to new guests arriving or during our stay. 
As for every facility to be provided to make our self-catering stay a 'delight' we did not even have the basics supplied such as a tin opener, vegetable peeler, bottle opener, microwave (not essential, but usually expected), oddly no ironing board despite supplying an iron, and strangely no drying facilities despite supplying a washing machine – where were we supposed to dry clothing once washed?! It all appeared very hurried and not thoroughly thought through. 
The communal areas were still old in parts with the original and very worn carpets still throughout etc. This establishment was opened early last year when refurbishment/renovation of the old hotel began, yet it appears not to be finished even now, can’t understand why it would take so long? And why no mention of long ongoing refurbishment works on the website or booking details? 
The entrance area is unmanned and we were expected to leave luggage unattended if we wanted it brought up to our rooms later as no-one was available straight away. We were not prepared to leave cases in an entrance hall which opens directly onto the main road, so we struggled upstairs with them instead (they have no reception area in the entrance area; you are required to go through to the bar/serving area within the restaurant instead, which was often unattended and in the evenings staff can’t always help, as when we reported the leaking ceiling we were told they were ‘too busy’ to deal with that now... as the restaurant was about to open at 6pm!!). 
The restaurant looks as though refurbishment may have been completed, yet it still had an almost uncared-for feel about it and we hardly saw any customers the entire time we were there. We have read the many previous low-marked reviews and agree with their comments. Following quite a number of poor reviews there has been a recent influx of 5 star reviews which seem to offer a very enthusing, positive viewpoint, but our comments in this review stands. I have explained each photo as uploaded and if necessary will add more separately. Each of the points raised above can be supported by photographic evidence. No doubt the owner will object and try to get our review removed. I know he has already contacted other reviewers about their less than positive comments as we have been in personal contact with other unhappy customers, but as stated above, we stand by our honest comments and photographs. Overall, this was a not to be repeated experience. Finally we would like to say that we really like the North Devon area, it is just a shame that certain places let it down.

Saint James By The Quay

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Paid on the spot

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