Balmoral House, Brisbane V.V.V Bad hostel
Hi
I am writing to make you aware that BALMORAL HOUSE, Brisbane is not fit to be called a hostel. My partner and I stayed at this hostel for 2 weeks until we were horrified to find out we had bed bugs after changing the sheets, which by the way we had to ask the cleaner to do in the first place!. I understand that bed bugs are often found in hostels, however the treatment the owner (Sue) gave us was unacceptable.
Firstly, she did not believe us when we told her we had bed bugs, we had to actually catch one to show her before she would take any action. Then she told us she was unable to move us into another room as it was 9pm and she was fully booked, which was a lie as we had friends in the hostel dorms that had vacant spaces. So when we confronted her about it she allowed us to move from our double bug infested room into two separate dorms.
The follow day she told us she was going to fumigate the room. By fumigate, she meant she was going to spray carpet cleaner around the edges of the room and that's it. The day after that she told us we had to move back into our room as it was now clear of all bugs and the dorms where we spent the previous night were booked out (again this turned out to be another lie). As we'd paid for a week upfront we were stuck at the hostel and unable to leave. That night as we lay in bed another bug ran across the pillow. So we caught it and took it down to her as she sleeps on the premises at the weekend. She then said we could move back into the separate dorms that we meant to be fully book!!!
The following day after we'd complained that we'd paid for a double which is more expensive than dorms and we'd had to spend 2 nights in separate dorms, she moved us into another double room, which was half the size of the previous double room and had a terrible smell. We asked for some sort of compensation for the inconvience caused and she said no. We asked for a refund for all the washing we'd had to do, to clean our cloths ($30) at the laundrette which was a mile down the road as the hostel machines were both being used by her and she said no. I had to visit the doctor twice and we both had to get cream which in total cost $50 and the stress of being covered head to toe in itchy bites. We both had to take 2 days off work as we had bites on our faces.
On top of all that, these are a couple of other things we noticed, a member of staff had been altered to the fact that there was a cockroach in the kitchen cupboards so they sprayed insect repellant into the cupboards where all the hostel pans were kept. Shortly after a guest of the hostel went into the cupboard and was going to use the pan without washing it until I told her what had happened. Also, the owner keeps her dog in the hostel at the weekends which I am sure is illegal. The VIP book also advertises that there is a free pick up however when you call up to arrange the pick up she says that the van is in the garage being fixed however this has been the case for the last 6 months according to the long term lodgers. The VIP book also advertises that this hostel has internet access and a job club, both of which are not available.
Finally the whole hostel is completely filthy, the kitchen is dirty, and I mean DIRTY and not just the usual stuff that you expect in hostels. The whole place needed cleaning from top to bottom!
I hope I don't come across as a winging woman, because the only reason I am writing this is so that others do not have to experience, in my opinion the worst hostel in Australia.
Kind Regards
Sarah
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