"Greyfriars Worcester..a lesson in customer service"

On a damp October day we rocked up at Greyfriars, a tiny picturesque property in an ancient street in Worcester. It is very small and presented differently could have been one big yawn. But Joe, our guide and manager of the property was a marvel. His knowledge of the history of the house, local history and Worcester history have us a huge insight into house, environs and previous incumbents. His commentary both witty and informative went beyond our expectations and his Knowledge and love for his subject had us totally entranced. Well done Joe, you made our visit so memorable ..... And gave an object lesson in great customer service.

"Stop denying the past. From allowing trail (fox) hunting on…"

From allowing trail (fox) hunting on National Trust land, to avoiding and side stepping information on slavery and homophobia, this obsolete organisation needs to be brought up to date.
Attempts to be woke are being shut down by its members. They don't just visit places of historical interest, they want it doctored and sanitised so it doesn't tell the truth and offend them. Many historical properties were built on the proceeds of slavery, FACT. The presence of homosexual relationships is covered up and ignored FACT.
Trail hunting is a smokescreen that allows fox huntingvto continue FACT.
Not a penny more from me until they accept and include the truth, acknowledge slavery, homosexuality and ban trail hunting. GET WOKE!

"Dishonest means to lure in members and not worth it"

joined in August through an online site offering a M&S e-voucher and a free pair of binoculars. tickets finally arrived mid October and no welcome pack, no e-voucher and no binoculars. when i contacted National trust they said it was a third party offer for the voucher and they have run out of binoculars. Dishonest charity... having been to a three of the properties i have now cancelled my direct debit as they are so not worth another years subscription.

"What a rip off!"

What a rip off!, Cannot believe increase in charges just to access car park😡 Apparently since June 2020, they now claim for each car passenger rather than just car. As a national trust member took three of my family, two unwaged adults, to Lyme Park for walk and breadth of fresh air. As usual, ie before COVID, I presented mambership card to gain access but was told each car passenger would have to pay £8 each as well. Therefore just to park up and walk in park it would have cost £24 or £32 if I were not a member. This is absolutely disgraceful exploitation. Had I known this before rejoining on principal I would never have rejoined. It is an absolute disgrace. Are there any concessions to the unemployed? Clearly not. All we wanted was to breathe some clean air. I am absolutely fuming at the cheek of this organisation. It is clearly now only an Organisation for the rich and upper class. £8 just to enter, my goodness what a rip off. I will be writing to my MP about how a so called’ Charity’ can get away with this moral indecency. I will also be claiming a refund, they can have my card back and hopefully I will be able also to withdraw my gift aided tax relief.

"Sygun Cottage, Craflwyn, Beddgelert, Gwynedd, LL55 4NF"

Friday 10 Sep 2021 for 7 nights
In summation the quality of the cottage and the way this matter has been dealt with has fallen far short of normal expectations, and given due consideration to the pandemic. Given that you have a 6 hour turnaround time coupled with the diminutive size of the property, issues have not been resolved when they could have been. I feel I have started my holiday in the capacity of a supervisory role for the NT. Your email responses clearly indicate your not taking this matter seriously.
I expect remuneration for having to deal with these issues and for my work in compiling what feels like an inspection report. Going forward you need a maintenance plan and a turnaround checklist to ensure this does not happen again.

The bathroom had a large hole knocked through to the next property's bathroom, which you later said must have been when a previous resident pulled out the toilet roll holder. You “fixed” the hole during my visit on 13/09/2021. Why did you wait for my involvement before this was dealt with?
The shower had black mould on the tiles, corners and on the shower head. You said that a certain amount of black mould was “normal”. I said it takes at least a month without cleaning for such a situation to occur e.g a lack of adequate cleaning. This affected my asthma.
The spotlight unit in the main room flickered because it wasn’t properly secured; hanging down with exposed wires. You sent an electrician to fix this on 13/09/2021. Why did you wait for my involvement before this was dealt with?
The outside seating for the 8 properties was inadequate leading to contention. And a clear breach of the COVID distancing recommendations. There were only 3 benches. You said previous guests must have moved them. Where on earth to? Did they take them home? How long has this situation lasted?
The guest book mentioned that for emergencies there is a red telephone box at the end of the cottages. There is and it doesn’t work. You said “unfortunately the telephone box is not in use”. You really don't want to mess around like this as it could impact somebody's life. Remove the details from the guest book and take down the sign in the telephone box.
The extractor fan in the bathroom has at least 2 years of human hair on it. Not acceptable or normal.
The outside light didn’t work. You said that you did not have a ladder to replace the bulb. Was this an attempt at humour? The electrician who visited on 13/09/2021 replaced the bulb and informed me that the light could only be activated from the end cottage; it was permanently switched off!
There is a poison rat trap behind the sofa and a rat hole in the bathroom.
A thin plasterboard partition has been used between the other properties toilet and the main room. You can hear every detail.
The stairs are lethal, and there is a raised piece of wood at the top of them to trip you up if you're not careful. Did they pass planning permission?

"How can the Nation Trust the NT?"

Many years ago, my wife joined the National Trust and I often accompanied her as her guest. We have a joint bank account to make life easier for my wife or myself if ever the need was to arise.

It was odd that correspondence from the National Trust which had always been addressed to my wife... for she was the National Trust member... suddenly was addressed to me... who had never joined the National Trust and had only ever visited properties as a guest.

Problems arose one year when my wife attempted to renew her membership over the telephone. The National Trust Representative refused to accept her payment from our joint bank account unless I was on hand to give permission over the telephone. When I explained that this was unnecessary, demeaning and treated my wife as some sort of vassal rather that a respected NT member... I was told.... quite wrongly... that it was because of the Data Protection Act. The same mantra was repeated by the National Trust Representative despite my explaining that my profession required me to have a very detailed knowledge and understanding of the Act and that as the National Trust were receiving details from my wife about the bank account that she was a joint and equal "owner" of, the provisions of the Act did not apply. The National Trust Representative repeated the same mantra... he would accept the payment if I gave him the details over the 'phone but not if my wife... sitting a foot or two away from me... gave him exactly the same details. Now the fact was... the National Trust Representative had not verified my wife's identity and he had not verified my identity... he was simply discriminating against my wife because of her female voice over the telephone. He was given the opportunity to accept that my wife would give him the account details while I was in the same room... he refused... we did not renew the membership and the National Trust lost our membership fee, shop sales and cafe sales for several years.

Ten years later we joined the National Trust... as joint members... although as a point of principal we never spend a single penny in shops, cafes of garden centres. Sadly, it's now beginning to happen again... all correspondence is addressed to me...my wife of almost 50 years has been wiped from the address label as if, as far as the National Trust are concerned, she doesn’t exist, is of no importance or should be treated as some sort of medieval possession. The National Trust have just no respect!

The point here is that the National Trust are now so selectively "woke" that they have lost sight of reality. They seem to have little or no respect for the views, feelings and beliefs of the vast majority of their members who they simply seem to see as "wallets" to be picked... so that they can fund playing self-indulgent "student politics" and advancing their own half-baked political agenda based on their own selective, superficial and fanciful reinterpretation of "history."

It's really about time that the National Trust... woke up and concentrated on earning the trust of the British people by showing them and their views proper respect and concentrated on maintaining and managing our properties... that is, after all what we pay them very handsomely to do!

Edit

20 days later and no reply from the NT. So have cast anti-woke votes. Would you believe that hypocritical people who sit on motorways blocking traffic expect to be elected.

"Lindisfarne"

Lindisfarne
Sunday3/10/21

Ladies on holy island rock
Totally and utterly
Can’t remember all names, but angie first class like the other girls
Made our day and your now co mums of Nina

All our love and thanks
Jane, Nina and Andrew xx

"The National Trust supports illegal foxhunting"

The National Trust continues to support illegal foxhunting on their land and it is for this reason I and my extended family, 6 adults and 4 children haven't renewed our membership.
Everyone knows the hunts carry on hunting foxes which is against the law under the guise of trail hunting.
Even the hunt officials admit this on their famous smokescreen zoom film.
I am disgusted that the Trust in the past has supported these illegal hunts and probably will for the foreseeable future even though their is a vote by their members.
Do not join or end your membership rather than support a Trust that allows illegal hunting.

"Selfish greed"

Woke agenda to appease apart of a community that would likely not visit these sites very often, covering up Victorian nude statues because they offend (done at one site before the pandemic-- the Nazis had a habit of doing that!), massively hiking car parking fees, and finally having the temerity to ask for a donation on signs screwed to 'open site' access gates. Why support SUCH SELFISH GREED?!!!!!!!!!!

"Wanted a coffee with a great view."

We visited Dunstable Downs and went into the cafe today. Having been there a few times as members. During the pandemic lockdown as the country started to open up. We could understand the use of disposable cups. However the last time we were there a month ago with our grandchildren, they were still using disposable cups for hot drinks to sit in the cafe, they told us it was due to their dishwasher broken.
Today we went into the cafe intending to sit in. They were serving in disposable cups, the server told us it was due to their dishwasher not working. That was the same as it was a month ago, but they are still charging the full sit in price £2.75 for a takeaway coffee. We had placed our order and promptly cancelled our order. And if I had had to have paid additional for car parking. As members park for free, however you do pay for this as also part of membership. We have been to others and this doesn't seem to be the case. We did our voting with our feet. I would like to know how long it's going to take to get a new dishwasher, or is this what they have been told to say. There were quite a few members of staff in the kitchen!!!.