A young family were left heartbroken after driving for hours to a 'fabulous lodge' only for it to be a 'soul-destroying' hoax - by a cruel scammer who even promised a 'bottle of wine would be waiting'.
Melvin Caldwell was looking for a last-minute deal with partner Lisa McDonald and their three children when he stumbled across an ad on Facebook for a four-day holiday at a lodge in Ayrshire. The 30-year-old claims he got in touch with Rebecca, who said she had a luxury lodge with a hot tub available that day due to a cancellation and the family set off that day on Tuesday August 9.
Melvin says he paid £80 and agreed to pay another £219 on arrival before packing up the car at 8pm and setting off on the two-hour trip from Glasgow. Screenshots of texts between Lisa and Rebecca show her offering to throw in a BBQ pack free of charge and promised to have a bottle of wine waiting for them when they arrived.
However when the family finally arrived at Gadgirth Estate Lodges, which Rebecca had given them the address for, they realised they'd been scammed as a receptionist told them they don't rent lodges out through Facebook and had no idea who Rebecca was. Hygiene operator Melvin says it was 'soul crushing' as the kids were jumping for joy at the thought of the last-minute break and screamed 'are we there yet' all the way home.
Gadgirth Estate Lodges said they were saddened to see someone had used pictures of their venue and their name in the 'scam' - particularly over 'something as important nowadays as a family getting away for a break'. The company advised caution when booking holidays and urged people to do their research beforehand - while kindly offering an £80 discount if the family wanted to come to their lodges to stay in the future.
Melvin said: "It was like something out of a horror movie. It was soul destroying, we're livid. I was really annoyed and I was driving about. I've wasted my time and fuel to get there.
"The kids were screaming, they were upset, they were screaming 'are we there yet?'. Before we arrived, we sent her a photo of my daughter crying and she saw that but there was no lodge.
"I would rather give someone £80 than all that carry on. We've been looking for a caravan for a while and couldn't get one. This woman said there as a lodge available in Ayrshire.
"My partner spoke to her and they said we've got it available. It looked really nice but they've taken photos from a website.
"We set off the same day. We said we weren't paying money up front because we were a bit wary. She said she didn't usually do it but we needed to pay a £80 deposit upfront so we sent it.
"She seemed trustworthy and we spoke to her on the phone. The bottle of wine part was really sickening because we thought we'd be able to have a drink and relax.
"We got there at about 10.30pm and it was pitch dark. We were calling and calling and messaged.
"We were going round checking people's lodges at that time of night to see which was ours. We called the lodge reception and they said they don't rent out lodges on Facebook Marketplace so we realised it was game over.
"We realised when we got home at 3am that she'd blocked us on Messenger."
The family's evening got even worse as they didn't arrive back to Glasgow until 3am because of traffic and roadworks. Melvin said although he was wary of the advert, Lisa, 30, and the kids, JJ, six, Leo, one, and 11 month-old Kallie, were so excited that he agreed to take the risk but JJ, who is autistic, has been ill since.
Melvin said: "People have said I should never have given someone my money of that without proof and why didn't I phone the place but who just jumps to conclusions that quick? I'm devastated that I never got the holiday.
"The kids were jumping for joy and we were happy that we'd found somewhere. We genuinely thought we were going.
"We should have maybe phoned the place. We should have said to ourselves it's not realistic but my partner was saying 'let's go'.
"Why did they go that far for £80? I want to know why they did it.
"I know everyone needs money in this world and that's what the world is all about but I'd rather someone say 'look, I'm skint' because I don't have a bad bone in my body and probably would help out."
A spokesman for Gadgirth Estate Lodges said: "This is indeed a sad story of what appears to be a family being conned out of £80. It appears the photo [that the family were sent] is taken of various lodges at different sites around the country from the web, one of which is an external of a lodge at our site.
"I remember the call because we were woken from being asleep in bed! We explained to this lady we were unfortunately fully booked and don’t take bookings through Facebook.
"Here at Gadgirth we pride ourselves on our customer experiences and guests can only book through our partners at Hoseasons' portal.
"You can find us at Hoseasons website along with our own site which directs you back to Hoseasons' portal. This ensures complete efficiency with our booking system. We book Monday to Friday, Friday to Monday plus weeks/fortnights.
"A quick check on our website/a call to us to check would have saved being caught with this scam. I would always advise caution when not booking direct direct or via a Parks Agent.
"If this situation is completely genuine then it's really sad someone would run this con with something as important nowadays as a family getting away for a break."
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