Harmony House Inn Bed & Breakfast
Experience comfortable elegance in the heart of the Historic District. Built circa 1850 as a four room house for Benjamin and Eliza Ellis, the inn has been in operation since 1985. Several additions were made to the house as the... more
Here is what guests had to say...
| "Charged me for night I wasn't there, ripped me off, Horrible mold smell "
|
10/26/2009 |
|
| Overall |
 |
| Rooms |
 |
| Service |
|
| Value |
|
| Cleanliness |
|
| Dining |
 |
|
|
In New Bern for son’s wedding. He is a Marine. First night came in very late. Couldn't get door open, very difficult lock to back entry door, very dangerous steep stairs. Mother is 78, lucky my son there to open door for us, help with luggage. Rooms had horrible mold smell, small dark room back of house, bed so hard my shoulder hurt next day. Paid same price as our relatives who had much larger, nicer room. But, the mold smell was overpowering. Wednesday night were only people there in entire house. Aunt/uncle came next day, and that was it in house. Decided to leave next day, only stayed one night. Told owner about the horrible mold smell and he sprayed air freshener. That made us sicker, the sweet awful smell. He charged us for 2 nights when we only stayed one night. He stole $150 from us, took advantage of 2 women. I am sure he would not have done that to a man. We stayed one night, that is all we owed. We went to Hilton, a very nice room. Were planning to stay for 6 nights, he said we could change rooms for a few nights but would have to go back to the moldy, little room over the weekend. We didn’t want to change rooms back and forth. If we knew he was going to charge us for the second night we would have stayed in another room there for that second night. But, he didn’t tell us that. He was not going to get another customer to replace us since the town was dead. I think he was desperate to get income and took advantage of us. My suggestion is to stay at another bed and breakfast. Some relatives stayed across the street, it was a lot cheaper, nicer. Check it out before you waste money on this place. Owner very defensive and stubborn. I am sure he will write a long response to this denying everything, and maybe saying things that aren’t true. Mold is not good for people to breath, and something should be done about this. The other rooms smelled old, but not so moldy. The overwhelming mold smell came out of the closet in that room. View Reviewer Info
|
|
| Innkeeper Response |
In 15 years, we have never had such a perplexing situation arise. On the morning after the guest’s arrival, we both talked to her extensively and toured the Inn. They both enjoyed their breakfast. There was no indication that anything had been wrong. At around 6:30 PM, the guest sent her uncle (who was also our guest) to tell us the room smelled moldy and they didn’t know if they were going to stay. We will do anything to make sure that our guests are comfortable. So, at this point, several options were offered which the guest interpreted as “defensiveness.” We were simply trying to determine if there were any options to make them more comfortable. At approximately 7:00 PM, they already moved their luggage out of the room and they said they were leaving. There was no chance to discuss or concern on their part about whether or not they were being charged. If they truly felt uncomfortable, they should have been honest in the morning when we could have determined to everyone’s satisfaction what to do. As it was, we considered that checking out at 7:00 PM was like using the room, then demanding that they not be charged. This is the reason that the guest was charged for one night she did not stay. Despite our 7 day cancellation policy, we cancelled the remaining four nights of her stay at no charge. She is false when she states the Inn was empty. We were unable to sell her room over a special event weekend and had turned other callers away. If our rooms smelled moldy, then there would surely be several reviews stating this, but there are not. We leave these issues to your judgment to decide. We are proud of our Inn and were recently voted “simply the best” Bed and Breakfast in New Bern. In closing, we only wish to say one more thing. We are not here to be abused or taken advantage of. We will not respond to threats, abusive behavior, or blatant dishonesty.
|
| - Ed and Sooki Kirkpatrick (innkeepers) |
|
| Innkeeper Response |
We are very sorry that this guest feels as he does. We are not sure of the identity of the guest, but have not had any negative comments at check out or during breakfast regarding out beds. We typically ask at least twice if each guest slept well and enjoyed their stay.
Most Bed and Breakfast Inns do not, in fact, have coffee service in each guest room. We have many invaluable antiques in our guest rooms. Self service coffee and tea in each room is not a reasonable expectation given the potentially permanent damage to our furnishings. We instead set up coffee on our Front Desk downstairs for all guests to come and prepare the way they wish. When guests come down for coffee, we also ask them if they had a good night's sleep and try to find out how their experience has been. It is unfortunate that someone would fail to talk to us, then sign on to the internet and criticize us and our Inn.
At breakfast, we have accommodated all special diets from Atkins proteins, vegan, lactose intolerant, etc. over the past 15 years. Our only hope is that guests tell us if they have any special dietary requests so that we can accommodate them. We do not just serve "whatever is cheapest to prepare" and we stand behind the quality of our food service. This guest failed to tell us whether we met his expectations or not.
|
| - Ed and Sooki Kirkpatrick (Owners/Innkeepers) |
|
| All reviews are the personal opinions of BedandBreakfast.com site users and do not reflect the views of BedandBreakfast.com. |
Please share your comments with the millions of travelers who visit BedandBreakfast.com.
Contact Information
 
Harmony House Inn Bed & Breakfast215 Pollock Street New Bern, NC 28560-4942 USA
| Phone: | +1-252-636-3810 | | Toll-free: | +1-800-636-3113 |
Innkeeper(s)
Ed and Sooki Kirkpatrick
Rates:
$89 - $175
Reviews
| Overall |
 |
| Guest Rooms |
|
| Service |
 |
| Value |
|
| Cleanliness |
|
| Dining |
|
|
|
|