Elena Travel Services: Black list of Namibian service providers

Black list of Namibian service providers

We finally decided to start with this long anticipated page of complaints about Namibian service providers who left their customers dissatisfied, offended or do not honour their obligations. Our purpose is to allow every person to share their ideas and experiences with local businesses and to exercise their right to be heard as the most valued asset for any business: ''The Customer''. Our page is dedicated to all types of bad businesses in our country, not in tourism only.
Not necessarily that your experience has been bad. For the list of positive opinions and gratitude please click here.
Disclaimer: we publish all information received without any verification made and bear no responsibility for the contents of this page.

Received from:	Subject:	Message:
Sergei Mitrofanov	DHL	Parcel sent to our clients lost without a trace. No reply from DHL offices. Tracing with bill number on their web site without any success. If you have not insured your parcel it can be easily lost forever.
Veronique Sainte-Luce	Guest House Haus OL-GA	After a weekend spent in Windhoek from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 July 2004, I have the regret to inform you that the Guest House Haus OL-GA does not deserve to be anymore mentioned in the Lonely Planet Guides : Southern Africa and Namibia and websites about tourism in Namibia. As per emails attached below, I booked a single room in that guesthouse and had a very bad experience: 1/ The German Lady managing the place had a constant rude and discriminative attitude towards black clients. This can be also confirm by 2 other Italian customers who stayed with me in this place. On the first day (Friday 16 July 04), she tried to charge me N$ 200 instead of N$ 190 as agreed by email. She finally agreed on the stated price but said she does it only for these" poor Namibians who come to beg her for discount". For information I am French National but of black colour. Immediately after, she refused to receive calls for me on the following number : 235853 (given by your guide). She was saying to people who called me that I was not there, asking them many useless and unnecessary questions. She asked me to tell my friends to contact me on the public telephone located in her garden. Of course, nobody would pick-up the phone in the garden and knock my door. No other customer was requested to get contacted via the public telephone. On Saturday morning, at breakfast she reluctantly provided me one more slice of bread, explaining loud voice to all customers at the table that she was giving the smallest slice since" I will not be able to appreciate her very special German bread". Two young Namibian clients took their breakfast at the same time, she was very rude to them, asking them to take their breakfast in 15 minutes since other customers are coming to eat too. Nobody else came to have breakfast (we remained 5 clients around a table for 6), however these 2 Namibian fellows just hurried up and left the table. They were provided one slice of toast each, when all other customers were at least given 2 slices of toast each. On Sunday morning, we even had an argument because I dared ask her for a receipt/bill as proof of my payment. She also decided to refuse to give me breakfast at 8.30 as agreed the day before, because she did not want me to sit down at the breakfast table with 4 other German clients, when the table accommodates up to 6 people. I had to take my breakfast later, but in the garden where the temperature was cold at this early time of the day. She commented my request for 2 more toasts as trying to prepare a sandwich for lunch time, when I was only trying to have a decent breakfast (4 toasts are not such exceptional, when I am not even eating eggs). And to end my stay in such lovely place she even accused me of talking about her with the 2 Italian customers when we only discussed South African wines. For all the reasons stated above it is important that tourism information be amended. Such discriminative attitude cannot be supported by a reputable edition like yours. OL-GA Guest House surely provides acceptable services but only to the favourite German customers. Actually, I would be very grateful if an investigation could be processed and that the guesthouse be sanctioned for such rude and discriminative behaviours towards Black customers. 2/ Haus OL-GA services were below standard since the room of the 2 Italian customers and mine were not cleaned by the guesthouse staff during our 2-3 days stay. Towels were not provided on a daily basis, trash bins were not cleaned, room floors not even swept, if a glass was used to drink, the next day the dirty glass was remaining as such in the room. Many thanks for your attention. Do not hesitate to contact me for further details. If necessary I can provide you the contact details of these 2 other Italian customers who can confirm the misbehaviour experienced in Guest House Haus OL-GA. Regards Veronique Sainte-Luce Programme Officer WFP Lesotho Tel +266 6200 0054

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