The flies, the flies...

[FurPurr]

I have a Compensation question: just had guests stay for 3 nights, and on the first night in one of the bedrooms - had to be the master bedroom of course - a swarm of flies of apparently biblical proportions materialised. Not sure where they came from, or why (maybe sent from on high as a punishment to the guests, for all I know ); they seem to have hatched out from around the windows. Anyway, the only warning we'd had was a dozen or so flies in the room earlier in the day, which we'd hoovered up and thought little of. Guests didn't complain that night - probably assumed we'd be asleep at midnight (I wasn't) - just sprayed, hoovered them up & stayed in the room (could have moved to another unoccupied room upstairs). Next day they did complain, and immediately asked for compensation for their "ruined" night. I made sympathetic noises, assured them it'd never happened before (it hadn't) and muttered something vague about some sort of compensation (hoping of course that we could eradicate the problem and they'd forget about it).
When they went out, I went in and sprayed again, removed the 20 or 30 corpses that resulted, and left a bottle of wine and chocolates with an apologetic note. On departure today I asked if they'd seen any more flies and they hadn't, but the woman was adamant that she wanted 1/3 of the price refunded, and wanted an assurance before she left that we would give it. She became almost hysterical when we tried to suggest we'd consider it and get back to her tomorrow - didn't want to be bullied into giving money away on the spot, and we were very busy today with changeovers - but left eventually without the issue being resolved.

So... would you give a 1/3 refund? Or a lesser amount (my inclination - they did have use of the rest of the house), or nothing?
This woman is a bit of a GHE (Glass Half Empty) and I suspect would pursue it if we give nothing - already threatened us with comments like 'what about your reputation'; and if it's that important to her... but on the other hand we'll go bankrupt if we give money away to anyone who asks... (not that we get loads of complaints - honest!).

Any thoughts welcome.

[Jimbo]

FurPurr wrote:

... a swarm of flies of apparently biblical proportions ...

Now, isn't that curious. Our gites are empty for the winter but, yesterday, I was opening the windows in one of them and saw this huge pile of fly corpses in both upstairs bedrooms and the bathroom - hundreds of them. Never seen this before - where had they all come from? And why were they all dead? The recent frosts? End of their life cycle? Mass suicide because France performed badly in the rugby?

I think an apology, wine and chocolates is more than enough compensation for any 'inconvenience' suffered by your guests. How do guests come to these odd equations: Temporary fly invasion = one third off the bill? Fly swarms come under 'act of god' in my book - I certainly wouldn't be blackmailed by this unpleasant woman into giving compensation for something that was outside your control and dealt with efficiently as soon as you knew about the problem.

Jim

[Chianti]

FurPurr

I absolutely agree. I take it that you live in the country and that is one aspect of it. We haven't suffered the same problem yet, but sympathise.

I think you have behaved in a correct manner and believe your former guests are pushing it. At the very most, they could only ask for a fair % of the time spent on their holiday that night. It might be different, if they lost so much sleep that they were unable to enjoy their holiday over the next few days. I think I would write them a firm but polite letter or email with a read receipt and don't think you will hear further.

We leave a can of fly spray in our rental property and flyswatter, thus there can be no similar complaints, I hope.

I wish you the best of luck

Chianti

[Giddy Goat]

How long did they stay anyway, just out of interest? Two days? Three? I'm wondering how she came to the figure of a third off the bill?

In full agreement with Jim and Chianti. Choccies, wine, and an apology were all that were required. Ignore any further approaches from the woman - even if she attempted to go the legal route no-one would take her claim seriously.

Oops, I've just seen that they stayed three nights. Brain still not quite in gear. My view remains the same though.

[la vache!]

I think the weather this year has had a lot to do with the flies - I had a similar thing when I went into the gites in October (fortunately it wasn't occupied for this week) and there were hundreds of flies, I've never seen anything like it. We had a cold summer, a warm autumn and the hibernation of flies and their eggs hatching is unpredictable as a result. We had almost no flies this summer, but more than normal in September and October (up to the recent cold spell). I don't think you should pay compensation either - as Jim says, it is more an act of God, as a result of the weather and changing temperatures. Demanding a third off the bill is ridiculous - flies are just one of the (few) drawbacks you get when staying in the country.

[enid]

We are having the same fly problem - I think her compensation request is ridiculous and the wine and chocolate a good gesture. These things are out of our control. We have mice at this time of year especially and there are different reactions to them. The very worst thing for me at the moment is the shield bugs that helicopter in looking for free lodging for the winter - they are horrible but I am not responsible ofr their presence.

I also don't like people who threathen things to get their own way.

[Big Sis..]

I agree with the others.
To demand a third off is ridiculous.The chocolates and wine was just what was needed I feel.
Enid said,

I also don't like people who threathen things to get their own way.

Me neither! Its odd cos if people shout. I dont seem to hear them!!
She was being totally unreasonable[and she probably realised it]. Which made her act even more unreasonably!!

[Welcome to the Forum by the way.Nice name ]

[KathyG]

Hi FurPurr,

We live in the country and have the same problem with flies in the Autumn. When the weather gets cooler they retreat into the crevices around the windows - usually just the south-facing ones to keep warm. And yes I suppose if you've never had this happen before it can be a bit shocking when you then open the window but it's perfectly normal and I wouldn't offer any compensation based on that.

Next changeover you must open all the windows yourself and get rid of all the little blighters before your guests get there.

[fincafern]

Further south, Costa del Sol, I too am plagued by biblical flies, never seen so many here before and as LaVache pointed out, we haven't had the usual fly problems in the high season months. Seems like they have all come out to play at the same time. Our first fly plague began late in the year.
I have guests in too at present and we are all swatting and spraying them as best we can.
My folks haven't said anything - they thought it was normal, but we did explain that the numbers were very unusual. It's just one of those things you cannot control.
Our car - along with hundreds of others, has been damaged by the recent hail stone storm. We cannot control that either.
Can I get compensation even though we are fully comp.?
Well, yes, if I want to lose 2 years no claims and pay 600 € up front to repair the damage. My point is, the damage we have suffered is far greater than being pestered by some flies and yet, because its also an act of God, I cannot get recompense.
Everything is relative.

[Normandy Cow]

We had a similar problem a few years ago, albeit in June - we arrived at the house late one Friday night, and opened the upstairs window. When we went back up we had a swarm of flies. As it was so late, in the end we slept in a different room.

I don't think you should refund them a third off their bill! Actually, I don't think you should refund them anything. A bottle of wine and some choccies sounds like a perfect gesture of goodwill...

I see you are registered with the English Tourist Council. Why don't you call them for advice? If nothing else, you will be pre-empting your "guest from hell" if she does decide to kick up a stink and complain about you.

[FurPurr]

Thank you everyone, that's reassured me a lot. I will stand firm...

We are indeed in The Country, in the depths of darkest Gloucestershire, and it's a 400 year old building with pretty but draughty windows (listed, so stopping the draughts is tricky) so keeping critters out is virtually impossible. And come to think of it, the windows in question are south facing; yes Kathy, if I see a single fly corpse in future I'll be manically hoovering the window frames.

The Fly Woman also said "you don't expect that in a 5 star property" - well of course, silly me: if only I'd put up a little sign in fly language saying "5 star property" they'd have known not to come in!!

We leave a can of fly spray in our rental property and flyswatter, thus there can be no similar complaints, I hope.

Don't count on it, it was our fly spray she used.

Glad you like the name, Big Sis. As you can guess, I'm quite fond of animals - maybe not so much the small, buzzy ones - and it grieves me having to kill the mice that frequent the cottages: if only they didn't chew things and poo everywhere I'd let them be and make a feature of it, "not so much a cottage, more a wildlife park". Then people would probably complain about not seeing enough flies.

I see you are registered with the English Tourist Council. Why don't you call them for advice? If nothing else, you will be pre-empting your "guest from hell" if she does decide to kick up a stink and complain about you.

Hadn't thought of that, thanks NC.

[Hells Bells]

Sounds like 'cluster flies' a common problem in late summer/autumn.

http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th6e.htm

[Martha]

I suppose, from their point of view, they might have been upset thinking that flies = general hygiene problem, which is clearly not the case here. It just happens sometimes, especially in the country.

Anyway you dealt with it promptly and efficiently, it didn't re-occur - wine and chocs are more than fine! I agree, a polite letter or email back will probably do the trick

That's interesting about the windows kathyg, we cleaned all ours yesterday - I noticed there was a lot more evidence of flies on the south facing side and vaguely wondered why.

Anyway, welcome - your houses look absolutely gorgeous, too! I was brought up quite near Monmouth, it's a lovely area

[Mountain Goat]

there was a lot more evidence of flies on the south facing side

Warmer?

MG

[Wol]

Ahem...Diptera...my specialist, and favourite, subject

HelenB is almost certainly right, and they will be cluster flies Pollenia spp, a type of blowfly - dark, bigger than a housefly but smaller than a bluebottle. If you look closely you will see that they are actually covered in a rather beautiful coat of wavy golden hair, but this wears off as the fly ages. They got the name cluster fly from their habit of invading houses in large numbers and clustering about windows. They congregate on the southern windows because they are 'programmed' to go upwards and to the light. As the link HelenB provided states, they have come in to hibernate, but on warm days will want to be outside, feeding and breeding. They do not breed inside because their hosts, presumed to be earthworms, are not indoors. They are really just nuisance value, and the best way of dealing with them is to vacuum them up on a daily basis. I don't want to depress you, but it is very common for them to invade certain rooms in certain houses year after year They tend to be more prevalent in houses with panelled walls (where they can hibernate behind the panelling) and in houses with cattle grazing in nearby fields (presumably because their larval hosts are more numerous in these situations).

The worst example of this I have ever come across personally was when the Wizard and I went to housesit Tyntesfield when the National Trust first acquired it. I went upstairs to the Louvre Room at the very top of the house, and the whole floor crunched underfoot - I doubt anyone had set foot in the room for years.