My wife and I recently made a trip from Orlando, Florida to Tazewell, Tennessee for a fishing trip. We drove for eleven hours straight and were anxiously looking forward to renting a boat and trying our hand at fresh water fishing.
We had booked a cabin on the lake at Flat Hollow Marina Resort (FHMR). Do not even consider staying at this place. The business model for Flat Hollow Marina Resort (FHMR) seems to be to tell you whatever they think you want to here and then when you discover that it isn't true they simply tell you "you can not get your deposit back and what are you going to do, cancel your vacation and drive back home". I do not know anything about running a resort, but it seems to me that customer service should enter the equation somewhere. Flat Hollow Marina Resort (FHMR) is run for the management, not the customers. Customer service does not seem to be in their vocabulary.
Below is a part of the advertising for the place that my wife and I rented from Flat Hollow Marina Resort (FHMR).
Two story 2 Bedroom (sleeps 8)/ 2 baths on the lake, with Central AC/Heat, two full baths, washer/dryer, telephone, satellite TV/VCR, complete kitchen including dishwasher, oven, refrigerator, microwave, toaster and coffee maker, etc. Has a large deck with gas grill overlooking the lake.
We arrived at Flat Hollow Marina Resort (FHMR) and checked in. After unloading the car, I went to plug in my laptop to charge the battery. I could not figure out if the power strip next to the TV where I plugged in my laptop was on or off as the power light on the power strip didn't work. So, I tried to turn on the TV to see if the power strip was on. There were two remotes. Neither of them had any effect on the TV regardless of the position of the switch on the power strip.
We had stopped at a grocery store in Tazewell just before we arrived at Flat Hollow Marina Resort (FHMR). Since it was about my normal dinner time, I decided to light the fire and cook some hamburgers. The gas grill would not function. The propane tank handle felt like it had been closed using a pipe wrench. I have a big hand and a pretty good grip and I could not get the handle to budge in either direction.
I came inside and informed my wife that neither the TV nor the gas grill was working. She picked up the phone to call the Flat Hollow Marina Resort (FHMR) office only to find out that the phone did not function either. Think about that for a moment, we are in a location that does not have cell phone coverage, we are paying $175.00 a night and there is no phone. So we headed to the Flat Hollow Marina Resort (FHMR) office on foot. After all, we were shown where the steps were and told you can come straight down to the marina.
The steps at Flat Hollow Marina Resort (FHMR) were something else. I know men who frame houses for a living. It is a time critical occupation and you can not waste time fooling around. None of them would have laid claim to the workmanship exercised on these steps. A carpenter would have run away screaming. A woodworker would not have even set foot on them for fear of being injured when they came crashing down. I do not think there were two boards in the entire set of steps that were parallel to each other.
I took my laptop with me so that I could check my e-mail having been informed that the marina was a wi-fi available location. On the drive from Florida up to Tennessee, we stopped at a Wendy's since I had seen a sign that said they had wi-fi. I got my lunch, sat down and checked my e-mail. It was a piece of cake and was what I expected when we were told wi-fi was available at the Flat Hollow Marina Resort (FHMR) marina. Good thing I had that piece of cake earlier in the day because it was not to be so easy at the Flat Hollow Marina Resort (FHMR) marina. The process of registering (and paying) for the internet service was arduous and quite honestly and unnecessary pain in the neck. Guess who collects the money that you are paying for internet access. If you guessed the Flat Hollow Marina Resort (FHMR), you are correct. I understand the concept of a captive audience. You are way out in the boonies and you are at their mercy, the management at Flat Hollow Marina Resort (FHMR) are not going to let you forget that. When I completed the process of registering and paying, the first thing that came up on the screen was that my account had been suspended. That's right, the account that had just been opened moments before was just suspended. Internet access was the only requirement that I had placed on the entire trip. I told the Flat Hollow Marina Resort (FHMR) manager that this was not going to work. He actually laughed at me and said "What are you going to do? Lose your deposit and drive all the way back to Florida." read more