Review of BreakFree Bell City 3+*

Absolutely TERRIBLE service in DISGUSTING accommodation. My wife and I were travelling around the country and decided to reserve a room at the BreakFree division of Bell City Hotels. Upon arrival, they refused to check us into our rooms on the basis that we had not paid (? ). After arguing with the reception staff, they check their system (finally! ) and immediately found they were wrong as we had booked our 2 week reservation via Expedia. They then refused to let us check in because they hadn't received the money when we had already paid for the full 2 weeks AND had the proof of purchase guaranteeing us accommodation. They said that they needed our credit card details or $100 dollars cash in order to let us stay in case we ordered room service. When I showed them the proof of purchase on my iPhone which says it comes with room service, minifridge and microwave, they said that I had not paid for that. THEN WHY DID IT SAY SO ON THE PROOF OF PURCHASE? They wanted my credit card to charge me if I ordered room service … OR $100 dollars cash? How does that make sense? If we don't give them a credit card we can give them a hundred bucks and order all the room service we want? Is that a proper business model? Anyway, we didn't want to waste any more time on our vacation, so I quickly gave them my Mastercard. When we reached the room we found lights that didn't work, stains on the bedsheets (we had to wait ages for the maid to come and replace them), the microwave didn't even WORK, and the communal areas were absolutely FILTHY. I saw at least 3 cockroaches during the time that we stayed, and I never saw ANY maids going around the hallways doing housekeeping. NEVER saw any laundry services, even for when I wanted to just wash a couple of my nice shirts before going out and asked how much it would cost, they said they don't have anything we can use. Oh, and there were STAINS on two of the towels in the ensuite until they replaced them with some other towels. The package that we purchased also came with complementary breakfasts, but when we asked one of the staff how we access this, he said that they have some jam packets and other condiments that we can add to our food! WHAT A SCAM. They charged us extra for all these amenities on top, then argue with us that we haven't paid AFTER WE ALREADY DID so they can swindle us out of MORE money, and then it turns out that they don't even HAVE amenities that actually WORK! needless to say, we cut our Melbourne trip short and moved on to Canberra 2 days early, and of course they refused to give us the extra money we had paid back to us. But by that point, my wife and I had enough of that filthy place we decided to leave it. Never EVER coming back to this disgusting place. The health board needs to come and shut them down, or someone should take them to court for ripping their customers off for money they already paid and extra on top for nothing. Don't ever stay at this horrible place. If I could I would give them negative stars.