Anybody watching ITV’s new show, which launched on Thursday 5th August 2021, Undercover Big Boss will have seen that the first episode featured one of PHHPA’s founding members Alfie Best.
Alfie, chairman of Europe’s number one park home operator Wyldecrest Parks, donned a disguise and went undercover in his own business. He went from multi- millionaire entrepreneur to William Finney a drainage engineer looking for a change in career.
Disguise
Despite being famously well known on his parks the disguise was convincing enough to hide his identity from the staff he was working with. He certainly looked like a different person!
Alfie, AKA William first went to visit a residential park in Preston. There he met Julio who had been working at the park for the past two owners and had been with Wyldecrest for the past two years since they took over the park.
Getting stuck in
Julio was the long suffering maintenance man and all- round good guy who worked with “William”. He worked tirelessly and Alfie said it was hard to keep up! Alfie did not back away from cleaning the drains and even pulled out the wet wipes and fat which were creating the blockage. He later said that he quite enjoyed doing the drains despite
them being a bit smelly.
Next Alfie Best visited Port Haverigg Marina, a gorgeous holiday park in the Lake District. Here he met Richard their onsite sales executive.
It’s a Mystery!
But wait … who is that couple? Disguised behind a cap and glasses was none other than PHHPA Director General Bradley Chapmen with Director Kim Wright also undercover. Our task was to mystery shop as difficult customers.
Pretending to be a married couple, Kim and Stephen Jones, we asked if they could move the mobile home back two feet. We knew that this would only be possible by moving the entire home, moving the utilities and relaying the base!
Secondly, we said we wanted a view of the sea. He took us to a plot which will have a beautiful new home sited on it in a prime location fronting the marina. Here I complained that it would be too noisy. Sorry Richard!
Big Head … the beer that is!
Finally, Alfie visited Bockenfield Park in where he met with independent bar owner and single mother Donna. She looked somewhat taken aback by his lack of ability to pour a pint, but he was soon producing beers with a regular amount of head and even called the bingo.
The people he had met and worked with were then invited to Alfie’s Surrey mansion where he surprised them by revealing who he was. He then announced what he was going to do to improve things.
Complaints Procedure
From what he had learned working with Julio, plans were put in place to improve the complaints process. This would mean fewer problems would fall to Julio directly. Alfie also gave Julio a well-earned pay rise and a bonus of £5000. I am sure this was greatly appreciated.
Barbados
Richard from Port Haverigg was asked if he wanted to progress from being a salesman to being a director eventually. Alfie said that he needed to be able to make decisions about the business in order to progress. Alfie also offered him and his family an all-expenses paid two week holiday in Barbados.
Finally, Alfie met Donna. She had been considering giving up at the end of the season if things did not pick up. Part of the problem was that her current premises was too small. The club, however, is the heart of the site. Recognising this, Alfie decided to invest a quarter of a million pounds into expanding the club and adding a swimming pool.
I found the whole show very touching, especially Alfie’s relationship with his family. If you haven’t watched it then I can highly recommend it.
Oh, and if you need your park or supply business mystery shopped then you know where to come!
See more at PHHPA Magazine.
