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Cottages4you: A Cautionary Tale

77 replies

cortisolcrush · 08/02/2016 14:41

Myself, DH and our DDs are off on holiday on Friday. We have a long weekend with friends booked at a cottage near Pickering.

Everyone is organised. We're travelling from Durham after school. A friend and her DS are travelling from Humberside, her DH flying is in from business in the US (Heathrow, then Manchester, then train to Malton) and our other friends are driving up from the south-east.

The cottage is luxurious: 3 en-suite double rooms - check! A room each for our DDs and our friends' DS - check! A woodburner - check! Wifi - check! Animals on site to keep the kids amused - check! In Pickering! What could be more perfect?

So, when I rang Cottages4you/Cottages.com this morning to confirm the postcode and chase up the paperwork, I was more than a little shocked to find that the cottage owner had 'rejected' our booking (in favour of a week long booking over half-term, natch). Cottages4you had neglected to mention this to us.

So we received a 'Thank you for Reserving Your Holiday. Your reference number is XXXXX' email on 9th January. Some time between then and now, our reservation was cancelled. And they didn't think to mention it...

Angry Angry Angry Angry Angry

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FrostyNipples · 08/02/2016 14:42

Grabby fuckers.

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TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 08/02/2016 14:42

Wow! That's beyond shit. Hope you find somewhere else.

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ClashCityRocker · 08/02/2016 14:43

Jesus that's shitty. Can you find anything else? Might struggle as it's valentines weekend.

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Wagglebees · 08/02/2016 14:45

Oh that's bad! Thank you for the warning. We often go on cottage type weekends away and have looked at that company a few times but I'll be avoiding them from now on.

I hope you can find an alternative or at least arrange something else so your week isn't completely spoilt.

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honeysucklejasmine · 08/02/2016 14:46

Oh my goodness! Are they refunding you? I would be seriously unimpressed. Do you have any local consumer rights shows... Local radio, perhaps?

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ajandjjmum · 08/02/2016 14:48

Just about to start looking for a cottage to rent - I'll avoid them!

Hope you are able to get somewhere sorted.

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ineedabodytransplant · 08/02/2016 14:52

I use HomeAway. At last then you're dealing with the actual owner directly rather than what seems like a commission grabbing 'middle man'.

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wanderingwondering · 08/02/2016 14:53

That's crap!
I have terrible fond memories of a cottages4you holiday in a 'barn conversion' which would have been more honestly described as a garage conversion!

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iPaid · 08/02/2016 14:55

Are Cottages4You in breach of contract?

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iPaid · 08/02/2016 14:56

Did you pay a deposit?

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cortisolcrush · 08/02/2016 15:05

We've since discovered that they didn't take the initial payment. They have admitted they are at fault, apologised and then offered £50. As a goodwill gesture...

They later upped that to £80. But really? £80? Half-term weekend?

There is nothing left in Yorkshire. Everything else is either £1000+ or in no way matches up to the original cottage. Expanding our search to Derbyshire now.

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KingLooieCatz · 08/02/2016 15:16

Have you tried the local Tourist Information? They might be able to search available accommodation that would be big enough for everyone a lot faster than you can. Good luck! Ask Cottages4You to help you find an alternative and suggest they pay the difference between your booking with them and what you find as an alternative. Might focus their minds on finding an alternative.

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Quoteunquote · 08/02/2016 15:19

Have you tried AirBnb and put whole house.

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undertheocean · 08/02/2016 15:20

We rent our house (sleeps 9) and our cottage (sleeps 2) and i much prefer dealing direct with guests, have heard horror stories about Cottages4You and Holiday Lettings/TripAdvisor are equally as bad as far as we are concerned. If I as the property owner, do not reply to your email within 3 hrs (because I also have a life!) we get black marked, same with Owners Direct.
Also, if you book your holiday in Feb for August and pay them 30% we don't get a penny until AFTER you leave!
Please please book with the owner direct if you can. The agencies will do everything possible to stop you by hiding email addresses and banning us from sending you our website links but they charge us a fortune in commission.
Hope you find somewhere nice! If not come to the Mull of Kintyre (www.balurehouse.com) we will make

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Thethingswedoforlove · 08/02/2016 15:21

I was going to suggest the same as you quote. Airbnb has some amazing value properties on it and some people will only put their properties on at a week's notice. I have stayed in some amazing places through it. Definitely worth a try!

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Owllady · 08/02/2016 15:24

That's really bad form Angry

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Quoteunquote · 08/02/2016 15:28

www.balurehouse.com That is stunning undertheocean

Always go direct with owners when ever possible.

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Fluffycloudland77 · 08/02/2016 15:29

That's awful. They were a company I might have booked with too but I will avoid them now.

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firesidechat · 08/02/2016 15:30

That's a shame.

I've never had a problem with them and we have used them a few times now.

I imagine it's a problem with the owner of the property having their place on with a few different holiday sites and causing confusion. I'm not excusing it, but it might explain why this happened.

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Owllady · 08/02/2016 15:31

Oh wow, that's absolutely beautiful!

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shovetheholly · 08/02/2016 15:33
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WhatchaMaCalllit · 08/02/2016 15:42

Have they offered to source another holiday for you for the same price as the one you thought you had booked (but they messed up the booking on)?? That's what I'd be wanting them to do. They dropped the ball on this. Guests you thought would be arriving at a particular location for a mini-break will now not be there due to the incompetence of Cottages 4 you and them not informing you in good time to make alternative arrangements.

I'd demand that they make the alternative arrangements and if there is a difference in price, Cottages 4 you should take the hit in the difference.

But that's just me.

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undertheocean · 08/02/2016 15:43

We usually get really nice guests from AirBnB!! (we get treated the same as HL & OD re payment ) but never have a problem with them.

Thank you quoteunquote

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LadyIsabellaWrotham · 08/02/2016 15:48

Oh you poor thing.We've always had good holidays from C4U (sometimes I'm just too lazy to trawl through thousands of individual owners' websites) but that truly is shit service.

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AliMonkey · 08/02/2016 15:54

If you read the T&C for these companies, they usually allow them to cancel with no comeback unless within eg 30 days of the holiday, when they have to offer you a reasonable replacement. So check the T&C. We booked a cottage in November for next August, paid deposit etc and then a month later we were told that the owner had decided to stop renting out. They immediately made some alternative suggestions. They didn't quite suit but we found somewhere else through them and transferred the booking. Unfortunately more expensive but they at least said we could defer paying the extra deposit until we pay the balance. So although annoying it was with loads of notice and they did what they could to help. Whereas you seem to have been left high and dry with little time to find something else.

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