Something not working in holiday rental - annoyance or money back?

My Qwooker gave up the ghost this year due to scaling in the tank under sink. I've reverted back to horror of horrors boiling a kettle for my hot drinks and using the hot tap for washing up. So 1980's. Was there no hot tap?
Doesn't sound like a massive fault to me

I now feel weird for only ever washing my hands in cold water and also quite happily washing dishes sometimes in cold water! If they’re not greasy or oily it works fine.

If the dishwasher was broken too I'd ask for compensation.

Washing your hands in soap and cold water in the kitchen is a slight personal comfort rather than hygiene issue; warm water doesn't kill germs.

Tinker tiger** I'd admire your need to find the most extremes of peoples washing up habits just to be able to say YABU. 😂😂

OP YaNBU to be annoyed that in a luxury cottage you don't have access to hot water in the kitchen.

I appreciate we may once have licked our utensils clean but you really aren't being annoyed in the 21st century to think it's a minimum standard!

I think the poster above who said to write an email just expressing your disappointment and seeing their response is an excellent one.

I've always said having problems itself isn't really the issue - it happens. It's people's response to that that matters.

Fairly minor and I wouldn’t expect a refund

I wouldn't ask for a refund but I would leave a factual review - blah was broken, contacted owners, wasn't fixed, washing up has to be done by hand with cold water or boil kettle.

I would expect a dishwasher in a high end property!

I’d complain politely, ask for a partial refund and review once I’d had a response.

@oneveryannoyingthing Only read first page of thread and I'm surprised how many posters are minimising this.
I'd find it very inconvenient and would message owner.
Of course I'd raise it politely and I wouldn't push it but I'd be disappointed not to get £50 or similar as recompense.

Why? Hot water makes washing up more comfortable, but no one's washing dishes in water hot enough to kill germs.

I mean, I do think not having hot water in a modern world is a problem, but it doesn't make the dishes unsanitary.

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect hot, running water in a holiday rental and I don't think it's unreasonable to hold the management company to their failure to send someone to check as agreed. I would not hesitate to ask for some kind of recompense.

OP I’m on your side- I would ask for some money back! That faffing about would piss me off, I’d expect better especially when paying premium prices.
All they can do is say no, there’s no harm in asking.

Hmm. That is right on the borderline of annoyance and money-back. I also wonder if it is really a new problem, since they have a kettle handy and surely the point of a Quooker is that you don't need a kettle too

And if nothing is offered then a clear factual mention of the issue and subsequent failure to address in review, is very appropriate

I'm with you, OP. I would find lack of hot water in the kitchen very inconvenient and annoying, especially considering you are paying for a premium rental. I would ask for a partial refund in what you paid.

User364837
5 times as long? How many times do you fill the sink!

The kettle is shite and takes an age to boil a full one

//

This is a good point as once fancy hot tap is introduced people cut corners Ona decent kettle as you know, that's what the fancy tap is for.

I agree that it should be a basic requirement especially for a high end rental. Too many (not all obviously) cottage owners and Air BnB'ers seem perfectly ok with changing the earth for what often turns out to be questionable style over substance while sitting back and watching the ££ come in

Especially on the basis you raised it early, they promised action which didn't happen, I think it's worth raising again to seek a small £ gesture. Perhaps if you likes the place otherwise, assumed tap would get fixed and would return maybe a discount off a future stay?

Why are you saying gross? There's no difference from a hygiene point of view as it's the soap that's key, not the water temperature.

I'd find it annoying and a bit inconvenient, but I'd just fill the washing up bowl from the bathroom hot tap, or do the washing up in the bathroom for the few things that wouldn't fit in the dishwasher.

I'd make them aware it wasn't working, but I wouldn't expect a refund tbh. It's a minor annoyance, not a big deal.

This happened to me once when I had no hot water for 2/7 days in a stay. Hot water is a must.

@coffeesaveslives
I read that to have water at a high enough temperature to make much difference would burn your skin! Cold water and soap is the way you go.
That said, I use hot water still, it just feels better!

Why? 😂 we’re using SOAP.

Why? I use washing up liquid, it gets clean. You’re aware that in many countries around the world this is very common? Both on the cold water and washing under the tap front?

My one friend (thankfully the only one) who fills up the sink to wash her dishes is the one with the questionable dish cleaning technique. Nothing worse that ‘cleaning’ dishes while bits of food are floating around 🤢

Only on MN would people think that having to boil kettles to get hot water for the kitchen sink is no inconvenience. That may be how you choose to do things at home for your own reasons, but not in a holiday cottage where people will reasonably be expecting to make use of a fully functioning kitchen. Not everyone lives off pre-prepared food or takeaways. Some people cook from scatch — even on holidays.

Yes, OP, this is a a really annoying and potentially dangerous issue. How are you supposed to clean dirty saucepans, roasting tins etc in cold water? Washing up in cold water is really chilly and unpleasant. But even more than that, this is a health and safety issue, surely? I don't have one of these Quooker taps but as I understand it they dispense boiling water. So you're chopping up raw chicken in the kitchen and you need to wash your hands and the chopping board well, in case of salmonella, and you have the choice of a cold tap or scalding yourself with boiling water. So I presume you have to use both the hot and cold taps to blend till you have water hot enough to kill bugs but not so hot as to scald you.

By the way, why do they supply a kettle if they've got the Quooker? Sounds as if it's packed up before. I'd point all this out and say you'd like the considerable inconvenience and potential health risk to be adequately compensated for. These rentals aren't cheap, you certainly should have hot water at the kitchen sink.

I know many people in the UK that don’t use hot water for hand washing?

Gross.

I am hoping you aren't one of my friends whose home I sometimes eat at then