Should they give a refund and let us cancel?

[Idolikeanicepieceofcake]

I booked a holiday for next week a year in advance for a dog-friendly, quiet, rural cottage. It was meant to be a week of peace and quiet for us after enduring 7 months of building work from the house nextdoor. We are due to go this Saturday.
Yesterday the people who rent it emailed me to say that there would be building work going on during the time of our break, but they have asked the builders to refrain from doing their noisier work before 10am or after 4pm. That to me says that there will be noisy building work between 10am and 4pm, the time that we would have been enjoying the garden/having bbq/reading/sunbathing weather permitting.
I am really upset because it cost a lot of money, and I do not want to go on what should be a peaceful getaway and spend the whole time with building work in the background. They also have only given us 6 days notice that this will be happening!
Do you think that I would be unreasonable to ask for a complete refund so that I can try and salvage this one precious week of annual leave?

I recently wanted to have a bookcase delivered, but said no as there would be guests there and I thought it would be a nuisance to them, so rescheduled it around bookings.

So nothing like the situation described in the OP.

Why are you trying to defend the CFs in the OP? Because you let holiday homes? I let a holiday home, and I think they’re being complete CFs.

@HolidayLetter please let me know which company you work for so I can avoid it.

Why do people think it’s acceptable to take others hard earned money only to be complete wankers just a few dats before you are due to go ?

Whether you are experiencing building work at home or not a holiday is a holiday and you don’t want to have a break on a building site

Building work or alterations should be done out of season when paying guests aren’t about

We had this with a cottage we were letting, and you are definitely NBU. As soon as we knew the work was going to be happening I contacted each guest by phone and offered the choice of either a full refund or a discount on their stay. I also restricted the building works to reasonable hours.

I would message directly that you have been trying to contact them with no response, and that you would like a full refund. Did you pay on CC or PayPal?

I

OP please send an email stating you want to confirm the phone conversation and full refund. Just in case! Even if they don't reply with a confirmation it would be written backup because they DIDN'T reply saying wtf.

I have a lovely dog friendly, rural cottage on the west of Scotland with a hot tub and close to long sandy beach available next week. Quiet and private - except for nosey deer! Private Message me xx

YANBU.

Is the cottage in the UK? Can you look on the local authority's website to check if planning permission was granted/building control notice issued for the building works? That would give you an idea as to when they made their planning application/permission was granted and/or the passing of building approval plans. You could add this to your negotiation with them as to how long they've known about the prospect of works.

If they keep on ignoring your calls and emails, I'd leave a negative comment on Facebook and on any other social media they have. Are they on a TrustPilot?

YANBU

You are not being unreasonable! They are if they dont give you a refund!

Have they charged your credit card? You can lodge a complaint through that. That is wrong and not acceptable. If they haven't charged your card, then speak to your card company. your are in your rights to cancel.

Rtft. She’s getting her money back.

@Idolikeanicepieceofcake - so pleased you are getting your money back and I do hope you are able to book another place away. Not sure where you are based or where you were planning to go but I can highly recommend a very dog friendly cottage in Walsingham, North Norfolk my family and I have stayed in several times over the past 5 years. If you Google 'wayside cottage norfolk' (they're also on FB) I know they have availability as they posted to that effect a couple of days ago on FB. Best of luck and enjoy your week earned break

That doesn't seem fair on you. I'd give the owners a call and ask exactly what work is being done and why you have been notified so late. Say to them that you are not happy because you were specifically looking for a break from building work.

Why do people come on days after the thread has started, not bother to even read the OP's updates but still post advise. It's not helpful; it's just rude. If you're going to give someone advise then at least read everything they've got to say.

She's getting her refund!!!

TheInvestigator MNHQ send out a daily email with 'hot threads' links in. The threads have often reached a conclusion before the email is sent but posters tend to click on the link and reply without reading it all.

I've noticed this with quite a few threads recently. No surprise that this thread was on an email.

Just realised I said advise and not advice!! Whoops.

I've seen the emails, but I still would at least scroll through and read the OP's updates. But even if people would just read the last couple of posts, they'd be able to infer from those that some sort of change or conclusion has happened.

You aren't being unreasonable at all - and you should have the option to cancel (or get a substantial discount - or your choice of both) - personally we tend to be out all day and only use the place as a base so I'd take the (big ) discount - but as you seem to suggest you'd be staying in and the noise would interfere I'd probably just want to cancel

The only reason I can see for the short notice would be if they had planned the work in advance and it was meant to have been completed - you are the first ones booked in and now the builders have overun - but if thats the case they should have explained, been apologetic and asked you what you wanted to do eg cancel/partial refund/rebook