This holiday cottage is rubbish

[champagnesocialist11]

Can anyone sympathise? I will be asking for a full refund.

We came here for our honeymoon 8 years ago, it was absolutely lovely.

Haven't been on holiday since 2017 for various reasons.

Anyway! We've booked the same 'lovely' cottage In Northumberland; when we booked it it was owned by the same owner who really cared for it, since then she's sold it and now it's honestly awful. ( we booked before Covid)

It has an Aga, no oven glove or tea towel to get anything out of the damn thing, we have an Aga and I'd have bloody brought our own if I'd known; the 'flat screen tv' doesn't have a picture; just sound so that's nice, the garden is sold as enclosed but the fence has fallen over so it's not at all.

The smoke alarm keeps beeping because it needs new batteries. If we'd known I'd have bought one before hand. There is 1 non cracked glass, so we're drinking champagne out of mugs. There is no kettle or toaster. We had a kettle in the car by a lucky accident because i bought a new one for our Aga and forgot to get it out of the car before coming away but wtf???

It's a first world issue I know that, but I just feel cheated. It cost us £300 to rent this for the weekend.

That’s very poor. Did they leave enough toilet paper? I would complain massively if it’s this basic or run down. I hope you find some enjoyment in your weekend.

@LadyWithLapdog 1 roll for 4 days so we do need to go and get some more tomorrow, it feels like they don't give a crap tbh.
It's horrible. Definitely won't be booking here again!!

Is there an inventory of what should be there? If oven gloves etc are meant to be there they should be on a list.
Does the owner do the maintenance or is that someone who is employed to do it. They may not have informed the owner the smoke detector needs new batteries and the fence has fallen over.
Have previous guests reported the TV not working?
Document/photograph everything and contact the owner first thing in the morning.

@Needmorelego no there isn't an inventory which is annoying. We've spoken to the neighbour who is one of the contacts for the owner and he declared the tv 'fucked' and said he told the owner the smoke alarm needed batteries on Monday when they came in to check it.

It's managed by 'stay North Yorkshire' now and they're not in at the weekend so that's nice. I'll have to go and sort the issues myself and then complain because it's so rural we need to use the Aga to cook and there is no other option.

It's just frustrating

I am definitely going to ask for a refund and I don't think I'd be unreasonable to do so

A part refund would be appropriate but not a full refund if you still actually stay there

@malmi I am going to ask for a part refund because we're so far away from home it would take too long to get home to enjoy the weekend

Sounds grim. I'd be on the phone complaining right now.

Oh the beeping alarm is the worst. I was woken up by this once in the Lake District at 5am and even more annoyingly it was meant to be my luxurious lie in as DH was arriving during the day. Owner didn't seem in the least bit apologetic when I said about it.

You definitely should get a part refund, that is very very poor form indeed.

Yes, that’s really crap. A beeping smoke alarm and a kitchen that doesn’t even have the bare minimum of equipment, eg non-cracked glasses, tea towels etc, is unacceptable. I can see how a TV might pack up unexpectedly but everything else should be functional and as described in the listing.

I would be complaining now.
Acceptance of the state of it means you can live with it.

I'd be wanting a full refund, they are absolute twats. And I'd be putting up reviews everywhere about how shit it is. More holiday letters buying a house they can't afford to keep. How difficult is it for these people to add or use a calculator to find out if they can afford a holiday home?

Complain now. Don't wait.

I may be wrong but I thought holiday let’s needed to have a wired in smoke alarm? Toilet rolls, only usually one or two provided, wherever we have stayed in a holiday let. But of course there should be oven gloves provided. Personally whilst you are rightly disappointed, I don’t imagine you will get a full refund, but perhaps they could fix some of the issues so you have a better stay and offer a small refund.

Send your first email now. State clearly that you know they're closed for the weekend and do not want to be accused of having accepted the standard for the weekend. You do not think it is good enough and did not from the first hour you arrived.

Friends fell foul of that last year. Being practical and waiting for the office to open reduced their refund by about 50%

No kettle or toaster is really poor. The fact that the owner knew about the TV and the alarm and has done nothing about it is dreadful - the fire alarm especially.

I wouldn't mind being contacted the day before to say the TV unexpectedly broke and can't be replaced in time.

No oven mit or teatowel is also poor.

Do you have any contact details for the owner? Can you ask the neughbour to pass your number to the owner for them to call you ASAP in light of the agents being closed?

Their fb page says they are open today

When we booked it it was owned by the same owner who really cared for it, since then she's sold it and now it's honestly awful

When you're (quite rightly) complaining, take a look at the new person's listing to see if they're using the previous owner's
That's what those who bought my favourite Devon guest house did, and I got there to find practically everything advertised had been stripped away

The priority is getting your refund, but I just thought it might be worth checking

So... they're in an industry where weekends are their busiest time and that's when their office is closed? Wow. I've never rented from a big company but everything you've said is massively off-putting. I'm sorry your stay has gone like this, especially since it was a place with special memories for you.
Happy anniversary.

Wired in alarms still have batteries in them

We had a similar stay recently with Cornish Cottages and I'm sorry to say we did not receive much of our money back. I would never do it again.

I'd be taking video footage of broken smoke alarm!
Threaten to contact their insurance company
Leave a phone message at the holiday let company today ...they won't take you seriously after you've left.
Sounds awful
...no TV, kettle or toaster!?

If its the company in Milton Street their fb says open 9 till 6 today 01287 658327 or can message them

There must be a number that you can contact someone on. There is no way that a holiday booking company will not have someone on duty early afternoon on a Saturday