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.

It sounds shoddy but at the same time - we have an aga too and a hand towel to get things off the stove will do and you would know a pot boils quite quickly on the aga...some aga households don't own kettle for this reason - why put on an electric kettle while the aga is on 24/7 and can be used to boil water.

@ittakes2 no I know that but the kettle for the Aga has been dropped so it doesn't sit properly on the top so it doesn't boil.

Anyway I've sent DH to get a tea towel and other basics :)

That’s dreadful- do they expect you to make toast on the Aga in a wire rack? No kettle seems odd... The tv, smoke alarm and some oven gloves , tea towels isn’t difficult to replace- is it owner managed or a company.

Holiday cottage owner here. Sounds sub par especially the lack of unchipped glasses etc - please make them aware NOW otherwise you will not get any sort of refund. Did you book direct or via an agent? Take photos. It sounds like the new owner is not on top of things - they need to be made aware as no doubt they have a management company not really doing their job properly. Enjoy being in a lovely location in Northumberland and if you ever want a break at an ACTUALLY lovely cottage in Yorkshire do let me know!

I grew up in Stocksfield and my parents still live there, in fact I'm going to Prudhoe for a meal tonight - you could also find some basic homewares in Prudhoe but Corbridge is much nicer for a look out!

The Feathers is beautiful, really good food these days...fond memories of Easter bonnet competitions there as a child although unfortunately the space invaders machine is long gone.

Hope you manage to enjoy your break despite the problems, slightly biased but it's a beautiful area

The reason she got a full refund rather than partial refund was because virtually nothing was done by the owner to remedy the situation and nothing changed throughout the week.

In terms of using them, its one of the biggest and has the biggest choices. Ive taken to using airbnb as they seem cheaper and have more smaller type properties like annexes/outbuildings but its likely I would use Sykes again once their prices come back down, they rose unbelieveably after covid

@WoodlandWalks123 we initially booked direct with the owner and then she sold it to a man who is using host and stay who are using stay North Yorkshire. It was a really lovely cottage and it's a shame .

I've taken photos and a video of the smoke alarm. There was also no batteries in CO detector only noticed because it wasn't flashing and ours do. So that has been reported too. I've asked for a refund

Please complain now and document it all. Otherwise, as many have said, you are jeopardising a refund.

It sounds dreadful.

Good for you, sounds like you’ve taken all the right steps to try and get a refund. Now a case of making the best of it and enjoying your break away! ps can’t you try and remove the smoke alarm if the chirping is continuing? That would be the most annoying in my book, nothing worse than that sound! Anyway, hope you can enjoy it as best as possible!

@WoodlandWalks123 yeah we have removed it! It's the worst sound!!

Their website says open Mon-Fri 9-5.30pm. But there's a form to fill in and they say they will be in touch within 24 hours?

staynorthyorkshire.hostandstay.co.uk/contact

Aga toast is the best toast ever

That's just piss-poor, and most of it should have been picked up by the housekeeping service.

I'd be photographing EVERYTHING down to the cracked glasses and dented kettle and plastering those photos all over Tripadvisor and whatever site you booked through.

I'd be looking for a full refund plus reimbursement of everything that you had to buy too.

Why is being managed by Stay North Yorkshire if it’s in Northumberland?

The neighbour must have the phone number of the owner.

This reminds me of our first ever holiday cottage, almost 30 years ago. We went as 5 adults and our 6 week old baby. The large property was in Wales. It said it slept 10, but only had 2 knives and forks, no saucepans or frying pan. Luckily we found a Woolworths next day and got some cheap stuff. Garden furniture was plastic and broken. The furnishings were basic, just light fittings. We had to laugh about it and now have a list of questions to ask when we speak to owners prior to arrival.

Thats poor to be honest. Good luck. How do they expect you to make a cup of tea are you sure its not in a cupboard have a look, sometimes things have been put away. Very odd.

Just gone back and read again and seen "There was also no batteries in CO detector only noticed because it wasn't flashing and ours do. So that has been reported too."

No CO detector means potentially fatal! And it's a requirement for a landlord to install them (The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015).

I don't know who you'd report that to but - fuck me, that's some serious dereliction of duty!

They are not paying for a nice weekend, they're paying for accommodation and they're getting it. If you decide to stay then it's unreasonable to expect it for free just because you didn't like it as much as last time.

Agree- nothing like Aga toast... love the little squares

Even those wired smoke alarms have the battery in as a back up in case of power cut.

They’re paying for accommodation as advertised, not something that doesn’t meet basic safety regulations!

Its like saying well if restaurant dinner gave me food poisoning I still got to eat, so shouldn’t get a full refund.

I'm absolutely gutted that my favourite local holiday agency has been taken over by the thieving bastards that is Sykes Cottages. I would have cancelled the holidays we have booked this year if I could, I hate Sykes so much. As it is we're going but I will never be booking through then again.

is the toaster and kettle in the cupboard sometimes things are.

They are not paying for a nice weekend, they're paying for accommodation and they're getting it. If you decide to stay then it's unreasonable to expect it for free just because you didn't like it as much as last time.

WTF?!? We recently stayed in a cottage where the fridge didn't work and the patio doors didn't lock. Should we have kept quiet as we had accommodation? As it was the owner asked us to leave as we were making her anxious (none of it was her fault, door handles aren't available because of Brexit and it wouldn't kill us to eat from a warm fridge. Stupid cow) and the agency gave us a full refund and told her not to speak to clients any more.