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.

Leave a bad review on trip advisor too and any sites where it is advertised.

This is a disgrace!

There must be an agency number in case of any emergencies surely? All reputable agencies have a number usually a mobile contact if you need to call them about something. And the all say contact them asap if there is something wrong.

@malmi Really?

@CourtneeLuv I couldn't make 1 loo roll last 4 days on my own, what's your secret to making one loo roll last four days between two people ??

I work in this business. Things like the kettle not sitting right they may not even know if the previous people didnt flag it up and the owners wouldn't use every facility in the place at every changeover, same with the TV.
1 role of toilet roll is normal if its self catering. Same with the fire alarms if they've only just started beeping.

In these situations the absolute best thing to do is flag everything up to the owners. They may very well hop in the car and fix all of the issues immediately, in which case great. If they're difficult then you can start thinking of an amount to ask be refunded, but a full refund is unreasonable for these issues.

The tricky thing is that not everything can be checked in between guests, so if the kettle packed up 2 changeovers ago and the last people didnt use it at all, then the owners won't know. I always ask my guests to let me know of absolutely any problem so I can fix accordingly, but some guests dont care/notice. My pool even turned green in 2 days before and the renters didnt say a thing, so absolute disaster trying to get it solved before the next people!

@champagnesocialist11 their website only lists Yorks so how is your cottage there? It's not showing up on their list of towns.

Are you booking through a 3rd party or something?

I don't understand how that can work.

who is responsible for the letting?

maybe best not to ask TMI

Sounds more like a bed sit than a holiday cottage. I’d be hacked off and ask for some money back. I have actually done this at one place because the shower was malfunctioning, the owner refunded some money very graciously. But prepare for a fight, if it’s that bad maybe they aren’t the most scrupulous of landlords.

@Grenouilledesjardins I don't agree about not checking between guests. I stay in a fabulous place and they are super-organised. There is an emergency number for anything urgent. There is a form to complete to list anything that is not working/broken/ just not right and this is checked by the cleaners and on site manager in between guests (so they have from 10-4pm to sort it out) .

They leave 2 loo rolls in every loo ( 3 in the house) as well as 2 bath and 2 hand towels per person, soap, shampoo, shower gel, tissues, tea towels, oven gloves, cling film, foil, laundry liquid, hamper pack, etc.

I must say Im scrupulous about reviews, I scrutinize all the reviews so that the chances of this happening is low. Having said that, we just rented a little flat in Spain and it had no tea towels, washing up liquid, sponges or anything for the kitchen sink! No one else mentioned it.

I rent out my own home in the summer months and also manage 20+ other holiday homes as a job. At my house, I check absolutely everything before the beginning of the season. I have a cleaning lady who does inside and outside at each changeover and I'm always there as well to do little bits and bobs, the gardening etc. I have a flexible job and am a very attentive owner, I can drop everything and be at the house in 10 mins. I spend so much of my free time making sure everything is wonderful, but I'm only human and even I have been in the position of there not being a tea towel in the house, it sucks but it happens.

It also depends on the guests. I fully stocked my kitchen but I had a client complain that I didnt have a very big pot - it had never occurred to me to buy such a big one, i had plenty of medium and large ones, but still went and bought a brand new one, delivered to the door within the day.

Bottom line is even with the most attentive owners and managers, fire alarms can run out of battery 10 mins before guests arrive and kettles can break unnoticed.

Oh, forgot my own point 😂 I check as much as I can between guests but if I were to check absolutely everything, then I'd be cooking my lunch in the oven and on the hob, making toast, using the coffee machine and boiling the kettle, microwaving something etc.. theres just not enough time and in 99% of cases, not needed.

Have you tried contacting the agents, as people say they advertise that they are open today?

Have you checked on air bnb in case there's somewhere else within reach available last minute? Might be preferable to going home or staying put.

The alarm is just negligent.
greedy , corner cutting owner .
Oven gloves or tea towel are essential .
UK is a very overpriced holiday destination.

No kettle alone is enough for it to be rated as awful.

Come on, it's easy!

The same way that MNers make one chicken last for two weeks. 😄

I'm saying complain, stay and ask for a discount, or refuse to stay and request a full refund. Either of those is reasonable. But if you stay there despite problems then it's unreasonable in my opinion to also demand a full refund.

In my experience they won't refund if you stay there. Your best bet is to leave and spend the money on a hotel and request a refund.

No it isnt because its not as described. As I said a friend of mine had this and she stayed the week and got a full refund

I wonder how many people on here are aware that holiday accommodation - all furnished holiday lets even the ones people call airbnbs have to have a number of things BY LAW. Fire risk assessments, linked smoke alarms, thumb turns on the main exit doors, gas safety certificates for the boilers, a commercial mortgage, general risk assessments etc. If they dont have these they shouldnt be open and I bet this place has none of these either. best and most effective thing to do is to report this to the fire officer local to the area. His/her visit will make this disgrace of a place wise up.

We have gites in France. Smoke alarm batteries are changed annually. They are wired. My hou

From your first post I would have said that feasibly some of the issues might not be known about by the owners, but the neighbour has refuted that.

I would e-mail and log everything now - so it gives them chance to rectify some things straight away - and it gives you a paper trail.
You are being somewhat ambitious for a full refund though - you have stayed there, poor though it has been.

"Not as described" isn't a magic ticket to getting things for absolutely free though. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I don't think it's reasonable.

I check as much as I can between guests but if I were to check absolutely everything, then I'd be cooking my lunch in the oven and on the hob, making toast, using the coffee machine and boiling the kettle, microwaving something etc.. theres just not enough time and in 99% of cases, not needed.

@Grenouilledesjardins That's just being silly. I'd hope a guest would let you know if the oven, hob, kettle or toaster wasn't working when they left.

All you need surely is a form on the worktop left for your guests who will fill it in before they leave. The things you mention must be used by most guests so if they aren't working, make it simple to let you know. We always leave a note to say if alight bulb has gone, or whatever, as often the lights aren't put on by cleaners.

@champagnesocialist11 Take the same line as if someone wants to refuse to pay for a meal in a restaurant.

If it's rubbish, you are supposed to send the food back straight away with your comments ( it's off or inedible.)

You can't eat it and then say you aren't paying.

Same applies to a hotel room or s/c cottage.

My housekeeper checks glasses, cutlery, China and anything chipped or broken is replaced on changeover day; same with pillows, towels, cushions, etc. Do not get me started on the number of mattress covers, pillows, scissors, knives and towels that "walk".

Kettle, toaster, microwave, WiFi, TV's, cisterns, are all checked at changeover.

As standard they get two sponges, cleaning cloth, mini washing-up liquid, guest soap, 6 Tbags, sachet of fresh coffee, 2 bottles of water, pack of juice cartons, milk, bottle of wine, 2 bog rolls, 6 dishwasher tablets.

Kettle and toaster are basics but I agree if there was an aga toaster grid, a toaster isn't necessary although why an aga is needed to be on in summer if it doesn't join up with the hearing is beyond me.

I'd put in a complaint and make the best of it op. You can boil water for tea/coffee in a saucepan; you can use a hand towel instead of an oven glove. Who needs a TV on holiday? Can a laptop not suffice if there's WiFi?