Holiday Cottage Nightmare

[AuntySandrasDauphinois]

Please can someone tell me what you would do in this situation?

We arrived at our (much anticipated) holiday cottage yesterday to find that it absolutely stinks. I have febreezed every surface so many times and it still stinks. It's worse downstairs but still absolutely awful upstairs, so bad that I struggled to get to sleep last night. We have been out all day today and just got back and honestly I want to cry. More than £1000 we've paid for the week!

I spoke to the woman in the local shop (when I was buying the febreeze!) and she told us some of the local lads had been putting fish through the letterboxes of any known holiday lets. There was nothing to suggest that's what it was but the smell is very fishy/putrid. The village doesn't feel very welcoming to visitors- she also said last year someone had the wing mirrors broken off their car outside overnight!

The Cornish cottage company have been no help whatsoever- the woman laughed down the phone and told us the fish were an urban legend. There's no way to take a photo of the smell to try to claim a reduction. I don't even know if I can last the week. Currently sat in the garden having a glass of wine but I'm dreading having to go inside.

If anyone has any suggestions bar more febreeze please please let me know. I'm trying to be lighthearted about it but I'm devastated. We drove for 6 hours to get here, I'm so exhausted with it.

Good housek says to boil a mix of white vinegar and water on the stove for a few minutes. Lemon juice and water also a neutralises

Do you have details of the actual owner, they have a better interest in having happy guests. Try to contact the owner.

If you can not contact the owner, get back to the agency.
Most agencies have a list of things that the property/owner will provide - look at the terms and find as much info as you can and EMAIL the agency (so you have everything in writing).

Tell them what is wrong and what you expect them to do. Give them a timescale too.

I am sorry that this has happened to you. I am an owner and most of us really do care.

She's on holiday 🙄

Have you checked if it was a dog friendly place? Once, we stayed somewhere where the people before us had had dogs and everything spelt of wet dog.

Sniff the electrics. Plugs, switches and light sockets.

Check lettings website for their complaints policy and follow their process.
Is the lettings agency part of a wider licencing body....contact them.
Call Consumer helpline tomorrow: Citizens Advice 0808 223 1133
Not an issue for you t resolve.
I would steer away from this idea of locals taking action.....just focus on smell and how they must resolve it.
Good luck!

Can you identify where the smell is coming from ? Who did you rent it from ?

seriously check for prawns in the curtains !

Make a formal complain, leave bad reviews on any booking sites they are on and tell them you will be taking it and raise a case on resolver.

resolver holiday lets complains and rights

Create a paper trail continuously for the week as back up to a smalls court claim when you get home, if they don't take action.

Also, keep the receipt of all the air fresheners or whatever you buy to get rid of the smell and send a copy to the agents for reimbursement. You shouldn't have to bring the property to an acceptable standard. It's their job.

Not the Parisians. Mind you, they hate everyone

stuckonanlnertrainagain · Today 22:35
Maybe look for ethical/responsible tourism in the future?

What does this look like in the UK?

OP that's awful. Gutted for you.
Make sure you get the agents out and refuse to stay if need be!

Report them to trading standards if they don’t deal with it, and claim the money off your credit card or travel insurance if you have to leave the accommodation. I’d also get an independent witness to the smell. A local minister or neighbour?
We had a horrid smell in a holiday let in Norfolk once and got fobbed off initially, but it turned out to be a gas leak so we had to vacate for a day while they got someone round to fix it. They did eventually refund us money for the day we had no kitchen facilities and had to stay out of the accommodation.

Looking for a 3 bed house in village- avoid you are depriving a local of a home
3 bed conversion on a farm, 3 bed caravan or lodge them fine

Its pretty simple?

Have you tried running all taps, including bath and shower? Stale water in the traps (if the cottage wasn’t occupied for a few weeks) can absolutely reek. While it shouldn’t be your problem to solve, you don’t want to spend the first days of your holidays in a battle, so try this and a few simple (cheap) odour eliminating ideas to get you through the next day.

Sniff the bed if the smell is worse upstairs. I once had to demand a new room in a hotel because the mattress of the bed stank of BO. Nothing is going to get rid of the smell if it's coming from the furniture

I certainly wouldn’t have fabreezed it or bought candles to mask the smell. It’s not your issue to resolve. I can’t believe people are saying to leave windows open, use vinegar etc.

I would have insisted someone came out immediately to inspect the property and if they didn’t, found a hotel and stayed there until someone did, informing them very firmly that the accommodation they had sold to you was uninhabitable, was a health and safety hazard as the smell was making you feel ill, could be fumes, electrics or hygiene and you’d be claiming for the difference in cost, and a refund, and reporting to environmental health.

Just find a hotel and leave now. Straight onto them tomorrow and say the above. Make sure you’re there when they go to property. I’d be absolutely raging and take no shit especially after the woman laughed.

Hopefully you paid by credit card? Always. always pay by credit card for anything costing over £100 especially holidays.

I've had a dead mouse it was under the bed. God it was awful

You sound like such a lovely holiday let owner. Do you have any availability left this summer?

OP I really feel for you. I booked somewhere last year in Cornwall through an owners site for me and my DC. It took 12 hours to get there and it was so awful I cried. Damp, smelly, broken beds, dirty carpets and sofa. We left after two nights and came home. The owner ignored all of my calls and emails. My kids were so disappointed but even they didn't want to stay. The village we were in was also quite hostile. I don't think we'll go anywhere this year.

At least your let is through a company so complain and complain until they come and smell it or give you a refund.

This

Absolutely insist that a representative comes around first thing.

I wouldn’t do anything to eradicate the smell just yet, not until someone from the agency comes over to smell it for themselves. It’s not like mess or mould that you can photograph, like you said they need to smell it for themselves.
Ring them again or go in person and don’t let them fob you off.
It’s once they’ve done the sniff test and keeled over from the stench, is the time to throw everything at it…but I don’t think you should, it should be up to them to fix it or offer you a refund or other accommodation.

Ring the company again, insist on speaking to the manager, insist they visit and early so that you don't waste a days holiday waiting around for them. Ask for a solution and compensation.
Hope you get it sorted zop.

It must be gutting to have your much anticipated holiday of the year ruined.

This might be obvious but have you asked for a refund yet?

I am appalled that you are not being taken seriously. You have done enough calling. The next step is to email them setting out the issue, recording who and when you spoke to and their reaction and request that they provide you with alternative suitable accommodation immediately, failing which you require a full refund.

When you get back, pursue them in a small claims court.

And put bad reviews everywhere as other posters suggested.