Holiday cottage: what resolution would you expect?

[AmenAmin]

We’ve paid for a large holiday cottage, certainly at the higher price point. Lovely in many ways, but not happy with the cleaning. It’s otherwise beautiful

In the kitchen the dishwasher is unusable, it has a thick chalky residue. Most the crockery, cutlery and glassware is also covered. It’s not an easy wash off, I had to use vinegar on the cutlery and it requires a proper scrub. After a long drive I’m a bit annoyed at having a massive clean up. Even the kettle needed a scrub.

For extra annoyance it allows pets, and the kids have trodden in dog poo. It’s a tiny garden, but has about 3 poos. I’ve had to clean up.

I messaged on arrival, got a message the dishwasher would be sorted ‘asap’, but no comment on the washing pile I had to do before dinner. It’s a lovely place, just not checked. Even had to wash the cutlery tray in the drawer as it’s full of bits. Upstairs is clean and normal- I’m hardly precious about cleaning, but I’m annoyed at the kitchen.

Aibu in wanting the dishwasher done straight away, dog poo collecting and a clean of the crockery?

Sounds rubbish, did you take photos of everything that was wrong?

I’d be unhappy with the dog poo, particularly, but that’s the previous renters. Owner should have checked, truthfully, and needs to sort out the dishwasher.

Any chance the residue is lime scale? If you're in Norfolk, it's really bad at the moment. I'm descaling my kettle weekly and the dishwasher is definitely leaving residue even though we keep topping up the salt and rinse-aid.

Dog poo and food scraps is not acceptable though.

I would expect them to fix it today. I wouldn’t expect compensation.

I’d expect an apology and for the dishwasher to be useable but not any financial resolution.

I don’t want compensation, I just don’t want to be someone else’s cleaner.

It could be limescale, but it’s a soft water area so would be a massive build up. I don’t have a dishwasher so I’m not familiar with what it is. It’s chalky I guess, white and very hard to remove.

They've not used rinse aid (what comes in the tablets isn't enough) and I doubt they've got the salt level right either.

The machine hasn't been maintained/operated properly

I would expect something actually,

Don't know what but I would expect the place to have been thoroughly checked before new arrivals

Overall I guess they employ a cleaner who is doing their best, clean bathrooms, beds etc but simply doesn’t have enough hours to check other things.

I'd expect them to offer to send someone to sort it out ASAP.

A couple of months ago I hired a holiday cottage that wasn't clean - I found some chocolate wrappers under the coffee table, a few spill stains on the wooden floor etc. Enough to tell me it hadn't had a thorough clean downstairs although the beds were thankfully clean.

I emailed them and they offered to send a cleaner within a couple of hours but I didn't want someone intruding when we were there, I just wanted to make them aware. I did receive a big hotel chocolat selection and an apology card the next morning which was nice.

Sounds if it needs salt and rinse aid topped up in the dishwasher - irritating but minor. Dog poo not nice but easily cleared up (by yourself).

Annoying and worth mentioning so the owner knows, but I wouldn't let it spoil my holiday or expect compo if everything else ok. These things happen.

I feel you have dismissed the bit where I said I had to wash everything before I could use it for dinner. It’s the middle of nowhere, no rinse aid.

Also, picking up dog poo is really quite gross as a non dog owner

I would be livid about the dog poo, it being a health hazard.

I work in this business and it’s totally unacceptable OP. The cottage was not properly cleaned and the dishwasher has not been maintained properly.

I would ask for small refund in view of the time and inconvenience of cleaning the property when you arrived. I would also reference the cleaning in the review.

Rusty… that’s beyond a rinse add issue (it is rust)

I would be absolutely furious about the poo, can't believe people are suggesting it's nothing! I would demand another cleaner come round today and sort out the problems

I think this is very poor to be honest.

It's still quite early in the holiday season, so I'd not expect to have to scrub the kettle etc.

And the dishwasher obviously needs a top up of rinse aid - is it provided? Was the cutlery all unusable? Or just not as shiny as you'd hope? Is the knife a fair representation of all of the equipment?

And I'd be horrified by the dog poo. No way would I expect to have to pick it up myself. I am not a dog owner, mainly because I don't want to pick up poo.

Having said that, I always book accommodation that states it doesn't take pets.

I think an apology and quick rectification would be reasonable to expect. I don't think this merits a financial compensation, but would be pleasantly surprised if it were offered.

Unusable. I’m the kind of person totally happy with holiday caravans and I don’t fuss about a wipe around. It’s way below the standards of parkdean

Lots of places with dishwashers have those slightly misted-looking glasses and cutlery. It seems to go with having a dishwasher. (I don't have one). That rusty knife looks like a Victorinox one. Probably good quality steel but inclined to go a bit rusty if not used regularly. It won't harm you.

So what do you want, OP? You say you don't want compensation and you don't intend to ask for it. You have a number of options:

a) Push for a small reduction in light of the unpleasantness and inconvenience
b) Get over it and get on with your holiday and be grateful for the great weather and the clean beds etc
c) Continue in whinge-mode and let it ruin your holiday

You can choose how you respond to this irritating but fairly minor setback. You can choose to remain indignant and whiny or you can put it behind you and move on. Staying on here, complaining, may make it difficult to move on.

A white residue and rusty cutlery could be that it is on the wrong salt setting or someone topped up the salt and left loads in the bottom last time it was run?

I would expect them to send someone ASAP and apologise. For it to be good customer service, it would be nice if they refunded any cleaning fees (why should you pay to have someone clean the flat when you leave if it wasn't clean when you arrived?) or offered a token payment of £25 to make up for your wasted time, ie enough for a takeaway so you can gain back the lost time.

We recently had holiday renters run out of hot water. I think they just used it up and the tank's not massive. I got the agent to tell them how to use the immersion heater and asked the agent to provide a gift - wine/chocs/flowers - up to £100

"Aibu in wanting the dishwasher done straight away, dog poo collecting and a clean of the crockery?"

Yes 🤣

And you've shown 1 photo of 1 dirty knife. Where is the rest?

No you are not being unreasonable, I would have walked out at the sight of dog shit, and gross kitchen. Please leave a review so I can avoid it.

I would want a thorough clean immediately. And send pictures of the grime. That is disgusting

I certainly wouldn’t be picking up dog poo or expecting to clean every item in the kitchen I wanted to use. I’d expect a cleaner or the owner to be out within an hour or two to rectify the issues and maybe a nice bottle of wine as a sorry tbh.

If they left it over 24hours I’d want a hefty discount and I’d still be leaving a meh review.