Holiday From Hell - Live

[Bartlebum]

Please help!

It's my nan's 80th birthday and we have arranged for 29 of us to come to North Devon for a weekend to celebrate. Arrived at 3pm to boiler faults in our cottage, no heating and no hot water. Immediately reported and the owner did not reply.

We have seven cottages in total and as everyone arrived we realised all of them are out, so we checked the gas tanks for the whole property and they are empty.

I have been calling the booking agent we went through who said they won't deal with this guy anymore as he has had nothing but complaints, so have terminated the contract.

As we paid them I have asked them to sort it so they said they will do what they can to get in touch with him.

It's been 2.5 hours and no progress. 29 people, two elderly, 7 children and one with a disability. I have asked them to find alternative accomodation but they said its not on them, it's on the owner of the property who is not contactable.

I don't know what to do. There is no one on site as it was all done via key codes. The owner lives several hours away in London, we are freezing and can't begin celebrating my nan turning 80 on what should have been an amazing occasion. We literally stayed here two years ago and had the most amazing time but it's changed hands and not been maintained to any standard.

Anyone been in a similar situation? I've been nice to the agents and I don't want to kick off but I can't believe they won't help me.

Your contract is with the agent, what an awful situation. Good old rip off Britain. If they say they don't deal with the owner then when did they stop dealing with the owner. If there's mould prevalent then the agents clearly haven't been doing their job. Mould doesn't appear overnight. Hopefully you've paid on credit card and can take this further. Please post agents details.

Yes, time to name names.

Do people really just read the first post and then comment without seeing if there were any updates? I suppose they must do.

Lovely to read the updates obvs.
I do hope rest of your time together is happy.

It is quite a long thread to wade through...that's why the 'see all' function is so informative.

Good result in the end

If the booking agent arranged the accommodation initially and then terminated their contract with the property owner, they likely still have some responsibility, especially if they accepted payment from you for the booking.
In such a situation, the booking agent may still be accountable for ensuring that you are provided with suitable accommodation or reimbursed for any expenses incurred due to the failure of the original booking. It's essential to emphasize this to the booking agent and insist that they take action to resolve the situation.
You can argue that since you made the booking through the agent and paid them, they have a duty to either secure alternative accommodation for you or provide a refund. Keep pushing them to fulfill their obligation to you as their customer. If they continue to refuse assistance, you may need to escalate the matter further, possibly seeking legal advice or involving consumer protection agencies. Although this late on in the proceedings if you haven't done so already, I would be surprised.

I’d definitely try and find a solution now. Ie buying your own gas or heaters I’d even break the lock for the logs, then deal with getting your money back later. Definitely take it to an ombudsman etc etc you should get a full refund

Also if any of you paid by credit card contact them asap I’d even ring your bank too, worth a try since you have purchased something not as described

So glad you are finally at a fabulous place and hoping everyone is settled and having a fab time. I would love to know both locations as we go away with dhs family once a year and there's 22 of us now and it's getting harder to find a place 😂 Would hate to end up somewhere grotty. We have been in some interesting locations over the years 😂 We've been on farms and all sorts to accommodate us all. We also have a few dogs amongst us 😂 Have a great weekend xxxx

Take pictures video footage take court when back get money back. Write down all do

If the company is in a trade association such as ABTA, the TTA or the Global Travel Group you should contact them for advice. If not you should contact Citizens Advice online or by phone on 08454 040506.

Still not reading the thread or even just the OP updates.

It is 28 hours since the OP posted, do you not think that she maybe sorted by now!

So glad you’ve had a result- the new place sounds amazing!! Have a wonderful time!!

If it's Sykes you can kiss your money goodbye.
They are awful, they accept no responsibility.
So sorry for you, our wedding anniversary was ruined at a place in the Lakes. We had to go home early, I suggest you do the same and sadly write it off to experience

Oh wow so glad they came through for you in the end . Have a great stay .
From South Devon !

@Idtotallybangdreamoftheendlessnotgonnalie

BINGO!

I'm sitting in a roll top bath enjoying a nice break from all the partying as I was still feeling stressed today despite it all working out. It's so much better now, i wish this weekend was longer!

I wasn't going to share the details until the weekend was over but I will do once we are out of here.

The agents and the new owners have been great so I will make sure I leave them sparkling reviews. The old place, I have added to the pile of one stars on Google... It was in Coombe Martin x

I KNEW IT! Honestly they're absolute scum. The place is absolutely heinous, it's such a shame. Have you seen their trip advisor? The guy who bought it a few years ago has absolutely run the place into the ground.

The website is bloody beautiful, but if you sort trip advisor by most recent you can see it's absolute false advertising- lots of negative reviews peppered with some fake 5* ones he's done himself.... He's really good at that. You watch, if he realises he's been outed on here I bet there will be some "positive review" replies from first time posters!

My friends booked 4 cottages for a week with Sykes (big family of 20 or so), but didn't get a penny back. I'm glad you got out of there.

Interesting reviews. You can see clearly when they passed to new owners in spring 2022 and the reviews fall off a cliff.

Edited - are we allowed to post the link? Who knows. I deleted it anyway.

I'm really hoping that you're in River Hall, but i think that is further than the 'next town'.

Book hotel next time rentals are mainly money grabbers not in the hospitality trade don't care unless getting the money or they would rent out the house permanently

I see what you mean about the recent 5 star trip advisor reviews from people with just one contribution to the website… very sneaky

Glad you’re enjoying your weekend now.

sorry to hear about this. If you paid by credit card I would personally have emailed to cancel with the agents and requested a refund you should be able to claim back on credit card insurance if you paid via credit card if nothing comes from agents. You’re not getting the service you have paid for. And if you have the immediate budget find somewhere else to book. You may want to speak to a legal adviser or financial expert however as I am not legally or financially trained but have used my credit card company to claim back on botched holidays before.

I don't think I've ever seen so many damning trip advisor reviews and photos!