Sykes Cottages Drama

[winewellies]

Anyone had any positive dealings with Sykes Cottages ?
We've paid a £3deposit for a July holiday with the remaining balance of £800

Arrrgh hit post button by mistake!

So ... they're saying we have to pay the rest as normal , then if Lockdown continues we can amend the booking to another date , but has to be the same property and that property is fully booked for the Summer 2021 .

Or we can amend the booking before then (same rules as above) but we can't do that 'due to demand etc etc' til after the date the full balance is due , if we don't pay the full balance , we have to pay the 'normal' deposit of £250 as a fine for cancelling/non payment .. and lose the booking

Feel like I am being conned .. are we not entitled to a refund ?

It all depends on what their terms and conditions say. sykes seem to be taking a much tougher line than other companies and if their t's and c's so amendments only then thats what is on offer. also if you choose not to travel now and the dates you are supposed to be staying are outside of the lockdown period then this is a disinclination to travel on your part so if you cancel then they might not be obliged give you anything or let you rebook. you need to carry on paying and just see where things are in July to protect at least some of the money spent.

I have a house let through Sykes, and this is my first season. My first booking was for this weekend. My guests have either been refunded their money, or changed their dates. Sykes have been in a difficult position in that the deposit is basically their commission (and thus the money that runs the business) and the balance once received is paid to the cottage owners. Apparently many owners have refused to return this money even though the property is not going to be occupied.

I have an email from Sykes saying that instead of paying the balance in advance to the owners they are now going to pay it in arrears, for the next couple of months, I guess to alleviate this problem. So I guess if lockdown continues to your travel dates you will be able to get a refund.

It’s a difficult situation for everyone, and entirely new operating conditions are needed, and to a certain extent Sykes are caught in the middle trying to keep both guests and cottage owners happy.

Thanks for the replies .. like you say it seems legally we have to make the final payment in the next 5 weeks or else we forfeit the booking, as long as Sykes offer a credit (such as a 2021 booking as per their terms and conditions ) then legally that's enough , which doesn't seem fair
So would the owner normally receive that money 6 weeks before the booking ? The property we are booked to stay at shows as fully booked from now til Dec 2021 which seems a bit odd
We have travel insurance through Sykes but it doesn't sound like this situation is covered

I’m not sure a credit is enough if the country is still under lockdown, I’m pretty sure it then amounts to a frustrated contract, and you will be entitled to your money back, which is why Sykes are not giving the money to the cottage owners now, in case the owners keep it.

Ah right @Molecule that makes sense , happy to pay as long as we get a refund if it can't happen

Yes, you're entitled to a refund under the Consumer Act 2015 if they are not able to offer you the house.

I would make it clear to them that you are aware of this fact and will expect them to refund if the booking were not to go ahead.

It may well be that you can go though.

DP booked a house for a week in July, for a holiday with more family members; paid a deposit of £450 plus insurance. I can't imagine we'll be going, but Sykes say we'll lose the deposit unless we change the booking date. We've no idea if we'd be able to go next year; we're an older couple and I had treatment for cancer last year; we're not able to plan that far ahead.
Sykes are getting a real pasting on social media - I think they might have to rethink their stance on this.

Oh god we are booked in with them in July too....

Oh and the insurance doesn't seem to be any use either!

I think until it is official policy that there is to be no travel in July very few companies will be giving refunds. At the moment your holiday can still go ahead, so if you want to change/cancel you will be bound by the terms and conditions. Insurance aren’t going to pay out because you think you may not be able to travel.

It’s a difficult time for all, but I’m not sure Sykes deserve to be pasted for this. They do have a business to run, and if everyone gets a refund now, on holidays which may be able to go ahead I imagine they will end up running out of money pretty soon.

Sykes Customer Service is fairly pants from my experience .. they are insistent that we pay in full but don't answer any direct questions about whether we'd get a refund, their travel insurance only kicks in on departure day so doesn't cover this until that date ...and in the press release they just say in the event of travel restrictions 'we are working with owners to facilitate a cash refund for most of the holiday' ..most ?
We aren't 'allowed' to amend or change dates as the property is unavailable for the rest of this year and next and we can't transfer to another property , but please pay in full ?!

I live local to their city centre Head Office in Chester and the local press is covering it a lot. There's cases that have been cancelled in March and April where no refunds or only a part refund has been given and Im not sure there's any recourse like there is with ABTA protected businesses, it seems legally were bound by their terms and conditions and that's that.

This is essentially what they offer ...(but to same property only)

As I said further up some property owners have been refusing to give refunds and so Sykes have been caught in the middle, hence now paying owners in arrears rather than ahead of the rental period. I guess that Sykes need to reassure both property owners and guests that this money is separate to Sykes’s own money and will be returned to the appropriate party if the holiday cannot take place.

I am not here to defend Sykes but I imagine with few holidays being booked they will be having cash-flow issues and are attempting to mitigate them by appearing inflexible.

We had a similar type of holiday booked through a different firm for August but abroad. We decided to cancel now and forfeited our deposit, which was £200 rather than pay another £1200 and risk not getting anything back. It's so tricky.

@Molecule I do understand they must be caught in the middle, but it's unnerving that they seem so 'hard luck' about it all

@Bobbybobbins I'm just looking at other places now and their cancellation policies I may take/pay the loss and divert the £800 towards another booking that will allow a refund or open transfer in case of non travel ... it's all a bit of a gamble though
Just unnerves me that the Sykes property we have booked seems to have gone offline completely

As holiday rental property owner (not with Sykes - wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole) I can assure you that most of the 3rd party companies ie AirBnB & HomeAway/Owners Direct take your deposit and your balance payment and hold it all until the first working day of your arrival before releasing to the property owner which then takes 3-5 working days to arrive. It is not uncommon for the guests to have arrived, stayed & left before we get paid.
We have just invested in an insurance policy which now protects every new booking with 100% guaranteed refund so if you are looking to book in the UK and fancy a holiday cottage in Scotland with hot tub and beach + 100% risk free booking do get in touch....www.kintyreholidays.co.uk

@TattingerFizzer Wow that looks fab .. Point House would suit us perfectly , probably be 2021 now but will definitely be in touch .. what's the best time of year would you say (factoring in school holidays)

Now I've learnt about the likes of Sykes I'm
Never using a third party booking platform again , everyone ends up paying more or earning less .. and then when something goes wrong there's no protection anyway