“This cottage is being mis sold to potential renters.”
The list of issues seems relentless, The lighting in the property was really poor with many lights not working, those that worked put out a dim grungy light in all rooms.
The furniture was mostly damaged, with a caster missing off a chair! and a random 'dentist chair' torn ripped and beyond any real use. The sofa was also ripped. The kitchen was a haven for germs with unsealed concrete worktops making it difficult to clean, and again poor lighting in the kitchen with a further light not ...
The list of issues seems relentless, The lighting in the property was really poor with many lights not working, those that worked put out a dim grungy light in all rooms.
The furniture was mostly damaged, with a caster missing off a chair! and a random 'dentist chair' torn ripped and beyond any real use. The sofa was also ripped. The kitchen was a haven for germs with unsealed concrete worktops making it difficult to clean, and again poor lighting in the kitchen with a further light not working. We had limited cutlery with only 1 dessert spoon 2 soup spoons and a tea spoon for 1 week.
The TV was impossible to get a signal on, we gave up on it after the first night as it constantly pixelated and rebooted minute by minute, there was an aerial which seemed to be just an ornament as this did nothing to alleviate the problems. There is then technically NO wifi so it should not be advertised as such! This is the first time I have ever seen a clock that was bigger than the TV!
There were DVD's and videos supplied but nothing to actually play them on. (it stated there was a DVD player) A pack of cards could have been an idea for entertainment at least!
The internal staircase up to the ''loft'' was some hand built contraption that is unlikely to have passed any building regulations and is likely hazardous to residents as the lower half has no hand rails.
The outside light never worked, The bathroom smelt of damp,The loo seat was loose, The toaster only worked on one side.
A lot of these issues were raised by previous renters over a year ago but not addressed by you the cottages owners. The front step was loose causing my partner with low mobility to trip,The path to the cottage is uneven with trip hazards mainly a raised gas manhole, and a slope down to the cottage with no handrail, Again not ideal for anyone with mobility issues or young children. We used Mobile phone torches to see our way to the door at night.
The floors in the cottage are all concrete with no coverings so not ideal again for young children or babies. (details of cottage says baby friendly, I would never put a child in this property ever!!
The property on the surface looks clean but the more you look the more you realise how dirty the actual building is. I lost an earring under the bed in the first bedroom, it was clear that this had NEVER been cleaned, things were growing under it.
In the end we chose to stay out as long as we could only sleeping in the building.
This property is being advertised a ''Stunning contemporary cottage''. Sadly it is far from this. We reached out to Sykes on a few occasions who also tried to contact the owners. Unsurprisingly the owners did not respond to Sykes (SIC) or us, or pop over to see for themselves.
This property is really not suitable for rental until the owners actually spend some money on issues that have been reported to Sykes for over a year.
Sykes need to actually do a site visit to address these issues as the owners seem to have no intention to address even the simplest issues like replacing a toaster.
Sadly our 35th wedding anniversary holiday which we were so looking forward to was a great disappointment and all we took away from this week was eye strain and tension headaches. That is why we are in the process of claiming a full refund through our Bank as luckily we paid on our credit card!
I suggest you go onto the Sykes website, read the reviews, and spend a week dealing with all these issues and then reopen as a safer place.
I’m so sorry you had a terrible stay. We were called by Sykes on the 26th September (four days into your stay) and they told us of this issues you were experiencing. We messaged and called you on the same day offering to come & take a look at the issues you were experiencing. David came to knock on on 4 separate occasions - with no response. Unfortunately, you never responded to our messages or our direct attempts to resolve the reported issues despite multiple attempts.
It’s a very sad day when people complain but don’t give a chance for a small family run business to put things right. In respect of previous reviews - unfortunately, there are situations where as a review led business we are threatened by customers that if we don’t provide a full refund or discounts they will leave unkind reviews. It is a very sad state of affairs but one which we live with everyday.
Property Owner