I was due to go away at the end of April to a cottage for a large family holiday to celebrate a special birthday to the value of almost £2000. Despite the government announcing towards the start of April that travel would not be allowed on the dates of our booking due to lockdown, we have still not received a refund on the full balance that has been paid. At first, we were being pushed to change the dates of the booking until next year which we did not wish to do. Eventually Sykes agreed to refund us the balance, but this was dependant on the cottage owner receiving 'funds from the government' that were due in June to enable them to cover the refund. To be reasonable given the situation, we waited until the last week in June for an update as we had not heard anything further and we had not received the refund. On chasing this up, we were advised the payment would be refunded to the original payment method by the 28th June as the owner had confirmed they were now able to make the payment. In the meantime, I received a further email from Sykes asking if I wished to be refunded the total amount or if I wished for them to retain the sum of the commission for a future booking to which we responded on the same day again asking for a full refund. I have since contacted Sykes again as the funds were not received by the 28th June as previously advised. I have now been told it will take up to another 30 days for a refund and there has been no acknowledgement of the previous email stating the cottage owner was now able to repay the money. Although they have been quick in responding to my emails, I feel that having to wait three months for a refund and the misleading information I have been given about the time scales for the refund is unbelievably poor. I have no confidence based on this that the refund will be received in the next 30 days and I would not use Sykes again because of this. Particularly as other holiday companies have treated their customers in a much better way.