i Tried contacting Sykes Cottages to cancel our holiday, when I phoned I could never get through, their automated message was dial option 5 for ring back, that was the only option available, when I did this the service reply was “sorry your ring back request has not been accepted”. Emails were just as bad, I received a standard email telling me that standard cancellation rules apply”; any other emails I sent I received no reply at all. My husband and myself are shielding, we have been since the lockdown, I myself are in the clinically extremely vulnerable group” and this was the reason for me wanting to cancel. I paid a low deposit of £58, because it was low, there was a penalty of £238.00, as we could not contact them on several occasions, and they were making no attempt to contact us, because of our situation we decided to cancel. Sykes Cottages took the £58 deposit + £238 penalty charge for cancelling, total £296.00. It seemed we booked it, either cancel or take the holiday. The email we sent them stated for us not to contact them, as they were very busy sorting out people’s holidays, our holiday didn’t count then,?? There was a button to pay for the holiday, that was working, There was a button to change dates, this was NOT working. There was a button to cancel, that was working, but of course when I pressed the cancel button the amount that I had to pay was taken from my account straight away. I have looked at a lot of reviews on here, and I do not seem to be the only one that has a problem. I will never use Sykes Cottages again, and I certainly would not recommend them, their Customer Service is none existent, they are very quick to take the customers monies, but not to listen or help their customers in any way. A very poor holiday company, Sykes Cottages you should hang your head in shame, your hearts are in your wallets not for caring for your customers. I intend to seek further action it’s obvious they are not customer friendly.