SINGLED OUT & LET DOWN We booked Padley Barn in Swaledale for a small group including an NHS worker, and a frontline worker before the lockdown was imposed, knowing it was coming, and anticipating when it would be lifted... expecting a break was going to be needed by then... All correct assumptions as it turns out. We had anticipated the reopening of by September, and there were NO OTHER bookings on the calendar of that property when we booked, and we got a cheap deal... note... no other bookings! 01/04/20 Booked. Booking Reference: 39J9O-20-EN Property Name: Padley Barn Property Reference: 20841 15/06/20 Sykes emailed: "the property you are staying in; the shared washing facilities room will be out of use and DVD's, Books, Games and Toys and soft furnishings will be reduced so there will be less cushions and throws. This is due to current Covid-19 cleaning guidance". 15/06/20 I replied asking for clarification on what they meant by 'shared washing facilities'... not all rooms are ensuite, and were all furnishings being removed? 17/06/20 "In the absence of a response (I realise your staffing is depleted, due to current circumstances) on reflection I think we require some clarification on what ‘the shared washing facilities room will be out of use’ means? Does this mean no washing machine, or a bathroom closed? Could you please clarify… we are paying a set price for a set service/facilities… if there is a significant reduction of said facilities, that would in my view constitute a breach of the contract?" 21/06/20 (the above got an 'URGENT' response) "PBN : 39J9O-20-EN The owner of Padley Barn has advised she is unable to accommodate your booking for 14th August as she has back to back bookings so is unable to guarantee the property is Covid secure. She is happy to offer you any alternative dates at the same price at no extra cost. Kind regards, Luke The Customer Relations Team 22/06/20 "Thank you for your correspondence regarding a booking of Padley Barn on the Friday 14th August, but I am unsure of the relevance of this to us. As you can see from my Booking confirmation, my booking made earlier in the year is for Friday 28th August till Friday 4th September 2020. The deposit of £256.90 has been paid and acknowledged, the booking has been confirmed, and I am due to pay the balance of £401.10 on or before Friday 17th July 2020; we have nothing booked on the 14th August!" (we booked before anyone else anyway) 23/06/20 "PBN : 39J9O-20-EN Thank you for your email. Apologies for the error in your booking dates as that should have said the 28th August 2020. Your booking was booked on 1/4/2020 when the lockdown was in its infancy stage and nobody was able to put a plan together to prevent this from happening at the time. Owners have different cleaning arrangements so we are unable to operate a 'one size fits all' policy on how a property must be ran from week to week. This is the responsibility of the owner to inform how it will work best for them which they have advised this can only be possible by not taking back to back bookings. As a result, this has left them with no choice but to cancel any bookings that arrive on the same day as a previous guest and have to leave a week in between bookings. The notification you received regarding the shared washing facility room being out of use, throws and soft furnishings, Books, DVDs, Games and Toys is simply that. They are unavailable due to current Covid cleaning guidance rules. Your booking is not confirmed and has been cancelled for 28th August 2020. If you can confirm any alternative dates that you can change to? Alternatively, you can transfer this towards another property for same dates or request a full refund." So NOT cancelling alternate bookings... simply TARGETING US ... leaving us with very little time to find an alternative, and much more expensive! It then took till the 9th July to get a refund! BEWARE SYKES COTTAGES - if they don't like a question, they'll dump you