“The listing for Seaview cottage on North Yorkshire was inaccurate. It said space for one car. We even checked with the letting agents who run the property if space was big enough for a 5 series and they said yes. Arrived, space barely big enough for a smart car. Road a disaster (but weather to blame there). Car gets damaged underneath due to awful concrete lip. Can barely fit car in space. Park car on public road as advised by letting agent. Car gets vandalised by farmer who took great umbrage to ‘all these people buying up our properties and renting them out for profits.’ Car window scrawled all over with a sharpie. Cottages.com refuse to acknowledge a) difference in listings by them and letting agent, b) inaccuracy of ,opting that lead to awful vandalism and damage to our car. Awful customer service.”
“We have often used this company, but sadly they have REALLY let us down this time. And I feel that all we wanted was an acknowledgement that the listing they had created for the cottage we booked, was inaccurate. We persued this issue as we thoguthit was imprant for other that would book after us.
We booked Seaview Cottage in North Yorkshire for a week. The listing clearly said, 'parking for one car'. Not one small car, one car. WE have a 5 series so it's not even a massive 4x4. When we arrived, we saw that the space was barely big enough for a smart car. Concrete lips on the space made it difficult to get in and out of the spot. During the stay the owner clearly saw the issue and removed 3 posts next to the space.
We were told we could park at the top of the track, out of the way of any vehicles. When we returned next day, we found our car had been vandalised with a sharpie pen, telling us not to park on the (perfectly legally usable) track. We spoke to a local farmer who admitted he had done it as he was 'sick and tired of people buying up local properties and renting them out for a massive profit.'
Skip to our return and asking Cottages.Com /Awaze Vacation Rentals Ltd for support and advice only to be told, we should have checked the listing! The inaccurate listing.
Not even the courtesy of acknowledging the vandalism that was done to the car and the damage from the concrete lip in the parking space.”
“I booked a holiday and the balance was due to be taken on 28th June on my Santander card. Today I noticed the money hadn't gone out of the account, so I investigated further. Rang the company. They said they'd notified me on that day that my payment had been declined and I needed to make payment that day. I was actually away at the time, but there was ample money in my account. They said they'd had to cancel the holiday, but could reinstate it if I paid an extra £55. I paid it because I felt we had to, ie might not get another cottage at short notice. Have since contacted Santander who tell me that no attempt was made to take the money from my account. Is this a scam to get extra money??”
“The absolute WORST PLACE I have ever been to. Do NOT book with this company. The host was hostile, manipulative and was verbally abusive to me and my friend. This place is called Prince Land Lodge in Coupar Angus. Not only has Feefo (the company they use to do reviews) are refusing to give me an email so I can review my stay on the website, I have been refused any compensation for my disgusting stay. They are extremely hard to get hold of with little to no customer service. I waited over a month to get a refund from a stay. The host was not only incredibly verbally abusive, shouting at us to our face to tell her ‘all the positive things about our stay’ or she wouldn’t leave us alone. She then ENTERED THE PROPERTY whilst we were out on a walk!! Without a phone call or text. She entered the property because there was an ant problem but I already texted her prior to this telling her and I called up cottages.com TWICE saying I don’t need them to come in it’s not an emergency. Cottages.com will allow the host to come in to your stay while you’re out and do who knows what?! Without your permission! DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY. THEIR LOWER PRICES ARENT WORTH IT. If you have an issue - NOTHING WILL BE DONE. We wasted over £600!!!”
“I have just read some reviews and I am truly shocked.
I rent 4 or 5 cottage every year with them and have never had a bad
Experience. All the cottages have been clean and well presented.
I must be very lucky”
“Booked a cottage in Wadebridge Cornwall with cottages.com and looked nothing like the pictures provided all overgrown outside dirty inside full of cob weds
Mould on walls in daughters bedroom, windows needed a good clean looked as if hadn’t been cleaned in a few months
Very unfriendly staff when had to call them very unhelpful definitely wouldn’t book with them again”
“Beware of shoddy admin!! Had a family stay in a barn conversion in Welland Nr Malvern that was very successful except for the poor cleaning that had been carried out at the property before arrival. On return raised issue with Cottages.com (not a complaint but just observation) and it promised to get back to me asap. Not a word from Cottages .com by phone or email!!! Also made enquiry of its nominated insurer about small claim , and despite chasing, no action!!!”
“The cottage I rented was dirty and full of left over items, including toe nails, out of date food and personal items. When I complained to cottages.com they said they were only the marketing and booking agent. They passed my complaint to the owner who refused to take responsibility for anything. They then gave me a voucher as ‘a goodwill gesture’, so I could book another holiday through them! Unfortunately I haven’t been able to upload the photos I have but there are many!”
“Cottages.com is now run by a company called Awaze. As you can see from the reviews, it has gone downhill of late. I had a holiday booked for this summer, 2024. We had arranged for automatic payment to be made. Instead of taking the money, they cancelled the holiday, giving us only an afternoon's notice and charged us an extra £100 for the cancellation. When I tried to resolve the matter, they said they would charge me an extra £50 to restore the holiday. When I refused to pay anything extra, they literally ignored all of my further attempts to resolve the matter and sent threatening emails requesting the cancellation fee.
This is a company that I will be staying well clear of in the future.”
“arrived at Westfield Isle of Wight. Horrified to find dilapidated and scruffy exterior. Inside hallway tiny, dingy and in appalling decorative condition. Overwhelmed by the most nauseating smell of damp and must. Evidence of botched repairs on significant fixtures. i.e. duct tape holding glass panes in front and back door. Wobbly veranda railing held up with rusty and corroded fittings. Outside found live electricity cables running across entrance path at very least a trip hazard apart from electrocution risk. expecting stream in garden but not sewer with no lid just covered with chicken wire [which had large hole in centre] and a random piece of garden fence placed loosely over top. Toilet flushing could be heard. Each of rooms were equally disappointing. food crumbs on kitchen worktops and table. dirty toaster and kettle. Loft sitting room had stained and shabby sofas. Large dead blue bottles encased in light fittings. Bathroom had dirty glass fittings, tiles, dirty grout and silicone. Had no immediate choice but to stay. Didnt know island and we had our dog with us. Contacted Cottages.com next working day and complained. We then began to make arrangements to leave. We spent next few hours cleaning to provide ourselves with sanitised space. We have lots of photos but only managed to get 3 uploaded
We asked for a full refund. Cottages.com offered £97 "compensation" We declined but this was ignored and this money paid into our account. Cottages. com then declared case closed. We are now being gaslighted being told owners were upset by our complaint!!! Now call centre staff are hiding behind a wall of silence. We have found out that their internal procedures dictate staff do not speak with complaining customers. COTTAGES .COM THIS DISASTER IS ENTIRELY DOWN TO YOU AND YOUR ADVERTISING. WE BOOKED, AND PAID THROUGH YOU. WE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN FACED WITH THIS. WE ARE PURSUING A FULL REFUND. Next step ABTA and Ombudsman. Sharing this as a warning for anyone booking this property or booking with Cottages.com. You see a rather ugly side to this company when things have gone wrong. This company does not care.”
“Can’t find a phone number to talk to a person. Booked many cottages with them, always good. They sent me a voucher but chat bot says I can’t use it online, what other way is there?
Disappointed customer at lack of communication”
“Booked a late holiday for next week received e mail confirmation saying register to download booking details website won’t allow me to register so I don’t know how to gain entry to the property I have rang ten times no one answers the phone. No e mail address to contact cottages.com absolutely disgrace DO NOT BOOK WITH COTTAGES .COM”
“In late March we booked a house to visit Chester for a trip about 2 and a half weeks away. Two days later my mum died suddenly, so that same morning I canceled the trip as we were grieving and I needed to care for my family.
Explained the situation to cottages.com, even providing a death certificate to show I was being truthful. I wanted a refund of the £400 as we aren't able to travel anytime soon, had only just booked less than 48 hours before and there was still ample time for soemone else to book the property.
Cottages.com offered us to change our booking but refused our refund, telling us we should have booked the travel insurance if we wanted a total refund.
I don't care about policy, we have been through an awful situation that I wouldn't wish on anyone and cottages.com simply didn't care, they'd rather keep hold of £400 than show a tiny bit of human decency. Had they helped me out I would have been a customer for life and spent far more than £400 in future. Now I wouldn't ever use them again and will never recommend them to anyone else.
I've since sent seversl emails to cottages.com asking them to reconsider, however these emails have been ignored completely.
A greedy, shameless, callous organisation. Avoid like the plague.”
“I am desperately trying to cancel a holiday booked for mid July. I cannot get hold of anyone by phone and there is no email address. I will continue calling but judging by the other reviews here I will not be able to get through. The customer service robot is utterly useless and the website says that it is easy to get information about cancellation and then when you find the section on the site it just says contact us, but doesn't say how....
Non existant customer service.”
“End of last year booked holiday cottage for July this year. Have now found out the property we have booked is up for sale. Tried to contact cottages.com by phone to find out what's going on - kept on hold for ages without a response. Tried their live chat, told no one available. Tried DM via Facebook - no reply. Tried DM on Twitter - no reply. Non-existent customer service which is extremely concerning.”
“Regrettably we had to cancel our booking way before the final payment was due. We had paid a low deposit £25, on a total holiday cost of £475, and when we cancelled we were told to pay another £148.75. There were no details on the booking confirmation that any additional charges would be required to cancel, if done before the final payment was due. We had expected to lose the £25. In their small print, which is not included in the booking information, a figure of 25% is mentioned which would be £118.75 - £25 already paid, would equal £93.75, not the £148.75 which they took in order to cancel. It is a waste of time trying to phone as it’s all automated and nobody ever phones back.”
“A friend and I booked cottage in Tenbury Wells advertised for 4 people. Definitely not - second bedroom could only hold a double bed - no storage - and a dining chair, which had to be carried down an extremely steep flight of stairs to make up enough seating for 4 people. The table was not the one pictured in the details. It was sited in the alcove under the stairs and would have to be pulled out into the kitchen to make room to sit. Three people would have to sit together on the small settee with the fourth the other side of the room on a single chair. antiquated, inefficient log burner, shed with extra logs etc padlocked so couldn't replenish logs. No firelighters or matches although said there was - we had to buy our own. No secure outside space for a dog, no garden furniture and we wouldn't have used it anyway as it would have been like sitting in a gravelled car park. Details very misleading. The very steep stairs should have been mentioned, especially for elderly people. The TV difficult to operate. The freezer compartment in the fridge was very iced up and needed defrosting. No rug o the lounge floor, only tiles. I would not recommend this property at all. Should have been advertised for only 3 people and instead of the second double bed, a single and storage would have been better. We have been self catering for over 60 years and this was the worst property we have ever stayed in. Old fashioned hotch potch of furniture not worth the money.
VERY DISAPPOINTED would not use this holiday agent again.”
“Terrible customer service. Never pick up their phone. Tried five times for 30 minutes each time. Arrived at our holiday in Wharfedale Lodge Thornton Clsveleys. One bedroom infested with bed bugs. No refund as yet of the refund we need for the £695 wasted. Did not stay one night. No holiday.”
