“Booked a holiday on Air BnB. Was sent an email from Cottages.com to confirm the pets we were taking a week from the holiday start date. They then needed £25 per pet paying. An EXTRA CHARGE not clear when the booking was made. If I hadn't contacted them then no charge would have been made! Don't like the way this company operates with charges added at a later date. Be aware when booking you may be charged extra. Poor customer service from the man I spoke to, just after your money.”
“This was not good
I did contact the owner
I have tried to contact you
I was terribly ill whilst there
There were untold amount of flies
It smelt of urine
The kitchen had remains of toast over the counter
Because we booked five days Monday to Friday we actually only had three full days for over £1050. Extortionate
We actually left on Thursday evening as I was too unwell to stay
I could not breathe / asthmatic and it was either too many air fresheners in there ( which I did place outside after one day) which then allowed us to smell the urine
I did ask why so many and the reply was because previous occupants made a curry
But we arrived after 4pm the next day ? Surely a curry wasn’t being made before 10am when they departed ?
Anyway , money 💴 spent and had made me very wary of any further bookings with your company .
We have stayed at the lodore falls hotel which takes dogs and spent similar amount of money and this is a far better experience, clean beds and no signs of other people & their dogs . Ridiculous prices ! But the owners are so egotistical that they are fantastic, as all reviews published say this !! Total biased reviews! I am so not happy with this! My review has not been published and I feel I was fair with my review.
Cottages com you are also not good with reply’s!
Regards
Unwell from staying in one of your cottages !”
“We booked a small house in Southsea called Little Sage House; the woman who owned the house did not want to rent anymore. We did not find out until the morning of the booking. We only found out because we texted the woman to ask what time we could book in. Cottage.com were unhelpful, we stopped the fund transfer and told them and we found somewhere to stay the following day and booked the cottage.com had in fact taken the money and put me in a £900 overdraft. I expected them to pay for the overdraft and their response to my email was to refuse to communicate with me. Their behaviour has been unethical and disgraceful”
“We stayed in silver dawn , Norfolk
The furniture was tired
The outside table was broken
The mattresss were uncomfortable and one of the single ones was dirty
The glass on the cooker was held in with tape
The bathroom upstairs flooded due to a blocked plug and the water went into the downstairs wardrobe soaking all the clothes
The 8 seater boat that you advertise was a 6 seater
The radios had no batteries in them and no leads to plug them in
We have stayed previously but we’re very disappointed this time with the amount we paid
Not worth the money”
“stayed at Herons Haven in Paignton for a week, this is our second stay there.the apartment is lovely, well appointed and spotlessly clean, the location is spot on ...overlooking the harbour, nice covered seating area outside too. having a safe private car parking space is a big bonus as well.Chris & Vic the owners are a lovely couple, always on hand for anything and very friendly and sociable.We have now booked up for a third visit, lovely little gem of a place, you would not be disappointed in staying here, Dave & Tracey”
“My partner Viv lives in Bedford and I live in Swansea. Viv recently lost her much loved Dad and having been a carer for both her parents for the past 8 years is struggling at the moment.
She loves Wales and after much research booked a lovely peaceful cottage called Bwythn Berwig in Llanrhidian on the Gower Peninsular for a well needed break for peace and reflection in a lovely tranquil place. Bedford to Llanrhidian M1, M25, M4 is 230 miles each way. So by the time I get back to Swansea 920 miles in total !
I drove to Bedford on Thursday and we drove down to the cottage yesterday (Friday). We had official confirmation of AirB&B plus an official booking reference number and the £640 for the week’s stay was taken from Viv’s bank account on Friday morning by AirB&B. We arrived at the cottage at 4.20pm on Friday 16th June.
No key safe, no one to greet us ! We phoned Cottages.com who we believe own the property and at first they tried to say we hadn’t completed the booking ! We gave them all the confirmation information and they then changed their story and said the ‘owners’ had cancelled in the afternoon, AFTER the money had been from Viv’s bank account ! We were stranded stuck in a lay-by we eventually got a contact number for AirB&B they contacted the ‘owners’ who said they had cancelled the booking ! Hoping they would find an alternative they came up with 3 inferior and more expensive properties not in the area and said we would have to pay upfront for an alternative property but a ‘refund (of Viv’s money) would take 15 working days’ ! Why ? They took from her account instantly.
We spent 3 more hours in the car in a lay-by trying to find an alternative but being holiday season and very, very last minute everything was way over £1,000 for the week and not on the Gower Peninsular where we really wanted to stay ! The thing is they cancelled this booking they had both our phone numbers email addresses and no one had the decency to even inform us ! It got to 9pm before we gave up and headed back to Bedford ! The M4 to M25 junction was closed and we eventually got back to Bedford at 2am this (Saturday) morning ! To say it was a stressful day is an understatement ! Further research by us showed that the cottage wasn’t just a holiday let it’s also up for sale, so we can only assume the owners have either had an offer or someone has booked a viewing and they cancelled us but didn’t have the decency to even let us know ! You can’t have a house on the market and as a holiday let surely it’s got to be one or the other ! It’s not so bad if you cancel future holiday let bookings because it gives holiday makers time to book an alternative, but to cancel on the actual day of arrival after taking the money and not even inform us of the cancellation is absolutely disgusting ! I didn’t know things like this could happen I thought AirB&B would have a decent customer service and look after it’s customer’s not leave them stranded when we had done everything by the book !
Dixie & Viv :0(”
“Booked the Annex on the Bain with cottages.com.
We booked purely because the advertisement said “private swimming pool”.
It wasn’t private. We got allocated set times in the morning and evening, it was rented out during the day.
I referred it to the ASA who have insisted the advert is changed and the word PRIVATE becomes SHARED.
These people will mislead you into booking with them, don’t trust what you see in the adverts, they have no qualms whatsoever.”
“I own cottages that I rent out through
Cottages.com used to be a good company been with them since 2018 I have been so unhappy with the owner services since the Burley office shut down the staff from Burley
We’re always super friendly and would go out the their way to help in anyway they could !!
I know many cottages owners thats feel the same and are going to give notice and use another company im going to do the same after this season unless of course if the Burnley office was to reopen it I doubt that such a shame .
Michelle .”
“As a landlord the servi e provided is atrocious, i informed them about my cancelling my contract a good 6-9 months before some bookings, they dont do anything to help my guests relocate. They never call back. I would avoid renting through them either as a guest or proerty owner”
“terrrible customer service. you cannot email them. they say they answer in an hour on airbnb, but i have waited days and asked over and over for an answer.
the only contact is a "chat" - which is not helpful, as the customer care team never gets on. I have waited for 45 mins.”
“Extremely poor experience. I feel cheated and lied to. They agreed to rearrange dates due to weather warnings and dangerous driving conditions. When it comes to the dates being rearranged, they outright refused and used the excuse that I did not contact them, even though I contacted the specific person I was directed to contact. AVOID USING THIS COMPANY. It is immoral, misleading and passing the blame to anyone but themselves, even though I was made aware they were aware of the situation. I'm now out of pocket £400 and we will have no break/holiday this year.”
“Upon our arrival, the holiday accommodation was disgustingly unclean. After requesting cleaning supplies, we spent the next 90 minutes scrubbing away. The first night was a nightmare, as my bed was infested with both human and animal hairs. I suffered from constant itching and spent most of the night awake. I couldn't help but wonder if I was sharing my bed with unwanted visitors. As a result, I felt terrible the next day, and the second night was no better as I endured the same incessant itching. Eventually, we decided to cut our holiday short and departed the following day. I filed a complaint with cottages.com, but they have yet to respond even after 32 days. It is shameful that they cannot even take the time to acknowledge my concerns.”
“Tried to cancel a holiday in July, the admin fees come to nearly a third of the deposit.
would never use cottages.com ever again, they seem to charge what they like.”
“Terrible company, prices fluctuate daily, so they get to be as flexible as they like but you pay whatever they feel like, the same properties can be booked cheaper elsewhere and the customer service is pointless because they have no flexibility on anything, really bad experience, can't cancel because they'd keep all the money, haven't seen the accomodation yet”
“Cottages.com:- Absolutely terrible, check out reviews regarding AWAZE, same company aka HOSEASONS.
Terrible experience both with the cottage in August 22 and the company, stayed for 30 minutes it was that awful. Offered 50% refund so went through small claims and got my money back from the cottages owners. Absolute nightmare company.”
“Twice now I `ve used this company, never again, phoned cottages.com to let the owner of the flat we didn`t stay, I don`t think the bloke was very interested, didn`t sound it. We went to Newbiggin-By-The-Sea, lovely folk we met there, but not the flat, Bety`s Beach View, certainly not like the photo`s, if you don`t like stairs, you`ve had it, it was dark, cold and we thought uninviting, the town is run down, we went at christmas, Northumberland is lovely, shame about Newbiggin,”
“As a host we were guaranteed £18k p/a when we first close with cottages.com.
They also stated that they put the property on line with booking.com and airbnb.
Once closed the contract they stated, oh we don't deal with then....
We had one booking the whole year with them and when we withdrew they wanted £500 cancellation fee.
Useless, bunch of idiots who are not helpful but just want to drain money from you.
Hard to find our property on line!
Do not use this company.
Go to booking.com”
“Arrived after 10hrs travel, no heating, no hot water. Cupboards hanging off, damp on walls, bathroom mouldy, carpets not hoovered, beds full of hairs,both human and animal. Pluggins in every room to cover the awful smell. Fridge disgusting, no freezer door so all iced up and dirty, oven greasy and dirty, dishwasher stank so bad, filter obviously never been cleaned, crockery all dirty, had to wash a glass before use, even washing up bowl was dirty. Called, could not be helped that night. Went to office next morning.Maintenance guys came to look at heating, saw the state of the place, suggested we ask to be moved which we did. Was stiffly helped as if it was my fault and was just being difficult. Had to wait until after 3, call and pay for own taxi to move all luggage. Moved to nu holme which was over £100 cheaper per week but when asked them to refund the difference was told was my own choice to move. Had to still stay in cottage for the 3 weeks so lost over £300. Several calls to speak to a manager, until now not available. Have had no call back. Thoroughly disgusted and actually hurt that this can still happen. I was too nice and it got me walked over by a big company. Would recommend anyone to first look at Cumbria Cottages and see the sister companies before booking. Would hate for this to happen to someone else.”
“What an appalling, unfeeling company! Avoid at all costs. Nothing offered apart from £6 back (!!!!) when having to cancel due to my son being rushed into hospital. The guy on the phone did try for me when I asked if I could at least have a voucher to use at a later date, but the team leader said No!! Stick with Booking.com, guys, as you can cancel free with them on most of their properties. Cottages.com, you should be ashamed of yourselves!!! I would imagine the cottage owner also lost out and the company profited from other people's misfortune.”
