Sykes Cottages Reviews

Name: Sykes Cottages
Address: Sykes Holiday Cottages Lime Tree House Hoole Lane, Chester
Rating: 1.20

1.2 Rating 1,478 Reviews

4 %

of reviewers recommend Sykes Cottages

Company Reviews

Questions

Metrics

1.2

Based on 1,478 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Own Driver
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Over A Week
Customer Service	1.1 out of 5
Returns & Refunds
Refunds Process	Difficult
Returns Process	Could Be Better

Phone:

0124 435 2059

Location:

Sykes Holiday Cottages Lime Tree House Hoole Lane
Chester
CH2 3EG

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Sykes Cottages 1 star review on 8th November 2024

Anonymous

Sykes Cottages 1 star review on 2nd November 2024

Anonymous

Sykes Cottages 1 star review on 18th September 2024

Julie

Sykes Cottages 1 star review on 22nd June 2024

Anonymous

216

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

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“Terrible company. Had real issues getting refund after they cancelled booking just 3 days before we were due to stay.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 months ago

“Shocking company. Holiday from hell. I paid £1,063 for a weeks stay at a Holiday cottage in Penzance for me, my partner and 5 year old daughter. We arrived for check in at 3pm and got told it hadn't been cleaned and to come back at 4.30pm. We arrived and there was black mould on all the bedroom walls and bathroom. Place absolutely stank of damp and mould. Place had not been cleaned despite being told it had been. Soiled underwear and sanitary towels in drawer. It was disgraceful. Place felt sticky, all surfaces not clean, bent lampshades, hair on wall, etc. There was a disabled lift in the property that was datrd 1994, old thing and still in use, which looked like a death trap with crush hazards. Clearly no health and safety checks have been done at the property and place in desperate need of investment. No sufficient ventilation systems, bathroom dated and floor always flooded with water. I complained to the owner, and they said they would clean it the next day when we were out. They removed the black mould, and gave us a "dehumidifer". But this wasn't a dehumidifer, but an air cooler! Place continued to stink of damp and mould all week. Fighting for some sort of partial refund at the moment. No way is this cottage worth the price paid for the stay.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“The property we stayed in was filthy when pulling furniture out and fridge did not work, tv was broken, we got charged £115 for cleaning the property when we left.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“Filthy so called cottage and we did not stay it was that bad. We phoned sykes and the owner on the day of arrival and took photos to show how disgusting the place was. I could not stay due to how heartbroken I was. Owners tried to make out it was only a couple of issues and they could come and rectify them. The place would have needed a whole deep clean and revamp for me to have stayed. So bad. Tried to get refund or some compensation but owners and sykes saying it was the other parties responsibility so neither have been helpful and will not offere anything. Will never ever book with sykes again. Promised to ring me back and liaise with the owner but didn't. I've had to make numerous phonecalls in the hope of resolving the issue. After losing my father I needed a little break and to stay close to my family but this has made my heartache ten times worse. Aster cottage in Wales should not be being advertised.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“I booked a weekend away through Sykes Cottages, and upon reviewing my account I couldn't find my booking. Contacting Sykes is incredibly difficult, every time I tried using their online chat function, I was presented with an error saying they were too busy and to try again later. The other options to contact them is text and Whatsapp. I tried both these avenues and after 48 hours received a text to say they hadn't responded because they were busy and to reply "YES" if I still needed a response. 3 days after originally reaching out I finally received a reply, and my account was fixed enabling me to see my booking. Upon reviewing this I realised I had booked this for the incorrect year 2025 instead of 2024, I tried to move my booking to the correct dates, but the property was unavailable, leaving me needing to cancel. I understand that booking the incorrect dates was my error and was fully prepared to lose my £20 deposit, however upon trying to cancel I found I was expected to pay a further £100 to "finish paying my deposit", this shocked me as I am giving over a year’s notice. This happened at the end of July and my booking is for the end of September the following year. I got back in contact via text asking if this was correct as surely with over years notice this isn't justifiable. I was told yes; I am still expected to pay the full deposit. I asked if I could transfer my booking to a different property, you can't as they are all individually owned. I am now left either having to pay over £100 to cancel (along with booking somewhere else for the correct dates), use the property when it is booked for or pay an additional £30 admin fee to change the dates (along with any difference in the cost, whish is understandable). I understand letting companies need to protect themselves from last minute cancellations and being unable to fill the booking and losing revenue, however with over a years’ worth of notice I would have expected to lose my £20 deposit but did not expect to then have to pay an additional £100 to cancel. This along with access to their customer service has put me off from ever booking with them again. Bare this in mind when booking!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“Charges your card at will, hides behind small print, not to be trusted. Avoid at all costs or make sure you use your credit card to dispute them.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“Worst customer service I have ever come across. I don't usually leave reviews (good or bad) but I feel I need to warn people about this company. On arrival, the rented property was filthy; stains everywhere, dirty surfaces and disgusting carpet and bathrooms (you couldn't walk anywhere barefoot). When I complained to Sykes, they said to leave the key at the lockbox and a cleaner would be around at 1pm the same day. I waited at the lockbox for nearly 2 hours so that I could escort the cleaner to the property and show them the issues. Instead, they snuck in and did a cursory wipe of worktops and left. When I complained again to Sykes, another cleaner was sent the following day and again I waited at the property in order to point out everything that needed doing. A lovely lady came but she said she was only being paid to do surfaces and mop the kitchen floor (no other floors and no other cleaning eg the bathrooms) so that's all she did. The second issue was that one of the toilets did not flush properly. The first maintenance person came and said there was no issue so when I complained again, a second maintenance person came, I pointed out the issue and he agreed the flush was not great. He also said that Sykes is happy to list properties that other companies would not. The third issue was that I was being bitten in the night. Again, a pest control person came when I was out and confirmed there were no bed bugs or fleas. So how does one explain the bites every night? I have wasted more than half of my holiday waiting for cleaners, maintenance and pest people and none of the issues have been fully resolved. Each time you mention compensation, Sykes put up obstacles - this needs to happen before we have that conversation or that needs to happen before we can have that conversation. The Sykes call handlers need to go on a customer services course. Louis said to me, "I'm not inclined" to help and when I said it is so hard that I feel I need to leave reviews about Sykes, he said, "you are entitled to your opinion". Wow. Scarlet was equally unhelpful. There is no empathy about the hell you are experiencing and no willingness to help. I've booked multiple properties in the past through Airbnb and Booking.com and never had an issue. This was the first time using Sykes and I will never be using them again. I suggest you steer clear of Sykes. The listings are misleading and if you have an issue, they won't be trying to help you. I guess their strategy is to make it so hard that it wears you down and you give up.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“We have booked to stay at accommodation via Sykes cottages for the end of the month. We noticed a review from a disgruntled customer that a number of items were missing from the garden despite clear pictures showing a BBQ and hammock. We were concerned by the false advertisement so have asked the situation to be clarified with the owner prior to our arrival, we booked the property based on the garden and it’s facilities. Sykes cottages said they would call us back but never did. On ringing back a week later for an update the lady explained her notes said that I had hung the phone up on her colleague and there was no mention of the request or query. Fortunately Sykes cottages appear to record all calls and this is reassuring to know! What a waste of time.. We hope the situation will be rectified prior to our arrival however due to our dealings so far with the company I am not convinced..”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“Shocking customer service or lack of should I say. Emailed them weeks ago to try and cancel my booking this August. The father of my sons’ cancer spread to his brain and he was given weeks to live. Emailed them to cancel my booking using an email address they used to mail me and got no reply. Emailed again- no reply. Emailed them using a different mail address I found online- no reply. Called them and hung on the line for a long time and asked for a call back which I didn’t get. Finally resorted to calling the property owner direct and got nowhere with him just referred back to Sykes. Waited 30 mins on a call today and ended up asking for a call back again. When I did get a call back I was told they had received none of my 3 emails over the last few weeks. The father of my sons passed on Saturday so the funeral will likely fall during my booking dates. Only option now is if the property gets relet in the next 11 days for any sort of refund. Will NEVER use this company again”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“Appalling customer care. 47 minutes to get through to them. Then had to phone back 59 minutes and again alter 26 minutes...still not got through to resolve issue 😒”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“I have been trying for over a month to resolve some lost property from a stay. I have contacted Sykes 14 times over the last month, I have been promised 3 different call backs which never came. The emails sent were never responded too and the portal didn't work and the WhatsApp service was always to busy to respond. I even went to Cornwall on holiday and a was 8 miles from the property 20 miles from the local office I offered to drive and collect my items myself and over a 2 week period Sykes inept service still couldn't resolve this. I write this as I have now been on hold for 53 minutes and in the end used another phone to ring new bookings the only line that gets answered. Happy to take money but back it up with zero service levels. New bookings had to call the local office for me.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“Booking experience went smoothly but when we arrived there we numerous issues with the holiday cottage, none so bad as to ruin the holiday but as a 5 tick listing we expected fine attention to detail. Upon returning home we received a feedback email which I gave a detailed and thorough assessment and area for improvement. Absolutely no response from Sykes at all. Even went so far as to keep my review private as I didn’t want to affect the owners future bookings”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“Checked into cottage and found it hadn't been cleaned and beds not changed.. Kept telling us someone would call but no one did.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“I have recently cancelled a booking with them. The holiday was due to start in may2025 but I paid in full when booking. When I cancelled I fully expected to lose my deposit & booking fees totallying £358 but they won’t refund any of the £897 I have tried contacting them but going round in circles all I have been told I do t recieve a refund at all. Not even partial”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“Tried ringing then emails then texting and finally WhatsApp been two days now and still no response, trying to cancel a holiday due to health issues. Live in hope maybe tomorrow will get a response. 🤔”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“Cottage was barely habitable, dangerous black mold up the walls, dirty surfaces, stunk of dog wee and have maggots/larvae on the very dirty floors. Allowed the vendor to retain our money despite leaving within hours of arriving. Never again, the company is shoddy and the cottage needs complete renovation. Do you even verify your cottages or complete any vetting? Cottage in Llangollen was a disgrace inside Lost £150 to stay somewhere for 4 hours.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“I am a holiday home owner and they are a horrible company to work with.Will be glad to get away from them after this season.Stay away.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“If you are the owner of a holiday cottage, please do not use this company! I have had two terrible experiences with them this year after I gave them 6 months notice that I wanted to stop using Sykes from a lack of bookings. They make it really difficult for you to leave by the way, and there are steep penalties if you want to stop using them straight away.   They booked in a couple of very undesirable guests in March, working girls who worked in clubs very late at night who were using my annex not as a holiday base but as their place of business. They were not screened at all. These "guests" stole and broke things. Sykes basically said it was my problem to sort and they couldn't do anything about it! So much for their customer service!  A few days before my 6 month period was coming to an end, they took a phone call apparently from a potential guest who wanted to stay the following night. They didn't call me to check that was okay as my cottage might not have been ready, and in fact it was already booked up. My guest was understandably very upset when they turned up, and we both tried to call and complain to Sykes. They don't take calls at the weekend. We were both charged by Skyes though, me a cancellation fee and my guests for not being taking up their booking! Basically they were charging us for for their lack of common sense/unprofessionalism. Worse, it turns out they lied to my guests which I am furious about, stating that they had spoken to me and I had said it was fine for them to stay!! The whole experience with Sykes has been underwhelming to say the least. A lack of bookings. A lack of care. A lack of professionalism. The only winners are Sykes who charge people for whether they stay in your cottage or not!”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“Appalling service, recommend not to use”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

“DO NOT USE - SCAM COMPANY. I booked through AirBnb for a weekend away 270 days away. The next day, I requested to change the weekend of the booking to the weekend prior to the booking, through the AirBnB platform. The new dates are completely free, I am the only booking for the property in that month. They ignored all my communications and requests. I rung them up and they said "we aren't able to deal with any requests through AirBnb." I emailed them and the email address reply was "unattended." Eventually AirBnB support chased them enough to get a response. They responded saying "their systems were not able to process change of date requests." So despite them being on the AirBnb platform, they aren't actually compatible with the platform. So I asked them, if you cannot alter the booking, cancel it and I will rebook for the correct weekend. They ignored me. AirBnb once again chased and forced them to reply. AirBnb said that they offered to sort out the change of booking in the system, nullifying Syke's reason that they couldn't process the change due to 'technical reasons.' All AirBnb needed was a simple consent for the change to be made, and they would handle the rest. And Sykes simply said 'no'...offered no explanation. They are still ignoring me. If I have to cancel the booking on my terms, I have to hand over half the total amount to them, which is £1100. I then noticed that since I booked, they have cut all the prices at the property by almost half. So they clearly are trying to duck and dodge to prevent me being able to change the dates so that they force me into cancelled the booking so that they can take £1100 for no outlay at all. It's a con. They have literally no good reason to justify this other than a money grab. They are a shaddy, shadowy deceitful company with no standards or customer service. AVOID. And just book through a host directly through another platform.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

Sykes Cottages is rated 1.2 based on 1,478 reviews