Sykes Cottages Reviews

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

1.2 Rating 1,490 Reviews

4 %

of reviewers recommend Sykes Cottages

Company Reviews

Questions

Metrics

1.2

Based on 1,490 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 17th November 2024

Anonymous

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

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Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Sort by: Most Recent Most Recent Highest Rated Filter: None None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“As the owner of a holiday home in Cornwall I have never been so let down by a letting agency. Our home was completely ruined by a family from London, gate posts broken, furniture broken, litter scattered around the garden, buckets of sand left in the shower room, 10 sacks of rubbish left stinking in the corridor - I could go on - Sykes weren’t bothered - referred us to their insurance company who we’ve never heard back from 6 months on. Such an upsetting experience, when I tried to cancel further bookings, I was fined! A letting agency I can never recommend to owners of holiday homes - they will charm you into taking your property then drop you like a stone when you need help - be warned!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I booked a SOUTH VILLA IN THIRSK for our family Christmas and my mums 50th birthday (on boxing day). After driver 6 hours from Surrey to Yorkshire on Christmas eve, the property was covered in flies and wasps. My husband and dad spent 3 hours killing as many as they could but it kept coming back. I texted the owner who said it was strange as there was never such a case before -- THERE WERE FLIES THAT HAD BEEN THERE SO LONG DUST GATHERED ON THEM ON THE WINDOW SILL. The rooms were unuseable and 3 of my family member slept on the floor or sofa. Even though we had spent over £2,000 of the weekend! My 1 year old baby was crawling around and picking up dead flies from the floor. His first Christmas and my mums 50th birthday was left in such a bad note, no one was comfortable in the property. Had it been closer to home we would have driven back the same day! When asking the owner for compensation she offered £200. When I reported it to Sykes they would only talk to me after i left the property. The owner had been standing outside but lied so we would not question her about the property, she informed us new customers were coming in a hour. HOW CAN YOU MAKE A PROPERTY FOR 8 PEOPLE COVID CLEAN IN 1 HOUR???? When I raised this to Sykes they DID NOT CARE! Once I left they were unhelpful and did not get back to me. Finally got a call and was told if the owner doesn't get back to me after 3 days they will compensate me 20%. I continously emailed and called and was told there was no response from the owner. After 3 weeks of chasing I got an email saying the owner will not compensate and therefore the case is closed. When I called up I was told they can't help and I should have spoken to the owner as they are just mediators. No one informed me intially or I would have contacted the owner. Really sad that the health and safety of properties is not being looked into. Had my son or anyone else been stung by a wasp this would have been a much more serious case. But we were smart enough to close the doors of that room and not use it but just sleep on the floor instead!!...merry Christmas..”

Sykes Cottages 1 star review on 13th January 2022

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“We have tried to make a complaint to Sykes following a stay at a property booked through them but have met with resistance either by promised phone calls not returned or by them quoting the 'Data Protection Act'. The member(s) of staff we managed to speak to were either unco -operative or rude and obstructive, even when we threatened legal action. Avoid this company if possible.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“We rented a cottage in Northumberland and the place was frankly disgusting. It needed cleaning , was very, very dirty and one bed had not been changed. A waste of money and very poor standard. Also the wood burning stoved were stuffed full of rubbish and plastic.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I’m surprised that people are still using this company. I had a run in with them early 2020 and eventually got my money back thanks to Martin Lewis and the CMA As they say once bitten twice shy This company should not be allowed to trade they are completely unethical Don’t believe the solicited reviews you read on the likes of trust pilot There’s also a reason why they are now advertising so heavily on TV and the likes, they are having problems lol Serves then right”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Sykes are a business that take your money but take no responsibility that it’s web site information about holiday properties is misleading. Please be aware that Sykes is a business that even fails to even acknowledge it’s customers problems and but accepts property owners bad practice.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“The staff who manage the cottage hosted by Claire at Jacob Woods in Silsden are not there to give any customer satisfaction. Claire tried to scam us of £250 for a tiny dent in the fridge that we did not do. The evidence provided was a blurry photo and Claire decided that warranted buying a whole new fridge. Helen at Sykes, instead of advising against it and suggesting at most to charge us a 5th of what she's asking for and keep her fully functioning fridge, she went ahead with taking £250 out of my account with no confirmation from me whatsoever. Helen should be advising Claire that wear and tear is a common thing when renting out a property. Thieves. Would not recommend them to anyone”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“We have used sykes cottages for the past five years and have never been disappointed, the dog friendly cottages are absolutely fantastic places to stay, catered for you and your pet. We have stayed in Devon and Cornwall and can highly recommend their accommodation. Five stars from The Hirsts... and of course Grace woof..”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Never book in this company they very bad”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“If your thinking of booking a cottage through this company, PLEASE DONT. They don’t care if the cottage you book has problems and make your stay so miserable you leave. They don’t care if the owner of the property tell lies regarding the description of the cottage or wether the standards are kept updated or even if the property is clean. I didn’t chose The weir cottage at Cromford Matlock but unfortunately the property I did chose had a flood and Sykes forced one cottage after another at me even when asking about a refund even though it was Christmas, oh no they didn’t want to part with my money. At one point I asked for them to confirm the fact I had been told about the booking fee been returned because of the short notice which was a day before departure, oh no the person was really forceful and tried his hardest to make me sign. Every time you make comments to their poor behaviour, the phone gets put down. I’m a Christian but regardless of my faith I asked if the owner like many other companies, if there would be a tree up but I was shocked to be told no sorry but you can bring your own but no I don’t cater for Christians. How many people put a tree up but may not have a faith but it wasn’t asked because of faith but the owner and Sykes thought it acceptable to be so small minded. My list of my terrible experience could go on but you will be only ok with this company if your property and the owner cares about your stay because Sykes don’t, they just like your money. Cant answer the question on how long Sykes takes to responded because they didn’t.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I booked a cottage though Sykes and after our stay was asked for a review which I gave. It was not favourable but in my opinion an honest one. I was later contacted by the owner who said Sykes had told him the review was so bad he would not be able to let the cottage again. He asked me to contact Sykes again. I did this to tell them I thought they had let the owner down completely. They needed to check the cottage and help and advise the owner. Also he needed to be able to reply to my comment ( apologies if he felt the need) and say he had addressed the matters I had complained about ( if he had) He told me he was not able to do this ?? This is what I know happens with other companies. This has been extremely distressing for myself and the owner and has made me quite ill. I will never use this company again!”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“One of the worst booking agents I have ever experienced. Booked a week‘s stay at a holiday home in Ireland for the October school break. When I arrived at night with my kids and pet, other guests had checked themselves in (two men). Despite me having the booking paid and made months in advance. I had to leave and drive back home arriving back after midnight. There is no service at night. I called Skyes the next day - they didn’t bother calling me back until after 6pm that evening with no alternative accommodation. The ‚gentlemen‘ who took our booked cottage was allowed to stay there by Skyes and they even told me they couldn’t throw them out because they were drinking. I understand Sykes then took money from the men to stay there and they left me without an alternative and the week’s holiday was ruined. I have called Skykes about half a dozen times and emailed and messaged them about 20 times since trying to get some compensation but to no avail. At one point they offered 100E which doesn’t even cover the additional fuel I had but they used the excuse that they couldn’t transfer the refund to my account despite me trying 3 times to enter my bank details. In the end, I have received no compensation and all my messages and emails have been ignored. The refund has been wiped from my profile online and they lied to the Property owner that I have been refunded. They are an absolute disgrace !”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“We were in the process of moving home when we found ourselves with 8 days with nowhere to live, found a couple of options on this website where we could take dogs, I rang and spoke at length to their customer service, who booked this for me on a Friday - on the Monday (3 days later) the house sale fell through, I called immediately to cancel the accommodation, giving them 10 days notice before the start date - they flatly refused to refund any of the £760 paid just three days earlier - also refused to change the dates - just constantly stated "it's in our T&Cs" A pity they didn't make their T&Cs clear before I booked! A very expensive mistake - I will never ever book anything with this company again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I have read the reviews and I am appalled by the comments made. I have used sykes cottage holidays for at least 20 years and in all that time I've only had 2 bad cottages. Well....it this is the feed back this company gets I'm going no where near”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“We booked a cottage toad Hall, Totnes, Devon, for 3 nights 6/12/21 we got there 15.13 and left at 21.00 we did not stay the first night as it was so cold, we got log burner going and tried to warm up the cottage and air the bed out as it was damp the cottage smells of damp and a no heating in bathroom or toilet, no TV, radio not working, ran tap for hot water for ages but still nothing, even with log burner and radiator it was still very cold we kept our coats on, worst experience we have had in a cottage, and we have stayed in a few.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Anonymous Absolutely disgusted. They have refused to refund deposits on two properties due to being unable to travel to the UK from Australia because of Covid restrictions. We’ve been in numerous communication with this company and they couldn’t care less. We have had no issues with receiving full refunds in respect of other booked accommodation with Airbnb, and Bookings.com. We would never book another holiday with Sykes and intend to escalate the matter further.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I had a cottage booked for September 2022 and while the cottage itself looked lovely, the location was far more remote than we had realised, and given our age and poor phone signal it really wasn’t suitable. (We visited the location while in the area). In September 2021 we requested to change to a different cottage. Sykes said no and told us we would lose our deposit of £217, I then requested they ask the owner if he would refund our deposit if it was rebooked. They said no. I emailed, phoned and wrote but had it so neatly tied up and weren’t prepared to contact the owner. Also ignored emails and didn’t return calls. We have to stand that large loss. The rent has now escalated another £234 for the same week we had booked. Certainly wouldn’t use the agency again, we accept it was our choice to cancel but with a year’s notice think they could have been more flexible.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Just a word of warning if you book with this company please please don't take our their insurance Ergo insurance its a absolute farse if you fall ill with covid they will not pay out even thought it states in their insurance policy you are covered for covid, I have lost £534 because they won't refund me I feel gutted at losing this money so please be aware if you book any accommodation with sykes get your insurance else where I don't want anyone else falling victim to cowboys.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“If you have to book with them do NOT take out UK holiday cancellation insurance with Sykes , it is a complete waste of money , not worth the paper it’s written on . The Sykes advisers are not trained to explain how pre existing conditions such as hypertension (raised or high blood pressure ) will affect your claim . Even if it is controlled and absolutely nothing to do with why you are cancelling you will not be refunded by the insurance company. I had a lower back injury and the pain was too bad for me to travel to Wales by car , so I thought I’d get my money back but no . The upselling of insurance is purely to make more money out of the customer and my advice would be , don’t take it out , in fact don’t uses Sykes .”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“First time we have booked a property with Sykes and will never use again. Cleanliness of the property was very poor and not to an acceptable standard , additional cleaning routines for Covid were totally disregarded. Internal decoration poor , the owner clearly has not updated/redecorated in 10+ years . Also concerns re health and safety, electrics not inspected , damaged pane of glass not repaired . Fire safety only one smoke alarm (battery?) no heat detector in kitchen, property was timber structure and had an open fire, sofas not compliant with regulations. Outside rear arears of property unkempt, outbuildings in poor condition , rubbish left in bags , issues with vermin. Concerns that Sykes have been withholding negative reviews for this property , clearly no recent inspection of the property. Complaint raised with Sykes , but no response.”

Sykes Cottages 1 star review on 16th November 2021

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

Sykes Cottages is rated 1.2 based on 1,490 reviews