Sykes Cottages Reviews

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

1.2 Rating 1,480 Reviews

4 %

of reviewers recommend Sykes Cottages

Company Reviews

Questions

Metrics

1.2

Based on 1,480 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

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

“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”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“AWFUL SERVICE - WOULD NOT RECOMMEND I am absolutely APPALLED by the service provided by Sykes and I would not recommend anyone to use them. The double booked a property, took our payment and sent a confirmation Email, if it wasn't for us reconfirming just days before the stay, we would have turned up and wouldn't have had anywhere to stay. We had family travelling from all over the UK, with travel booked. They refunded us 2 days before our booking, which has left us unable to find alternate accommodation. They had us on hold for over 3 hours in total and were unempathetic at the situation that they had caused. They have offered no resolution and believe that we should be happy that they informed us (Even though we chased this and caused them to see the double booking) and that we have received a full refund 2 days before we were due to travel. This has been an absolutely awful experience for my pregnant fiancee and I, in what is already a very stressful time.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“I had cancelled my holiday booking online 12 weeks before the start of my UK holiday (due to COVID). I received a message on their website that the booking was cancelled and I would receive an e-mail confirming that, also that no further funds were going to be taken out. They then took the funds out anyway (over $1,700). I e-mailed but only got an automated message in return stating they were very busy at the moment. Seriously? I'd give them a 0 star rating, but that wasn't an option. In the middle of a global pandemic they are money grabbing. Disgraceful.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“What a shame we can't trust Trustpilot, has anybody noticed all reviews regarding Sykes has changed into positives. it makes you think who can we trust.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Beware when accepting a refund from Sykes Cottages - received an email from them last week offering two options. Option 2 offers ◦A full cash refund (including any commission and fees associated with your booking). ◦Should you select this option we will aim to credit your original payment method (ie. debit / credit card) with the full value of your holiday within 30 days of you submitting your request through your online account. However when you go to your online account Option 2 is quite different i.e. If you have not received a partial/full refund directly from the owner or another source (eg. insurance): We will provide a cash refund to your original payment method (ie. debit / credit card) for the full cost of your holiday excluding the commission we were paid by the property owner for facilitating your booking and excluding the value of the fees you paid to us. We will aim to process this within 30 days of receiving your request. You will receive an ex-gratia credit for the remaining balance. Please select one of the two options below to tell us what you would like to do with this.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Requested a refund because of Covid 19. Request denied! Terms state no cancellation. OK, most other places are being reasonable but I guess they aren't. To make the trip worth while requested to book an extra night; message sent 7 days ago and still no reply. Avoid”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Good paid for and not received with no refund. Sykes cancelled our booking but did not provide a refund despite numerous e mail requests. No answer via telephone.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Mengarth property . Cadgwith Cove . Lovely property with extensive and interesting planting . However , the standard of cleaning is well below average . All toilets and kitchen equipment had to be cleaned on arrival by me . The en-suite toilet it is impossible to sit on it unless you sit side on due to lack of knee space ( I’m 5 ft tall p.s.) The couches are unclean . The whole place around all the windows is dirty and needed cleaning . All the doors are dirty too . As we are in the middle of a pandemic we stayed as little other options . There are some really interesting objects in the house and I can see it was once spectular . An alarm goes on at midnight when you go out the front door , but I had no way of turning it off . There are scant instructions on how to use most things in the house and none for this alarm . In short a great old house once but in need of a very good clean .”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“We have used you for two previous holidays and again booked for this year. Plan was to take my 77 year old mum with us, but then the pandemic happened and I tried to ring you to discuss but couldn't get through and as the only communication from you was a text to say we are taking the full payment from you (only paid£30 deposit) I assessed the Covid-19 situation and felt I didn't want to risk taking my mum. You only contacted me to acknowledge our cancellation and to my horror said we'll you still need to pay £165, really!”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“I really can’t say I have had any problem with Sykes . My holiday got cancelled due to Covid but I was able to transfer dates at no extra cost without any problems. They were so good . This is my experience. The cottage I normally get is straight with reviews ( seaspray Eyemouth) it’s a great holiday home with everything you need and great back garden and close to beach and all shops/ restaurants and pubs . I have been in this cottage now for five years , so it really has great appeal and booking through Sykes has always been straight forward. Thumbs up from myself and family. Great owner , great company.”

Sykes Cottages 5 star review on 25th July 2020

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Stayed at Heather cottage in Oakhampton Devon, couldn't believe that the shower door was still missing 10 months after reading about it in a previous review!! , also there was a mouse trap with mould covered cheese behind the broken pedal bin , and was able to gather up a ball of dog hair from the carpet with a few passes of my foot, all this after we were told not to check in until after 5 PM due to the property being deep cleaned !! .”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“we booked a holiday in a Lake District property and when we arrived 2 weeks ago the property was dirty and in some areas unhygienic! I have spent the last 10 days trying to contact customer services, 5 emails and approx 10 calls with my being on hold for nearly 2hrson one attempt and none of these have been answered. The company are blaming Covid for being busy but they are not too busy to mind taking over £750 from me for a dirty house! Avoid this terrible company!”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Had to cancel my holiday early August due to covid health restrictions, unable to contact Sykes or Towergate insurance .it is nice to see a review site not allowing Sykes to increase their ratings by inviting guests that they know will submit 4 & 5 star reviews”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Cancelled my booking and 3 months on there is no refund and they ignore all e mails and phone calls. You would be crazy to use this company. Truly appalling”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“The behaviour of Sykes regarding cancellation and the amended booking due to Covid -19 is rediculous. Never will use it again, Have to fight long time to get the money back, Now I cancelled the amended booking due to the insecure situation of Covid. Deposit is gone... No recomendation for the company”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“We should have stayed at the Bothy mid Wales and never got there the owner of Heles log cabins sent me a fraud email the night before cancelling the holiday spent money on food took time off work me and my family got no apology contacted Skyes cottages and was told they never cancelled the holiday it was the owner who spoke to my Sons girlfriend like dirt would not recommend booking the property at all cost me alot of money no compensation or anything from the owner or Sykes cottages”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“We stayed at Jordan House in Boscastle and were very disappointed. Firstly the situation with parking was extremely difficult to say the least. We had to compete with locals, second home owners and other holiday makers for a parking space down a very narrow road. The locals would get very upset with the situation and understandably so. Secondly and most important, was the cleanliness of the cottage. bearing in mind we are in the middle of a pandemic you would think, and expect, the cleanliness to be A1, unfortunately this was not the case. Dust and dirt was found in most rooms, old toasted breadcrumbs around and under the toaster, grease and fat on the front of the fridge and the sides of kitchen units and the kitchen sink was filthy. There was a smell of rotting vegetation in the living room which we discovered was coming from the chimney. The owners had obviously not had the chimney swept in some time and nesting materials was dropping down into the fire place. When sitting in the garden area you would be consumed by the strong smell of oil from the tank directly adjacent, unbelievably the owners had provided a BBQ for use directly next to the oil tank (an accident waiting to happen). Overall we were very disappointed with the cottage and would certainly not recommend this to anyone.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“We recently stayed at Heather Corner in Haworth, the Yorkshire Dale's. What a wonderful place to stay. The cottage is so well equipped, everything had been thought of. The owners are lovely and welcomed us personally. If there had been any problem we were welcome to ring them but of course everything was perfect. There was plenty of hand sanitizer and the cottage was immaculately clean and COVID safe. The beds were extremely comfortable as were the pillows. There's a table and chairs on the patio and the water feature is a lovely touch. It's a few minutes walk to the main street and a lovely park. The car parking at the cottage is a bonus. I would highly recommend Haworth and the wonderful cottage and we are already looking forward to our next visit.”

Sykes Cottages 5 star review on 23rd July 2020

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“We have been trying since March when we had to cancel our booking because of Covid-19, to speak to someone from Sykes about a refund if credit noteto no avail - we are cut off after the recorded message about the virus is finished - tried a range of contact numbers over the months. We have emailed repeatedly only to be advised to log into our account to request a refund - there is no option to do so in our account and we have pointed this out. We understand the demand on the company due to the current situation but a 4 month wait to speak with someone is extremely bad customer service. Pity as we've always been very pleased with our bookings before. The only option now is to progress a complaint externally.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“MSE NEWS Sykes Cottages reverses coronavirus refund policy after watchdog investigation. Apparently there might be a clause where if you have been forced into rebooking you will not get a refund. I think many of us are in that situation. I was told rebook or lose your holiday and money. Nothing is simply or right!!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

Sykes Cottages is rated 1.2 based on 1,480 reviews