Holidaycottages

As others have clearly found cancelling a holiday (which it is impossible to take) is an expensive business with these people. To cut a long story short we have had to cancel and cannot re-book because the cottage we want is not available next year but nevertheless they seem to feel entitled to keep our deposit and to add insult to injury to ignore emails and phone calls (in the unlikely event you can get through) I shall start small claims court proceedings and suggest others do the same. Disgusted.

If I could give no stars, I would! Booked a holiday for Christmas, took out cancellation insurance from their site, as they don't give refunds on deposits...Cancelled with 7 months notice! No refund, insurance is pointless as it the customer service attitude of holidaycottages. Not their problem, apparently...£276 down, thanks! I will never book with them again. They've 'looked into it'...changed nothing! Wanted medical evidence that my Dad is likely to be dead by then or at the very least it would be his last Christmas and so I 'd rather stay with the family, not go on holiday. No empathy at all.

Won't allow you to cancel, won't accept transfer of holiday dates and will hide this information in T&Cs so they are not made explicit before they take your money. Will use all sorts of excuses not to issue a refund. Horribl company, very dubious and completely unfair. You get better flexibility and value for money elsewhere.

I booked a cottage over a month ago but accidentely booked the wrong dates. I instantly contacted customer service via email and since then i've been chasing them for my refund. They do not have a contact number which is just ridiculous and the customer service email only reply via cripted emails once a week, if i'm lucky. I even asked for an exchange as I still want the same cottage but i'm getting no where..

We stayed at an expensive property in Instow, Devon which fell well below expectations and needed frequent maintenance call-outs. A critical but fair review was provided to holidaycottages.co.uk which included both positives and negatives.

As the owner did not agree with our feedback, holidaycottages.co.uk have only published the positive parts of the review. They confirmed that this was the case via email.

Feedback does not have to be agreed with. It is a matter of fairness and transparency that reviews are published in full.

Called to ask if two cottages could have the same changeover day (6months ahead and no bookings made yet). Wouldn't even ask owners or housekeeping team. Weird as all the other cottages have the same day. I emailed too, still wouldn't ask, then I get an email a couple of days later offering me the cottage with that changeover day from another rep? 8 wasn't asking for anything unreasonable and I have booked a number of cottages before. I am very suspicious of companies with staff who have no customer service and seem to enjoy speaking as if they are above you. It's no effort to just say they'll ask then say I'm so sorry but we can't [with valid reason]. I won't be using them again.

Went home after only 3days of a 7day holiday cottage was poorly described it was on a busy road with no pavement you couldn't open the front windows due to the noise no view whatsoever out in the garden the beach was a 10 minute car journey away not within a short walk as stated I complained but have been ignored so far the review I left for the property has not been published I wonder why we are very disappointed with this company
Date of stay 27/5/2023

Darrach cottage totally misrepresented
We rented a property Darrach cottage Lochinver week beginning 17th June through holidaycottages.co.uk. When we got to the property it was totally misrepresented, neglected and not clean. We complained and were relocated over 100 miles away to Thurso.
We have asked for compensation, the West Coast was after all our destination of choice, rocky coastline and mountains not moorland and livestock farming in Thurso. The company have refused point blank. The cottage continues to be marketed with the the erroneous information, for example loch views when there are none, play equipment that is broken and dangerous, several acres of garden, quite possibly but totally overgrown and inaccessible.
We will not be using this company again and would recommend no one rents Darrach cottage until improvements have been made.
Tracee Rout

I have been trying to get my deposit back since Jan due to husband I'll health the insurance company are not answering the phone get cut off after reaching No 1 in the queue sent emails auto replies saying we are busy owed 654 for deposit disgusting customer service never will book with them again

Anita Hemel Hempstead

We booked a holiday on the 22 June paid in full had to cancel 2 days later due to a death in the family,to be told we would only receive £88 back from the 956 it cost us,no sympathy offerd just told should have read terms an conditions from customer service,we can't afford another family holiday and can't afford to loose that money they really don't care@!

They cancelled holiday due to covid 19. Dead phone line, 2wks later got a call asking to rebook. Three families, hard to get a date plus £300 more for same date next year. Wont give a refund, only offer 20% of £800 cost. Shameful company response using customer money as cash flow. Don't book with these.

No facilities for holiday rental
It's cold miserable stuck in middle of 2 main roads very noisy
Access to back through a broken gate
Access to place up steps and steep
Drive
Do.not book

We stayed at one of their properties which was nothing like what was described. Left a negative review which never got on to the site. Chased company and no response. Not a company to be trusted.

Milan cottage is more of an Annexe to a main cottage than a cottage on it's own merits. Neglected and not clean. Property is not dog friendly. The gate to the courtyard is not suitable for small dogs. They could easily escape. No garden for dogs. No views as advertised. Stairs inside properly are extremely steep and unsafe. I fell down them on the first night's stay. Did not fell safe and left on the 2nd day. Complained to holidaycottages.co.uk and they were of little help. Offered me £150 out of their commission. Owner would not even consider a partial refund of the £1300 I paid for the week. In fact the owner did not even respond to my email. Very rude and arrogant. Will never use holidaycottages.co.uk to book future accommodation.

Holiday Cottages might just as well tell you from the outset that customer service means absolutely nothing once you've paid up.
Complain the shower does not work, I mean not a drop of water, at the start of your holiday and you are really up against some serious problems. I have been told, by them, they are not responsible for any fault in the property you pay to rent through them, it is another company who you know nothing of thus relinquishing Holiday Cottages of any responsibility leaving you completely helpless. My expensive week away has been a bitter disappointment and I have been left feeling, as far as Holiday Cottages is
Concerned, a customer they would prefer to just shut up and disappear.

Award winning Company — what a joke!
Further to my first review I would like to add as follows:-

Their Holiday Cottages ad states believe it or not- Award Winning Company!
I would imagine that it means Award Winning for taking customers hard earned money, and when anyone needs to cancel for a valid reason ( as in covid) you get very little or none of it back!
If you do not want to get ‘ripped off' I strongly suggest that you book with another company.
Hopefully a reputable one.
You have been warned! These people are modern day pirates taking advantage of the COVID Pandemic with myriads of excuses why there is no refund.
I should make them sweat by going to court in my wheelchair and pleading my case. These robbers STILL owe us £100.00p.
Jonathan W.

I have had a terrible time with these people. When the COVID 19 crisis first came up, I contacted them proactively to reschedule for next year. My original booking was for May 16-23. I got numerous form-letter type emails that looked like they hadn't even bothered to read what I wrote. When they finally contacted me to tell me they would rebook for next year, the price increase was £220, which is a 27% increase. This is downright extortion. I can't believe a company can stay in business this way. I felt I had no choice but to pay the additional money, or lose the money I had already paid them. Profiting from a crisis is absolutely SHAMEFUL. The increase in the price hit me very hard in the pocket book. I am a single senior citizen, and have never been treated so poorly. I will not be booking with these people again, even though I holiday in Scotland frequently. Ref: *******

My advice to anybody TRYING to book with this 'company' is - DON'T. They have just re-sold a booking I made on behalf of myself and 8 friends in October 2019 for 11th September, 2020. Despite many hours, days and weeks trying to pay the balance via the impossible to get through telephone number, Email was no better. I outlined my problem on 9th June, received an automated reply saying it would be answered - it wasn't. In desperation I 'phoned the owners who assured me my booking was secure and that I could pay them directly if the problem was not resolved. They have verbally offered a full refund and yes you've got it! - NO REFUND HAS ARRIVED! They are not to be trusted. Take a look at the many similar comments on FACEBOOK.

The worst customer service i have ever expereinced, it is now mon 19th oct still waiting for a phone call back from fri 16th oct, good job we did not do as instructed and wait outside of the cottage for a phone call back, would still be waitng there.

My family and I arrived at Scarah Cottage at 4pm on 2nd Aug 2019, we left at 4:25pm.
As we drove up the drive to the cottage we were impressed and keen to settle in for the week - from the outside it looks magnificent.
To describe the awful condition of the inside of the cottage in words would take too long.
I have attached some of the photographs that we took, showing mould in the shower and the fridge, dirt in the bathrooms, the table in the bathroom along with the dirt in the corner of the bath, the cover hanging off the boiler and the filthy Ironing board, If you don't have time to check out all of he photographs, just look at the Bedside Lamp to understand why we decided to return home within 25 minutes of arriving at Scarah Cottage.
The cottage is described on the holidaycottages.co.uk website as 5star Luxury.
The Cottage owner states that he feels these could have been rectified at the time'
Holidaycottages.co.uk visited the cottage and stated In light of your comments our property manager Jessica has visited the property and once the issues you have raised are addressed it will still meet the criteria of a 5 star luxury property.'
5star properties should not require any rectification when the guest arrives, and NO property (irrespective of grade) should require this magnitude of rectification just to make it a clean, safe environment for families to stay.
We paid over £1900 to stay there for the week expecting it to be as it was depicted on the website, it was not.
Holidaycottages.co.uk and the Owner have refused to refund any of the cost of our holiday.