“What a terrible company, was advised!! today by a rude advisor called Martin to basically push off then advised by another advisor called Robert I could not complain about Martin...
Martin the customer services advisor from hell was rude, and brusque, but guess that passes as customer services at cottages.com.
This treatment was after a 2 day stay for £555 at a lovely rural property, quiet and secluded, that will be a big fat NO...in reality I was treated to a digger all day 50ft from the property front window from 10 am to 5pm, smashing ...no doubt cottages.com will think that is great...and its me that has the problem...I have pictures but out of a misplaced fairness to the owner I will not share”
“I booked a cottage on friday night and realised that I had double booked, I contacted Cottages.com through their chat, and on saturday I was told that the dates couldnt be changed, after saying this was unreasonable they offered me a change of date, unfortunately as this took quite awhile I had to go out and couldnt contact them, I tried to contact them on sunday but I couldnt get the chat to send a message, so I contacted them monday morning and was told there was definately no way that I could change the dates as it was within a date range when it couldnt be changed, I find this very unacceptable as I contacted them as soon as possible after I realised I had made a mistake, and on saturday they were prepared to offer me a chnge”
“I can second these are a joke of a company! Had issues with hurst house in st bees and all cottages.com could say was that they didn’t own the property so it wasn’t their fault!
Astounding that they can just blame the owners even tho they represent them ! Wouldn’t never use this company again! Beware !”
“I booked “The Hideaway” Chapel St Leonard’s through Cottages.com. The Hideaway was a beautiful, comfortable stay, everything anyone would want and more in a holiday cottage , we wished we could have stayed longer, thank you.”
“We had a great week at Beach Mews, Broadstairs. The house was beautiful, in a great location and equipped with everything you could possibly want. The owner was very friendly and helpful. Would not hesitate to recommend.”
“Avoid.. only to happy to take your money and when there is a problem they keep trying to fob you off for months.
We stayed at maytree cottage in May. After 1st night awoke to find 2 members of family covered in bites. You could then see bed bugs in that bed. After speaking to the owner we left the house for the day ,and was told the problem had been dealt with. Upon our return that evening we were shocked to find that there was visibly still bed bugs in that bedroom and 2 other bedrooms. Because at that time it was so late 7 of us had to sleep downstairs on sofas. GREAT HOLIDAY!!!!
The next day was spent on phone to cottages.com and out side in garden shaking off 9 peoples clothes before we packed cars. That afternoon cottages.com did offer us a alternative house to stay at.
Which we did except although it was not in the area we had planned to holiday,so by the time we had travelled there it was late evening. ANOTHER DAY OF OUR HOLIDAY LOST .... the next day was spent washing 9 peoples clothes with dettol in the fear we may have brought the BED BUGS with us. Although cottages.com did transfer us to a different house, we feel after saving up and looking forward to a holiday it was ruined and fell well short of our expectations, to say the least. And certainly don't expect to come back off holiday covered in BITES.....
Then after 2 months and numerous phone calls to be told we are not entitled to any compensation!!!!! What a shambolic joke of a holiday company.”
“They misrepresented a property clearly had not been inspected for some time! Too many issues to list but unsafe hot tub being one big issue. Dirty unusable crockery & utensils, dirty bedding to name but a few. Cottages.com not taking responsibility for advising this cottage. You are better off booking with Classic Cottages or smaller companies. I will not use them again!”
“I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. Thieving bustards.
I had to cancel a ling weekend, was told I would lose my deposit. When I responded to agree to this I received no response.
I eventually called them only to be told I would lose 75%!!!!
Unless you are confident you will definitely use your booking DO NOT USE.”
“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.”
