“Misleading advertisements for properties. Property descriptions claim the property has/provides things it does not, or fails to make you aware of issues, such as the property has security cameras inside the property to monitor guests during their stay. Their customers service is non existent and even you make a complaint regarding the property (even at the start of your holiday) nothing is done to address the issues. They make it practically impossible for you to complain, cutting off all channels of communication. Their staff are rude, lazy and your complaint is never addressed.”
“I have just completed a lovely long weekend at the Barn on the wall in Cumbria and must say the eight strong party had a wonderful time the owner Anna was extremely helpful and very amenable the cottage was wonderful it's grounds and stunning views were excellent.
Thank you Anna for a brilliant weekend.”
“we stayed at Crook if Golf in Bacton. The accommodation appeared to last have been updated in the 80's. We were not expecting luxury but this was beyond a joke. Mattresses very thin and uncomfortable. Badly stained bedroom carpet. Pillows so worn out they were about an 1" thick. We had to buy our own. Bathroom suite very worn and poorly fitted. Black mould around shower base. Ingrained dirt in corners .of room. The settee was incredibly uncomfortable, we noticed that someone had previously found the same problems as we did in the reviews which had unfortunately been left after we booked. The open space out front has now been built on with more chalets. It is a shame because a great deal of the owners have made their chalets really nice. Would never recommend this to anyone.”
“I made a booking on 17/924 and the same day was contacted by owner of the cottage to say that they were no longer letting their cottage and Cottages.com had been informed months before. After many hours of trying to contact them via their contact nos-not actually speaking to a person!!!! I did manage to speak to a person who seemed disinterested and said that I’d receive a refund within 10 days. I am still waiting 31 days and will now have the frustration of trying to deal with this. I am a pensioner and have had to rebook (using another company) having to use more money I can’t afford! Due to go away soon and need reimbursement in order to enjoy it!”
“I recently stayed at Brothersfield cottage and wrote an honest review of the poor standards.
I’ve also emailed Cottages.com about the property and the substandard condition, however the review has not been put on their site and they haven’t replied to the email. This company is very quick to take your money, but anything negative is ignored. I will never use Cottages.com again!”
“What went wrong was Cottages.com, full stop. If I was the owner of the cottage I'd be furious. They were so obstructive regarding giving information, not answering threads, that I had to get an arbitrator (airbnb) involved at least twice before my trip. It is very frustrating to need to contact them for anything. They only sent me the code for entry a couple of hours before arrival. The cottage itself was lovely, but everything the company seems to do that represents 'caring' about the customer, is such an act that it is laughable. They frustrated my to such an extent that I had to get over that in order to enjoy my stay. I'm sure that's not what it is meant to be.”
“wanted to talk to someone about an issue, but is all AI, no real people to talk to. As I was on a phone it was really hard typing YES or NO answers only to questions. Being able to talk to someone helps. Won't be using Cottages.com anymore.”
“I wanted to leave a review about a recent stay but was unable to because the company has to contact you. There is no customer service number or email address. There is a digital chat number which is useless.”
“Holiday cancelled with no compensation 2 days - yes 2 days before booking was meant to start. If we had cancelled we would have lost all funds paid...
Would not provide equivalent accommodation, just left us with nothing didnt even refund money for 7 days for us to rebook.
Couldn't care less that what they do is against ABTA code of conduct and the law!
If you want your holiday cancelled with no notice or compensation book with them other wise go somewhere normal.”
“Shocking customer service from this company,
They rented me a cottage that overwhelmingly stank of damp and one bedroom infested with wood lice.
So bad that we had to leave a day early
They sided with the cottage owner instead of their customers!
Liars! AVOID AVOID SVOID”
“I booked Sybils Cottage in Gayle, North Yorkshire arrived 24/8/24 for a week and left the 25th. The cottaged was rustic warm well equipped and very clean. Unfortunately no mention of stone and marble staircase in statement/description online. I found them to be rather dangerous and felt unsafe using them. As I didn't have telephone number of cottages office I left property. When I rang next day to office I got no satisfaction. So beware of stairs in Sybils cottage.”
“Horrible place noisy no privacy left after 2 days and not dog friendly as advertised tv no good waste of 800 pounds avoid owners live next to property and your every move will be seen and can't leave the dogs their and taxis don't take them.pointless never again a nice hotel would be better”
“Disgusting company, stayed at Water's Edge Beadnell, booked for a week, first night arrive the noise coming from the property next door was horrid, kids screaming, parents shouting, doors slamming, you could hear word for word what was being said, there was NO soundproofing in the property, this went on until 10.30pm, i contacted the owner who said this has never happened before(the last review states the walls are paper thin & dogs barking)
We were then woken the next morning at 6.30 by the same noise as the night before, we then contacted cottages by the chat & we were told a live complaint had been raised & we would hear back but couldn't say when, the owner said the family making the noise were leaving, the noise went on from 6.30 -10.30am when we left for the day. When we got back around 5pm the same family were coming back next door, we had another hour of the noise before I went round & approached next door & asked if they could keep the noise down a bit as we couldn't hear ourselves speak. When I got back into the "cottgage" the property on the otherside had left tw dogs barking and howling on their own,after an hour we left for the night & spent £60 on a meal even though we had bought food to cook, we got back at 10.30pm & the dogs were still going, I recorded this & sent the video to the owner who didn't apologise but said she would contact the owners of the properties the next morning at 9.30, & we still had not heard back from cottages, the dogs stopped as well as the family at around 11pm. The sunday morning we were woken up again at 6.30 by screaming,banging, running the soundproofing was non existent & it looked like we were staying in one big house that had been split in 2. I then text the owner saying that we were leaving as the noise was still going at 9.30 3 hours later non stop, I said by 10am could they confirm that we would get a refund. By after 11 we text the owner again (we still had no contact from cottages 24 hours later) and the owner rang & made a sly comment about how this was stressful for her & it was a Sunday, I told her we were leaving & she said she informed me its cottages that would owe me the refund not her. I then started to pack & rang cottages again as they still had not been in touch, they told me that the refund lies with the owner so both just passing the buck to eachother. That we shoukd put a formal complaint in but it would be a long process and at least 28 days for a response. We had to pay £130 on a taxi back to Newcastle as there was no trains that day, nearly £850 down now & two HORRENDOUS days trying to reach cottages & get some help from the owner, who showed no empathy,no apology, tried to gaslight us into thinking this didn't normally happen, I have since had no contact from cottages since the email was sent & I rang again today to be told that because we left before cottages got back in touch it will take longer! This is mental they didn't get back in touch, how long are you meant to wait, i do NOT take leaving a weeks holiday 2 days in lightly so its diabolical they are going to try & drag this out, never used them before & will never use them again, I can see ny these other reviews that their service, communication is poor & fraudulant”
“I'll tell all potential victims of this unscrupulous and virtueless company .
A day and a half before our warmly anticipated family get together I was rang by cottages. com informing me that the owner was to withdraw the rental because of a pricing error . they now wanted another £580.
we had already paid roughly £750 o in June and the hol. was ini August .
I was offered a refund or choose from a small selection of unsuitable lets.
this was shocking given the short notice . I blame Cotages .com ....shocking treatment!”
“We booked a cottage in the cotswolds back in February 2024 to go in September 2024
Unfortunately we found out that there are horses at the back of the cottage, and as I’am allergic to horses this was now a no go.
This wasn’t mentioned in the description of the cottage, otherwise we would never have booked it. And now it looks like we have lost all of our money as all cottages.com will pay back is a measley sum of £83.50. None of this was our fault and really feel we should get back all of our money? Get your act together cottages.com as we are senior citizens and can ill afford to lose all that money. Don’t book with this company as any issues and they don’t want to know.”
“We weren’t offered to review the cottage afterwards. Not even been contacted by Cottages.com to ask if the holiday or accommodation was ok - which it wasn’t. The cottage was unacceptably dirty & smelt strongly of dogs even though it had top marks for cleanliness. We booked a two week stay costing just shy of £1,900 & had only one tea towel supplied for the full two weeks. I therefore had to buy my own from the local market. There was no clean change of bedding provided for the second week. The towels were stained & in a poor state. The thick dust in the bedroom affected my asthma. VERY disappointed!”
“Appalling company. If you have a problem you are on your own. They promote the fact they're an ABTA member but this is meaningless as they will claim they are a merely a booking agent and you have no contract with them. This is backed up by ABTA! We had a disgusting property called Wringford Farm Annexe in Cornwall which stunk of stale urine as the elderly owners lived in the same property separated by an ordinary internal door. The place was mouldy, shabby and dusty. Had no option other to stay the night but left first thing in the morning. Our complaint was effectively dismissed even though the owners stated that "cleanliness issues" would be addressed. Cottages imposed their own resolution on us by refunding just £100 for our ruined holiday. A "goodwill gesture" is what they insultingly call it. Hoping our credit card company can do more for us.”
“we booked a cottage 20/5/24 in norfolk we paid the deposit and authorised them to rtake the balance from our account on the 17/07/2024. We received an e mail confirming this would happen. We left home on the 19/7/2024 to catch a 14 day cruise. In the meantime i was sent an e mail saying they could not take the money from my account. This is strange as my credit card details had not changes . I returned from holiday 14 days later checked my e mails found the firste mail and a second e mail saying as money not received the holiday had been cancelled. I tried to call them but all the phone numbers have been taken out. So i had to chat via the internet. The person i spoke to tried to re instate the holiday and could not so agreed to repay my deposit and re credit the tesco vouchers. So far so good I checked my account today and the payment was £100.00 short so i went onto site and again went through the chat box i explained the issue and they just did not reply kept me on line for over 20 minutes after i had been put through to an agent. Atrocious service I will be complaining to tesco about this company.”
“We booked to go away to accommodation in the Lake District in July at the beginning of the year. Paid the deposit and then had an automated payment scheduled but paid beforehand so cannot comment on any issues with that going through.
Found the accommodation quickly. Host had got in touch a couple of days beforehand and booked us in for dinner at the local pub. Host provided us with lots of useful information prior to our arrival so we could plan accordingly.
Once at the accommodation, host showed us around the grounds and warned us about any areas which might be unsuitable to walk in (due to being a boggy area and some rainfall). Host was so pleasant and helpful.
Accommodation was well-equipped and homey. No issues whatsoever. Hot tub was fantastic and clear instructions/guidance on how to use everything/where to put rubbish/etc.
Host went the extra mile providing advice on local areas and allowing us to borrow their binoculars (as we like to bird watch) and putting extra bird feed out for us.
We had an incredibly pleasant experience and booking was so easy. Only thing I am struggling with post-holiday is leaving a review on cottages.com’s website.”
