“The absolute WORST PLACE I have ever been to. Do NOT book with this company. The host was hostile, manipulative and was verbally abusive to me and my friend. This place is called Prince Land Lodge in Coupar Angus. Not only has Feefo (the company they use to do reviews) are refusing to give me an email so I can review my stay on the website, I have been refused any compensation for my disgusting stay. They are extremely hard to get hold of with little to no customer service. I waited over a month to get a refund from a stay. The host was not only incredibly verbally abusive, shouting at us to our face to tell her ‘all the positive things about our stay’ or she wouldn’t leave us alone. She then ENTERED THE PROPERTY whilst we were out on a walk!! Without a phone call or text. She entered the property because there was an ant problem but I already texted her prior to this telling her and I called up cottages.com TWICE saying I don’t need them to come in it’s not an emergency. Cottages.com will allow the host to come in to your stay while you’re out and do who knows what?! Without your permission! DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY. THEIR LOWER PRICES ARENT WORTH IT. If you have an issue - NOTHING WILL BE DONE. We wasted over £600!!!”
“I have just read some reviews and I am truly shocked.
I rent 4 or 5 cottage every year with them and have never had a bad
Experience. All the cottages have been clean and well presented.
I must be very lucky”
“Booked a cottage in Wadebridge Cornwall with cottages.com and looked nothing like the pictures provided all overgrown outside dirty inside full of cob weds
Mould on walls in daughters bedroom, windows needed a good clean looked as if hadn’t been cleaned in a few months
Very unfriendly staff when had to call them very unhelpful definitely wouldn’t book with them again”
“Beware of shoddy admin!! Had a family stay in a barn conversion in Welland Nr Malvern that was very successful except for the poor cleaning that had been carried out at the property before arrival. On return raised issue with Cottages.com (not a complaint but just observation) and it promised to get back to me asap. Not a word from Cottages .com by phone or email!!! Also made enquiry of its nominated insurer about small claim , and despite chasing, no action!!!”
“The cottage I rented was dirty and full of left over items, including toe nails, out of date food and personal items. When I complained to cottages.com they said they were only the marketing and booking agent. They passed my complaint to the owner who refused to take responsibility for anything. They then gave me a voucher as ‘a goodwill gesture’, so I could book another holiday through them! Unfortunately I haven’t been able to upload the photos I have but there are many!”
“Cottages.com is now run by a company called Awaze. As you can see from the reviews, it has gone downhill of late. I had a holiday booked for this summer, 2024. We had arranged for automatic payment to be made. Instead of taking the money, they cancelled the holiday, giving us only an afternoon's notice and charged us an extra £100 for the cancellation. When I tried to resolve the matter, they said they would charge me an extra £50 to restore the holiday. When I refused to pay anything extra, they literally ignored all of my further attempts to resolve the matter and sent threatening emails requesting the cancellation fee.
This is a company that I will be staying well clear of in the future.”
“arrived at Westfield Isle of Wight. Horrified to find dilapidated and scruffy exterior. Inside hallway tiny, dingy and in appalling decorative condition. Overwhelmed by the most nauseating smell of damp and must. Evidence of botched repairs on significant fixtures. i.e. duct tape holding glass panes in front and back door. Wobbly veranda railing held up with rusty and corroded fittings. Outside found live electricity cables running across entrance path at very least a trip hazard apart from electrocution risk. expecting stream in garden but not sewer with no lid just covered with chicken wire [which had large hole in centre] and a random piece of garden fence placed loosely over top. Toilet flushing could be heard. Each of rooms were equally disappointing. food crumbs on kitchen worktops and table. dirty toaster and kettle. Loft sitting room had stained and shabby sofas. Large dead blue bottles encased in light fittings. Bathroom had dirty glass fittings, tiles, dirty grout and silicone. Had no immediate choice but to stay. Didnt know island and we had our dog with us. Contacted Cottages.com next working day and complained. We then began to make arrangements to leave. We spent next few hours cleaning to provide ourselves with sanitised space. We have lots of photos but only managed to get 3 uploaded
We asked for a full refund. Cottages.com offered £97 "compensation" We declined but this was ignored and this money paid into our account. Cottages. com then declared case closed. We are now being gaslighted being told owners were upset by our complaint!!! Now call centre staff are hiding behind a wall of silence. We have found out that their internal procedures dictate staff do not speak with complaining customers. COTTAGES .COM THIS DISASTER IS ENTIRELY DOWN TO YOU AND YOUR ADVERTISING. WE BOOKED, AND PAID THROUGH YOU. WE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN FACED WITH THIS. WE ARE PURSUING A FULL REFUND. Next step ABTA and Ombudsman. Sharing this as a warning for anyone booking this property or booking with Cottages.com. You see a rather ugly side to this company when things have gone wrong. This company does not care.”
“Can’t find a phone number to talk to a person. Booked many cottages with them, always good. They sent me a voucher but chat bot says I can’t use it online, what other way is there?
Disappointed customer at lack of communication”
“Booked a late holiday for next week received e mail confirmation saying register to download booking details website won’t allow me to register so I don’t know how to gain entry to the property I have rang ten times no one answers the phone. No e mail address to contact cottages.com absolutely disgrace DO NOT BOOK WITH COTTAGES .COM”
“In late March we booked a house to visit Chester for a trip about 2 and a half weeks away. Two days later my mum died suddenly, so that same morning I canceled the trip as we were grieving and I needed to care for my family.
Explained the situation to cottages.com, even providing a death certificate to show I was being truthful. I wanted a refund of the £400 as we aren't able to travel anytime soon, had only just booked less than 48 hours before and there was still ample time for soemone else to book the property.
Cottages.com offered us to change our booking but refused our refund, telling us we should have booked the travel insurance if we wanted a total refund.
I don't care about policy, we have been through an awful situation that I wouldn't wish on anyone and cottages.com simply didn't care, they'd rather keep hold of £400 than show a tiny bit of human decency. Had they helped me out I would have been a customer for life and spent far more than £400 in future. Now I wouldn't ever use them again and will never recommend them to anyone else.
I've since sent seversl emails to cottages.com asking them to reconsider, however these emails have been ignored completely.
A greedy, shameless, callous organisation. Avoid like the plague.”
“I am desperately trying to cancel a holiday booked for mid July. I cannot get hold of anyone by phone and there is no email address. I will continue calling but judging by the other reviews here I will not be able to get through. The customer service robot is utterly useless and the website says that it is easy to get information about cancellation and then when you find the section on the site it just says contact us, but doesn't say how....
Non existant customer service.”
“End of last year booked holiday cottage for July this year. Have now found out the property we have booked is up for sale. Tried to contact cottages.com by phone to find out what's going on - kept on hold for ages without a response. Tried their live chat, told no one available. Tried DM via Facebook - no reply. Tried DM on Twitter - no reply. Non-existent customer service which is extremely concerning.”
“Regrettably we had to cancel our booking way before the final payment was due. We had paid a low deposit £25, on a total holiday cost of £475, and when we cancelled we were told to pay another £148.75. There were no details on the booking confirmation that any additional charges would be required to cancel, if done before the final payment was due. We had expected to lose the £25. In their small print, which is not included in the booking information, a figure of 25% is mentioned which would be £118.75 - £25 already paid, would equal £93.75, not the £148.75 which they took in order to cancel. It is a waste of time trying to phone as it’s all automated and nobody ever phones back.”
“A friend and I booked cottage in Tenbury Wells advertised for 4 people. Definitely not - second bedroom could only hold a double bed - no storage - and a dining chair, which had to be carried down an extremely steep flight of stairs to make up enough seating for 4 people. The table was not the one pictured in the details. It was sited in the alcove under the stairs and would have to be pulled out into the kitchen to make room to sit. Three people would have to sit together on the small settee with the fourth the other side of the room on a single chair. antiquated, inefficient log burner, shed with extra logs etc padlocked so couldn't replenish logs. No firelighters or matches although said there was - we had to buy our own. No secure outside space for a dog, no garden furniture and we wouldn't have used it anyway as it would have been like sitting in a gravelled car park. Details very misleading. The very steep stairs should have been mentioned, especially for elderly people. The TV difficult to operate. The freezer compartment in the fridge was very iced up and needed defrosting. No rug o the lounge floor, only tiles. I would not recommend this property at all. Should have been advertised for only 3 people and instead of the second double bed, a single and storage would have been better. We have been self catering for over 60 years and this was the worst property we have ever stayed in. Old fashioned hotch potch of furniture not worth the money.
VERY DISAPPOINTED would not use this holiday agent again.”
“Terrible customer service. Never pick up their phone. Tried five times for 30 minutes each time. Arrived at our holiday in Wharfedale Lodge Thornton Clsveleys. One bedroom infested with bed bugs. No refund as yet of the refund we need for the £695 wasted. Did not stay one night. No holiday.”
“The cottage I booked was not as discribed as it was without heating and I had to pay for my logs to heat up the main living room from a small log fire I have made two complaints etc seems that Cottage. Com have taken the side of the landlord and have not had the decency to call verbally for my side of my displeasure as asked for.”
“Appalling service from them. We booked in Dec23 for a holiday in Dec 24 and paid a deposit. I subsequently have paid an amount monthly off the balance. April 24 I received a phone call stating that the owner has increased the rental for our booking by £350. I asked if they can do this when I have already booked and was told yes. I was told as I refused to pay the increase I would receive a full refund. The problem is we had booked a cottage next to our son, daughter in law and grandkids too, and theirs has not increased so they are unable to cancel without losing their deposit!! This is dreadful treatment by the company and the greedy owners!! Bookings should be honoured. The company now are uncontactable as no phone’s answering and no chat available, absolutely disgusting way to treat customers.”
“Cottages.com was a complete nightmare to deal with. We booked our dates and our account showed correct dates; however later we received confirmation with incorrect dates (off by 1 day). The only way to get a human to resolve issue was to pay 25 pounds. She fixed dates but suddenly our new rate was 100 pounds more. It was highway robbery. The date issue was their mistake not ours and it cost $125 pounds to rectify. If we had cancelled we would have lost even more so we reluctantly stuck with them. Felt like a bait and switch to purposely scam more money from an existing reservation. Do not use cottages.com. No customer service unless you pay a fee to converse with you. Is there a Better Business Bureau equivalent in the UK? If so, this company needs to be reported.”
“Just spent a week at Victoria's Haven in Kirkcaldy and absolutely loved it!! So close to the beach, immaculately clean and very well equipped... oh and very pet friendly which was great for us. An exquisite house with gorgeous decor with amazing little touches from the plaques on the walls to the wee tortoise half way up the stairs, we loved it all!! The owners are fantastic and couldnt do enough for us. We will definitely be back”
