“I am amazed that this company is still in business as when I went to the Small Claims Court I was told that it had gone into liquidation. I and many other people paid deposits for a stay at Canford Dairy, one of the properties handled by Country Holiday House. My deposit was paid then I was told that the booking could not be honoured but I would not get my money back. I am still waiting!!”
“AWFUL!!!!!!! do not book this place unless u want to loose your security bond!!! Pictures can be deceiving…. Not very clean at all! Unsafe beds! When leaving they make out things are wrong to hold on to your desposit! Managers attitude absalutley stinks! All round vile experience,,, save your money!”
“I would suggest NOT booking this as a place to stay! Cleanliness not great! Bunk beds very unsafe! If there’s a problem over the weekend you get no response! Not all what it seems to be on the pictures! Owner is reluctant to giving back deposits and is very rude! Wouldn’t recommend”
“DO NOT BOOK THIS HOUSE. We couldn’t visit in 2020 due to government covid-19 rules and reluctantly Sarah transferred our booking until 2021. She had our full balance payment for 18 months. Two weeks before we were due to visit in Oct 2021, she informed us that we could not stay due to a double booking. Terrible customer service and it took us 3 weeks to receive a refund. Luckily, we found and stayed somewhere much nicer in Cornwall. Do not trust the company. If you do, prepare to be disappointed and treated badly.”
“We booked Spring House in Hidden Valley, Cosham through countryholidayhouse.com back in January as it was my partner's special birthday in July. The whole family of ten had booked time off for this and this included 3 grand children. We dealt with a woman (she went under two names, but probably the same person) who seemed to be slightly off-hand to start with but became easier to deal with. We paid a deposit and a final payment in March. We contacted the woman again on a Monday, five days before our holiday was due and she confirmed that the booking was all complete and we could pick the keys up on the Friday. Imagine to my horror when the very next morning, two days before our holiday, I received an email from her stating that our holiday was cancelled due to double booking. She had decided to give the property to another family who allegedly also booked Spring House.
This left us with only two days to find another property which caused great stress to my partner and three young and very upset grand children. We took her to task over this and we said she was in breach of the contract. If the tables had turned and we had cancelled two days prior, she would have kept all of our money. She offered us an alternative accommodation but as we had already booked excursions and restaurants which were nontransferrable, the new location was not ideal and it was for three days only! As we had a receipt for our confirmed booking, I told Sarah that if I did not have the money back in my account within 12 hours, I would be arriving, as scheduled at the property on Friday. Her response was "why would you upset another family?". She obviously did not consider our family's distress and how much trouble she had caused and the terrible disappointment to our children and grand children. I also stated that I would be putting this matter into the hands of my solicitor whereupon the money was returned to my account.
This has probably been one of the worst experiences we have had to deal with. We would advise no one to deal with contryholidayhouse.com. Just by reading the reviews and the given star ratings should tell you to avoid this one like the plague.
Update: We have had a reply from the owner of the house to say they gave us a refund straight away after they noticed that they had doubled booked. My answer to this is as follows: we are not the only people that have had our holiday cancelled by countryholidayhouse.com, other customer reviews also state they have had the same treatment. Having spoken to the owner on a Monday (3 days before our holiday) to confirm that our holiday is all set, then to receive an email on a Tuesday to say the holiday is cancelled due to a double booking is totally unacceptable. This would suggest that the owner's administrative skills are very much below par and as a customer, you would be taking a chance as to whether or not your holiday is secure if you book with countryholidayhouse.com”
“Due to the coronavirus pandemic, only 1 household can go away during our dates. We have asked for a refund as there are 15 of us and the lady reports this not being her problem! She refuses to give a refund and expects 1 person to go for the weekend, costing £2000!
No other dates that she can offer us. Totally unreasonable.
Avoid if you don't want to lose your money!!! Book elsewhere.”
“A group of us stayed at Skyfall (Starfall) for a weekend in June 2019.
The house is quite nice, though there are a few niggles which would be easy to fix such as no locks on the bathroom doors and visible wires in the overhead light above the dining table. There was plenty of hot water in the bathrooms, the beds were very comfortable and the garden lovely. We had problems with a kitchen tap that did not work, patio door that did not open and hot tub not prepared for us despite booking and paying for it.
I am appalled at the customer service. Sarah Campos-Martyn doubted that I could tell whether water came out of a tap, and denied that the door could be broken. It turned out that the tap had been turned off by a plumber as it had been dripping and was awaiting repair – Sarah said sorry that she thought it had been fixed so I wonder why she doubted me if she knew there was an issue. Someone came to check the tap (and turned it on for us!) and tried the door with a key but could not open it – Sarah never apologised for the broken door. She also denied that we had booked and paid for the hot tub and as I did not have the email trail with me, I was unable to prove it until after the holiday.
I emailed (twice) as soon as I returned proving that I had booked the hot tub and giving bank details for the return of the hot tub payment and security deposit. I received no reply. I chased the payment at 30 days (when the security deposit was due) by email and text and again at 36 & 37 days. I finally had a reply and deposit refund at 38 days with the apology that she had moved house and had only just got Wi-Fi. She did not address or even mention the hot tub issue. I wonder how it is possible to run a holiday property business for 30+ days with no internet; I expect she managed to reply to enquiries for new bookings during that time.
I have emailed and texted again and I am still waiting for a response and refund for the hot tub.”
“We stayed at The Old Manor, Almer for one week in July 2018 - our experience dealing with the owner caused a huge amount of stress before, during and after what was supposed to be a relaxing holiday.
1. 2 days before our arrival, and before the arrival of our 16 guests, the owner sent us an email to say that they had had to move all the beds from the top floor to the middle floor due to fire regulations - when I called to request compensation, she put the phone down. This caused a considerable amount of stress for my wife and I on what was supposed to be a week of holiday and celebration. I understand wanting to comply with regulations but to inform by email and not pick up the phone given the implications for our stay is just bad management.
2. On arrival, there was a large bin full of rubbish and maggots - and a Johnsons cleaners bag of bed linen outside on the path
3. The cleaner we booked with the owner to arrive on the Monday did not turn up so we had to spend time changing the beds and cleaning the property after the weekend when we were supposed to be spending time with family. When the cleaners did turn up on the last day, they told us that no-one had tried to contact them to arrange the Monday visit and would have been available if asked - we had to clean the place ourselves which was a huge inconvenience and spoiled a day of the holiday.
We were also unable to find the vacuum cleaner which we were trying to find only because the cleaners had not turned up on the Monday - we found one vacuum cleaner which overheated - the cleaner told us that it was older than than the 6 weeks the owner told us and the cleaner had to get her own when she arrived at the end of our week.
4. We passed on feedback on the property by email during the week Including utensils and cooking we thought the kitchen should be equipped with - and told the owner that the toilet seat in the master bedroom en-suite was broken - this was not fixed during the week.
5. On every email sent to the owner, I asked the owner to keep my wife copied as we were were both involved in the organisation of the holiday - not once was this done as requested
6. My wife advised that kitchen knives were not sharp - the owner s aid that the knives are not sharp for health and safety reasons and people normally bring their own!?
7. When the cleaners arrived on the last day, my wife made coffee for them and passed on the feedback about the house - a guy arrived some time later to accuse my wife of being rude to the cleaners which the cleaners, when we asked them, told was not the case”
