“My 75+ mum and dad had a property booked for their 60th wedding anniverary. They saved up for this little break and are currently in another property after losing £350 which sykes won't refund. They booked with booking.com and it wasn't clear that the property was accessed by steep steps which they can't access due to them being limited mobility and elderly. Yes it was stated on sykes that the property had steps but no picture. Booking.com which they used, you had to physically click on a drop down that they didn't see. It's not clear, the 20+ metal slippery steps and it being the middle of november is the only way to access this property. Sykes have been difficult to stay the least, they have not received their refund and are now out of pocket. Just be careful as sykes list properties on other websites but sometimes all the information is not available to see. Which means the company that you book with eg booking.com have now say over refunds etc.”
“DO NOT BOOK WITH SYKES COTTAGES
I booked with booking.com and needed to change the dates the dates were available to book on booking. Com and I sent a request to change dates I received an SMS text saying the dates were unavailable I rechecked on booking.com and they were still available booking.com asked them to refund my monies and I received a call from someone called James who was cleverly not the brighest berry on the bush prob 1 cse in pottery grade 4 anyway I am taking a small claims out against them and while in front of the judge will raise the other cases of people like the medical condition which was raised and no refund given -This is a company that needs to highlighted and I had also written to BBC ROUGUE TRADERS”
“Been using Sykes for over 10 years but not any more. Customer service is useless. Looks like since Sykes been sold to a big company in 2019 they don't care.
DO NOT USE SYKES!!!!
Photos of cottage on our arrival.”
“The Hame, Monmouth was a lovely spacious house and Marianne lovely to deal with enjoyed the 5 days we stayed there, the only negative was no downstairs bathroom or at least a toilet”
“We had no heating or hot water for past two days in property last week and we have been completely scammed by Skye's Cottages. You leave messages, send emails, log messages in the app and they never get back to you and you get an email saying they have closed the case. When you ring them again, they keep doing the same thing. Customer service is non existent and said we would not be entitled to a refund even though we had no heating or hot water!! The property was not advertised as listed and was unclean too. Please do not book with these people as they are complete con artists!!”
“Scammers! Also been scammed by £20 deposit scheme! It says terms and conditions apply but doesn't specify anything and we lost a £1000 on bookings cancelled 3 months in before the time”
“Vexatious procedures to prevent refunds.
I booked a 10 week stay at a property that turned out to be unfit for purpose. Setting aside a 14 hr journey and this being a long planned break (maybe an adult equivalent to a gap year) after a long period of I’ll health. The condition of the property at best was not fit for purpose but in reality seemed semi derelict. Not withstanding that The Ferry House in Ramelton in Donegal was clean and recently painted with the beginnings of a house that is being converted for the rental market, there were safety concerns from the beginning.
My booking was in the winter months and the house was cold to the extreme. The house had not been heated prior to arrival and the heating (on an old pin wheel plug point) did nothing to warm any room in the house. There was however an open fire which, I thought I could take advantage of. This failed to light sufficiently as there was no draw from the chimney and what fire there was sent smoke into the room, ( thankfully 🤷🏻♀️ there was no smoke alarm) causing concerns regarding safety. I considered using my heated blanket ( I came prepared) which although fine in the living room, could not be used in the dining room ( from which all other areas are accessed) as the wiring was of historic, terminating in round pin sockets not compatible with standard modern plugs.
It became apparent that although beautiful the windows (some of which were cracked ) are single glazed and the building of period stone construction had no insulation and was suffering from severe damp and mould. Fresh paint was blistering away and the walls were like refrigerators to the touch.
The alternative was to have a hot bath so the water was boosted ( as per house instruction ) and as the bath was tin only the hot put on as they are notoriously cold. Even the water did not stay hot enough for the bath and it was only warm at best. The Rayburn of which I have little knowledge, had wiring protruding from the side and was not warm to the touch.
I further discovered that outside a ditch had been dug around the foundations to try and cope with the damp that was rising through the floor at the back of the house. There was no effort to make this safe and raised more alarms.
The garden area is unkempt with walls down in two areas making it insecure for dogs ( and certainly a death trap for a small child ). The area described as a patio made a good substitute for an ice rink. This may have been fun if it wasn’t the only access in through the back door where the key safe is located. Despite telling myself to be careful I still injured myself in my second fall. This was probably when I decided I could take no more.
You could consider this house quirky or atmospheric and although not specifically mentioned in the listing for the house, there was no kitchen sink. The small sink in the scullery area is only just large enough for a dinner plate and the butler sink by the back door has little of its ceramic finish left but you do get the deep penetrating mould around the sinks seal.
If you fail to fall over when entering the property, You could try the uneven but original stone floor in the dining area or you could rest your hand on the bannister which is held on so lightly that you are bound to be able to injure yourself here.
If injury or smoke inhalation or the possibility of electrocution or carbon monoxide isn’t your thing, then you could try the wooden bed head in the master suite which is neither attached to a wall or bed. You could also take in the moth infestation that is evident in the carpets in your own belongings ( it may kill your clothes, rather than you).
If none of these work for you maybe negotiate the mud slide to the front where, the gutter empties directly on to the suface. You will then be able to negotiate the 20 yds to where your car is parked ( described as off road parking) which is on ( or in ) the mud ( depending on weather conditions ) under some trees.
If you are not exhausted by trying to stay warm and safe you could then spend your waking hours contacting Sykes. Polite, yes, helpful it’s hard to say. You cannot speak to one staff member, you therefore enter into a negotiation with a department. Most will say they need to read your file and will ring you back. This does not happen so you contact them again to speak with another staff member who will tell you it’s a large file, and ask if they can ring you back. It is not a large file it is just a record of the amount of times that you have contacted them asking fir an answer to your very first question. They then deploy
Stalling tactics, maybe so that you will accept there ridiculously low offer of £1700 refund. For a £6000 + stay for a 4 day stay out of 70 nights.
You could then wait patiently for your reply and then be offered by half of the total amount with the proviso that you do not write any negative review. How can a review system be accurate if the company is wilfully preventing negative reviews.
If you have a conscience you reject the offer and will find another way to secure your money.
After 12 emails and 16 calls. I have had no reply to whether Sykes have inspected the property. I have no confirmation that the property had certificates relating to the electrics, fire safety, chimney maintenance, energy efficiency ratings and suggested regulations on Sykes own website.
No one wants to learn so much about a companies business practices, consumer protection, reviews etc. If only the property had been as described.
When you do get your chance to write a review on the official website you are asked to tick a box agreeing to there t&cs regarding reviews. On reading It, it prohibits you from leaving any information that will identify you (so you can not direct people to for example your Instagram page so others can view photos). It also has so many stipulations that the likelihood of it being included in their website are remote. It is also the umbrella company for multiple other booking companies, advertising the same property each with their own reviews so you cannot as a consumer see any accurate information all in one place for the property you wish to book.
There are many good properties and many good customers, let those that offer excellent accommodation and customer service succeed, do not tarnish there name with those that only interests are in getting you to part with your money whilst not giving you what you paid for in return. Please check to see if the property you are looking at is on another site where you can check there reviews. There 25-30% commission on top of there booking fee seems steep for a company that dodges responsibility and liability and does not even make the most basic of checks on the consumers behalf.
To me it appears to be well orchestrated business model to limit refunds. All this when they could have offered an alternative property which I would probably have taken as I was there. They could have accepted my offer to pay a full two weeks in full to release me from the contract. They could have just refunded the money early in the events and maybe made a good will gesture such as a 10% discount in a future booking and I would have probably used them again . I can not tell you how much I dislike having to write anything negative but when your experience leaves you no where to go in reality where do you go next?
Please see attached photos.”
“My parents are being told to make a further payment even though they can’t actually go on their holiday due to Covid19. I understand they are busy but when I did eventually get through they were less than helpful. They seem to have a lot of bad press at the moment but they do not appear to care!!”
“Terrible no cancellation had to call and email for updates. No refunds only moving of dates and the additional charges loaded for same dates next year of £150. No leadership from CEO who is a joke. Never use this company and beware you may use different companies but confirmation comes from Sykes”
“To all Sykes Owners
Having signed up to Sykes in 2016 the bookings came rolling in but it wasn’t long before we started to have concerns about the way in which our bookings were being handled.
Under-selling
Having agreed a fixed price structure with Sykes (and having kept a copy) we started to get bookings through for twelve months in advance that had been sold at a price much lower than our agreed price. When we challenged Sykes we were told that they could alter prices 12 months in advance at their discretion to increase bookings despite us having agreed to fixed prices and been fully booked the previous year. We were told that their system was unable to differentiate between fixed pricing and their flexible pricing structure more that 12 months in advance. Essentially, they increase their short-term cash flow at the expense of their customers.
Security Breaches
More concerning was a voice message and email we got from Sykes requesting that we send our key code to a customer who was waiting outside the property. We had no record of the booking and called Sykes immediately. They also had no record of the booking. Sykes continue to deny that they have had a security breach despite us going to a specialist IT company who have traced the email back to the Sykes IT system. Had we not been on the ball we could have easily disclosed our key code and found the cottage either stripped of all its contents or full of squatters! We believe this is a huge security concern for all Sykes cottage owners but Sykes themselves refuse to take the matter seriously and investigate.
Appalling Customer Service
As we were getting lots of bookings through Sykes with great reviews, we were reluctant to leave them but the nail in the coffin was the appalling customer service. We received lots of ‘sorrys’ and ‘it won’t happen again’ over the phone but it consistently ‘happened again’. Whilst we have dealt with some lovely Sykes staff the structure within which they operate prevents them from following through on their promises. We have also dealt with some arrogant staff who are only there for the money.
Advertising
And finally, since taking the decision to leave Sykes our troubles have magnified. We decided to leave on 1st Sept 2018 and our six month compulsory notice ended on 1st March 2019 but we still had bookings with them until September 2019 which we honoured. Despite having given our notice and honouring their terms of not advertising anywhere else during the six month period, more than a year later we are still listed on all the sites they use to promote their cottages when searches are done by property name: bookings.com, mailcottages.co.uk, britishbeaches.uk, ukholidays.com, expedia.co.uk, ebookers.com, utklettings.co.uk, directrooms.com, orbitz.com, atta.ai, traveloka.com, horizoncottages.com, trivago.com.
All of these sites show us as either fully booked or no longer available which has had a huge impact on our bookings. We have contacted Sykes numerous times but they refuse to remove us until our last booking with them has completed. We are told to check their terms and conditions. We have contacted all of the companies directly and a couple have removed us but most just link back to Sykes so there is no way of getting us removed.
So if you are thinking of leaving Sykes make sure that all of your future bookings fall within your six month compulsory notice period otherwise you’ll end up like us where you are unable to get bookings as Sykes will have your property listed as unavailable with all the big booking sites and seemingly there is nothing that can be done about it. We have moved to a Direct Booking Site with No Booking Fees and Free Payment Protection.
In summary, their business practices are total unethical and they have turned a successful holiday cottage into a cottage that prospective holidaymakers can now no longer book as well as causing a great deal of stress to myself and my wife. We don’t believe we are alone in our troubles with Sykes and would love to hear from other owners to hear your experiences.
If you are reading this as a new cottage owner thinking of signing up to Sykes I would strongly advise you to think again.”
