“I called the owner of the cottage to arrange key collection the day before.”
I had a very pleasant conversation. Knowing Whitby very well we set off to the cottage from the main road that goes to Scarborough. At this point we found out that the road was closed for 3 months! What should have been less than a 5 minute journey turned into a 3 mile trip along country lanes. The owner never mentioned this significant problem with access to the cottage, saving us a lot of time and effort and inconvenience of a 6 mile round trip every time we went into Whitby!
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I had a very pleasant conversation. Knowing Whitby very well we set off to the cottage from the main road that goes to Scarborough. At this point we found out that the road was closed for 3 months! What should have been less than a 5 minute journey turned into a 3 mile trip along country lanes. The owner never mentioned this significant problem with access to the cottage, saving us a lot of time and effort and inconvenience of a 6 mile round trip every time we went into Whitby!
On arrival the cottage did not meet expectations. I have used Sykes cottages for many years and always had beautiful accommodation. Not this time. The cottage was dirty, the kind of dirty where everything needs a proper clean. There was a horrible smell on entry, probably due to dirty carpets that had never been cleaned properly. The bathroom had no toilet roll and having gone all around the property, none had been left. There were no towels, once again not indicated in the booking advice! A;; other accommodation I have used has been spotless clean, even the dog friendly accommodation. There has always been loo roll, washing up liquid, and basic cleaning products; along with towels. In fact, in every accommodation I have stayed in we have had a little welcome pack with milk, tea, coffee and at times chocolates, wine, fresh bread, bacon and eggs! I was very disappointed and angry on arrival because we had to get back in our car and drive the 3 miles back to Whitby to get essentials!
I called customer service and they were excellent, working hard to resolve issues the owner. The owner was intent in getting into a tit for tat argument with me, which I refused given I was on holiday. The resolution being that we could pack up and leave immediately and have a full refund. This was at 3:35 pm in the afternoon, after we had eventually walked into Whitby and had a drink (we were on holiday)! This was not a solution and quite frankly the owner was intractable and did not deal with our complaint in a satisfactory manor. This was of no fault of Sykes Cottages that worked hard to get a better resolution.
This is the only cottage in the past 4 years I would not return to. The quality of this cottage did not meet the excellent brand that Sykes Cottages promotes.