Holiday Cottages In Alnmouth

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Cliff - Verified booking

  Hi please note this is feedback about the whole experience of dealing with Sykes across the initial booking and subsequent move following problems.

  It is a copy of an email sent to your Customer Relations email address. On the first attempt I had no response then the second generated a message saying that this was a no reply email address begging the question why is the email address still shown on the website? Provided we can reach a satisfactory settlement I'm content not to ask for my feedback to be published but I do not accept the terms of the Customer Review Policy at this time. Cliff Froggett Wed, Dec 13, 12:17 PM to customerrelations@sykescottages.co.uk In response to your request for feedback I have detailed the events of our stay in Northumberland last week. Canny Cottage - ref 1128972 The cottage was absolutely perfect for our holiday - small, all on one level, yards from the beach. On arrival we were thrilled that it more than lived up to expectations. Under different circumstances we would definitely book it again. The problems began on the Saturday morning when we awoke to find that there was no running water. I called the customer service number and alerted you to the problem. When I got an answer phone before 9am I used the WhatsApp contact and then spoke to Customer Relations at 9:30. By 11am we had walked on the beach and on our return called to see if there was any progress and to say that we were leaving keys in the key safe as we were going into Amble for coffee and to do some shopping. I received a call at 12;25 to say no-one had been to the cottage and that it was possible we might have to be moved. We had lunch and returned to the cottage. By 3pm we still had no water and in the absence of any contact from your team I again rang at 3:01. I believe in this call I made it clear that if we couldn't arrange satisfactory alternatives I would book hotel rooms and that I expected to be fully compensated. In an incoming call at 3:23 we discussed the available options and I made the suggestion that an alternative property was showing as available in Low Hauxley - close to Canny Cottage. We were called from your Chester office at 16:17 We were told that the Low Hauxley cottage wasn't available. We had been offered two cottages in the centre of Amble, but as I made clear neither of these fitted our initial requirements - open fire, close to the beach, out of town and ideally with a bedroom on the ground floor. I asked if we took one of the cottages overnight and weren't happy with the accommodation would we be refunded. We were told that no that would not be possible. The final call that day was made by me at 4:39. By now it was dark and no accommodation had been sorted. At that point I told your colleague that I would be booking a hotel room and that I expected Sykes to pay the costs.We packed up and left Canny Cottage, leaving a piece of fresh fish in the fridge as we would have nowhere to store it. We stayed in the Harbour Inn and ate at the Fish Shack - I had bought fresh fish for dinner but had been forced to leave it at the cottage as we had nowhere to store it. We spent the evening looking at alternative properties and found two that were relatively attractive in Alnmouth. On the Sunday morning I contacted your team and made arrangements to stay at Old Stable Cottage which required an additional payment which I felt was harsh given the inconvenience we had already encountered. The cottage proved broadly satisfactory, though clearly not in as good condition as Canny Cottage nor in as appealing a location. There were a couple of particular factors that disappointed us towards the end of the week. First the building work opposite the cottage. For the first two days it was just a couple of men preparing groundworks who were no inconvenience at all, but on Wednesday and particularly Thursday these works intensified considerably. On the Thursday there was a small digger, a dump truck, a concrete mixer blocking access to the cottage drive whilst it pumped into foundations. At the end of the afternoon a large truck with a digger attachment arrived and continued to dig out mud until at least 6:45pm when we had to ask the driver to move so that we could take the car out to go to a restaurant. The team working were unfailingly sympathetic and moved their vehicles when we needed to go out but on the Thursday afternoon when weather conditions were poor the noise from their work was a considerable annoyance. Second we returned from a walk on Wednesday afternoon to discover the landlord with a workman had let themselves in to the cottage unannounced and had turned the power off to change an outside light. We had to wait around 20 minutes before power was restored. I was disappointed that we didn't at least have the courtesy of a phone call or email to warn us. Third, later on the Thursday evening we returned from Amble to discover the sound of animal scraping in the roof void over the kitchen. It continued intermittently through the night. I left a note for the owner and spoke to the cleaner as we were departing so that they were aware of the potential vermin problem. Overall our experience was frustrating and disappointing. Whatever the reason for the loss of water to Canny Cottage - the weather had been cold - we were put to considerable inconvenience. We had to move, first to a hotel, then to a cottage that wasn't exactly what we had in mind. The start and end of the week were both disrupted in a different ways and I am considerably out of pocket compared to the original budget for our holiday. Your staff weren't unhelpful but to get responses to our problems I had to keep making calls to find out what was happening rather than relaxing and enjoying the break we had booked. Given I alerted you to the initial problem before 9am on the Saturday morning and had to make at least three calls chasing progress the feeling of a lack of urgency in your customer service team pervaded our dealings. In the circumstances I think I am more than entitled to ask for significant compensation - the cost of the hotel (£110), a goodwill contribution to the costs of dinner and around 66% of the total booking costs for the week. Given that we lost two days to the problems at Canny Cottage and the last two days of inconvenience at Old Stable Cottage I think this seems a reasonable request. I look forward to hearing from you Cliff Froggett Cliff Froggett Dec 22, 2023, 12:08 PM (5 days ago) to customerrelations Please see the following email sent on 13th December. To date I have not had a response, or even acknowledgement. Whilst I don't expect a full response in the lead up to Christmas an acknowledgement of receipt and confirmation that my concerns are being addressed would be appreciated. Yours faithfully

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• Richard - Verified booking

  Whilst the cottage met our requirements and we enjoyed our stay in Alnmouth several key points let this cottage down.

  It has become noticeably unloved since our first visit. The furniture has become uncomfortable- mattressess and one of the sofas are very saggy/lumpy. The downstairs bathroom is constantly freezing as the window is locked open and constantly lets in a draft even with the heating on full blast. It makes for a rather chilly and fast shower which is not pleasant! The fan in the en-suite upstairs doesn't work and I'm sure we reported it broken on our last visit in 2022 and has still not been repaired. At the moment there is significant building work immediately opposite the cottage and this has removed most of the available parking for this cottage and the one immediately in front. The builders turn up at 08:00 and have the radio blaring so there is no chance of a lie in or quiet breakfast. Getting a vehicle in and turned around is very difficult, not helped by builders and indeed random people from other cottages coming and stealing the space often means you are relegated to finding a space on the road - which is infuriating when you specifically choose a property with a parking space as parking in Alnmouth is scarce at times. This information should be stated in a more prominent place on the listing as it significantly impacts the leisure and quiet time of our holiday. The listing says the building work will finish in March 2024 but during our week in mid-April they were only just fitting the roof. Cleanliness of the property is poor - cobwebs in numerous places and under the mattresses when you move them to adjust the sheets etc are filthy with dust and fluff. Spilled tea (I hope) stains on the back of upstairs bedroom door. Windows are absolutely filthy. Kitchen has broken utensils, inside the draws are grubby at the bottom and generally needs a restock of glasses etc - there wasn't even a frying pan provided! The welcome pack consists of 2 tea bags and some cartons of UHT milk. There was no soap in either of the bathrooms and only a dribble of washing up liquid left. When you arrive the clocks weren't even showing the right time and/or battery flat, the internet wasn't working as it had been unplugged and it took us ages to find the router - it just makes it feel like no one cares about the place or first impressions for your visit. We booked this cottage on the hope some of the previous feedback has been actioned but sadly no improvements have been made to the property in 2 years. We will not be returning to this property again, which is very sad as we have had some lovely trips there in the past.

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• Philippa - Verified booking

  We had a lovely holiday exploring Northumbria and found Alnmouth a good base.

  Longshore was a comfortable property, but there were a few things that detracted from our stay in the house and really need addressing for future lets. - there are quite a lot of weeds and moss at the entrance to the property, which makes it look untidy and not very welcoming - I gashed my foot on a nail that was protruding through the floor board of one of the bedrooms, this was resolved quickly by Northumbrian Coast and Cottages, but nevertheless gave me a limp all week. - My husband was given a parking ticket on Saturday morning at 7am as he had not put the parking permit on display when he arrived late on the Friday night. Parking restrictions do not start until 8am, so we have appealed it, but not something we want to do whilst on holiday. A warning in the welcome email would have been helpful to advise guests to put this on no matter the time. - the shower tray does not drain quick enough. Only my mother in law used it after the first day as she couldn't get in the bath due to mobility issues. However she had to keep on turning it off to let it drain away during her shower. - There was no mirror in the shower room, this was in two halves resting behind the sink. - In the main bathroom the sink plug is broken and was left open. Although a little aggravating I didn't think it would cause us an issue until the toothpaste lid fell down it, I then spent 15 minutes trying the get it out of the plug, which I did manage, but this needs replacing. - We spent some lovely time outside in the patio area, however some of the chairs were broken, and the rail by the steps is loose and a bit dangerous. - The kitchen, whilst well equipped in some utensils, was very lacking in others. There are not enough mugs, knives and teaspoons. It could do with some more sharp knives, and I would have liked some small bowls or plastic bowls/plates for my two year old twins. The bowls were huge for children. Other things that would have been really useful would have been a fruit bowl, a butter dish, some serving dishes for the vege/salad etc. Also a dustpan and brush - As a word of caution we had two starlings in the log burner. We managed to get them out without any problems, but I daresay other guests may not have managed. It needs a bird guard over the chimney. I'm sorry to write such a long feedback, but I couldn't see where else to send this as there is no contact email. Overall, we had a lovely stay, but for the price I think these things need sorting.

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• Chris - Verified booking

  We were planning to make a formal complaint about the parking permit situation.

  We asked for 2 permits. When the first car load arrived at the house Friday evening they found one in-date permit. They phoned the emergency number to ask for a second permit and after a 15 minute wait for the call to be answered were told they needed the reference number for the property before anything could be done and the office closed at 7pm. This was about 6.30 and the our car was still en route with said reference number tucked somewhere in the luggage. We arrived just before 7pm and tried to phone but the office was now closed. Saturday morning we rang again and a helpful lady said she would contact the owner and get back to us, which she did. The owner had told her the permit was in a drawer in the hall unit. There was no such unit in the hall but we searched through the unit in the lounge where the first permit was found; there was no second permit (only old out-of-date permits and letters chasing up Council Tax payments). We rang again an spoke to the same lady who said she would contact the owner again and get back to us. She never did. We tried another call on Monday morning but couldn't get through so made the decision to drive the car to the beach car park and pay to park for the day (£3.50), rather than risk the constant niggle of receiving a fine. Our complaint is about the lack of concern on behalf of your agent and the owner. Even if the issue was not solvable at short notice a phone call back and apology would have been nice. It felt that the agent chose to believe the owner rather than us and it was left to us to find a solution. We loved the location of the house - A friendly welcoming village too. Gadgets were all in working order. Nice modern bathrooms and everything spotlessly clean. A few items needed topping up: more lightwieght mugs/teaspoons; the small bedroom lacked a table light and socket; sink plug missing in one of the bathrooms; a slip mat would be good in the walk-in shower; a bit more information about local services in the info folder, particularly bus services. The 2'6" beds were a little small for adults, were they intended for children? Hope these suggestions are helpful.

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• Jacqui - Verified booking

  We loved the location of the Beach House.

  Here is our true and honest feedback, please note that the work in progress points would not stop us booking again and is to only highlight that if these issues were corrected it would enhance future guests experience. Good points Location - Amazing sea views from everywhere. Very warm and comfortable Lots of equipment Beds wonderfully comfortable and great quality duvets Work in progress points Flies- There was dead and live flies in the house everyday, considering it was December we had no idea where they were coming from. We did report this. Fire- The flame effect fire did not work. The house was wonderfully warm, so for heat this was not a problem, but it would have been lovely for ambiance. Cobwebs and attention to detail to housekeeping. The house was clean so this is just a comment to get the housekeeper to look up and under curtains as we found sweets on floor and many cobwebs on the ceiling, as well as about twenty dead flies on the floor by front door when we first arrived. No hand soap in the toilets This would have been really useful for cleanliness The curtains in the leaving room did not close. The bracket on the curtain rail stopped the curtains. No Christmas decorations - Whilst this was not advertised, everywhere else we have stayed in mid December put up a tree and this would be a lovely touch. Thank you for a lovely stay.

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