Gavin D
November 2012
Property potentially very nice but cleanliness unacceptable.
Here is the email sent to the agent, the owner did not accept a single point. Are my expectations to high when paying for the privilege to stay in someone's property?
As per my telephone conversation with one of your customer service team on Wednesday 3rd October. I phoned to discuss issues with my current stay at Nantusi Cottage that I felt uncomfortable taking up with the owners on site. Being on holiday the last thing I am looking for is conflict which due to the list of complaints potentially could arise.
In the telephone call I listed issues that we had experienced since arriving on Saturday 29th September.
On arrival we were met by the owners daughter who was very friendly. She advised us that one of the high chairs that we had requested for our ten month old twin boys, had broken straps, and that her father was picking a new chair up. She later dropped this off and asked if I would build it up which at the time left lost for words after paying for the privilege to stay. On trying to assemble I found that a screwdriver was required, this left us with a usable but half built high chair.
Cleanliness.
On entry to the cottage we noticed balls of dust on the wooden floor (a worry when you have two ten moth old toddlers). We then noticed that the upstairs toilet had faeces marks on the rim of the bowl and both upstairs and downstairs toilets had pubic hair and dust around the rear of where the toilet seats are fixed. The garden had several dog faeces in it. some of which I picked up the others had been there for a while. In the downstairs bathroom the shower screen was only fixed on at the top and was coming away from the wall at the bottom (not safe especially when trying to bath an infant). When cleaning downstairs I moved the rug in the living area to find a build of grit, dirt and hair that had been building up for a considerable amount of time. Then bin in the twin room upstairs had cotton wool pads still in it from the previous tenants.
Facilities.
In the kitchen the microwave did not work, on the "High" setting, the halogen grill came on instead, potentially very dangerous. The gas hob was very uneven with the hobs varying in output, we struggled to get a pot of pasta to boil. The washer dryer only washed even though when booking we only expected a washing machine. There is also an issues with a drain smell which would build up in the kitchen area overnight or during the day when we were not running water.
Due to the issues with cleanliness both my wife and myself were uneasy about using the on site pool one of the reasons for booking. We did not want to expose our children to any infections from bathing in a unregulated pool.
The cottage is potentially very nice however the owners have let the property down.
I was looking for some form of compensation as I would not expect any issues with cleanliness, the fact that we had to clean the toilets on arrival is unforgivable on the owners behalf. The owner refused to accept any of the issues and was rude in here reply email to Sykes the letting agent which was read out to me over the phone.the letting agent which was read out to me over the phone.