wynne999
January 2018
I booked a week at Belfry Lodge no 4 through Sykes Cottages using their 5 tick Deluxe section. On arrival we found the lodge to be very basic and absolutely filthy throughout. The first thing we did was to head out to buy bleach and kitchen cleaner. It took over an hour just to clean the 2 toilets which were disgusting, and then proceeded to clean the kitchen work surfaces before we could use the kitchen. The microwave and oven were unusable as they were beyond normal cleaning (particularly the oven which was thick with grease). The utensils draw was dirty and had hairs in it. The kitchen sink took ages to clean particularly around the tap as there was such a build-up of grime. The shower tray in the en-suite was particularly bad as were the sinks. The cheap laminate flooring was cracked, lifting and had chunks missing. It was absolutely filthy particularly around the base units in the kitchen. The cushions and sofa throw were put to one side as they were dirty. We put the towels and bed throw on top of the wardrobe as they were old, tatty, well-used and dirty (luckily we had taken our own towels with us). The bedding was old, tatty, mis-matched and well used with dubious looking stains, even clearly seen on the brown bottom sheet (we had to sleep on top of the bedding using a fleece throw that we keep in the car for emergencies). The wardrobe had 4 coat hangers (2 of which were broken), so we had to stack our clothes on the single beds in the second bedroom. There was an old battered hoover stuck in the corner of the kitchen and a very dubious mop and bucket outside the lodge. The flooring in both bathrooms was filthy, particularly in the corners, and there was no shelving anywhere in either bathroom to put toiletries (they had to be squashed onto the window sills). We had to wash all cutlery and crockery before we could use it. When we tried to contact the owner on any of the 3 contact telephone numbers, all went unanswered including the one to have the access code for the WiFi (we needed internet access to acquire the contact number for Sykes Cottages). All numbers went unanswered and so next morning we headed to the golf club to see if they had any connection to the lodges as the lodge park reception was closed and nobody about at all. They informed us at the golf club that they no longer had any connection to the lodge park as the lodges had been sold off privately. We headed to McDonalds to use their WiFi and eventually managed to contact Sykes directly. They listed to our complaints and said that they would contact the owner directly, and could we take photo evidence and email it to them (which we did - again using McDonalds WiFi). They agreed from the photos that it was completely unacceptable and would contact the owner straight away. After numerous telephone conversations between ourselves and Sykes, and after many attempts at their end to contact the owner, they managed to speak to her and came back to us (after 3 days of hassle and telephone calls) with an offer of a cleaner to rectify the problems. We agreed and headed off for the day, leaving the lodge to the cleaners with a list of the things that needed attention and that the towels in the bathroom were our own. When we returned, a couple of the minor issued had been rectified, but the cooker was still disgusting, as was the flooring and shower tray. They had changed the bedding with an equally tatty looking replacement and taken the towels and bed throw off the top of the wardrobe. Then came the worst shock - they had put horrible dark grey, bleach stained, tatty towels in both bathrooms and - taken my lovely, expensive, fluffy cream towels away !!!! I got straight on to Sykes and relayed all this, stating that I wanted my towels returning immediately. They said that they would contact the owner and get them returned. Within an hour, the owner contacted us directly and said that we had 1 hour to vacate the lodge due to our persistent complaining. We then had another call from her husband threatening us that if we did not vacate the lodge immediately he would "come and beat us up". We felt so threatened that we had to call the police. Obviously we were very happy to vacate the lodge and are now taking legal action to try and get our money back. We have also spoken to Trading Standards regarding Sykes description on their website that the lodge was Deluxe.