Miss Mchale
April 2019
Firstly contrary to other feedback we didn’t find the hosts either welcoming or approachable.. On arrival we met them on the drive and they said hello but made no attempt to introduce themselves and welcome us. We just got the impression they were neighbours. This wouldn’t have taken long even if they were on the way out. I then needed to phone the owners, not realising that I had met them, and found them very abrupt and rude. I was enquiring about the router’s location for the WiFi and I was snapped at. I was taken aback and responded back that there was no need to snap to which he replied that ‘if I only listened he was trying to help’!!! After that the owners made no attempt to speak to us or even to come over to see if we had sorted out the internet. To me this should have been a matter of common courtesy even if there had been a sharp exchange on the phone. I have been using cottages for about 20 years now, many booked through yourselves, and have never had such rude and uninterested owners.
I also want to point out that saying that the property had broadband is misleading. Firstly the WiFi was provided by way of a battery powered mobile unit and there was no recharging unit provided. Also the property had a download speed of 0.45 Mbps per second and upload speed of 0.55 when it worked as the signal was unreliable.To be classed as broadband the minimum download speed should be 10 Mbps per second which is a long way from what we actually got.We always look for broadband as our personal circumstances require it and is one of the main facilities we look for. Therefore the details for this cottage need to be amended to state that the accuracy of the WiFi and it’s unreliability.
I think also the access to the property should be made clearer. You mention it has a slope and it is steep. It also says that you can drive down or choose to walk. However there is little choice a lot of the time when the owners have 2 cars parked on the drive as you cannot drive down the slope and have no choice but to walk. If you look at photo number 17 on the property details you will see where the second car is parked and does not leave room for another car to get down the slope. We didn’t get the impression that the owners would move it either if asked. Therefore anyone booking this property due to it being on one level, and may have restrictions in there physical abilities to walk and climb stairs, would not be able to get up and down the slope. We were able to unpack the car near the property entrance when we arrived but had to pack for the return journey home the Friday night whilst one of the owners cars had moved. Then we had to carry our remaining bags up Saturday morning. The simplest solution would be for the owners to park one of their cars alongside the garages leaving the slope free for the holiday maker to be able to park outside the door improving access for all.
I don’t have any issue with the booking service as this was fine. Normally I wouldn’t pass comment on the property but in this case I do however feel that there are inaccuracies in the property details that need to be addressed.