Complaint with Cottages.com not being answered!

supersaver21

WeAreGhosts said:

supersaver21 said:

WeAreGhosts said:

supersaver21 said:

WeAreGhosts said:

Have you tried contacting them via their social media pages? Usually if a complaint is made public it can spur them into action.

That is a great idea but I am not on social media and don't really want to be if I'm being honest.  I know this has worked for a lot of people though.  I just keep thinking there must be a next official layer to complaining about a holiday company if you are not happy with the outcome, which is why I mentioned an Ombudsman potentially?

I've been saying the same thing for a few years - holiday cottage companies are (strangely) unregulated. Even if they're in Visit Britain, or something like that, there's no one to complain to (as far as I know and I've read a lot of complaints on social media). The excuse people usually get is that the company is just a marketing company and that your contract is with the owner. But that doesn't help in cases like your when the owner does not care as long as he has his money, or in cases where the visitor does not even know who the owner is.
There is a Minister for Tourism, and I have pondered whether to write and explain the situation, but it probably won't be worth it ... there'll probably be some legal loophole somewhere. However ... lockdown and all ... I might have some time on my hands!

**also my argument is how can anyone have a contract i.e. hand over money, before they even know the other party (the owner) in the contract? I wouldn't think that was legal

It all seems so unfair because in effect, what you are saying is, these companies can just completely ignore complaints as there's no-one above them to hold them to account.  I naively assumed that this could not be the case but I guess I am wrong in that assumption. 

That's correct, yes. It's a massive business sector that is largely unregulated. I don't think "the powers that be" have any idea that holiday cottage companies take your money and then it's pot luck as to whether you get what you paid for.
I once had to spend three nights sleeping on the floor of a cottage as the mattress was so thin I could feel the bed slats digging into my back. The floor was more comfortable! I didn't receive any compensation because the owner said there was nothing wrong with the mattress, even though I could bend it in half.

Hi WeAreGhosts.  Would you believe it but, as of yesterday, my complaint was resolved and I was given exactly what I asked for.   I thought about doing the social media thing then wondered what would happen if I sent the email exchange to the CEO of Awaze and within 2 hours of sending the email to him, I received a phone call from the Customer Relations department apologising profusely and offering me the refund that I had asked for.  I couldn't believe it but clearly the moral of this particular story is to go straight to the top.  I found his email address on !!!!!!. I've used this site once before, about a year ago, and it too had a positive effect so I thought I would post this so anyone else in the same position as I have been can potentially go the CEO route as it's worked for me 2 out of 2 times!

WeAreGhosts

supersaver21 said:

Hi WeAreGhosts.  Would you believe it but, as of yesterday, my complaint was resolved and I was given exactly what I asked for.   I thought about doing the social media thing then wondered what would happen if I sent the email exchange to the CEO of Awaze and within 2 hours of sending the email to him, I received a phone call from the Customer Relations department apologising profusely and offering me the refund that I had asked for.  I couldn't believe it but clearly the moral of this particular story is to go straight to the top.  I found his email address on !!!!!!. I've used this site once before, about a year ago, and it too had a positive effect so I thought I would post this so anyone else in the same position as I have been can potentially go the CEO route as it's worked for me 2 out of 2 times!

Hi, that's great news! Your link to the website you used doesn't appear here unfortunately. It's probably blocked by MSE. But I am glad you got what you requested

supersaver21

WeAreGhosts said:

supersaver21 said:

Hi WeAreGhosts.  Would you believe it but, as of yesterday, my complaint was resolved and I was given exactly what I asked for.   I thought about doing the social media thing then wondered what would happen if I sent the email exchange to the CEO of Awaze and within 2 hours of sending the email to him, I received a phone call from the Customer Relations department apologising profusely and offering me the refund that I had asked for.  I couldn't believe it but clearly the moral of this particular story is to go straight to the top.  I found his email address on !!!!!!. I've used this site once before, about a year ago, and it too had a positive effect so I thought I would post this so anyone else in the same position as I have been can potentially go the CEO route as it's worked for me 2 out of 2 times!

Hi, that's great news! Your link to the website you used doesn't appear here unfortunately. It's probably blocked by MSE. But I am glad you got what you requested

Oh sorry, I didn't realise it wouldn't show the website name.  All you need to do is type CEO email, and the name of the company you are searching for, into a search engine and it should be one of the first websites to come up.  I hope this message gets posted and doesn't break any codes of conduct!

PurpleWolfhound1

This is an ongoing problem with cottages.com. No matter how bad the complaint is about a property, they treat dissatisfied customers with contempt and have no interest in ruined holidays and will certainly not give refunds. They impose what they call is "a gesture of goodwill" and you may get a fraction of your cost back.

happydogowner9

hello all, just tried to chase a complaint against cottages.com. we went for a week  and came back on the monday, 2 nights. ALL electricty had to be paid for, i did see that heating was extra but not the basics - cooking lighting etc.

the oven door did not close correctly, there was no basic essentials  washing up liquid, hand soap, oven mitts, reported this on the sunday but thought we would carry on. on the sunday decided to put the heating on only to find the electric heaters were blocked with dust and debris and gave out no heat also there were no working smoke alarms in the property they had all been disconneted and left on the so called radiators the last straw and that is why we left on the monday morning. put a full complain with descriptives and photos into the complaints department and eventually had a reply offering us £108 ( holiday was £500). after i returned this offer as derogatory, i waited another 10 days before i chased them by phone only to be told that their offer was final. i really wish to complain further but we have no idea how to. anther great thing they did not do was give us a feedback form to enter onto their website. the complaints about this property went back 2 years and the owner still did not fix the faults raised, very poor management by the cottages.com  people- definetly did not carry out their due diligence. most companies offer a way to carry out complaints to a higher authority as a matter of course but this website obviously is not concerned. any help of thoughts please

sheramber

Did you not read the previous complaints before you booked it?

daveyjp

Another company that is too large to cope, boasting you have 22,000 cottages to choose from isn't in my mind a good thing.

supersaver21

happydogowner9 said:

hello all, just tried to chase a complaint against cottages.com. we went for a week  and came back on the monday, 2 nights. ALL electricty had to be paid for, i did see that heating was extra but not the basics - cooking lighting etc.

the oven door did not close correctly, there was no basic essentials  washing up liquid, hand soap, oven mitts, reported this on the sunday but thought we would carry on. on the sunday decided to put the heating on only to find the electric heaters were blocked with dust and debris and gave out no heat also there were no working smoke alarms in the property they had all been disconneted and left on the so called radiators the last straw and that is why we left on the monday morning. put a full complain with descriptives and photos into the complaints department and eventually had a reply offering us £108 ( holiday was £500). after i returned this offer as derogatory, i waited another 10 days before i chased them by phone only to be told that their offer was final. i really wish to complain further but we have no idea how to. anther great thing they did not do was give us a feedback form to enter onto their website. the complaints about this property went back 2 years and the owner still did not fix the faults raised, very poor management by the cottages.com  people- definetly did not carry out their due diligence. most companies offer a way to carry out complaints to a higher authority as a matter of course but this website obviously is not concerned. any help of thoughts please

I would recommend writing to the CEO as that worked for me a couple of years ago.  To get the CEO email, all you need to do is type CEO email, and the name of the company you are searching for, into a search engine and it should be one of the first websites to come up. Hope it works for you.