Sykes “low deposit “ reservation fee

Tiscean

Hi there,

Just wondering if someone could help me out.

I recently paid a low cost £20 deposit on renting a cottage in the summer. I tried to

cancel yesterday and Skyes cottages are saying I have to pay £700 for the full deposit.

Do I have a leg to stand on ??

prettyandfluffy

What do the Ts&Cs say?

Keep_pedalling

It’s fairly standard with these low deposit schemes that you pay the full deposit if you cancel.

daveyjp

You more than likely paid a low deposit with condition that a cancellation meant full deposit was due.

Ts and Cs will confirm,

Tiscean

prettyandfluffy said:

What do the Ts&Cs say?

Yes, read them now and it’s all there in black and white. Just feel that the ad I saw for this offer was misleading.

Tiscean

Keep_pedalling said:

It’s fairly standard with these low deposit schemes that you pay the full deposit if you cancel.

Never come across this before. A 33% deposit seems very high and as the holiday house was booked for next August, I’m fairly confident they will get a booking that week. Just wondering how they can justify such a high fee.

LW2525

I suggest you join the Sykes Cottages Unhappy Customers Page on Facebook.  Over 7,000 people who have had problems with Sykes.  The low deposit scheme is a regular feature and there are ways to successfully challenge the terms and conditions.

Tiscean

Fantastic!! Thanks so much for that !!!!

Tiscean

Just to draw a line under this - the ASA were very interested because the advert was misleading - calling it a reservation fee which then became a low deposit in the T&Cs. Also co

Tiscean

Also informed the the CMA - Competition and Markets Authority who state that even though I agreed the T&Cs, they were not fair and as such do not apply. Contacted Sykes to this affect - appears to have done the trick