Sykes Cottages Reviews

Name: Sykes Cottages
Address: Sykes Holiday Cottages Lime Tree House Hoole Lane, Chester
Rating: 1.20

1.2 Rating 1,528 Reviews

5 %

of reviewers recommend Sykes Cottages

Company Reviews

Metrics

1.2

Based on 1,528 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Own Driver
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Over A Week
Customer Service	1.1 out of 5
Returns & Refunds
Refunds Process	Difficult
Returns Process	Could Be Better

Location:

Sykes Holiday Cottages Lime Tree House Hoole Lane
Chester
CH2 3EG

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Sykes Cottages 1 star review on 27th January 2025

Anonymous

Sykes Cottages 1 star review on 17th November 2024

Anonymous

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Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Sort by: Most Recent Most Recent Highest Rated Filter: None None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“We had a lovely holiday September 2023 at Minydon cottage in Fairbourne, Wales and decided to book again for 2024. We booked on the 18th September 2023 and paid the required deposit £283.80 with the balance due on the 4th May 2024 for our holiday on week commencing 15th June. We saw no reason for travel insurance and were looking forward to our holiday. We had in fact planned to book a second week late September, so glad we didn't. It was with much regret we had to cancel our booking ref 4OMRJ-23-EN and did this the other day on the 21st February leaving Sykes plenty of time (4months notice) for other customers to take up the vacancy. By way of explanation, I was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. Unfortunately, they also found a large tumour on my left kidney. My kidney was removed on the 8th February and I will now be convalescing for several weeks. Following on from this, I have an appointment with the oncology consultant on the 23rd April in preparation for radiotherapy treatment on my prostate which will take place 5 days a week for 4 weeks, a total of 20 treatments. The timing of this illness and planned treatment will prevent us from fulfilling our obligation to both Sykes and the property owner who has also been informed of my condition and not intervened. It is very disappointing for both of us as we had such a great time at Minydon last September and were so looking forward to staying there again. Whilst we appreciate terms and conditions state that deposits are non-returnable, we do believe that some discretion, empathy and compassion should be applied in such circumstances. We note on here that other cancer patients have been treated with similar contempt. Shame on you Sykes, your company is a disgrace. Roy Burns. Sykes have since made comments on my review which proves they have completely missed the point regarding discretion on refunds. I have cancer for goodness sake and am unable to go on holiday due to ongoing treatment. They say it's not fair to issue a refund. Is it "fair" to keep a deposit from someone who finds themselves in this position? Do they not have responsible management capable of making the right decisions instead of leaving it to junior office staff who just do as they are told and follow the rules to the letter so that Sykes can pocket the money ? Disgraceful.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Scam £20 low deposit miss leading & they take the remainder of the deposit if you cancel in my case £500 for nothing. I cancelled within a few weeks of a booking over 6 months away. DO NOT USE SYKES.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“I am a cottage owner. Sykes cancelled MY customers bookings during the high Christmas season for no viable reason and ruined the Xmas & New year bookings for 6 sets of guests. Then are attempting to charge me circa £15,000 to pay the guests back with additional compensation, plus compensation to Skye’s. The person or persons dealing with me at Sykes clearly had super low reasoning skills and questionable intelligence and wielded their (bit of) power over me and MY customers. Thankfully, I have left Sykes now and book guests through Independent Cottages. I pay an annual fee of approx £400 and that’s it … no 20% fee or super low pricing that brought in the ‘wrong’ type of customer. I can set my own pricing. Owners should consider moving to Independent Cottages for a far superior agency service, flexible service & money. I think it is also a better and cheaper option for the customer. I can see I’m not alone in being subject to Sykes gross incompetence and fraudulent behaviour. Don’t expect any helpful replies from Sykes”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Stayed at lobster lodge in November 23...we have since complained and have received nothing helpful back from sykes apart from they can reach the owner ..this property was not fit for purpose and our family had to leave as they couldn't sleep in the mouldy bedroom full of fumes ..”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Please please please, stay away from this company I cancelled my booking with at least 10 month notice, few days later took nearly £400 out of my account and won’t reply to emails Reported to bank for fraud”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Wow what a terrible company DO NOT USE”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Oakapple cottage Lyndhurst rented 3days £1450 . No heat no hot water due to faulty boiler tripping every few hours. No key for bike store no dartboard, rats in back yard, downstairs shower room floods after every use as no drain point making very dangerous and slippery. No logs for fire and couple of dodgy other points in upstairs bathroom Sykes don't appear concerned about any points made so probably best avoided”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“The worst company I ever dealt with . Misleading and incomplete property details ( ie: failing to advise that one of the property bedrooms is only accessible through another one. Blamed the owner initially for “ not providing these details “ then blamed me saying “ you should have known there was only one way in and out through the main King sized en-suite room ? They are just conmen with the most useless customer service “ chat “ team I have ever encountered! They should be closed down immediately!! DO NOT USE THEM !!”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“I cannot even begin to tell you how abhorrent Skye Cottages Ltd is. Sykes Cottages do not own any of the properties. They are privately owned by people like me. So the great experiences are 100% down to the property owner and 0% is down to Sykes Cottages. Sykes Cottages do absolutely nothing but make a lot of money by ripping owners off, by letting the properties well below the market value and not taking any responsibility whatsoever when guests damage the property. Sykes Cottages state on their website that they manage the properties but they do not. I signed the contract because they stated that they would manage my property. Not only did I receive pennies for letting my property but the cost of having people in my property far outweighed what I was being paid to let it and they twice had guests in my property without paying me. Sykes Cottages do not reply to formal complaints, and when they cannot get their own way they cancel bookings and fail to pay for bookings that have taken place or been cancelled by them. Other holiday let companies pay the owners when the booking is made but Sykes Cottages do not so guests get to stay at the properties without the owner being paid. It is illegal yet the owners cannot report them to an ombudsman because it cannot be done without a deadline letter and as Sykes Cottages do not respond to complaints they also do not supply a deadline letter. I am suing them for untenable repudiatory breach of contract and damages.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Abysmal customer service. Steer clear at all cost. Spent thousands on a Christmas break only to have many issues, not the least of which being rain coming through the roof several nights, and apparently this didn't even warrant a follow up phone call from them!”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“The customer service of this company is shocking! I'm now having to take legal advise as they won't give me evidence by law I should be able to receive! There was a huge storm at a property I stayed at and they are trying to blame me and my partner for breaking a motor on an electric gate!”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Do not use, we booked a deposit and realised 3 days later that the half term had changed. They are trying to charging us £990 for a cancellation fee. Even though the holiday isn’t for another 5 months!”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Like many, many other reviewers, I'm giving 1 star as 0 is impossible. Sykes are an utter disgrace, someone needs to step in and shut them down! Let me first of all say, this is in no way a reflection on the property I rented via Sykes through Air BnB. The property was amazing, well looked after and I would be more than happy to highly recommend it to anyone. The problem was the booking process; I would implore all property owners, please do not use Sykes to represent you as a booking agent! I booked the property for a work trip, I needed to add a few extra days to the original booking (for which the property was available), so I made a request for an extension via Air BnB; Sykes refused it. I messaged them via Air BnB to ask why, which was met with silence. I put in another extension request, which this time remained unanswered for a week. It was the day I was due to check in, with still no response, so I called them. It took me 20 minutes to get through to them on the phone, but eventually I managed to speak to someone. As a previous reviewer stated I was met with the comment “we cannot revise your booking due to data protection". I asked the Sykes employee, how we were breaching data protection in this extension process, they could not answer me, so I had to go on to explain how data protection laws work and how booking through Air BnB works (being very familiar with the processes myself from numerous work trip over the years). I asked if they had a customer complaints department, which they replied they did and asked to be transferred. After a further 10 minute wait, again I was told “we cannot revise your booking due to data protection" (I actually think it was the same person I originally spoke with, I think they may operate out of a garden shed in Chester). Again, I explained how data protection and Air BnB worked and how we are not breaching any policies (de ja vu!). After a further 10 minute lengthy conversion with their “Team Leader” (Probably went outside the shed for a smoke) I was informed they would email me with an update on the issue before I checked in. Guess what…. I arrived at the property to check in with no update! As I literally opened the door, I received another message from Air BnB saying my extension request has been denied. Lessons learnt…. Never ever, ever again, have any dealings with properties booked via Sykes!!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“One star only because 0 isn’t an option. Terrible customer service for disabled people who struggle with technology. They use an insurance company which is impossible to get any response from and whose website is totally inaccessible, so Sykes keep our money. Would never book with them again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“I booked for a week for our family,11 of us in total in a large farm house in Honiton. I paid a low deposit. 2 weeks later I realised our grandchildren had different half terms and needed to cancel. I phoned and was told I wouldn’t lose any more than the deposit. When my bank statement arrived I noticed. £348.30 had been taken from my account. I have been told I can only rebook the same property. All school holidays are all ready booked up. And I huge farm house is not suitable for2 grandparents! I am not allowed to book a more suitable property. So I am loosing £400 for a booking which lasted 2 weeks before cancelling. Absolutely shameful!! I would definitely not recommend this company!”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Sykes are awful! There is nothing bad to be said about the property owner or the actual property we booked via Airbnb, but Sykes, who manages the property and is, therefore, the official host on Airbnb, is terrible to deal with. We needed to change our dates; Airbnb and the property owner were happy, but Sykes made it impossible, blaming "data protection". I was the guest, Sykes was the host, and Airbnb was the platform - data protection does not prevent a guest from communicating with their host! Regardless, Sykes claimed that since "AirBnB changing their terms and conditions, we are unable to pass data protection checks that would allow us to legally help with the booking.". This is obviously a complete farce, and they are using this as an excuse to fob off customers. Airbnb should consider removing SykesCottages.com as a host from ALL Airbnb properties, given this factually incorrect information they give to customer support queries, causing reputational, brand and goodwill damage to Airbnb. Let's see how quickly SykesCottages.com suddenly finds the ability to have half-decent customer service once Airbnb cuts them off at the teat. I hope they go bankrupt, and I will never book any trip that has SykesCottages.com as the host.”

Sykes Cottages 1 star review on 18th January 2024

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Pre booked a holiday for Cherry Garth, Aislaby for 29.6.24 for one week. Unfortunately, due to a tragic incident in the family we are forced with cancelling this particular holiday. We asked if we could use the £393 we paid upfront towards a holiday more suited to our needs and were told this was not possible as it had been booked with the owner. We were told that we could possibly change the date, but we needed to change the venue for convenience, and apparently we couldn’t do this. What bothers me is who keeps our money, Sykes or the property owner? To add insult to injury, after cancelling we’ve received numerous emails inviting us to book Cherry Garth. What a despicable company, no morals, no empathy, just ruthless…….. and judging by all the negative reviews I don’t know how you are still in business.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“With 9 months notice, I needed to make a 1-day shift in dates, I was flexible and happy to add a couple extra days, if that worked. On 3 separate attempts to reach customer service, I got "Hi, I'm whoever, how can I help you"...then nothing! I got up at 2:30am to be sure to catch an agent promptly and account for the time difference. But still, nothing beyond "Hi, how can I help you". I am planning a 2-month long holiday of a lifetime and this was a sad start. Eventually I cancelled the reservation at significant cost (half the booked week), despite the 9 month lead time. Didn't want to spend the next 9 months worrying if the on-the-ground service would be as bad as the online service. Disappointing to say the least.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Absolute fraudsters. Recieved an email about a refund on a property that was booked and cancelled within 3 days. No mention of drop down of forfeit of monies. In deed no mention throughout the booking of the bookings being non refundable at all. Total scammers. In fact email recieved stating the refund will be processed within a certain number of days. No refund then contact made and some randoms keep stating small print. Trouble is there computers and humans contradict each other and now we will be going to court. I do not allow theft on monies and illigemate theft of hard working peoples monies. Book with booking. com only what this company protraies as a customer service actually is not!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Made a booking at the Shippon (Tarporley) through Sykes Cottages as we were due to attend the June 2024 race meeting at Oulton Park. We have had to cancel this due to a berevaement and been informed by Sykes that we have to pay a cancellation fee of approx one third (£212) even though this is more than 6 months away and the owner will be able to re-let the property due to the popular race event. They cite Terms and Conditions which are both unclear and unfair to the customer. Live chat hasn't worked for past 2 days they have been "busy with other customers) - nearly 1300 reviews which provide this firm with a score of 1.2 which really sums up the disgraceful and uncaring firm this is. Would strongly suggest they are avoided.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

Sykes Cottages is rated 1.2 based on 1,528 reviews