Sykes Cottages Reviews

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

1.2 Rating 1,522 Reviews

4 %

of reviewers recommend Sykes Cottages

Company Reviews

Metrics

1.2

Based on 1,522 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

Write Your review

Tell us how Sykes Cottages made you happy

Minimum 10 characters

What's your name?

Leave this blank if you'd like to publish your review anonymously.

(Optional)

What's your email?

We need your email address to verify that your review is genuine

Please note that we may share your email with the company to verify your order.

Sykes Cottages 1 star review on 27th January 2025

Anonymous

Sykes Cottages 1 star review on 17th November 2024

Anonymous

223

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

“The property we stayed in was filthy when pulling furniture out and fridge did not work, tv was broken, we got charged £115 for cleaning the property when we left.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 months ago

“Filthy so called cottage and we did not stay it was that bad. We phoned sykes and the owner on the day of arrival and took photos to show how disgusting the place was. I could not stay due to how heartbroken I was. Owners tried to make out it was only a couple of issues and they could come and rectify them. The place would have needed a whole deep clean and revamp for me to have stayed. So bad. Tried to get refund or some compensation but owners and sykes saying it was the other parties responsibility so neither have been helpful and will not offere anything. Will never ever book with sykes again. Promised to ring me back and liaise with the owner but didn't. I've had to make numerous phonecalls in the hope of resolving the issue. After losing my father I needed a little break and to stay close to my family but this has made my heartache ten times worse. Aster cottage in Wales should not be being advertised.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 months ago

“I booked a weekend away through Sykes Cottages, and upon reviewing my account I couldn't find my booking. Contacting Sykes is incredibly difficult, every time I tried using their online chat function, I was presented with an error saying they were too busy and to try again later. The other options to contact them is text and Whatsapp. I tried both these avenues and after 48 hours received a text to say they hadn't responded because they were busy and to reply "YES" if I still needed a response. 3 days after originally reaching out I finally received a reply, and my account was fixed enabling me to see my booking. Upon reviewing this I realised I had booked this for the incorrect year 2025 instead of 2024, I tried to move my booking to the correct dates, but the property was unavailable, leaving me needing to cancel. I understand that booking the incorrect dates was my error and was fully prepared to lose my £20 deposit, however upon trying to cancel I found I was expected to pay a further £100 to "finish paying my deposit", this shocked me as I am giving over a year’s notice. This happened at the end of July and my booking is for the end of September the following year. I got back in contact via text asking if this was correct as surely with over years notice this isn't justifiable. I was told yes; I am still expected to pay the full deposit. I asked if I could transfer my booking to a different property, you can't as they are all individually owned. I am now left either having to pay over £100 to cancel (along with booking somewhere else for the correct dates), use the property when it is booked for or pay an additional £30 admin fee to change the dates (along with any difference in the cost, whish is understandable). I understand letting companies need to protect themselves from last minute cancellations and being unable to fill the booking and losing revenue, however with over a years’ worth of notice I would have expected to lose my £20 deposit but did not expect to then have to pay an additional £100 to cancel. This along with access to their customer service has put me off from ever booking with them again. Bare this in mind when booking!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 months ago

“Charges your card at will, hides behind small print, not to be trusted. Avoid at all costs or make sure you use your credit card to dispute them.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

“Worst customer service I have ever come across. I don't usually leave reviews (good or bad) but I feel I need to warn people about this company. On arrival, the rented property was filthy; stains everywhere, dirty surfaces and disgusting carpet and bathrooms (you couldn't walk anywhere barefoot). When I complained to Sykes, they said to leave the key at the lockbox and a cleaner would be around at 1pm the same day. I waited at the lockbox for nearly 2 hours so that I could escort the cleaner to the property and show them the issues. Instead, they snuck in and did a cursory wipe of worktops and left. When I complained again to Sykes, another cleaner was sent the following day and again I waited at the property in order to point out everything that needed doing. A lovely lady came but she said she was only being paid to do surfaces and mop the kitchen floor (no other floors and no other cleaning eg the bathrooms) so that's all she did. The second issue was that one of the toilets did not flush properly. The first maintenance person came and said there was no issue so when I complained again, a second maintenance person came, I pointed out the issue and he agreed the flush was not great. He also said that Sykes is happy to list properties that other companies would not. The third issue was that I was being bitten in the night. Again, a pest control person came when I was out and confirmed there were no bed bugs or fleas. So how does one explain the bites every night? I have wasted more than half of my holiday waiting for cleaners, maintenance and pest people and none of the issues have been fully resolved. Each time you mention compensation, Sykes put up obstacles - this needs to happen before we have that conversation or that needs to happen before we can have that conversation. The Sykes call handlers need to go on a customer services course. Louis said to me, "I'm not inclined" to help and when I said it is so hard that I feel I need to leave reviews about Sykes, he said, "you are entitled to your opinion". Wow. Scarlet was equally unhelpful. There is no empathy about the hell you are experiencing and no willingness to help. I've booked multiple properties in the past through Airbnb and Booking.com and never had an issue. This was the first time using Sykes and I will never be using them again. I suggest you steer clear of Sykes. The listings are misleading and if you have an issue, they won't be trying to help you. I guess their strategy is to make it so hard that it wears you down and you give up.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

“We have booked to stay at accommodation via Sykes cottages for the end of the month. We noticed a review from a disgruntled customer that a number of items were missing from the garden despite clear pictures showing a BBQ and hammock. We were concerned by the false advertisement so have asked the situation to be clarified with the owner prior to our arrival, we booked the property based on the garden and it’s facilities. Sykes cottages said they would call us back but never did. On ringing back a week later for an update the lady explained her notes said that I had hung the phone up on her colleague and there was no mention of the request or query. Fortunately Sykes cottages appear to record all calls and this is reassuring to know! What a waste of time.. We hope the situation will be rectified prior to our arrival however due to our dealings so far with the company I am not convinced..”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

“Shocking customer service or lack of should I say. Emailed them weeks ago to try and cancel my booking this August. The father of my sons’ cancer spread to his brain and he was given weeks to live. Emailed them to cancel my booking using an email address they used to mail me and got no reply. Emailed again- no reply. Emailed them using a different mail address I found online- no reply. Called them and hung on the line for a long time and asked for a call back which I didn’t get. Finally resorted to calling the property owner direct and got nowhere with him just referred back to Sykes. Waited 30 mins on a call today and ended up asking for a call back again. When I did get a call back I was told they had received none of my 3 emails over the last few weeks. The father of my sons passed on Saturday so the funeral will likely fall during my booking dates. Only option now is if the property gets relet in the next 11 days for any sort of refund. Will NEVER use this company again”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

“Appalling customer care. 47 minutes to get through to them. Then had to phone back 59 minutes and again alter 26 minutes...still not got through to resolve issue 😒”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

“I have been trying for over a month to resolve some lost property from a stay. I have contacted Sykes 14 times over the last month, I have been promised 3 different call backs which never came. The emails sent were never responded too and the portal didn't work and the WhatsApp service was always to busy to respond. I even went to Cornwall on holiday and a was 8 miles from the property 20 miles from the local office I offered to drive and collect my items myself and over a 2 week period Sykes inept service still couldn't resolve this. I write this as I have now been on hold for 53 minutes and in the end used another phone to ring new bookings the only line that gets answered. Happy to take money but back it up with zero service levels. New bookings had to call the local office for me.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

“Booking experience went smoothly but when we arrived there we numerous issues with the holiday cottage, none so bad as to ruin the holiday but as a 5 tick listing we expected fine attention to detail. Upon returning home we received a feedback email which I gave a detailed and thorough assessment and area for improvement. Absolutely no response from Sykes at all. Even went so far as to keep my review private as I didn’t want to affect the owners future bookings”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

“Checked into cottage and found it hadn't been cleaned and beds not changed.. Kept telling us someone would call but no one did.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

“I have recently cancelled a booking with them. The holiday was due to start in may2025 but I paid in full when booking. When I cancelled I fully expected to lose my deposit & booking fees totallying £358 but they won’t refund any of the £897 I have tried contacting them but going round in circles all I have been told I do t recieve a refund at all. Not even partial”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

“Tried ringing then emails then texting and finally WhatsApp been two days now and still no response, trying to cancel a holiday due to health issues. Live in hope maybe tomorrow will get a response. 🤔”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

“Cottage was barely habitable, dangerous black mold up the walls, dirty surfaces, stunk of dog wee and have maggots/larvae on the very dirty floors. Allowed the vendor to retain our money despite leaving within hours of arriving. Never again, the company is shoddy and the cottage needs complete renovation. Do you even verify your cottages or complete any vetting? Cottage in Llangollen was a disgrace inside Lost £150 to stay somewhere for 4 hours.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

“I am a holiday home owner and they are a horrible company to work with.Will be glad to get away from them after this season.Stay away.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

“If you are the owner of a holiday cottage, please do not use this company! I have had two terrible experiences with them this year after I gave them 6 months notice that I wanted to stop using Sykes from a lack of bookings. They make it really difficult for you to leave by the way, and there are steep penalties if you want to stop using them straight away.   They booked in a couple of very undesirable guests in March, working girls who worked in clubs very late at night who were using my annex not as a holiday base but as their place of business. They were not screened at all. These "guests" stole and broke things. Sykes basically said it was my problem to sort and they couldn't do anything about it! So much for their customer service!  A few days before my 6 month period was coming to an end, they took a phone call apparently from a potential guest who wanted to stay the following night. They didn't call me to check that was okay as my cottage might not have been ready, and in fact it was already booked up. My guest was understandably very upset when they turned up, and we both tried to call and complain to Sykes. They don't take calls at the weekend. We were both charged by Skyes though, me a cancellation fee and my guests for not being taking up their booking! Basically they were charging us for for their lack of common sense/unprofessionalism. Worse, it turns out they lied to my guests which I am furious about, stating that they had spoken to me and I had said it was fine for them to stay!! The whole experience with Sykes has been underwhelming to say the least. A lack of bookings. A lack of care. A lack of professionalism. The only winners are Sykes who charge people for whether they stay in your cottage or not!”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

“Appalling service, recommend not to use”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

“DO NOT USE - SCAM COMPANY. I booked through AirBnb for a weekend away 270 days away. The next day, I requested to change the weekend of the booking to the weekend prior to the booking, through the AirBnB platform. The new dates are completely free, I am the only booking for the property in that month. They ignored all my communications and requests. I rung them up and they said "we aren't able to deal with any requests through AirBnb." I emailed them and the email address reply was "unattended." Eventually AirBnB support chased them enough to get a response. They responded saying "their systems were not able to process change of date requests." So despite them being on the AirBnb platform, they aren't actually compatible with the platform. So I asked them, if you cannot alter the booking, cancel it and I will rebook for the correct weekend. They ignored me. AirBnb once again chased and forced them to reply. AirBnb said that they offered to sort out the change of booking in the system, nullifying Syke's reason that they couldn't process the change due to 'technical reasons.' All AirBnb needed was a simple consent for the change to be made, and they would handle the rest. And Sykes simply said 'no'...offered no explanation. They are still ignoring me. If I have to cancel the booking on my terms, I have to hand over half the total amount to them, which is £1100. I then noticed that since I booked, they have cut all the prices at the property by almost half. So they clearly are trying to duck and dodge to prevent me being able to change the dates so that they force me into cancelled the booking so that they can take £1100 for no outlay at all. It's a con. They have literally no good reason to justify this other than a money grab. They are a shaddy, shadowy deceitful company with no standards or customer service. AVOID. And just book through a host directly through another platform.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

“Terrible rip off company.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

“We took my mother on holiday to Pool Barn in Shropshire on the 5th July for her 93rd birthday there were 4 people in our party. We arrived late Friday Night. We made the booking based on the descriptions and photos as described on Sykes Website for 6 people. I have later learned are put together the descriptions by the owner and a member of staff from Sykes. When we arrived at the cottage it was apparent on entering , there was a strong smell of damp throughout the barn and even more so in the en suite twin room downstairs that I was sharing with my mother. On going into the en-suite the smell of damp was even stronger with silver fish in the shower tray ( an indication of extreme damp). The toilet and shower facilities upstairs were not fit for purpose for two six foot adult males and could not use the toilets standing up and had to sit down. The shower was so small that even the owner who came over the next day agreed that it was a struggle to use not only for someone of for that height, but was not safe as the openings for both the door and shower door were not big enough. But suggested that the downstairs shower could be used for anyone over six foot !!! as long as they didn't mind the smell of damp and the silver fish I presume !! There is nothing that relates to height restrictions in the details at all. The lounge was so small that even with four of us the TV was impossible to be watched with the lounge door open. The property had also been listed for 6 people, there were only 4 chairs in the kitchen so to have 6 people stay, again as described, it would be impossible for everyone to eat together ! We contacted Sykes the next morning, to be told that the owner would come and see us to see what could be done. The owner did come over after a period of time and we highlighted the miss leading descriptions on the website. The lady had " No sense of smell" so could not identify the damp smell and didn't know what silver fish were. We then proceeded upstairs were by her own omission said that she could see the struggle. The lady also said and I quote " there was no argument that it was not fit for purpose" So not to spoil my mothers birthday and the fact that we had travelled three and half hours, I asked Sykes to find us an alternative property for us to go into that day. No phone call was ever received. We then contacted holidaycottages.com who could not have been more helpful. I explained the situation that we had found ourselves having been totally let down by Sykes. We then booked a property with them so not to ruin the week for my elderly mother who by now was so upset on the prospect of having to possible go home. Holidaycottages.com were so professional, caring and empathetic. I gave Sykes time when we returned to contact me regarding the whole sorry experience and the refund but there wasn't any contact from them. So after two week I contacted Sykes. Only to be told that they have to ask the owner for a refund, I asked that someone could call me back the same day, but no contact. I shouldn't have been surprised given the service that we had previously received. I then called again today and was told that the owner has now refused to give a refund. The fault lies with both the owner and Sykes for allowing the property to be advertised and could potentially fall under the The Property Misdescriptions Act 1991. I was told today that Sykes are just the agents for properties but they have a "duty of care" to both the owners and the customers to provide a safe and fit for purpose environment as advertised. I was told that there wasn't a manager available to speak to me and wouldn't be 24 to 48 hours. I will never use Sykes again and will not recommend Sykes to any members of my family or friends. I await a phone call however given the appalling service that I have received I know that it will have to call again. I await your response”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

Sykes Cottages is rated 1.2 based on 1,522 reviews