Frozen Cottage. Refund rights?
Discussion
We've had a holiday cottage for over 15 years...."charming thatched in small village"....which means we tend to price it to discourage guests in winter: most people aren't used to things not always working, or it sometimes needing a jumper (although it is pretty warm if nothing break!).
Seriously, we had the guests from hell about 10 years ago....everything went wrong....the kitchen cupboards apparently smelled of curry (they really didn't !), the guest complained about everything to the letting agents....finally, they had a genuine issue (the shower failed)....I got our plumber fellow to replace it within 2 days, but even telling them that didn't stop them calling 4 times during those days to ask when it would be fixed - they still had a working bath with shower mixer!).
It put us off (we are remote, with family helping look after it).
In contrast, we had one guest who had an awesome holiday despite catching a mouse IN the bedroom (yikes, eh!). I posted them an award for that one!!
Overall, we get VERY positive guests and it is a pleasure & honour to be the custodian of such a great cottage and to share it...but yes, sometimes issues cause owners grief!
Seriously, we had the guests from hell about 10 years ago....everything went wrong....the kitchen cupboards apparently smelled of curry (they really didn't !), the guest complained about everything to the letting agents....finally, they had a genuine issue (the shower failed)....I got our plumber fellow to replace it within 2 days, but even telling them that didn't stop them calling 4 times during those days to ask when it would be fixed - they still had a working bath with shower mixer!).
It put us off (we are remote, with family helping look after it).
In contrast, we had one guest who had an awesome holiday despite catching a mouse IN the bedroom (yikes, eh!). I posted them an award for that one!!
Overall, we get VERY positive guests and it is a pleasure & honour to be the custodian of such a great cottage and to share it...but yes, sometimes issues cause owners grief!
When we've had things genuinely go wrong, the guests have always been understanding. Probably because most people are reasonable and when they see you are doing everything possible to put it right, they appreciate your position.
The guests who are unreasonable are usually those who have brought other issues with them.
We had one guest complain of potholes when the cottage is accessed by a forest track! You didn't need a 4x4 and my car with 30 profile tyres didnt struggle.
The guests who are unreasonable are usually those who have brought other issues with them.
We had one guest complain of potholes when the cottage is accessed by a forest track! You didn't need a 4x4 and my car with 30 profile tyres didnt struggle.
eliot said:
Suprised you even considered a pet friendly place if you are a non pet owner.
Maybe we were just unlucky we have been to many cottages over the years that allow pets and never had a problem.We do have a cat, so we are pet owners but this place really was unacceptable, a shame because it was first class in all other respects.
We are off to another pet friendly NT cottage in the Cotswolds in a few weeks (Which was booked months ago), so hopefully everything will be OK next time.
Good to hear you've not had pet smell issues in the past.
If you do at the next one, complain straight away as that would be not acceptable.
We take the view that other than light wear and tear, you shouldn't see any sign of previous occupants.
That means no pet smells, dog hair, toilet stains, pubic hairs even in the shower trap.
After reading a tip on PH, we got an ozone generator in case we did get a smelly pet as ozone generators remove rather than mask smells but we've not needed it yet.
If you do at the next one, complain straight away as that would be not acceptable.
We take the view that other than light wear and tear, you shouldn't see any sign of previous occupants.
That means no pet smells, dog hair, toilet stains, pubic hairs even in the shower trap.
After reading a tip on PH, we got an ozone generator in case we did get a smelly pet as ozone generators remove rather than mask smells but we've not needed it yet.
I rent out a holiday cottage and from an owner point of view:
Holidays are very precious and we try very hard to respect that. However, things can happen but its how you prepare and respond that makes the difference.
No heating for 24hrs in winter and id have to give you 50% your money back even if I fixed it within 48hrs. Temporary heating with lost food I think at least your costs and something mutually acceptable but all your money back doesn't seem reasonable if you stay for the week.
The closest ive had to this was the heating oil supply line leaking a bit and the smell coming into the house where the guests could smell it when the window was open but not when closed. I gave them £100 for dinner in a local hotel and had it fixed within 24hrs with a discount of 25% if they wanted to come back.
The most common breakdown on holiday is with the guests rather than cottage :-)
Holidays are very precious and we try very hard to respect that. However, things can happen but its how you prepare and respond that makes the difference.
No heating for 24hrs in winter and id have to give you 50% your money back even if I fixed it within 48hrs. Temporary heating with lost food I think at least your costs and something mutually acceptable but all your money back doesn't seem reasonable if you stay for the week.
The closest ive had to this was the heating oil supply line leaking a bit and the smell coming into the house where the guests could smell it when the window was open but not when closed. I gave them £100 for dinner in a local hotel and had it fixed within 24hrs with a discount of 25% if they wanted to come back.
The most common breakdown on holiday is with the guests rather than cottage :-)
cashmax said:
Has the OP explained why he lied about the food?
Based on that I would wonder how much else was fabrication.
Most complaints start with a genuine issue which then causes people to look for more fault. Based on that I would wonder how much else was fabrication.
Yes of course the food was either a lie or the fridge was off for much longer.
When guests are happy with everything, then small things going wrong are just a side issue.
We had a guest changeover yesterday, we saw the leaving guest and they left 10/10 feedback. Then they mentioned in passing, "oh, we couldn't close the wood burner door"
It wasn't a complaint, just letting me know and when I checked, the closing mechanism needed adjustment.
It was no issue for them but if they were either pissed off due to bad weather or something unrelated to the cottage or had a string of other issues, then I'm sure it would have seemed a bigger problem.
It's a house, things go wrong and since the owner isn't living there they won't know about it unless someone tells them. One place we stayed in I replaced the shower raiser and a pull cord light switch because both broke while we were staying. It was much less hassle for us (and the owner) for me to pop down to screwfix, buy the bits and fix it than it would have been to faff around getting the owner to fix it or for him to call out someone to do it. I just dropped him an email to let know incase he noticed the bits had changed and wondered why. It's no different to what I would do at home so why worry!
Admittedly no electricity, heating etc would be different and beyond my abilities!!
Admittedly no electricity, heating etc would be different and beyond my abilities!!
Bloody hell, a guest who fixes the place up for you. We could do with guests like you.
Got a call from a guest tonight. No hot water!!!
Then 2 mins later, another call saying all is well.
Not sure what went wrong but I've made a real boo boo.
The property has 1 source of hot water. A combi.
When that fails, there is no hot water.
Tonight was a warning for us. Maybe I need to look at a back up plan.
Had there been a real issue, I couldn't have got anyone out sooner than Wed. No hot water for showers etc is not acceptable and we'd probably have to refund the majority of the £1400 the week has cost them.
Got a call from a guest tonight. No hot water!!!
Then 2 mins later, another call saying all is well.
Not sure what went wrong but I've made a real boo boo.
The property has 1 source of hot water. A combi.
When that fails, there is no hot water.
Tonight was a warning for us. Maybe I need to look at a back up plan.
Had there been a real issue, I couldn't have got anyone out sooner than Wed. No hot water for showers etc is not acceptable and we'd probably have to refund the majority of the £1400 the week has cost them.
Pistom said:
Most complaints start with a genuine issue which then causes people to look for more fault.
.
This in spades..
Rented a place and the main shower was out of action, a bit irritated, it obviously hadn't worked for a while and feel we should have been told. The owner explained that major work would be required to access the problem, tiles ripped out etc, so was waiting until a quiet time. The place had a spare, but not very good shower at the back of the utility room so we used this.
Everything else about the place was superb, so it was a non issue. We went back a few months later, shower still not fixed but at least we knew. Hoping to visit again in the summer, this time I'll expect the shower to be working though.
Super_G said:
Within an hour the main circuit fuse blew due to the load. The property manager didn’t know where the fuse box was and couldn’t help. After two hours I tracked down the box. Unfortunately, fridge food had to be thrown away.
How on earth do you handle real life?Two hours to find a fuse box!
You threw food away because the fridge was not working in a freezing cottage.
PositronicRay said:
This in spades.
Rented a place and the main shower was out of action, a bit irritated, it obviously hadn't worked for a while and feel we should have been told. The owner explained that major work would be required to access the problem, tiles ripped out etc, so was waiting until a quiet time. The place had a spare, but not very good shower at the back of the utility room so we used this.
Everything else about the place was superb, so it was a non issue. We went back a few months later, shower still not fixed but at least we knew. Hoping to visit again in the summer, this time I'll expect the shower to be working though.
We always write to guests with the latests updates. That would include explaining that the main shower was out of order. If they paid for 2 showers, they would also get either a cash sweetner or equivalent. Rented a place and the main shower was out of action, a bit irritated, it obviously hadn't worked for a while and feel we should have been told. The owner explained that major work would be required to access the problem, tiles ripped out etc, so was waiting until a quiet time. The place had a spare, but not very good shower at the back of the utility room so we used this.
Everything else about the place was superb, so it was a non issue. We went back a few months later, shower still not fixed but at least we knew. Hoping to visit again in the summer, this time I'll expect the shower to be working though.
I think the problem with some cottage owners is that they forget that each guest is on their holiday. They have paid often hard earned money to spend a big proportion of their free time to enjoy themselves.
As cottage owner, it's our responsibility to make sure we deliver what is on the glossy website.
PositronicRay said:
This in spades.
Rented a place and the main shower was out of action, a bit irritated, it obviously hadn't worked for a while and feel we should have been told. The owner explained that major work would be required to access the problem, tiles ripped out etc, so was waiting until a quiet time. The place had a spare, but not very good shower at the back of the utility room so we used this.
Everything else about the place was superb, so it was a non issue. We went back a few months later, shower still not fixed but at least we knew. Hoping to visit again in the summer, this time I'll expect the shower to be working though.
I can't imagine much that can't be fixed in a day with perhaps a second for making good, sounds like a tardy owner tbh. I remember the agent giving us some spiel about how a shower didn't work very well because it was a 400 whatever year old building in edinborough with authentic plumbing, BS it was plain old cowboy negative head cos the water tank was lower than the shower head, mrs hairy was giving me the "don't call it" stare though.Rented a place and the main shower was out of action, a bit irritated, it obviously hadn't worked for a while and feel we should have been told. The owner explained that major work would be required to access the problem, tiles ripped out etc, so was waiting until a quiet time. The place had a spare, but not very good shower at the back of the utility room so we used this.
Everything else about the place was superb, so it was a non issue. We went back a few months later, shower still not fixed but at least we knew. Hoping to visit again in the summer, this time I'll expect the shower to be working though.
Throwing food away though f
k off, I have fridges off for 2-3 hours all the time when upgrading fuse boards.Pistom said:
Bloody hell, a guest who fixes the place up for you. We could do with guests like you.
Good on that poster, likewise I've done odd bits of maintenance on cottages and boats we have hired. Nothing major but very often a quick bit if attention stops something getting worse. Treat the place as your own, but in a good way. Of course it means you need to have some simple tools available.Pistom said:
Bloody hell, a guest who fixes the place up for you. We could do with guests like you.
Got a call from a guest tonight. No hot water!!!
Then 2 mins later, another call saying all is well.
Not sure what went wrong but I've made a real boo boo.
The property has 1 source of hot water. A combi.
When that fails, there is no hot water.
Tonight was a warning for us. Maybe I need to look at a back up plan.
Had there been a real issue, I couldn't have got anyone out sooner than Wed. No hot water for showers etc is not acceptable and we'd probably have to refund the majority of the £1400 the week has cost them.
As a Plan B, I always suggest to owners with combis that an electric shower is the perfect back-up. Its a bit belt and braces but gives a bit of breathing space as the darn things only pack up on a Friday afternoon.Got a call from a guest tonight. No hot water!!!
Then 2 mins later, another call saying all is well.
Not sure what went wrong but I've made a real boo boo.
The property has 1 source of hot water. A combi.
When that fails, there is no hot water.
Tonight was a warning for us. Maybe I need to look at a back up plan.
Had there been a real issue, I couldn't have got anyone out sooner than Wed. No hot water for showers etc is not acceptable and we'd probably have to refund the majority of the £1400 the week has cost them.
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