“If there was below zero rating.”
I would give this. This was our first holiday after the birth of my son who is now 8 months. Our precious moments with him were ruined correcting the catalogue of failures in this house. Some of these are listed below.
Upon arrival, the bathroom in which you cannot swing a cat was left unclean. There were skid marks in the toilet, brown fresh smudge marks the (size of two fingers) on side of the door, the sink had bits of someone’s mouths spit stuck on it Willis appeared to not have been cleaned for a while, the shower handle was sticky, the bathroom door handle did not lock and the toilet (the icing on the cake) had a huge crack in the ceramics the panel. Something which I’m led to believe the owner is aware of but has decided to not fix. The toilet crack leaks toilet water a very small drip leading to the bathroom floor (be it very slowly).
My wife called lakelovers around 5pm (keys in safe place from 4pm) and various calls, messages and after number of hours wait, the bathroom is superficially cleaned.
Our first precious moments with my child on his first holiday ruined. Our evening ruined.
Same night, my wife decides to make my 8 months olds baby milk and make some porridge for him to eat. Noting this is a self catering house, the pan to warm his milk and make porridge is dirty with food being stuck on the edges. The utensils all have dried food stuck on sides which has been left uncleaned for weeks. This food had now started to darken, harden and had bits of dust catching onto the food which makes a beautiful view as one can imagine. Neither I nor my wife could cook that day, make food for our child or the day after.
An issue again which was notified to the agent the same day of arrival who said they could not get someone out the whole of Sunday (noting it was around 5-6pm on Saturday when lake lovers were notified). Lakelovers offered to pay for two bottles of water (approx. £ 2.50) by way of reimbursement for our troubles.
Now let’s move to the kettle - the kettle handle was sticky to a point that it could be mistaken for super glue. One would have to wear gloves to simply touch the kettle. Inside when opening the kettle we had mould like limescale built up over weeks on end of not cleaning. This being a hygiene issue could not be used to make milk for my child or be used to boil water.
The Microwave plate - again with bits of food stuck to the plate.
The oven, the hob and the fridge - well no surprises there, again same issue of uncleanliness.
Now let’s move to the windows - these windows have issues with being opened and if you are to brave enough to cook then be warned the air from the food will remain in the house. There are no known fire safety measures.
The sitting room carpet sheds and is quite sticky and smelly in places. Needs a deep clean.
The room has a TV, but hopefully you can change the channel and watch TV as the button from the remote are falling off, they are just about intact.
The sofa due to wear and tear could do with a replacement. The firmness of the sofa is lost and when you sit in, you will sink in.
The cabinet door below the tv has no handles and does not close properly.
The kitchen sink due to its design flaws, drips water to the cabinets and sides of your cleaned dishes every time you wash your dishes. Not a complaint but something you need to bear in mind.
Now we move to the bedroom. The bedroom door will open one third of its full opening. Just enough for you to be able to go to your side and play to you to me with the baby and get into the bedroom. In the event of a fire, I hate to imagine how one would even get out, given such tight opening. Also just imagine if you are slightly overweight then good luck getting in. I guess it’s the owners way to discriminate against fat people. The room is just about big enough to allow for full opening, it’s just the layout of the room, so size isn’t the issue here.
The bed - well. The woods underneath the bed keep falling in the middle of the night and these need to be adjusted for the mattress to then sit properly on. You need to do this once every few hours if you want a good night sleep.
The size and depth of the bed mattress is the size and depth of your duvet, so if you want a good night sleep bring your own mattress.
All of the above has been notified to lake lovers within the first two days of our stay. Whilst some issues like cleaning and parts of maintenance were resolved after spending days on end calling, emailing, sending pictures and then following up, some issues still remain outstanding after 7 days of stay.
Note the cleaner has spare keys, and will enter the house without notifying you. This was a concern when my wife had just come out for a shower and was getting changed and the cleaner came unannounced to fix some of the above issues and used her own key to get into the property which we were staying in. Invasion of privacy I wonder.
In summary, there are health & safety issues - crack in the toilet; bedroom door not closing; no fire safety equipment; windows not opening.
There are health issues due to hygiene and cleanliness - kettle, microwave, oven, fridge, to name a few.
There are ongoing maintenance issues such as bathroom door not locking, cabinet below tv stand, strengthening of bed base etc.
There is a formal complaint in place and which I intend to request a full refund for. The quality of my stay was fully ruined. I would strongly recommend you stay clear from this property unless you want to learn on how not to let you holiday home.
I hope the agent and owner take serious note of the issues as I have not ruled out taking legal action. There is photographic evidence of all the issues highlighted.
