“We didn't actually stay at the property as it smelled of dog.”
We contacted the company who sent a housekeeper out to mop the floor and add an air freshener. Upon our return to the cottage, it still had an odour of dog. This is due to the 'dog house' under the stairs. We contacted the company again and told it was our word against the housekeeper and if we stayed at a dog friendly property this comes with the territory. What a load of rubbish. Very unhelpful staff. After several discussions with the company we were told in no uncertain terms that we ...
We contacted the company who sent a housekeeper out to mop the floor and add an air freshener. Upon our return to the cottage, it still had an odour of dog. This is due to the 'dog house' under the stairs. We contacted the company again and told it was our word against the housekeeper and if we stayed at a dog friendly property this comes with the territory. What a load of rubbish. Very unhelpful staff. After several discussions with the company we were told in no uncertain terms that we would not get any of our money back. Also the photos need updating as the living room does not look like the photos. For the record this property was booked 2 hours prior to us arriving. If they needed an admin fee and to pay the housekeeper for mopping the floor and adding an air freshener, we should have at least received 3 out of 4 days refund. This non-holiday booked in good faith cost £446.00 for 4 nights.
Although this cottage has been in my family for decades I live a few hours drive away rather than locally, so I rely on a housekeeping company to do handovers (they look after over 100 holiday cottages, have a good reputation and know the ropes) and a separate cleaning company to do a monthly deep clean. I arranged within minutes for Lakes Property Services to respond to this issue when Sykes notified me, even though the booking had only been made at 2 hours notice. Lakes Property Services’ feedback to me was that was no odour. I asked Dobsons of Grange, who do the monthly deep clean, whether they had noticed this as an issue and they also said they had never noticed any doggy odour either. In fact I had washed the dog bed covers under the stairs when I had been in the cottage myself recently. Of course I want everyone to be as delighted about the cottage as many of the other guests have clearly been, but this feedback doesn’t ring true to me I’m afraid.
Updating the photographs is a fair point however; this would reflect the investment in two smart new sofas, patio furniture, original artwork, an eco friendly heat pump system and general decoration since they were taken ie. what you get is better than illustrated rather than the opposite!
Property Owner
