Holiday Cottages In Salcombe

Reviews

What our customers say about their holidays

• Lisa - Verified booking

  After 7yrs of the Dolphins being our home from home I didn’t think I would be writing a review like the below but I feel after the way our complaints have been handled its a justified one to inform future all customers.

  Our most recent stay this year confirmed in our view that the prices have risen but the standards have fallen. On previous years we have politely informed Coast and Country that the small fridge in the kitchen was not closing properly, and therefore not keeping temp and that there were no shelves due to them presumably being broken. This was again not rectified and to make matters worse the additional fridge in the pantry also had shelves missing / broken. Not a deal breaker but when a party of 7 are staying it doesn’t leave much option for the storage of open milk etc. A review of this issues was left by us back in 2020! Our main issue however was the condition of one of the en suite bathrooms. On arrival I noticed that grout was missing around a number of tiles on the floor and one of the tiles had cracked in many places & was sticking up, upon walking on the floor there was excessive movement on the floor and mould behind the toilet. From a health and safety point of view and with young children we chose not to use this bathroom during our stay. During the day when we were out of the house and we returned, walking into the bedroom there was a strong smell of ammonia, much like walking into a public urinal. This in my view is unacceptable and should have been picked up on the clean along with the subsiding floor, with Coast and Country informing me before our stay with a plan on how it was to be resolved. We took the decision to wait until our departure day before informing Coast and Country as we had a lot planned for the week and with young children didn’t want to be hanging around the property waiting on someone coming to inspect. In our view the bathroom floor needs replacing and this would not be a five min job whilst the house had occupants. There were other issues that I can concur with on the below reviews, cleanliness is not great, the bottom room is completely out of bounds due to smelling so bad, bins not being emptied on arrival. Today we received an update from Sykes/coast & country on our complaint, I am FUMING with the response and utterly gobsmacked in the lack of customer service. I paid the £2700 for a week and I expect a lot more. To be told that nothing will be done because we didn’t inform them to the issues during our stay is a joke. No phone call reply to discuss, just a couple of paragraphs basically sweeping it under the carpet. It’s not for me or the other members of our party to keep Coast and Country etc informed of maintenance issues, this job sits with Coast and Country and not the customer and reading most of the below reviews it seems all customers are being dealt with the same treatment, nothing being done! This will be our last time staying at this property, it’s a shame as we have enjoyed our times over the years. If only those who take your money took onboard the feedback below we would be going again next year! Another note to the owner .. You pay a fee to coast and country to clean your property between stays. This clearly isn’t happening with all the reviews stating the same, maybe don’t pay them? And for our inconveniences, refund customers a small amount?? I barely ever complain & I wouldn’t be writing this review if you actually took the complaint seriously. The toilet was complained about previously back in Feb 2022 & nothing been done???

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• Peter - Verified booking

  The property flatters to deceive… Initial impressions are good, clean and fresh, however it slowly goes downhill.

  The Lounge – the marketing images create a false representation, the lounge is now tired and in need of painting, the furniture is different than that shown with the sofa and 2 chairs tired and dirty, even stained in places. It also has cluttered shelves, a window blind I had to untangle to get to work and a TV smaller than my laptop. Main Bedroom, great view from the window, however and again, the picture used is deceiving, this room is also in need of decorating. The picture does show the super king sized bed, but doesn’t show that it is only fitted with kingsized bedding – 6’’ smaller all-round, so the bedsheets only just hang on the corners of the mattress and come off when you sleep and the quilt doesn’t hang over the side of the bed but only just reaches the edge of the mattress, making for a difficult sleeping experience - thankfully you've still got the view out of the window as you untangle yourself from the bedsheet in the early hours. The Bathroom – fantastic, big bath, great shower heated floor and plenty of room. However, there is one thing to watch, because the floor is sloping towards the shower the bath is chocked up at one end by 2 pieces of wood, one was missing resulting in the bath moving when you climb in – I did find the wedge the following morning under the bath, presumably knocked out by the cleaner. The Kitchen – Poorly conceived and very poorly appointed – 10 Dinner plates and only 4 side plates, no matching mugs, not in a themed way but in a random way. Cupboards full of a random and eclectic mix of pots, pans (8 off), casserole dishes, roasting & baking trays (9 off) and general kitchen utensils - enough for at least 3 cottages. The dinning table has flaking varnish and is sticky to the touch, the Everhot Range Oven is very nice (different than the pictures), but not really that practical in a holiday let, as mastering cooking on a range needs practise and planning – you're not going to come back from the beach and throw something together quickly for tea! But if your planning on bread making, a full roast dinner or baking you'll be fine. Again the marketing pictures show a clean fresh and uncluttered kitchen, it isn't…in fact I would have to question the cleanliness of the kitchen. The property feels much more like somebodys second home, furnished with surplus items from the main house, than a considered holiday let.

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• Lucy - Verified booking

  We absolutely loved the house, the views are spectacular and for a family with 4 16 year olds and 2 older( not so) children in their early 20's, the bedrooms and bathrooms are perfect.

  Our issue is with the agent, Sykes, and not for the first time. Following a fairly significant mouse issue, we continually chased Sykes for action, to discover none had been taken until over 3 hours later, when we asked to move out. The pest control company were unable to come by the time anyone contacted them, and we were offered several very sub standard properties, without the view or proximity to the sea, which was what we went away for, or the bed set up for our party, yet Sykes ( see James' response on Trustpilot) still insist they offered us 'several alternatives'. In all the review responses, Sykes very unhelpfully point out that they are merely the agent. We are well aware of that. Our issue is not with the owner, as we feel were we able to deal with them directly, we could have had a proper conversation rather than call centres in Chester, and infuriating scripts. Having said that, the issue is clearly well known to the owner, as there were traps with dead mice under the kitchen cupboards and the dishwasher cable was chewed through causing a substantial leak in a kitchen cupboard, leading to further loss of food. The fact mice were getting into the kitchen cupboards and had eaten our bread, was really not pleasant, and shows there must be quite a significant problem, and the house should not have been available for a holiday let in that state. In short, with a more robust solution to the mouse problem, we would love to stay there again, but not while Sykes are the agent. We will never use them again. Once spoken to, the owner has offered a refund for the stress and inconvinience the incident caused. I hope the owner is now challenging Sykes' appalling lack of action and robot-like service, as I feel confident they are charging them a fortune. We felt they would happily have left us waiting for someone to come out, without any reassurance of when, any ability to escalate issues away from people who can only quote scripts, and anyone who cares enough to take timely action to resolve an issue. This was our holiday, we don't go away a lot and this was a treat for my husband's 50th. It's amazing what a difference good or bad customer service can make and Sykes have a long way to go to address their customer service.

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• Peter - Verified booking

  The excellent location was familiar to us and views from main bedroom are stunning.

  The property was well furnished and equipped and comfortable. The level of cleanliness was a bit wanting, as we came across dog hair and spiders webs in many places. The building has obviously settled over a longtime, but we found the sloping floors quite disconcerting and the two stair cases steeper than normal with limited depth of tread, making them difficult to negotiate. The hand rails were a must use. The offset rear gardens is strange and off putting in its use.We arrived promptly after the set time, after a two hour journey so we’re in need of the bathroom so we’re agahast to find less than half a roll of toilet roll! This was followed by no bread or milk which we have enjoyed as standard from other holiday rentals, particularly when there no local facilities (shop/store) within three miles. A bit disappointing and if we were a party of four, would have been an appalling. The large double bed was extremely comfortable, but on our departure found that the mattress cover was horribly stained from bodily fluids, which indicated to us that it had not been changed /washed since the very hot weather in August. This was an unacceptable standard and needs to be reviewed in the future. The rugs in the bedroom also smelt of dogs. The property is quirky and has character which we appreciate and enjoyed which makes it a bit bespoke and not everyone’s choice, given their expectations. For us the cottage proved to be very convenient and comfortable evening retreat which requires some basic minor cleaning improvements /checks. This cottage is probably priced fairly average in terms of tariff, so needs to address the cleanliness issues which we have highlighted. We are not picky people, but felt that we had to feedback our recent experience.

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• Kathy - Verified booking

  The cottage is in a beautiful spot.

  View from front bedroom lovely. However the photos of the lounge must have been taken with a wide angle lens after it had just been decorated. It would have been very small if 4 adults were staying. The room and furniture looked grubby and worn. The settee and chairs were uncomfortable and the TV was tiny. Only two of us stayed and the hot water ran cool. The garden was pretty but very overgrown and we got soaked by the wet bushes when letting the dog out. There should be a note on the details to say that the cottage is unsuitable for older people and young children due to the steep and irregular stairs. The beaches were beautiful but the climb back up the hill is not for the faint hearted. One route has 134 steps and a steep path. Pubs in Salcombe had long queues for lunchtime dining, one was closed and another only open certain days due to Covid. Obviously this is understandable but visitors may want to take more food with them. Details state parking usually available outside cottage - it is early morning and evening but if you go out during the day you won't find a space when you get back. In places the access to East Portlemouth is by single track roads with occasional passing places. The roads were very busy and we were there in June. Dread to think what it will be like in school holidays. This is the first time that we wouldn't return to a cottage booked through Sykes and we went home a day early. Cottage needs decorating and more comfortable seating then it would make a good base for younger guests.

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