“Nice cottage. Appalling Agent”
Bakers Rest was our second choice. Our first choice was Moss Garth in Braithwaite but this property was sold during the booking process!
Bakers Rest is an unquestionably pretty and spacious cottage and Grasmere is packed full of great little restaurants and amazing long walks. We stayed here during a bittersweet time and without the most important member of our party, Granddad, who was recovering in hospital from illness (and on the condition that we brought him Lakeside goodies back!).
There were a few issues which arose during our stay which I communicated to Cottage Holidays. Disappointingly, their responses barely register on the scale of human experience. They have defended every point they chose to respond to (even the one involving soiled underwear behind the bedroom curtains!) with a standard "we are sorry you feel this way but we............" This company hasn't taken ownership or displayed any sense of responsibility and they seem to be wholly without empathy, integrity or compassion. The lesser issues were that the house would mysteriously fill with the smell of effluent and we just had to go out to escape it and the soiled underwear (see below).
The main issue is to do with their terms and conditions and it is here that you will need to pay attention before booking with this company. Please also note that I did not get any response to my very detailed and specific questioning of their T&C's.
Because we were only provided with one set of keys to the property (and despite there being a 'spare key' hook inside the property) and because there was a day when we wanted to separate as a party to do our own thing, we accidentally locked the keys in the house. This resulted in a call out and a seemingly spurious charge of £60 being levied against us. The girl on the phone said this was in the T&C's and upon mentioning that I don't remember there being anything about lost keys in my T&C's, her response was "oh no, it's just come down from head office," and "please defer to the T&C's on the website".
As I continued to question the girl, asking for a breakdown or justification of the £60 charge (which she wanted me to pay on the doorstep and which, after much negotiating, I commuted to a charge against our security deposit), the girl couldn't decide whether the charge was for the handyman's call out time or because they would have to shut the shop and come out to me. When I reminded her that it was now close to 5pm asking what time she finished she said "oh yes, I'm off at 5 anyway!
When I returned home I checked my T&C's, all three sets. There isn't a clause which points me towards their website nor a deferral statement making the web T&C's the precedent. I checked the word count on the three sets of T&C's sent to me during the booking process and two of them were different, having had a change to one of the clauses. To me, this is a clear example of 'making it up as we go along because we can'.
Also worth mentioning, just before we went away I googled Bakers Rest and landed here: http://www.cumbrian-properties.co.uk/properties/sale_search/bakers-rest-langdale-road-grasmere-la22-9su
Yes, this property is also for sale and is owned by a Director of Cumbrian Properties and let via its sister company Lakes Cottage Holidays as clearly detailed in the sales literature. I rang Lake Cottage Holidays who confirmed this and assured me the property wouldn't sell while we were there. Maybe they are also psychic!
So, happy holiday makers; there were Red warning flags throughout this whole encounter and I take full responsibility for not reacting. I can see how life's distractions (caring for seriously ill and much loved Granddad type person) can fog what is staring you in the face.
I wouldn't touch this company with a barge pole! They are not nice people at all. My best advice would be: PLEASE BE INFORMED and CHECK YOUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS.
- chrissys531, November 2014
