“Where do I start?”
I will start with the positive - this is a nicely appointed cottage on a busy thoroughfare. It has bright breezy rooms and good facilities. The gas fireplace warms the downstairs well in the evening and the garden and outside conservatory is delightful. However, our particular week was marred from Day One by an ant infestation that was apparent as soon as we arrived. Previous occupants had left food in the cupboards which had not been removed by the cleaners, and the entire Kitchen/Living room was literally crawling with ants. We did out best to stamp-out what we could but the invasion was persistent. In the evening, we could feel them crawling on us as we sat on the couches, and it was impossible to leave any food out at all. Virtually all of our provision that we had brought with us to stock the cottage for the week had to thrown out on Day 2 of our visit (approx 35 GBP's worth), and from then-on we had to keep all food (even the Tea) in the fridge. The ants continued to re-appear each day for our entire stay. After complaining to Sykes through the Help Centre on Day 3, someone did visit the property while we were out - ant traps were left and (strangely, 'Spider Spray ??). This did nothing. Despite our regular re-location of the traps, the ants continued. Each day I updated Sykes, but to no effect. Neither Sykes, not the owners, were attentive to our complaints - nor the infestation itself. As a consequence, we left the property despondent one-day early - we were simply tired of trying to manage this problem on our own...and furious that no attempt was made to even acknowledge our situation. We spent far more money than we had budgeted having to eat-out each day, and felt compelled to return to the property early each afternoon to stamp-out the bugs. Subsequently, both the owner and Sykes have rejected our request for a 'goodwill gesture' of (at the very least) a refund for having to leave a day-early. We are long-time customers of Sykes and have never had such a disappointment - we come from Canada and have enjoyed many excellent properties...however, this property should be removed from the market and future customers should be relocated until a pest-control expert has done a serious intervention. I will be sharing this evaluation on Trip Advisor and Google as well. Our visit to beautiful Lympstone Devon was a shame. N. Orford CANADA
Thank you for taking the time to leave us your feedback. We are very sorry to hear of the issues you raise, which are in stark contrast to many other positive reviews we’ve received for the property. As you’ll see to date, comments on the property have been complimentary so far and yours is the first which isn’t so. We’ve spoken to the owners who dispute your statement of an ant infestation and feel these comments are unfair and unjustified. Their cleaner attended the property as soon as we were made aware of the situation and provided some insect spray and ant traps. Following your departure, a full changeover was carried out by the housekeeper and the owner of the property also attended. The traps were found to be empty and there were no ants located within the property. Subsequent guests have not reported an issue to date. The owners take their letting of Meadow View Cottage very seriously and they pride themselves on giving good holiday experiences – this is reflected in the feedback we have received, and we have every confidence this will continue to be the case moving forward.
Property Owner
