“We had a lovely holiday, the apartment is lovely and in a fantastic location.”
However, we had an issue with the boiler. It needed resetting on our first full day, which we achieved. The next day, however, the reset did not work. We contacted Andrew as per the instructions and he organised for the owner, Alison, to come and top it up with water.
The same thing happened the next day however, and Andrew confirmed that he had a heating engineer coming who then confirmed that the boiler was faulty.
None of this is anyone’s fault. However, it was clear from various instructions (e.g. running the hot tap to kick start the boiler and how to reset) that it is a common occurrence.
On our final morning the owner (male - not Alison), called before we checked out to find out what we had done etc. “because he was concerned to ensure that the next tenants would be okay”. Not once did he apologise for our inconvenience. Frankly I found him rude.
Andrew, on the other hand, was very helpful.
We also had an issue with the fan in the bathroom which stopped working. An electrician was called who removed the isolater switch, claiming that it was dangerous as it was cited inside the shower cubicle.
There is a bulb hanging down in the kitchen, near the hob and other by the door in the bedroom.
The light on the extractor fan in kitchen does not work.
Finally, there were lots of dvds in the cupboard and instructions for the player but no sign of a dvd player!
I say all this, just to point out, that perhaps the owners should be checking the property every now and again and perhaps consider spending time there themselves. For example, they would see quickly what an inconvenience it is to stand naked in the bathroom waiting for the shower to heat up and then realising that it is not going to!
Hi Alison,
I am again really sorry about the issues that you had with the boiler during your stay with us. As you pointed out in your review we did try and attend to the problem as quickly and comprehensively as possible. As soon as you alerted us to the issues, we contacted a heating engineer who confirmed the issue with the boiler and new one was ordered on the same day. The engineer also gave us tips to keep the boiler working whilst we waited for the replacement to arrive. Alison made the round trip of 97 miles to increase the water pressure on the existing boiler and Martin also attended later in the week when you informed us the water was not heating up only to find the temperature on the boiler had been turned down.
As soon as we realised that we would not be able to repair the fault on the boiler we offered you a larger alternative accommodation which has been recently renovated, 2 doors down from the apartment you were staying in, however you informed us that you would prefer to stay in the apartment.
We are not sure really what more we could have done to help given the circumstances.
In relation to the electrical issues you raised, we were only made aware of the issue with the extractor fan which had stopped working. Again we arranged for an electrician to attend the same day. He isolated the problem but could not fix it entirely until Friday which was the day you left the property. As I am sure you can understand getting tradesmen in more rural areas isn’t quite as easy as in larger cities and very often they are fully booked with work. I would like to point out however that the other issues were not raised at the time and so if we are not aware of an issue we can not fix it. All of the electrical issues raised have now been fully resolved.
I am sorry that you found Martin rude on the day of your departure. I am sure you can appreciate as we did with yourselves that the whole scenario was very stressful, we were trying to do the best to make your stay as enjoyable as possible given the circumstances and Martin was just trying to ascertain the full extent of your experience so we could best help the following guests should any issues arise. He did not mean to come across as rude and no offence was intended. As you have mentioned earlier in your review, Andrew & Alison were both very apologetic during your stay and took every measure possible to resolve the issues you raised.
We had in essence tried everything we could to fix the problem, offered an upgraded alternative accommodation and attended in person to help resolve issues. We care deeply about the customer service we offer and looking through other comments left both online and in our guestbook it will be clear that the level of customer satisfaction is extremely high.
Property Owner
