“We are appalled by the lack of response and the extreme difficulty of contacting Sykes during our stay.”
We had three serious and one very serious problem with the apartment during our stay.
1) No hot water when we arrived.
2) No instruction or idea on how to deactivate the burglar alarm, inadvertently triggered whilst searching for means of turning on the hot water.
3) A very serious leak in the roof during a rain storm, where the water was pouring through the electric light fitting in the entrance hallway and above the second bedroom doorway.
4) Despite turning off the storage heaters, they remained on and very hot during our entire stay. This meant that we had to keep the windows open the entire week as a means of keeping the temperature to a tolerable level. This also led to us leaving the apartment a day early due to the discomfort. We travelled home on the 8th October, not the 9th.
I attempted to contact Sykes for all of these issues above and on many occasions. The phone lines were either completely dead, or when it would connect, rang for at least 15-20 minutes each time before cutting off. On the first of two occasions when someone finally did answer, a message was taken and the owner himself phoned me back (from Bermuda!) 5 hours after the first incident. With the code he gave me, I was able to deactivate the burglar alarm. He told me he would send someone to sort the hot water for us, but no-one arrived. We therefore had to switch on the "full rate" switch next to the hot water tank, which seemed to eventually provide us with hot water. This would not turn off again!
I could only finally get hold of someone for the leak incident on the afternoon of the following day. I called first thing in the morning, but was cut off. Following the online instructions, I had raised a chat incident immediately the leak occurred, but apart from an automated confirmation of receipt, I never received any response from this. The person I spoke to in the afternoon said he would speak to his manager, but again, I never heard anything else until the cleaner called me on the Wednesday. I was surprised at this, as I assumed the issues we were having were house maintenance, not cleaning problems.
It remained though that none of the issues were resolved during our stay. There are electrical problems with the property, and there is a serious leak in the roof. This is the first time that we have experienced not only so many problems, but such difficulty in contacting anyone for help. The apartment itself is really lovely, but our holiday was spoilt by the time we spent trying to get things sorted that should not have been our problem, and the fact that we felt frustrated and ignored. I'm afraid we are very unimpressed, especially considering the severity and potential life-threatening nature of the leak. Had we been out and attempted to either activate the light switch for the light fitting through which the water was pouring through, or slipped in the dark in the water covering the floor, things would have been very serious indeed!
So sorry that you not only experienced all these problems but that help and resolutions were not forthcoming in a timely manner. Responding to all the complaints will not rectify anything but I will just mention the cleaners are also retained property managers of the highest caliber and we aim to have the leak rectified as soon as possible. Thank you again for your comments.
Property Owner
