Beware
Unfortunately I have to tell people to be aware of the cancellation policy of this company and how you interpret it.I booked a cottage for sept 2026 with a £10 deposit but regrettably had to cancel due to devastating news I received.Now I cancelled on line as you can never get a reply on the phone within 4 days due to weekend and they have taken a further £337 to my horror I would at least have thought you had 14 days to do this as most companies do. Gives them plenty of time to relist and sell.But I am told read the policy. Now I have lost money I can ill afford to loose and have nothing to show very difficult company to work with.
Sue Thomson
cloam cottage port Isaac
Stayed in cloam cottage port Isaac as soon as we saw the outside it didn’t give good vibes front door and windows were filthy inside was a disappointment just run down tired dirty looking sofa dirty blue carpets up the stairs and in the bedrooms the worst was the mould in the downstairs shower room unbelievable that a place could be rented out in this condition mould on the ceiling above your head when taking a shower mould on the tiles , I mean is the cleaner blind !!! Blind in the kitchen broken this place needs an overhaul filthy unwelcoming and in my opinion not acceptable for paying guests
Jonathan
Just unbelievably awful customer…
Just unbelievably awful customer service. They have a bit of a monopoly in North Cornwall, and that's such a shame. It's not a cheap area but after you book, there will be literally no way to get hold of anyone at all. There is no contact number. There's no property contact number. No email address. Directed to Whatsapp but still no response after 8 hours. No one gets back to you on any platform at all.. The terrible service is likely why they have little to no social presence. It is desperately bad service and a shame I remember when they were good, but that's a long time ago now. They seem to like to make it incredibly difficult - which is why they have 1 star
Sophie Edwards
Avoid at all costs
Really disappointing experience. My partner booked a cottage on Sunday 18th for this weekend. Come Monday 19th he was advised he needed to be in London at the time of our booking for a work conference he is unable to miss. Tried changing dates on Monday (less than 24hrs after making the booking) and had date request denied. Tried again to change dates on Tuesday 20th, once again denied. Called into the office on Wednesday 21st (after being on hold for over an hour) and spoke with Sarah who said she’d get back in contact ASAP. Didn’t hear anything so called on Thursday 22nd and was again on hold for a very long time, finally got through to Amy who told me she’d follow up the request and get back to me. I then get a call from Joanne who tells me that the owner was ‘having trouble with his app’ and ‘doesn’t check his emails’ which is why it’s taken so long to get an answer regarding date changes. She asks why we have requested the date change and I explained the situation to her. She then explained this to the owner who said that the reasoning wasn’t good enough. So we have lost our money and are unable to attend this weekend. Absolutely disgusting, will be telling everyone I know to steer clear.
Nicholas Koufopoulos
Absolutely shocking customer service
Absolutely shocking customer service - been trying for 2 days to speak to someone - whatsapp not monitored, live chat not monitored, unable to message on their awful website, finally managed to get a person on the line and back on hold for over 30 mins, messages not answered. Booked a cottage, deposit was taken but no confirmation was sent hence trying to get in touch - AVOID at all costs and go with another agency.
Kate E
Can’t get through re booking
Can’t get through re booking. Contacted by JB to say an issue with our insurance only I have been waiting 30 min on the phone to try and get back to them to find out the issue - very poor customer service and understaffed- avoid
Emma
I concur with the reviews on John Bray
I concur with the reviews on John Bray - it does appear customer service associated with Sykes is extremely poor. If I can avoid booking through John Bray (Sykes) I will endeavour to do so. Property owners perhaps John Bray is not the best choice for you.
J Potts
Awful service to loyal customers
Since being taken over by Sykes service has plummeted. Had been booking same property in Cornwall for many years; when we were trying to rebook told that it was no longer on their books as it was being sold. Paid a big deposit on an another of their properties only to then find out quickly that our preferred property was on a rental through another nearby agency. Absolutely no give on refund ( and we're talking over 6 months before the holiday). Loyal customers for 30 years! Shoddy responses to our issues and often not responding when promised. What used to be a local agency who knew everything about the local area is now controlled by an agency 200 miles away who have little local knowledge. Fortunately we have found other agents in the local area who are much more service orientated and are staffed by locals who have a much better knowledge.
Mike
Stay away from John Bray
The worst customer service I have ever experienced. They can’t even be bothered to clean the place properly before our arrival. The bin had mould growing in it. I would strongly advise you to use another agent such as The Point of Latitude50 who are still independent and actually care about their customers.
ANDREW
Dreadful customer service by Sykes Cottages
Same experience as recents. long time happy John Bray user. Booked again & gobsmacked how poor the customer service is now. Apps and links that are not monitored or dont work. Disinterested central help line who refuse to give u the local office number. "They will call you" and guess what, they dont. In house help booklet has nothing of use or relevance to the property u r staying in. Prices have gone up. Local support team great but took 2 days of repeated chasing to get to them, when it used to be one phone call - they are just as frustrated as the guests. Will not be back...
dopey
Are you Sykes Cottages in disguise?
Why did John Bray throw their hat in with Sykes Cottages? I can see why it’s a great cover for Sykes; which has a truly awful reputation. We’ve had to cancel our “low deposit” holiday and Sykes are after £600 (which they can whistle for). Awful, clunky customer service process and representatives who bandied round threats of action if their deposit can’t be taken. They even told me I should contact the owner to cancel despite booking from them.
Annette Corbett
Unhelpful customer relations.
I have just tried to cancel our holiday due to serious illness. They were cold, unpleasant and unhelpful.
Mrs M Smith
I asked to change the dates for my…
I asked to change the dates for my holiday as my dog sitter let me down and I had nowhere to leave them. They told me the property was being taken off the market and I couldn't change the dates (even though I gave 5 months notice) and I lost my deposit of almost £300. That was after a week of trying to speak to a human - do not touch them with a barge pole!! Shocking customer service and I certainly won't be using them again - stay well clear. I only wish I'd read the other reviews before booking.
Julie Payne
Don't be conned - it ain't really John Bray
That Sykes Cottages continues to use the John Bray Cornish Holidays brand is a complete con. In yesteryear, John Bray had a virtual monopoly of holiday rentals in Rock, Polzeath and Port Isaac, but used its powerful market position to offer brilliant customer service. Holiday home renters had little choice but enjoyed a superlative experience. Sadly, standards have plummeted since the business was brought by private equity owned Sykes Cottages. Sykes / John Bray still have a lot of wonderful properties in the area, but if you do end up renting one, do it with your eyes open and your expectations of any customer service very low.
HF London
Awful Support Desk
Wish i'd looked at TP before booking, just want an answer to a simple but important question prior to going on holiday yet they don't actually seem to respond to any queries?Now hoping the holiday is ok as I have no faith in this lot if anything goes wrong :-(
Ian Robinson
4 Rockhaven Gardens.
4 Rockhaven Gardens.We had a lovely holiday here.My Mum and I so enjoyed the accommodation.Very cosy with wood burner.Shelley the house keeper was very kind and responsive.Beautiful bathrooms and very comfortable beds.Secure garden for dog too.We would definitely stay again.Thank you.
Jane Meadham
Customer service disappointing and unprofessional…
The customer service we have experienced has been very disappointing, although I am not completely surprised by this. We have stayed at the property a couple of times and are aware that there are numerous maintenance issues that need addressing and not much care shown to the occupants, eg no milk or teabags and not even salt this time! Various kitchen equipment not working including coffee machine and grill, bedside light broken, top bedroom window hard to open, but we decided to live with this as we didn't want to disrupt the holiday.. However on our final night we had a flood in one of the bedrooms with water pouring through the ceiling, resulting in the occupants (including a baby) having to move rooms in the early hours, coupled with the fact that we had to leave by 9am the following day, not a good end to the holiday. On our first day at the property John Bray brought a bottle of wine as a gesture of goodwill for a damp patch that had been repaired, but were awaiting the decorators in the bedroom. The leak had obviously not been fixed. We reported it at 9am the following morning, our last. This was the earliest we could report it. I emailed on our return as it caused a lot of inconvenience and a bad end to the holiday. The reply we had was very unprofessional just stating that as we didn't tell them during the stay they could do nothing, no customer care shown at all. I kept explaining that it happened on the last day so this was not possible and I was only expecting to be compensated for the inconvenience of the flood. They continued with this response even stating that as we accepted the wine and had been told of the repair the owner would not compensate us. This is completely untrue as we never would of accepted the wine if they had told us there was the possibility of a flood! They then advised that we should take the owners to court as they could do nothing. Its a very sad situation and if I had read these reviews I probably wouldn't of bothered contacting them as I have completely wasted my time. We are obviously not going to waste more time by taking them to court. The property is one of the only old ones left in Polzeath and we are very fond of it and feel very sad at the lack of care given. With the amount of rental generated by the owners there should be no excuse in maintaining it to an acceptable level to rent out. At the moment this is not the case and I hope that the owners are fully aware of these issues.
Helen
No idea where to start… -10 stars
No idea where to start… The house was not cleaned properly, the fire and fire pit were full of old ash, the garden was not maintained, the laundry bags were left on the floor, the dishwasher was full, the nespresso machine was full of old dirty left over water and a previous person had plucked their eye brows and left the lashes on the wall. Our daughter sat on her bedroom floor to unpack her bag was we have what looked like sand fleas or bed bugs jumping all over her!!!Now, to be realistic, problems do happen in holiday rentals and we as a family are very accepting of that. However, it’s how the paid and expensive “professional” agency that represents the holiday home owner responds that counts.John Bray, lied constantly, let themselves in twice unannounced,did a re-clean that was not even a clean, said they’d come and washed the wall that had the eye lashes on it and hadn’t, didn’t clean the fire pit and it took 4 days to action anything. Such a shame for the Port Isaac lovely holiday home that was let down by a disaster called JOHN BRAY NO SERVICE!
Mark
Lovely Place, let down by sub-standard cleaning & poor communication
Paid over £2000 to stay in "Albany House" in Cornwall. The property was well appointed, comfortable and well preseneted. We were travelling with our two children (1yo and 3yo).On our arrival on the Friday afternoon we noticed a few things that suggested that the place hadn't been cleaned thoroughly; there was a dirty (used) glass on the shelf in the living area, a broken bowl on the shelf in the kitchen and the worktops in the kitchen were sticky. After we had unpacked, we noticed that our 1yo's hands and knees were black from where he had been crawling on the floor in the kitchen / living area. I attempted to contact Sykes / John Bray to raise the issue as we just presumed that it had been missed, however by this time the office was closed.We contacted them again the next morning and the "property inspector" very quickly arrived to inspect and see what could be done. The "property inspector" was very dismissive of the issues and implied that we were making a fuss out of nothing, blamed the sticky tops on the cleaning product used and the dirty floors on the fact that they were slate / wood and thats just how they are. The "property inspector" begrudgingly agreed to get the property re-cleaned and that this would happen towards the end of the day, which we were happy with. The "cleaner's" turned up at approximately 3pm and asked "we just need to hoover yes", we explained that no, we would like the floors cleaned and filthy rug removed. By this time we'd cleaned the kitchen ourselves with some "Mr Muscle" we had brought with us. The "cleaners" then proceeded to vaccume the floors and then wipe them over with a "Refillable Flash Speed Mop" (the kind of thing that you would use every day in between cleans) and promptly left.We attempted to contact Sykes / John Bray again to explain that this wasn't satisfactory but by this time it went to an out of hours service. I explained the situation and that we wouldn't feel comfortable letting our 1yo crawl around on floors in this state. The operator said that there was nothing more that they could do until Monday (half way through our holiday). I contested that I wasn't happy with this and asked if I were to get the floors cleaned myself, if I could be reimbursed for this. I was told that I would be if I kept receipts for the products used and took photo's to evidence this.I went out and bought cleaning products, spent over an hour thoroughly vaccuming and cleaning the floors, got through five mop buckets of water/flash floor cleaner solution, the floors were clean and we were happy that we could walk about without getting dirty.From then on we continued to have a great time enjoying the fantastic Cornwall coast.On the Thursday evening we received an email from Sykes saying that the property had already been cleaned twice and that there would be no reimbursment. I went into the local Sykes / John Bray office to mention this, I explained that I had photo's etc clearly showing the state that it was in, however there seemed to be no way of getting these to the office staff. Although they had email addresses these all go through the Sykes systems first and get filtered / processed depending on the nature of them. The "property inspector" turned up at the end and rolling their eyes said "what's wrong now".In the end I gave up, I'm not out to try to get money off, I just wanted my family to be able to enjoy our holiday.I won't be using John Bray / Sykes again as this is the third place that we have stayed with sub-standard cleaning and it just lets the places down.Hopefully more owners will take heed of this and either manage them selves through Air B&B or go to Port Isaac Bay Holidays, who actually seem to care.
James
John Bray Holidays now operating as…
John Bray Holidays now operating as Sykes Cottages have gone downhill we are about to go on holiday with them and no picks up on their help desk, you have to communicate with them on their new portal which doesn't work and even if you get through to reservations they cannot connect you to their support team. If you are looking to let your house you should use another firm
James Weaver
