South Hams Self Catering cottage, The Keel Row, Salcombe, sleeps 4

Needs some attention to bring it up to standard
We noticed a smell when we entered apartment, particularly bad in twin bedroom, this continued around the front door. Saw black mould marks on wall in twin room, so moved bed away from wall and slept the wrong way round to keep away from the wall as much as possible as smell was causing irritation in throat. Only one tea towel in kitchen, no kitchen roll, no dishcloths, found a dirty tea towel and broken brush head under sink. The two showers could not be used simultaneously as pressure too low, water temperature varied from cold to scolding without warning, ensuite mouldy. The whole apartment needed a good deep clean When two representatives from Coast and Country came round we showed them the mould etc., one of them wiped the wall in the twin room and tried to clean out the shower waste pipe in the ensuite. Thereafter water flowed out from ensuite at a very slow rate, hence the water level was rising to such a degree so as to cause a danger of overflowing unless shower turned off, Coast and Cottages informed. Plumber came following morning (Wednesday), we left him to finish whilst we went out, on return we found the shower tied closed up with a note indicating that some parts were needed before it could be used again, but could use basin and toilet. We were offered a refund of £200 which we thought was fair so we accepted the offer. Whilst using the sink that evening it became obvious that sewage was coming up into the shower via the drain hole, so ensuite door had to stay closed to try to keep the smell away from the bedroom It was impossible to use the ensuite for the rest of our stay, so both couples had to use the bathroom. we were offered and extra £50 refund, which we thought to be insufficient. The ensuite was not useable for the rest of the duration of our stay. The apartment information informed us to dispose of our empty bottles or we would be charged if we left them in the apartment. We found out where to take them, took them all the way down to the bottle bank in the town. There wasn?t a recyclables container in the apartment as there was in Seascape on the floor above us and in every other dwelling in Salcombe? Other problems that arose included the bathroom sash window which came crashing down when opened and a picture in the twin room which was just left on the chest of drawers as the string had broken. We didn?t consider reporting these faults as we had better things to do as we were supposed to be on holiday I continued communicating with Coast and Country and also with Sykes Cottages to try to receive an improved offer, this was not forthcoming. I then received an email informing me that £200 would be refunded to via my credit card account, this duly happened, this was after I had been offered £250! After much further communication at I was told that I was being offered £250 and that this was the final offer. I felt I had no option other than to accept, even though the couple that we were with were advised that we should have received a full refund. I emailed the CEO, but after more than a week no reply is forthcoming
Paul L
2021-10-11