Marsdens Devon Cottages Reviews 297

What we enjoyed: Hot tub, spacious rooms, heating, property location, beaches nearby
What made us uncomfortable: Internet quality, No reception on TVs in two rooms, broken toilet seat in one bathroom

Our kids were not very happy with no Internet, and TVs with no reception or streaming in their rooms. Asked us to confirm the availability of both for our next holiday break.

Absolutely stunning house with breathtaking views . We were a party of 10 adults plenty of space for everyone .
Master bedroom is beautiful. If I had to be picky I thought some of the showers were very small for an adult.
Can’t wait to return next year .

We booked a cottage in North Devon for 3 days over new year 2022/23 (coastguard cottages) when we arrived there was no heating on and the wood burner was unsafe as the vents wouldn't open? We complained to Marsden's who don't actually have a complaints line but use the sister site originalcottages
After a lot of to and fro the owner offered half the price back of the holiday but the booking agent wouldn't refund anything?
Won't use them again

Awful company! We stayed in 1 of their cottages on October 2022. It was filthy... TV, woodburner and clothes airer all broken and not working properly, hot tub was filthy. Mould in bedrooms (quite a lot) and layers upon layers of filth in the property, under the beds, behind the beds. I was poorly shortly after getting home and I am sure it was because of the mould spores and dust I was breathing in... the company weren't interested, kept blaming it on the owner and because we didn't discover everything on day 1 they weren't interested... even if we did report it, we shouldn't have had to find it in such a state. just awful.... never again will I book with them OR or Original Cottages or HolidayCottages.co.uk as they are all now part of the same company....

Marsdens offer sub-standard, accommodation and an appalling service. They are unhelpful, unresponsive, shameless charlatans.

We arranged to rent a cottage from Marsdens for Christmas, 17th to 28th December 2022.

The cottage, Treknow, turned out to be little more than a DSS squat.

We travelled from Italy to spend Christmas with my 86 year old mother, a recent survivor of pancreatic cancer, and my Australian cousin and her husband.

We drove 4.5 hours from London, arriving in the dark in freezing temperatures. The house was freezing cold and filthy. The boiler was broken and not functioning.

The house featured a dirty kitchen, a filthy bathroom, dishevelled beds, a full kitchen bin, and used personal hygiene products in the bathroom bin.

This is all the more galling as we had told them that we had with us my 86 year old mother, a recent survivor of pancreatic cancer. Therefore, I gad asked that the boiler be checked. I was assured it had been checked and was working. Liars. My 86 year old, cancer-exhausted mother was in tears.

We telephoned the two contact numbers left in the cottage, and the cleaner, but nobody replied. We were left to check into a hotel. We spent the whole of the next day finding somewhere else to spend Christmas.

Marsdens is a cynical operation staffed by heartless, despicable charlatans.

Comprehensive yet simple to book and the location and accommodation did not disappoint. It lived up to the details provided. We would happily use this apartment again and recommend others to stay there.

Easy to browse, easy to book, easy to pay……excellent communication with reminders and instructions sent appropriately.

You cannot trust Marsdens, as either a host or guest.

As a holiday home owner, I found Marsdens to be totally ineffective at delivering bookings. Of the 8 peak summer weeks, they sold just one, which tells you all you need to know. Airbnb sold the other weeks and are the way forward.

And, from the few bookings they delivered, I heard a lot of bad feedback about Marsdens from my guests. But I need to be be quite clear that the complaints were about Marsdens and not their sister company Devon Cottage Care, who do the cleaning and maintenance - Devon Cottage Care are really good and trustworthy.

My main concern about Marsdens was one of trust. Call me old fashioned, but being able to trust a business and rely on what they say to be true is very important to me.

On August 11 2021, Marsdens wrote in an email “If a holidaymaker cancels, we guarantee that you will get paid”. This is exactly what they wrote, with nothing before or after to add any caveat, condition or ambiguity.

A couple of days before guests who had booked for Christmas were due to arrive, I got a call from Marsdens to say that one of the party had tested positive for Covid and so they had let the whole party cancel at no cost and that I would be paid nothing. Note that there was no lockdown at that time and that legally this booking could have gone ahead. This decision was made by Marsdens at their discretion, they were not compelled or obliged to agree to cancel at no cost.

Given that the “guarantee that you will get paid “guarantee was written long after Covid had first reared its ugly head and that there was no reference to Covid or any other condition in or either side of the “guarantee”, then clearly this was a false promise. As said, you cannot trust Marsdens. And you cannot rely on what they say to be true and delivered upon. If a holiday home owner can’t trust them or rely on what they say to be true, I guess a holidaymaker can’t either.

They have, after much debate, made me a gesture payment, far less than the booked revenue. The “guarantee that you will get paid” guarantee has not been delivered. What Marsdens wrote was not true, it was a false promise.

I note that the vast majority of 5* reviews are invited. Interested also to see a 5* review written on February 17 2022 by someone with the same name as a Marsdens employee – it’s quite an unusual name, so I am wondering if it’s more than a coincidence?

Amazing! The Old Vicarage at Mortehoe. If I could live there I would. Dog friendly and totally superb, location amazing, we were so blown away. Only slight niggle was unsecured garden and as dog owners with a nervous new addition meant a dogster on a lead in the garden. But one of those thing us dog owners deal with. The property and location certainly made up for it. 10 out of 5 stars. Thank you, we'll definitely book again!

This place is fab! Great views, great rooms, excellent plumbing, heating and showers lovely large kitchen and shed for wetsuits and beach gear including an external shower and the hot tub was a winner! You can wallow in warm water and enjoy the views over Woolacombe beach. Lovely spacious rooms and the conservatory is very peaceful and in the evenings gets fully illuminated by moonlight. Excellent Wi-Fi too. Glorious x

Always straightforward and easy to book a holiday with Marsdens. Great communication and kept up to date with relevant information for your holiday. Always helpful when contacted.

Great location. Beautiful cottage.

Great service from Marsdens. Lovely cottage and great experience all round.

AVOID!!! We recently stayed in Croyde in Devon called Caen House and would like a refund for our stay.

Many things occurred and the person who was supposed to help was unavailable to help because she informed us she was moving house....given the price we paid, there should have been someone else we had for being the point of contact.

On arrival, there was a car parked in one of the spaces so we were unable to park one of our cars there, Croyde still being busy we had to park quite far away. Someone also put all of our windscreen wipers up. In general the parking was dark and unsafe and far from the property when unloading and loading our stuff (had to walk on the road).

Inside the property it appeared that no one had stayed in there for some time. It was full of dusty shelves, floors and cobwebs! (See pictures attached). Also, the main bathroom on first floor toilet was continuous running water and we were unable to use it. However fortuneatly we were able to fix this ourselves - we did not here for the host to help us with this issue. There were 8 of us in the house including a family and a elderly person and needed all bathrooms.

The bedding in all rooms was duckdown, Which is not allergy friendly. The 2year had real problems with sleeping and his breathing due to this. Again when trying to ring the host she was unavailable to help, so we had to buy some sleeping bags. This was unacceptable.

One day the hot water didn't work, so we came out of the sea hoping to warm up but we all had to have cold showers.

Half the lights in the kitchen didn't work or they were flickering. To be avoided if you have epilepsy!

The bathroom on top floor had horrible marks in it.

This holiday was for my mums 70th birthday, Wanted to make her feel special, which we did but the property was a huge disappointment and with no one to help with our issues it really let us down. We would not recommend that property, nor the company given the experiences we had.

Booked for the first time through Marsdens Devon Cottages. The online service was excellent and the whole process went very smoothly. The accommodation we chose was exceptional and described perfectly. The accommodation was spotless and tastefully decorated and views from our rooms were just stunning. All in all a perfect place to stay with so much to do every day. We took two dogs and it was just the perfect place for them. What an amazing holiday 10/10 in our opinion.

Everything was wonderful until I complained. After extensive conversations on exclusive use and garden access for my two dogs prior to booking. I turned up to having to share the grounds with a couple and being told I didn’t have access to the garden for my dogs. My complaint was about these two points and nobody has accepted fault. I’ve been fobbed off with the annexe states no dogs. I never looked at that as I was told it wasn’t being rented out so I had full access. I’ve sent message evidence on exclusive use but they’ve narrowed their response down to the Annexe states no pets!! The property was lovely although some rooms /facilities were dirty and again I’ve been told it’s my fault as I should have dealt with this while I was there. Personally I didn’t want to make calls to arrange cleaners while paying nearly £4k for my week stay. Really disappointed with the way my complaint was dealt with. I won’t be using Marsden again due to this. Really disappointed.

Superbly equipped and maintained property in the heart of Braunton. Clean and spacious with a designated parking place to the rear it really does allow easy access to all that Braunton and North Devon can offer. We have stayed in three other dog friendly properties in Braunton and Instow over the last 8 years and this one worked best for us all! We would certainly consider this property if we come back to the area again.

Lovely accommodation, clean and all mod cons!! Great hot tub. Very comfortable with good parking and close to very beautiful beaches for long dog walks!!

Great experience with booking online and customer service. Kept very well informed throughout booking process, prior to the holiday, during the stay and after.

Appalling customer service, chase them via phone and e-mail for a week to book a property, only to be told at the end of the week that the problem with the booking had been resolved and they had rented it to someone else, despite being promising I would be given first offer.
They issue a lot of apologies but do little else. If you try to speak to a manager to further your complaint, you are told that this is not possible. Why are the management of this company so adverse to speaking to its customer's? Could it be the number of complaints?

Have you seen the reply below from Marsdens, cut and paste standard message, no interest in what has happened, no investigation to resolve the clause and improve the customer experience next time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!