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Shamrock Cottages has a rating of 1 star from 1 review, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases.
This company responds to reviews on average within 28 days
Interesting to note that Shamrock Cottages (AKA Original Cottages) avoids any mention of cottage caretakers in their very limited customer feedback questionnaire. In Strathloe, County Galway (cottage 1251), near the village of Leenane, the caretaker was a sheep farmer who watched comings and goings from the holiday home I rented like a hawk, since the stony track it led to crossed his property. Our first meeting was cordial enough. He came to collect the 100 euro deposit for oil and electricity agreed on with the agency, but he was really more interested in checking to see who would be staying over during my week there. He seemed satisfied when I mentioned three others would be joining for my last night there. That is, my brother, my daughter and her boyfriend. In the end, my wife and sister joined us. In fact, it was my wife's 61st birthday, which we celebrated with a small dinner party in the town of Leenane. After that we returned to the house and had tea with birthday cake. We were all in bed shortly after midnight. The following morning - the day of our departure - the caretaker was sullen and disagreeable when it came to settle up. First, when I walked down to his property to tell him I was ready to leave, I asked if he could give me a lift back to the cottage in his van. He wouldn't: too many sundries on the passenger seat. So, I followed him and his three hounds to the cottage on foot. Then he began his inspection of the premises in the shed by the house, which I had not entered all week. Staring at me, he asked where his bicycle was, implying that I or one of my guests had stolen it. Then, after he had checked the adjoining room and found the bike there, he gave an embarrassed apology. After that he did his inspection of the house while I waited outside. He finally appeared and paid me the balance of the 100 euro deposit I had given him for oil and electricity earlier in the week (I got 75 back, which should give some idea of how much time I or anyone else had spent in the house all week - very little, since I spent my afternoons hiking or cycling). Yet, despite leaving the place like a new pin, he grumbled about having to change the bed linen on the four beds that were used during our stay, then added that the presence of so many guests on the property created insurance issues. I replied that there was nothing about this in the terms and conditions, but he insisted it was there in the small print. It isn't. Original Cottages offers insurance for those who want it. Otherwise residents take on any risk at their own expense. Apart from that, the company's FAQs page states that "The total number of people staying at a property must not exceed the number stated in the property description." The maximum number of people specified for this particular residence is eight. We made up a party of six in total. So, at the end of a genuinely relaxing week in the country at a superb location, I was left with this bitter aftertaste. The owner of this cottage (Rachel Rawlinson) would be best advised to find someone with a more professional attitude managing her affairs, not this bad-tempered amateur who treats the property as if it were his own. To be clear: My first experience of renting a cottage through Shamrock Cottages last year was excellent. Basically, I was left to my own devices, just as I'd wished. But this place in Strathloe is absolutely to be avoided for anyone seeking that kind of privacy. Really, Original Cottages should take it off the list of Galway cottages for rental on their website so holidaymakers can avoid disrespectful treatment at the hands of prying locals. A note on Rachel Rawlins' (house owner) response below: It is peculiar that, rather than deal with the problem privately via email, the approach of Ms Rawlins has been to discredit my complaint with this long, intemperate reply, some of which is extraordinarily petty (It was a 'purpose build utility room' rather than a shed? Okay, I stand corrected). It shows a spectacular lack of judgement that 'she' (it seems that those customers who don't write glowing reviews are given pronouns instead of names.) would decide that my main grievance was the inconvenience of having to walk 300m, rather than the implication that I might have been a bicycle thief. Then she adds she 'believes' the caretaker meant to cause no offence when he implied his bike had been stolen. If that is the case, why did he apologise? When I waved to him the evening before, he snubbed me and walked on with a scowl. So, something was clearly wrong. Also, regarding bed linen and so forth, all the beds were made up and ready for use. So, if I rent a house for a week and find one bed or room not to my liking, then as far as I am concerned I can sleep in a different room every night if I please. A professional cleaner would not moan about being 'put out' by this. As for the comment books, I don't recall finding anything other than a rather slender volume on the dining table. Light reading, and hardly a ringing endorsement. Ironic, then, that my wife and daughter should write entries of the 5-star variety before we left that morning, but that was before our moody caretaker came to say his goodbyes. As I said in my review, it was a good week in the country overall (a positive comment so scornfully referred to by Ms Rawlins in her response), and my experience last year was excellent. My intention with this review was to highlight poor management of one particular place. Rather than take that on board, the owner has attempted to dismiss my claims in a way that seems strangely personal in tone, then highlights things that, frankly, seem a bit weird. Why does the phrase 'to watch like a hawk' strike her as so 'deeply offensive', for instance? I'd be intrigued to know. And I don't doubt that the children of other visitors have been given sheep shows and the like, though I don't suppose the caretaker roared at his flock in the kind of violent language I heard while I was there (Try 'fxxking cxxts!' for deeply offensive - I believe this was intended to intimidate me, by the way). Not to mention his advice that I should keep my car locked for fear of 'gypos and travellers'. If that is not truly offensive, then I don't know what is.
Interesting to note that Shamrock Cottages (AKA Original Cottages) avoids any mention of cottage caretakers in their very limited customer feedback questionnaire. In Strathloe, County Galway (cottage 1251), near the village of Leenane, the caretaker was a sheep farmer who watched comings and goings from the holiday home I rented like a hawk, since the stony track it led to crossed his property. Our first meeting was cordial enough. He came to collect the 100 euro deposit for oil and electricity agreed on with the agency, but he was really more interested in checking to see who would be staying over during my week there. He seemed satisfied when I mentioned three others would be joining for my last night there. That is, my brother, my daughter and her boyfriend. In the end, my wife and sister joined us. In fact, it was my wife's 61st birthday, which we celebrated with a small dinner party in the town of Leenane. After that we returned to the house and had tea with birthday cake. We were all in bed shortly after midnight.
The following morning - the day of our departure - the caretaker was sullen and disagreeable when it came to settle up. First, when I walked down to his property to tell him I was ready to leave, I asked if he could give me a lift back to the cottage in his van. He wouldn't: too many sundries on the passenger seat. So, I followed him and his three hounds to the cottage on foot. Then he began his inspection of the premises in the shed by the house, which I had not entered all week. Staring at me, he asked where his bicycle was, implying that I or one of my guests had stolen it. Then, after he had checked the adjoining room and found the bike there, he gave an embarrassed apology. After that he did his inspection of the house while I waited outside. He finally appeared and paid me the balance of the 100 euro deposit I had given him for oil and electricity earlier in the week (I got 75 back, which should give some idea of how much time I or anyone else had spent in the house all week - very little, since I spent my afternoons hiking or cycling). Yet, despite leaving the place like a new pin, he grumbled about having to change the bed linen on the four beds that were used during our stay, then added that the presence of so many guests on the property created insurance issues. I replied that there was nothing about this in the terms and conditions, but he insisted it was there in the small print. It isn't. Original Cottages offers insurance for those who want it. Otherwise residents take on any risk at their own expense. Apart from that, the company's FAQs page states that "The total number of people staying at a property must not exceed the number stated in the property description." The maximum number of people specified for this particular residence is eight. We made up a party of six in total.
So, at the end of a genuinely relaxing week in the country at a superb location, I was left with this bitter aftertaste. The owner of this cottage (Rachel Rawlinson) would be best advised to find someone with a more professional attitude managing her affairs, not this bad-tempered amateur who treats the property as if it were his own. To be clear: My first experience of renting a cottage through Shamrock Cottages last year was excellent. Basically, I was left to my own devices, just as I'd wished. But this place in Strathloe is absolutely to be avoided for anyone seeking that kind of privacy. Really, Original Cottages should take it off the list of Galway cottages for rental on their website so holidaymakers can avoid disrespectful treatment at the hands of prying locals.
A note on Rachel Rawlins' (house owner) response below:
It is peculiar that, rather than deal with the problem privately via email, the approach of Ms Rawlins has been to discredit my complaint with this long, intemperate reply, some of which is extraordinarily petty (It was a 'purpose build utility room' rather than a shed? Okay, I stand corrected). It shows a spectacular lack of judgement that 'she' (it seems that those customers who don't write glowing reviews are given pronouns instead of names.) would decide that my main grievance was the inconvenience of having to walk 300m, rather than the implication that I might have been a bicycle thief. Then she adds she 'believes' the caretaker meant to cause no offence when he implied his bike had been stolen. If that is the case, why did he apologise? When I waved to him the evening before, he snubbed me and walked on with a scowl. So, something was clearly wrong. Also, regarding bed linen and so forth, all the beds were made up and ready for use. So, if I rent a house for a week and find one bed or room not to my liking, then as far as I am concerned I can sleep in a different room every night if I please. A professional cleaner would not moan about being 'put out' by this. As for the comment books, I don't recall finding anything other than a rather slender volume on the dining table. Light reading, and hardly a ringing endorsement. Ironic, then, that my wife and daughter should write entries of the 5-star variety before we left that morning, but that was before our moody caretaker came to say his goodbyes.
As I said in my review, it was a good week in the country overall (a positive comment so scornfully referred to by Ms Rawlins in her response), and my experience last year was excellent. My intention with this review was to highlight poor management of one particular place. Rather than take that on board, the owner has attempted to dismiss my claims in a way that seems strangely personal in tone, then highlights things that, frankly, seem a bit weird. Why does the phrase 'to watch like a hawk' strike her as so 'deeply offensive', for instance? I'd be intrigued to know. And I don't doubt that the children of other visitors have been given sheep shows and the like, though I don't suppose the caretaker roared at his flock in the kind of violent language I heard while I was there (Try 'fxxking cxxts!' for deeply offensive - I believe this was intended to intimidate me, by the way). Not to mention his advice that I should keep my car locked for fear of 'gypos and travellers'. If that is not truly offensive, then I don't know what is.
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RESPONSE FROM COTTAGE OWNER
'Firstly, it’s regrettable that this complaint wasn’t dealt with promptly. As explained by Shamrock Cottages, their normal dedication to excellent customer service was hampered, in this case, by the recent introduction of a centralised system, which is hosted by their parent company, Original Cottages. Unfortunately, this appeared to have delayed any effort to handle the complaint as rapidly and personally as we would have wished and therefore we do extend our apologies to the visitor for this.
Secondly, it is comforting to read that he did have a ‘genuinely relaxing week in the country at a superb location’. We do believe, however, that this visitor’s main grievance stems from our caretaker’s refusal to drive him the 300 yards or so back from the Caretaker’s house to our house on the morning of his departure. We are at a loss to understand why he would have wished to sit in a small 2 seater van for such a short and bumpy journey up an unmade track with 3 large sheep dogs standing behind him! We also know that this van is a work van so very likely will have been filled with all kinds of things.
Thirdly, we wish to highlight that during Srathloe’s 18 years of rental history, we have NEVER received a complaint about our caretaker. In fact, we would confidently state that his care and attention to our property, as well as the kindness and consideration shown to all our visitors, is well documented in our many house comments books, and his efforts have played on enormous part in the success of our rental business. Our caretaker has assisted with guest’s unforeseen car troubles in the past, as well as offering valuable amenity and travel information and, additionally, cheerfully entertained children with grandstand views of sheep herding and associated farming duties.
The track to our house is also the farm track through our caretaker’s farm. His track does not ‘cross’ as described by the visitor but is our caretaker’s only access to his own land. He is entitled to use it as are we. The track ends at our house and the mountain and common land for sheep grazing is accessible from here. To describe him as ‘amateur’ and guarding like a ‘hawk’ and furthermore, reference locals as ‘prying’ are all extremely offensive and unpleasant comments to make, and any owners of future bookings made by this visitor should take note of this.
This guest has also failed to understand our caretaker’s comment re insurance. All please note that the original booking made with Shamrock Cottages was for 2 people only. We were not made aware of the likelihood of additional guests arriving, and therefore our caretaker was not notified in advance, hence his concern. The non-disclosure, at the time of booking, meant we would never have been able to support any insurance claim put forward by his guests, should that have ever been necessary, and our ignorance of their presence may very well have cast doubt on a claim. The visitor should consider this in the future if he makes a booking elsewhere.
It also appears that this visitor did not consider the fact that such a late disclosure of additional guests does require increased linen and further cleaning for any caretaker.
I do not believe that our caretaker meant to cause any offence when he failed to remember where his bicycle was and as the visitor stated, he was embarrassed and did apologise when it was located.
Kindly note, the utility room is not a ‘shed’. It is a purpose built room attached to the garage. '