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Ian P.

1
Level 1 Contributor
Saudi Arabia

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366

2 Reviews by Ian

  • Shamrock Cottages

8/19/23
Verified purchase

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.

Thumbnail of user traceyr359
Tracey R. – Shamrock Cottages Rep

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. '

  • USA Jacket

2/21/21

USA JACKET claims to be a US online company based in the UK, but most of their merchandise is shipped from Pakistan. I can only say that most of the correspondence I have received has not been of a native English-speaking standard.

If it were possible to give this company a zero, I would. They do not deserve credit of any kind for their abysmal and mendacious costumer service. I believe I they have lied to me in the most shameful way at almost every turn. If you want the nitty gritty on how they operate when it comes to matter of refunds, then read on. They have used every trick in the book to avoid payment. This is the timeline of my unhappy dealings with them:

December 10th: This began when I cancelled my order (*******) within 48 hours of making a purchase (value $159 usd) because it would not arrive before Christmas. I quickly discovered that USA JACKET would not honour its refund policy, even though their website allows for cancellation for up to 3 days after purchase. Their representative "Lisa Amber" falsely claimed that I had made the purchase after the 48-hour time period. This wasn't difficult to disprove, not that it made the slightest difference. The evidence was simply ignored.

December 11th: I received the following email, again from "Lisa Amber": "If you want to cancel your new purchase, so as per policy we will refund you after the deduction of $30 from your whole amount which have you paid us for the service charge." I was not happy with this penalty but I agreed to it, figuring I could at least cut my losses. I received the following acknowledgement of that from "Lisa Amber" later the same day: "We would like to inform you that as per your request your order has been canceled, and your refund will be done. In the next 4 to 5 working days, it will show in your respective account."

December 21st: After waiting 10 days for the promised refund, I sent an email to "Lisa Amber" asking what the delay was. I received this reply later in the evening: "We would like to inform you that, due to some technical issues it was a delay, no need to worry we will refund your amount within 4 to 5 business days."

December 29th: Another 8 says passed, still no refund. I sent an email threatening to report USA Jacket to various online agencies and Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

December 30th: The following reply came from "Lisa Amber": "Your refund has been done, and within this week your refund will be reflected in your account because the issue is resolved now."

January 8th: After still receiving no refund, I sent a message to "Lisa Amber" warning that I was beginning my online campaign to highlight USA Jacket's fraudulent activity.

January 9th: I received this reply from "Lisa Amber": "Here is the screenshot of your refunded amount." Again I checked my bank statement and found no record of the deposit. I sent a reply asking when the refund was made, as it did not appear on the screenshot I received.

January 10th: "Lisa Amber" replied: "Have you contacted your bank?" I replied that the problem was not my bank and again asked when the deposit was made?

January 11th: "Lisa Amber" replied: "Kindly confirm is this your last 4 digits of the card? 83**" I confirmed that this was correct and AGAIN asked when the deposit was made. "Lisa Amber" later replied: "As you can see in the screenshot there is payment failed and pending show. That's why your refund was not reflecting in your account But now your refund has been done and it takes 6 to 7 working days to reflect in your account."

January 12th: "Lisa Amber" emailed me again, repeating that the refund would be made in 6 to 7 working days, but added: "We would like to request you kindly remove your review from trustpilot." I said I would do this once I had received the refund. The reply: "As we already provided the screenshot of the refunded receipt, very soon it will reflect in your account."

January 19th: From "Lisa Amber": "As per our records, your refund was done and you also received it. So we would like to request that you kindly remove your review from Trustpilot." I replied that I had received nothing then asked when the deposit was made. I received another screenshot from "Lisa Amber" in reply, in which it stated that an ARN number would be available in 1-3 working days. The date given was January 9th. Again I replied that once I received the money, I would remove the review on Trustpilot. "Lisa Amber" sent a reply that is too long to quote verbatim here. In short, I was told that a Stipe user (them) sent funds directly to the cardholder's bank (me) and that the length of time it took to process this was up the bank. I should expect to see the refund on my statement 5-10 working days after the refund was issued, depending on the bank. Then, as if to imply that I did not know how to read a bank statement, "she" concludes by saying: "For most funds, this will take the form of a new line on their statement with a positive credit amount to the original charge. These can be easy to miss, and may cause the customer to think they've not received the funds back, if they are waiting to see a new refund line item. They should be prepared for either case." I thoroughly rechecked the statement and found nothing. I was now being gaslighted by USA Jackets. Again I replied that I would remove my review once I had received the money. "Lisa Amber" asked me to let her know when I had.

February 3rd: After deciding that I might be telling the truth, "Lisa Amber" decided that they would refund me through Pay Pal rather than the bank. Again, days passed with no deposit on Pay Pal. On Feb 3rd I asked "Lisa Amber" to confirm that it had been made. "She" replied: "We would like to inform you that we contact the bank regarding your refund and we get this email from them: "I managed to locate a few System Trace Audit Numbers (STAN) that you can pass along to your customers. They can give these to their bank to help them locate the refunded payments. Here they are: STAN: *******." So please share this number with your bank and they will guide you about your refunded amount." I checked with the bank and of course they found nothing.

Feb 4th: "Lisa Amber" emailed, asking if I have checked with the bank. I replied that a written response would take at least 24 hours.

Feb 5th: "Lisa Amber" replied: "Hopefully you'll get your refund soon. Once you get that please let us know."

Feb 6th: I emailed USA JACKET: "Still waiting."

Feb 7th: "Lisa Amber" replied: "Dear Ian, you didn't receive any response from the bank?"

Feb 8th: My bank told me they could not identify the refund using "Lisa Amber's" STAN number. They request more information on the company (USA JACKET) and the original transaction sum ($159) made in December. I send it and expect another reply within 1-2 days. I tell "Lisa Amber" that if the bank found nothing, I would update my Trustpulot review again, and that I would also begin posting my reviews on other websites. "Lisa Amber" replied: "We are continuously cooperating with you. When did we deny to help you? And still, you are dealing with us like this." I tell "her" an refund should be easy to execute, then ask why USA JACKET had changed their minds about refunding me through Pay Pal. "Lisa Amber" replied: "We have not changed our minds. We thought your refund had not been done from CC, but we received the bank's confirmation email that your refund has been done from the bank. That's why we are trying that you find your money." Apart from the hilariously aggrieved tone, this was a flat out lie. The bank would confirm nothing of the kind.

Feb 9th: My bank again informed me that there was no record of a refund (see image below). I sent USA JACKET a screen shot of my correspondence with customer service proving this. Poor "Lisa Amber" is nonplussed: "We are investigating it. Then I will let you know."

Feb 15th: Six days pass and there is no update on the "investigation". I send an email to "Lisa Amber" asking: "What is the status of my refund now?"

Feb 17th: This reply comes from "Lisa Amber": "Thank you for patiently waiting for our team to check on your concern. We sent an email to the bank, and we got this response in return:

"We've looked into this. We're afraid we haven't received any funds back from the bank or any signal that they intend to send them back to us. We apologize, but it can really take up to 30 days from the post date for the bank to return a refund to us, and until then, there's nothing we can do beyond wait and see. We understand 30 days feels like a long time to wait to find out if the funds will be returned to Stripe. However, it's important that we set the expectation that this step can't be skipped or speeded up." (see verbatim attachment of this email below)

Today is Feb 20th, 2020, and we've gone from STAN back to Stripe and on to who knows where. If I were to be absolutely scrupulous in giving USA JACKET the benefit of the doubt, then I would need to check the above message from the bank and verify that it was actually sent. Being absolutely scrupulous, that is what I intend to do - perhaps because I find it so hard to believe that an online business could be so utterly brazen in the deliberate deception of its customers. But I am pretty sure I know what the bank will find: nothing except proof of purchase last December (see below). To "Lisa" I say: I promise you a long, grinding campaign of attrition until I receive what I am due.

Will keep you posted, folks.

Tip for consumers:
Caveat emptor

Service

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