237 Seatown Cullen

Mar 18th, 2020

Nov 13th, 2019

Oct 2nd, 2019

Aug 7th, 2019

My dad booked this cottage between 1st and 8th August last minute as we couldn't find anything else on account of the pandemic. We now understand why it was the only place left. The decor in the cottage was dated, dark and dingy, which wouldn't be so much of a problem in itself if it wasn't so horribly unclean. We found dead woodlice all over the downstairs bedroom upon arrival, wrappers under the beds and chairs and dust and grime on all the windows and radiators. The wallpaper was peeling off and there was damp on the walls. The 'professional clean' we had been promised looked very superficial - and we had to spend all of our first day in the property cleaning it from top to bottom in order to put our minds at ease. We expected much more of an effort to be made given coronavirus, and that the owner had charged us 100 more than the cottage usually costs at this time of year. The windows didn't open without having to prop huge rocks under them, the bathroom tap was broken when we arrived, there was random cupboards all over the house which honestly looked like they hadn't been cleaned since the cottage was built and we felt deeply uncomfortable being in there at all. We got the sense that the owner offers the bare minimum and cares little for this cottage or those who stay in it. The bathroom, which the owner has declined to include pictures of, is absolutely horrible. We were anxious about using it because of how unclean it was. The dining room, too, was pretty awful. The cottage slept six, but barely two of us could fit in the dining room. It was so damp and dingy that it felt like a prison cell. We closed the doors between the dining and living room and avoided going in there at all. When we reported the running tap to the owner on the Saturday afternoon after when we arrived, she didn't reply to us. It was making a loud noise that kept everyone awake, and was stopping the shower running hot or the toilet flushing because it was all coming out of the bath tap. We rang her multiple times from different phones to no avail. We received a response, via email, at 11pm on the Sunday night, by which point the water coming out of the tap was a torrent. There was no apology, only a sarcastic snide that "all the will in the world wouldn't get you a plumber on a Sunday night". This is obviously untrue - you could well get a plumber at any time for an emergency, but it was clear she didn't want to have to spend any money she didn't have to. She couldn't tell us when the plumber would come the next day, and refused to organise another clean for us on account of coronavirus. We found her dismissive and unpleasant, and as you can see from previous reviews on Trip Advisor she seems to take it out on the customer if they report a problem. On previous reviews on Trip Advisor, the owner has suggested the smell in the property is the "Cullen smell", and told us when we complained about the woodlice in the downstairs bedroom that all of the cottages on the seafront are infested with bugs. Neither of these things are true - we've been staying at Cullen for decades. My dad is from here, and at no point have we had problems with bugs or a "Cullen smell". We find this frankly insulting to the holiday home owners in Seatown who do make a genuine effort. Most of the properties there are beautiful, clean and homely. We'd know because we've been in dozens of them. All in all, I'd say avoid this cottage at all costs. The pros are few and far between. It allowed dogs, which was a good thing, and was a short distance from the beach. But it was so awful to stay in that these things certainly do not outweigh those benefits. We stayed here as a last resort because we were desperate to get to Cullen and see family, and hadn't been able to book anywhere earlier due to Scottish coronavirus restrictions. I would advise anyone with a booking here to cancel it immediately - it's not worth it. I've attached photos of the state the cottage was in the day we arrived.
Aug 22nd, 2020