UPDATE: Finally managed to speak to someone at Ori...

UPDATE: Finally managed to speak to someone at Original Cottages who was polite and professional. Long story short, our holiday for the end of July has now been deferred to the same time next year. That's what I wanted in the first place. Pity it took so much effort and hassle. I have now changed the rating from a 1 to a 3.
ORIGINAL REVIEW: Very poor experience so far. I appreciate that current circumstances are making things difficult, but the way Original Cottages have handled our booking has been shambolic. They don't answer emails. The FAQs which they continually direct you to are incomplete and out of date. They didn't answer the phone or provide a way to leave a message - until today. After waiting on hold for 40 minutes, listening to a message telling me that bookings due to commence in the next 6 weeks could be deferred to next year, someone took my call. When I asked for our holiday to be deferred I was told that was only for holidays prior to 4 July. I asked why that stance was completely different to their recorded message and was abruptly told the message was wrong. WHAT??? You're playing a recorded message to all of your customers which is wrong? 0/10 for communication skills. I have no confidence that these people will do the right thing by their customers, or that they are competent. What appears to be very clear is that they are determined to keep hold of your money no matter what, and they will repeatedly send you demands for payment of the balance despite the fact that they don't know if your holiday can proceed. Based on my experience so far I cannot recommend using Original Cottages (or any of the companies associated with them) for your holiday.