It is impossible to get insurance before you move in! Most letting vultures simply whisk you around the property in about 5 seconds flat before you've had the chance to consider what you would need to put down on an insurance application for it to be valid.

Judging by your terrible spelling and grammar, I wouldn't take your comments seriously anyway.

What a disgraceful condescending reply from this manager Laura. Admit to your poor unprofessional attitude towards this customer. Apologize , compensate or make a decent effort of trying to rectify the true opinion of your company reiterated by this customer. Do not blame the customer for not complaining directly to you, YOU should be the one seeking the customer's opinion every step of the way in order to rectify or identify any troubling issues before they occur!! If you do not change your condescending, arrogant attitude what chance is there for your staff and company to change for the better. If there was a star rating of zero this what I would rate Mann Countrywide company as. I would advise you to read more reviews about your company, they are pretty bad!!

I am somewhat surprised by your comments as the way you have described your experience seems far from our usual standard application process. All our tenants are fully aware of their obligations from the outset. All fees and move in dates are discussed and agreed by the applicant prior to them signing their approval to proceed. Once referencing has been carried out and you have met our criteria, we then send you a letter/email confirming the details of your tenancy, at this point we advise that you will need to take out contents insurance and enclose a quotation. Tenants insurance is in your best interest and part of your tenancy agreement obligations, in the same way a landlord is required to take out buildings insurance and third party insurance for his tenant. It is quite clear that you do not have to take ours but it does have to cover you as a tenant and not many domestic type insurance companies provide you with adequate cover. You are right, we will not move in you in to a property without adequate cover because what if you have an accident whilst moving in and damage the landlord's property? your deposit may not be enough to cover the damage, so you would have to pay from your own pockets. This criteria is to protect you, the tenant and many people have been grateful that they have this in place. Yes you are correct, we do receive a small amount of commission from selling our own insurance but it is also one of the most competitive and comprehensive policies you will get on the market and will protect all your tenancy needs. However, as I said as a consumer you have a choice, find another who is cheaper but we will always need to see a copy of the policy to ensure it meets our criteria otherwise you could be wasting your money on a policy that will never pay out because of inadequate cover. We ask to see your policy usually on the day you sign your tenancy agreements and pay the balance of your monies, some 5 to 10 before you move in. Sometimes and I would imagine in your case, we had to do a quick move in for you, so our usual process could not be followed.
With regards to our admin fees - we put a great deal of work into each and every application we receive and much goes on behind the scenes and unless you have had any experience of letting a property or working in a letting agency, you would not understand. Our fees remain competitive within the area, I know that because I check regularly to ensure we are giving the best possible service to both our landlords and tenants and do occasionally compromise on fees but only if I am certain that our customer service levels will not be affected.
As Branch Manager, I am very passionate about customer service and being the best we can be. My team of five work extremely hard under what can sometimes we enormous pressure and stress but I am confident that we remain professional, calm and fair at all times and I am very proud of the numerous customer feedback forms we receive from tenants and landlords with an over 98% very good or excellent rating.
Unfortunately it seems that you are in the minority 2% and I am disappointed and sorry that we fell short of our usual high standards in your case. However, I would say that if you did receive a less than satisfactory service, then why did you not speak or write to me, the Manager, so I could at least have looked at the circumstances around your complaint? How can I resolve issues or put measures in place? If your complaint or issues were that bad, then why hide behind an anonymous review? call or email me at [email protected] to discuss and at least give us the opportunity and common decency to put things right. We are only human and do not get it right all the time but we get pretty close to it and remain one of the best, if not The best letting agents in the City. Laura Page, Branch Manager