“I find it quite apt that Atlantis Property is named ......”
1 Star Review
Mar 08,2012
By:
'DEEMATTO'
Mar 08,2012
Branch: Reading, 23/24 Market Place
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode:
Branch: Reading, 23/24 Market Place
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Postcode:
23
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I find it quite apt that Atlantis Property is named after a mythical empire that sank into the ocean¢â‚¬Â¦¢â‚¬Â¦after my ordeal I wish they would sink without a trace to spare anyone else the utter torture of renting through them.
If you're thinking about using Atlantis please read this before you sign anything;
I find it very strange how the reviews on these sites are either 1 star terrible or 5 star fantastic, quite fishy that¢â‚¬Â¦¢â‚¬Â¦it's almost as if someone deliberately put lots of 5 star reviews in a desperate attempt to try and balance out all the terrible (genuine) ones? That would be why Atlantis are yet to join the ¢â‚¬Å“transparent agent¢â‚¬Â scheme then¢â‚¬Â¦
Signing a contract with Atlantis genuinely made me feel like I was at the mercy of an extortion racket hiding behind the shiny faƒÂ§ade of a property agency. Without trying to sound over-dramatic Atlantis is such a bad operation they can impact your health and wellbeing. The last thing you need in this economic climate is to be bound by contract to a Company that offers you an abysmal service while charging you fees for anything they can get away with.
I have rented through various Private and Commercial landlords in my time and have always left with positive references and a good relationship with previous landlords.
To their credit, Atlantis has one of the largest ranges of properties available to rent in Reading and a good-looking website. They have lots of shiny adverts in the local paper and on large billboards around the town. Atlantis obviously spends a lot on marketing, unfortunately beneath this polished exterior the positives end and the tidal wave of negatives commence¢â‚¬Â¦
Atlantis didn't inform us the property we were renting was for sale until we were signing the forms by which point it was too late to back-out without having major consequences. Living in our property was like maintaining a show home, with estate agents dropping by unannounced and leaving lights on, locks unsecured etc.
Unforgivably, following our flat being burgled on a Friday, the smashed outside window was not secured and replaced until the following Wednesday. It left us and our belongings vulnerable for days despite many calls and broken promises from Atlantis and their contractors. The Atlantis 24/7 emergency maintenance cover is a joke, if you call the number you just get a warning that you will be fined a large amount if they don't deem your call an emergency, once you finally get through to someone they just sound unprepared for anything productive and fob you off give you false promises.
Due to their error we were sent a bill in relation to an unpaid contract renewal fee charge which Atlantis had originally agreed to waiver since we were without hot water for over a month. Extra charges were then added on top of this bogus fee for a number of warning letters they had apparently sent; each with a fee charged of £25 each. These warning letters were never received and they were sent by Atlantis with standard post with no proof of delivery. It took hours of phone calls, emails and a visit to the office to clear up their own mistake. Nothing faintly resembling an apology was offered and in the end they gave us the impression they were doing us a favour by letting us off these fantasy charges.
Atlantis has a whole list of completely unreasonable fees buried into the contract, fees to renew contracts, fees for repairs admin, fees to release deposit. Basically Atlantis will suck you dry for as many fees as possible at every opportunity: the process of trying to dispute anything seems to be deliberately made into a farce. It's very hard to speak to anyone with seniority on the phone, reception will nearly always put you through to voicemail, and then messages are NEVER returned.
The turnover of staff seems to be unusually high; trying to get hold of the same person you were speaking to a few weeks previous was very hard. People with morals and integrity probably realise quite quickly they may be working for an unscrupulous company and jump ship.
The Maintenance department are extremely random in their assessment of priority jobs and the timescales they give for completion; it took almost two weeks once for them to call back in regards to a blocked toilet! Most of the time it's easier and safer to do it yourself.
The website proudly displays the logos of various organisations that are meant to safeguard tenants against dodgy landlords. I am disappointed with the TDS, the ARLA and the Property Ombudsman. The fact that Atlantis is using these logos on their website as a sign of trust makes a mockery of the industry. I am going to approach each of these organisations and ask them how they can support a company which can do so much harm to so many people and still freely operate with their support. It seems these organisations must have little teeth and that the whole industry needs tighter independent monitoring controls to specifically deal with the companies like Atlantis.
Mr Andrew Strong, Managing Director and PR specialist of Atlantis: the tired, generic email responses you trundle out for the negative comments on here are just another example of the fact you couldn't care less about the failings of your company, at least attempt a little variation in your responses. I understand your job must be like putting lipstick on a pig but why not just pretend to care. The line below from your generic response particularly amuses me.
¢â‚¬Å“I can at least try to ensure that your experience does not get repeated with any other individual using our company.¢â‚¬Â
-Andrew, if you read all the genuine reviews on here (1 star or less) you shall see that they all describe the same negative experiences within your company going back years. i.e Ridiculous fees, lack of communication, incompetence, rudeness etc. You had your chance to rectify the situation and failed miserably, the only thing left to do is for victims of Atlantis to speak out in order to prevent people going through the same ordeal.
May I suggest you consider ceasing trading as a Property services company and try an industry more suited to your skill set, for instance Debt Collection?
What agent could do to change your mind?
Sell the company to different Directors with an understanding of morals and customer services, change most of the staff. (and change the name)
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