75% sales valuation accuracy
60% sales fee satisfaction
0% lettings valuation accuracy
50% lettings fee satisfaction
Sep 12,2016
Sep 12,2016
3
people found
this helpful
this helpful
DO NOT TOUCH WITH A BARGE POLE.
This company is awful, from start to finish. Full of lies and deceit to get your money and hold onto it. They'll take your money, ignore you and then absolutely refuse to hand over any deposit money and they'll threaten you with eviction in the process. Absolutely disgusting.
I've had dealings with them - unfortunately - for years. I handed over thousands up front to rent a property which needed work doing it. This was never done, so much so that I lived without a means of cooking a meal for my family for months on end and had to live out of a microwave.
I've put in countless complaints over the years to these people, had to get housing standards involved (who found them to of not acted in a responsible manner), and I've even had to take legal action to due a personal injury sustained at the property because of an issue that hadn't been rectified in 2 years. Loss of earnings up to £2000, including ongoing issues and not once did anyone call to ask if I was ok, to apologise or to even FIX the issue that caused it in the first place. On a phone call to Gill, I was told that the 'state of the house' caused the considerable 'upset and frustration'. When I explained my predicament and why this was the case, I then went onto query what was being done about the unsafe environment of the property and was considering legal action because of it. I was then threatened by Gill who said, 'well if you go down the legal route, the landlord may be forced to use the state of the house against you and have you removed'. Shocked by this I said, 'what do you mean? Are you threatening me that if I seek legal advice I'll be evicted?'. At this point I became very distressed and Gill backed off, apologising profusely for pushing me, but the emotional damage had already been done.
I have since left the property and I am being blamed for everything that has been wrong in the house even prior to my moving in. Due to the state of the property, I complained, for years, and did NOTHING to rectify the issues myself as I didn't want to be liable. Instead, I dutifully informed them every time something went wrong and it would often take them months (if not years) to sort something out.
Worst of all, they blamed the Landlord for this issue, not them. They would claim the landlord was un-contactable, even his secondary contact was miraculously unavailable. A formal complaint I submitted to them well over a year ago, went unacknowledged. Despite my handing over my personal details to them, they would never contact me personally but someone else in my house - even though I would state over and over again what my number, email address was etc.
Bim is the worst of all. Not only does he cushy up to you if you're paying his wage, he says countless times, 'I'm the property manager', which becomes boring after the first 500 times. When he doesn't get his way, he acts like a petulant child, becomes argumentative and threatening and flat out lies to your fact. I was told that the Landlord was not happy with my complaints during a phonecall to Bim and yet, at the time, this was the first I'd spoken to Bim in over a month. Not sure how - outside of telepathic powers - he would have known my complaints to them pass them along to the Landlord. Lie No. 1. He also told me (when he was being nice before I left the property and trying to keep me in the hell hole), that he had looked over all of my issues and admitted that, 'there are areas where we have failed you, certainly', and yet now he says, 'I have to go through everything because I haven't had time yet'. Lie No. 2. He then goes on to state that he 'does not wish to be implicated in anything' Martin and Co does. The problem with this is, he represents Martin and Co and as he so eloquently says over the phone 10000 times, he's the property manager, the buck as to stop somewhere, right? Lie No. 3. Then, when you try to speak to his supervisor to submit a complaint, he blocks you. I wonder why.
The ONLY decent people in that place who are willing to listen to you are Theresa and Steve. While they may be powerless to help, they will take down everything you have to say and they empathise. In fact, when I called back to speak to Bim's supervisor, I spoke to Theresa and said, 'I need to sumbit a complaint about all the issues over the years'. She said, 'oh yes, it's been going on for so long'. She remembers my calling on the day I moved in, in tears, because Martin and Co failed to A) decorate the property to a decent standard as promised, B) it was filthy (I had to Vinegar / Baking Soda the shower heads in two showers just to have them operable), the floors were covered in muck and the cheap and nasty carpets that were installed required steaming. Don't get me started on how awful the cupboards were or the fact that brown sticky tape was left all over one bathroom due to a shoddy paint job.
DO NOT GO NEAR THESE PEOPLE. They will sell you a sob story to have you part with your money and then blame you for everything and flat out accuse you of stealing (in my case)...
It's a shame that great people have to work for this company and moreover, it's sad that a company that takes money from two sources, plays them off against one another. Do not use.
This company is awful, from start to finish. Full of lies and deceit to get your money and hold onto it. They'll take your money, ignore you and then absolutely refuse to hand over any deposit money and they'll threaten you with eviction in the process. Absolutely disgusting.
I've had dealings with them - unfortunately - for years. I handed over thousands up front to rent a property which needed work doing it. This was never done, so much so that I lived without a means of cooking a meal for my family for months on end and had to live out of a microwave.
I've put in countless complaints over the years to these people, had to get housing standards involved (who found them to of not acted in a responsible manner), and I've even had to take legal action to due a personal injury sustained at the property because of an issue that hadn't been rectified in 2 years. Loss of earnings up to £2000, including ongoing issues and not once did anyone call to ask if I was ok, to apologise or to even FIX the issue that caused it in the first place. On a phone call to Gill, I was told that the 'state of the house' caused the considerable 'upset and frustration'. When I explained my predicament and why this was the case, I then went onto query what was being done about the unsafe environment of the property and was considering legal action because of it. I was then threatened by Gill who said, 'well if you go down the legal route, the landlord may be forced to use the state of the house against you and have you removed'. Shocked by this I said, 'what do you mean? Are you threatening me that if I seek legal advice I'll be evicted?'. At this point I became very distressed and Gill backed off, apologising profusely for pushing me, but the emotional damage had already been done.
I have since left the property and I am being blamed for everything that has been wrong in the house even prior to my moving in. Due to the state of the property, I complained, for years, and did NOTHING to rectify the issues myself as I didn't want to be liable. Instead, I dutifully informed them every time something went wrong and it would often take them months (if not years) to sort something out.
Worst of all, they blamed the Landlord for this issue, not them. They would claim the landlord was un-contactable, even his secondary contact was miraculously unavailable. A formal complaint I submitted to them well over a year ago, went unacknowledged. Despite my handing over my personal details to them, they would never contact me personally but someone else in my house - even though I would state over and over again what my number, email address was etc.
Bim is the worst of all. Not only does he cushy up to you if you're paying his wage, he says countless times, 'I'm the property manager', which becomes boring after the first 500 times. When he doesn't get his way, he acts like a petulant child, becomes argumentative and threatening and flat out lies to your fact. I was told that the Landlord was not happy with my complaints during a phonecall to Bim and yet, at the time, this was the first I'd spoken to Bim in over a month. Not sure how - outside of telepathic powers - he would have known my complaints to them pass them along to the Landlord. Lie No. 1. He also told me (when he was being nice before I left the property and trying to keep me in the hell hole), that he had looked over all of my issues and admitted that, 'there are areas where we have failed you, certainly', and yet now he says, 'I have to go through everything because I haven't had time yet'. Lie No. 2. He then goes on to state that he 'does not wish to be implicated in anything' Martin and Co does. The problem with this is, he represents Martin and Co and as he so eloquently says over the phone 10000 times, he's the property manager, the buck as to stop somewhere, right? Lie No. 3. Then, when you try to speak to his supervisor to submit a complaint, he blocks you. I wonder why.
The ONLY decent people in that place who are willing to listen to you are Theresa and Steve. While they may be powerless to help, they will take down everything you have to say and they empathise. In fact, when I called back to speak to Bim's supervisor, I spoke to Theresa and said, 'I need to sumbit a complaint about all the issues over the years'. She said, 'oh yes, it's been going on for so long'. She remembers my calling on the day I moved in, in tears, because Martin and Co failed to A) decorate the property to a decent standard as promised, B) it was filthy (I had to Vinegar / Baking Soda the shower heads in two showers just to have them operable), the floors were covered in muck and the cheap and nasty carpets that were installed required steaming. Don't get me started on how awful the cupboards were or the fact that brown sticky tape was left all over one bathroom due to a shoddy paint job.
DO NOT GO NEAR THESE PEOPLE. They will sell you a sob story to have you part with your money and then blame you for everything and flat out accuse you of stealing (in my case)...
It's a shame that great people have to work for this company and moreover, it's sad that a company that takes money from two sources, plays them off against one another. Do not use.
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Latest Reviews
6th Jul 2021
reviewed by 'lawrence parker'
18th Apr 2017
reviewed by 'Hannah'
12th Sep 2016
reviewed by 'Sad'
13th Jan 2015
reviewed by 'Jo'
31st May 2014
reviewed by 'claire'
Opening Hours
Address
Martin & Co
Unit C, The Forecourt, 12 Albion Street
Hanley,Stoke on Trent
Staffordshire
ST1 1QH
01782 262880
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 75% | 60% | £0 | £0 |
| Lettings | 0% | 50% | £300 | £650 |
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Areas covered
Services offered
- Sales
- Lettings
- Block Management
- Surveys
- Conveyancing
- Mortgage Advice
- Home Builder
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Latest Properties
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Jul 06,2021
Jul 06,2021
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
property agent for a slum landlord .no interest in helping tenants. mould ,damp within the house that had been plastered over. would never use this service again...
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Apr 18,2017
Apr 18,2017
2
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Absolutely disgusting customer service!! Rang at least two times a day just for general information on a flat I was moving into and had no response from the manager Steve for two and a half weeks! When he did contact me back he never once ...
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Comment on agent fees
Bad as I've done there job for them by constantly having to ring myself.
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Sep 12,2016
Sep 12,2016
3
people found
this helpful
this helpful
DO NOT TOUCH WITH A BARGE POLE.
This company is awful, from start to finish. Full of lies and deceit to get your money and hold onto it. They'll take your money, ignore you and then absolutely refuse to hand over any deposit money and ...
read full review
read full review
Comment on agent fees
N/a
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Apr 07,2016
Apr 07,2016
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Had a terrible experience with this letting agency. The staff are very unhelpful. It takes several months to get problems fixed leaving you living in a broken home. They are happy to contact you if they need something but if you need help they ignore ...
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Jan 13,2015
Jan 13,2015
0
people found
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DO NOT use this estate agents under any circumstances. We moved in and had many issues. A lot of them were 'accidentally' left off the inventory. We then emailed these issues to Martin and Co to update the inventory. Non of these were resolved, no ...
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Comment on agent fees
Sort the issues in the first place. Don't blame issues on us and withhold money. Don't be so rude.
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May 31,2014
May 31,2014
0
people found
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From day 1 no one calls back nothing done since first inspection in january
Just had second inspection with a vile belligerent woman who was intimidating and agressive
I actually recorded threconversation as im going to make a formal complaint about her attitude
Am going to ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Improve their service and speak to people with a few manners and drop the attitudeAttached Filesnbsp;
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Apr 05,2014
Apr 05,2014
0
people found
this helpful
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Possibly the most unhelpful letting agent I have dealt with. When they say they'll call you back don't ever expect a call, you will always have to chase them up on the most simple of requests. If you have to chase it up its never ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Be able to answer simple enquiries over the phone 9 times out of 10 I get told the person who can deal with my request is away on "training" Actually call back when they say they will!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the most frustrating thing of all Communicate requests to and from the landlord in a reasonable amount of time without me having to chase if up When you say your going to do something, do it!!! For example, sending a email that I have to request 3 times or organising work to a propertyAttached Filesnbsp;
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Aug 19,2013
Aug 19,2013
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
We have had nothing but trouble with this estate agents. They never do what they say they are goin to do and you have to chase and chase them just to get them to return a call. There is no communication between them and the ...
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Feb 01,2012
Feb 01,2012
3
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Promised to rectify several problems; broken kitchen sink (clearly damaged by previous tenant) and a damp ceiling in master bedroom, caused by removal of flue, chimney etc - this needed painted over.. These people DO NOT respond to emails, are indifferent towards complaints. They just ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Communicate quicker, mediate with landlord, don't ostracize your customersAttached Filesnbsp;
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No fees information available
Kindly note that legally, letting agents need to publish information about their tenancy fees, government-approved redress schemes and client money protection schemes on their website and on third party websites (on which agents are listed). For properties to lease/rent in England, agents need to keep this information up to date and precise on allAgents or specify within the property description.
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