“Our experience with Touchstone was easily the worst experience I've ......”
1 Star Review
Apr 04,2017
By:
'd_drumph'
Apr 04,2017
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Rent PCM: £800
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: B1
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Rent PCM: £800
Postcode: B1
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Our experience with Touchstone was easily the worst experience I've had in all my time renting properties in the UK and Europe over the last 17 years. Here is an abbreviated list of issues we had with our property:
The external cupboard door to the freezer was broken, it should be attached to the freezer door to open with the external wooden cupboard one. We attempted to fix this but realized this needed replacing. Reported to James
Mice in block can be heard in the walls and ceilings. Pestokill were sent round to fix this and filled the holes under the sink and washer/dryer with foam and steel wool. They put in so much foam the wooden skirting board that covers the gap beneath the cabinets could not fit flush with the second half (the long piece was broken when we moved in) This was reported but not repaired. However they returned and Pestokill failed to come back when we asked for them. We have filled the rest of the holes and removed all the old traps (with one dead mouse) that was found to have been installed before we moved in, which explains the smell when we moved into the flat. Since we have filled in the holes no mouse has been seen in the flat. But they can still be heard in the ceiling and walls at night.
Three of the kitchen lights were not working when we moved in nor was one of the hall way lights. We have replaced them all.
Two of the tiles were broken in the shower, directly beneath the shower head. This was reported and has been repaired.
The bathroom ceiling was covered with mould and tearing paint, we have removed the paint and reported it needs treating properly and re-painting. This still has not been done.
The bathroom heater was rusting and had pealing paint. We removed the rust and re-painted the cover.
The lock to bathroom door was removed by Fireman when my mother-in-law got stuck in there. We called Touchstone at the time and asked to send out a maintenance person to remove the lock and let her out, they told my partner to call the fire brigade and then hung up. So we had no choice but to instruct them to remove the lock and get her out. I then reported the lock needed replacing, it was not replaced or repaired.
The font door handle is loose and needs fixing. Again, reported but not repaired.
The Bin Stores was repeatedly broken into by vagrants, leaving used needles, duvets, bags containing food and cloths and on several occasions feces in the bin store. This issue persisted over a course of 10 months and was constantly reported with the two attempted repairs being so poor they lasted less than a few days eachtime. The local police were even involved along with the local fire bridgade due to the level of distress it caused residents in the building along with the violations of health and safety and being braking an entering it was a criminal matter. The vagrants stored stolen goods in the property and on one occasion at 3am started a fire which meant he building had to be evacuated.
The secure doors to the car park were broken for one year, voiding all residents vehicle insurance not too mentioning decreasing the security of the block because not all external doors from the building to the car park were secure.
One block had no lock on the door between the outside door leading to the car park, just a big whole where the lock used to be housed. At one point this led to someone breaking into the meter cupboard under the stairs, leaving a lot of used and broken needles behind. At this time the hallway lighting was also broken so you can imagine coming home late knowing someone is using heroine behind one of the doors.
The building itself is presented and occupied by young professionals, although from the description of the building you'd be forgiven for thinking I've been describing a slum. Which is fitting because that's often how it felt, albeit one that required £800 per month.
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