“The initial choosing of a flat and signing everything all ......”
2 Star Review
May 09,2012
By:
'archjsmith'
May 09,2012
Branch: Purley, 909-911 Brighton Road
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode:
Branch: Purley, 909-911 Brighton Road
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Postcode:
2
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The initial choosing of a flat and signing everything all seemed fine and staff we dealt with in person at both the Purley and Wallington branches seemed lovely (for some reason even though we dealt with the Purley branch for everything we had to trek to the Wallington branch to sign the contract). Initial fees etc seemed high.
We were told on signing the contract that if we provided bank details, as part of the service we had paid for in the fees, they would contact all the relevant utilities companies and set them and also council tax up by direct debit on our behalf. This was never done despite us providing the information they requested.
In fact they actually told us we were with the completely wrong utilities providers so we happily sat waiting for money to be sucked out of our account for the bills, ignoring letters 'to the occupant' believing them to be junk mail from providers the property was not signed to. Luckily we realised what had happened fairly soon and corrected it all otherwise we could have ended up in a very sticky situation.
In the June in our first year in the property we received a letter from Andrews announcing it was time to decide how long we wanted our next 'fixed term' contract to be for (no option for a rolling one month contract). The contract was due for renewal end of September so I thought it was a bit early. Andrews also asked for an £84 admin fee to be paid, to draw up the new contract.
I filled in the form (requesting a one month rolling contract) and enclosed the cheque which was cashed a short while later (so it definately arrived). I never heard anything back. In mid September the landlord came to the flat to carry out some maintenance and we were talking and he had never heard anything from Andrews either about the renewal of the contract, let alone them producing anything for him to sign! Luckily he had assumed, as he had not heard from us, we wanted to stay on in the property. So I paid the £84 for no reason.
Now I have moved out of the property and one month 8 days later I have still not received my deposit back from Andrews. I am aware that unless it is disputed (and I know the landlord has confirmed for it to be returned in full) it is required to be returned within 10 days, so I am not happy!
I shall definately never deal with Andrews again, this was my fourth time renting and I have never had issues like this with any other agents.
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