“Atlantis are an absolute joke. James Hathaway never returns phonecalls ......”
1 Star Review
Jul 14,2012
By:
'Sam'
Jul 14,2012
Branch: Reading, 23/24 Market Place
Services: Lettings (as a Landlord)
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode:
Branch: Reading, 23/24 Market Place
Lettings (as a Landlord)
Postcode:
15
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Atlantis are an absolute joke. James Hathaway never returns phonecalls or emails. I've been told to direct stuff to Andy Malone - has hasn't responded to any of my last two emails or phone calls. Their saving grace was Kayt Daugherty who has now left. And I just spoke to Anita with an urgent insurance query who was very helpful and committed.
I have wanted to leave ever since I found out they allowed my previous tenants to dump my king size bed and mattress in my garden without picking it up over at least 24 quarterly inspections or during final check out! James assured me when I let with them back in 2005 that even though I lived abroad my property would be in safe hands. But they have a very one-sided management contract which doesn't stipulate any of their obligations but is very heavy handed in terms of what they demand from landlords.
They are exploiting an immense market position and then hold landlords to ransom by insisting they charge a full month's rent (£850) if you want to terminate the contract. On July 19th I will take my complaint to the Property Ombudsman and then to the smalll claims court.
Re rent guarantee insurance they say you get free rent guarantee insurance as part of their management fee, but they do not tell you this is for 6 months only. They don't tell you that after 6 months you need to renew yourself, and they certainly don't prompt you to remind you it's running out. You get no paperwork about this insurance.
Like I say, for a landlord it's an absolute joke. I own other properties in the North West and I use Northwood rent guarantee - it's like heaven compared to Atlantis.
I just wish northwood had an office in reading so they could show these cowboys how a professional property letting agent does it. Plus, there's one receptionists there who sounds like she wants to get you off the phone as quickly as possible. She insists on asking every time what the call is regarding and then when you give her the answer it's like she's in pain. The only reason you need a property management company is to sort issues out. You don't phone them for a friendly chat. That's the name of the game.
When my current tenants were sold the current policy Matthew L'Estrange decided that he'd tell his tenants that I would buy them a dining table (£200) and sort out some landscaping if they took the tenancy, even though I told him directly that the gardening was their responsibility and that I would decide on the table and chairs once they had moved in and I could see how my financial situation was going.
I thnk my tenants comments about them during contract renewal says it all really: "In terms of my views on Atlantis, not great service if I'm honest. You're well aware of the issues we had with them up front, that said Kayt seems to be very helpful, responds quickly to emails and generally good, although, we've not actually had to get her to do anything so far. The lady I have been having email correspondence with to sort out remaining in the property has been a bit useless. I ask her questions and get unhelpful one line emails so it just becomes painful. Following my first email this morning she has now responded (taken her a month) to my email of 24 April by sending an agreement on the wrong basis and ignored the query she was supposed to be getting back to me on. So I've now had to go back to her with a copy of the emails."
He goes on: "Overall they have a poor reputation in Reading for the way they deal with tenants, colleagues of mine who are all professionals, were very negative of them when I mentioned we were renting a property through them. They charge a lot more fees than other agents, i.e. more expensive up front, checking out fees (never heard of this previously), they even charge a fee if you want to change utility supplier (which I'm not sure they are actually allowed to do). They also insist on insuring Landlords possessions through a company they recommend as a condition of tenancy, despite that being the purpose of a bond, again not something other agencies typically do. The experience of setting up the tenancy was also very un-accommodating, unwilling to let me sign the contract on a Saturday and the lady who has to deal with it was unwilling to come in before 9 or after 5.30 despite them being open outside those hours and on weekends. They were also not very flexible on key collection etc. Basically the only way to get it set up and sorted was to take a weekday morning/day off work. All of this made me think twice, but we liked the house so we went with it. Given the large amount of fees they charge for actually doing very little I was pretty irritated by their complete lack of customer service."
When I last spoke to Kayt she assured me that they were trying to get my act together. But the message from the MD above suggests to me he has his head in the sand when he says "most of the issues are down to communication". He should take a leaf out of Northwood's book and seriously consider offering platinum rent guarantee to landlords - like I said if Northwood set up in reading I'd pay the £850 charge and switch immediately.
What agent could do to change your mind?
Andy Malone: Confirm receipt of email as per my request in my voicemail
Russel Pearce: Call or write to introduce yourself as Kayt's replacement
James Hathaway: Respond to emails and phonecalls
John Sykes: Establish a rent guarantee scheme to landlords, as per Northwood UK's scheme, whereby landlords hand everything over to you but you pay them 75% of market rate, even if it's empty. It works a treat.
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1) Saying that Andy Malone didn't respond to any of my last two emails or phone calls is incorrect. Sorry Andy for the mistake. The issue was that he didn't respond to my voicemail asking him to confirm that he had received my email.
2) The previous tenenats didn't dump my bed in my garden but in the garden shed.
3) I don't have any proof that Matthew L'estrange told my tenants that I would pay for the gardening and a table and chairs. This is just what my tenants told me. This is an issue between the tenants and the agent. I have asked the agent and they said they are looking into it.