“Black Katz have, since the very early 2000s, ......”
1 Star Review
Aug 03,2021
By:
'Hal'
Aug 03,2021
Branch: London, 69 Parkway
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: N10
Branch: London, 69 Parkway
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Postcode: N10
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Black Katz have, since the very early 2000s, consistently come with a personal warning of 'not even with a barge-pole' from a number of friends who have used them (spurious 'hard sell' initial manner, total absence of support beyond tenancies being signed including totally dropped contact for maintenance of flats above The Worlds End pub, duplicitous behaviour on exits of tenancy - all anecdotal to this review but on personally trusted authority and first hand witness). I have managed to avoid dealing with them directly until now.
Unfortunately, a landlord we are now closing a tenancy with has instructed Black Katz as letting agents for securing new tenants, so my wife, my flatmate & I have had the extreme misfortune of having to entertain overly persistent phone contact (incl. refusal to take "no, that's not convenient" as an answer and rarely actually securing explicit approval for demanded times) for arrangement of viewings and then subsequent viewings themselves.
This all came to a peak when an agent conducted a viewing (without a facemask) and overheard his clients asking our flatmate for his views on how the agents have been (he answered honestly, saying it's been neither comfortable or positive from Black Katz) and the agent instructed his clients to wait for him outside. They left and he then proceeded to try and reprimand our flatmate for voicing his opinion on the agency he works for. In our own home.
As one might imagine, this turned ugly. On hearing our further details of the treatment we've received from his company, the agent swiftly switched his angle to saying that it wasn't him personally being complained about on all counts and therefore it didn't apply + that we were being unreasonable. He was *extremely* aggressive throughout.
We complained to Black Katz central office that day [Friday], we only received a call later on Monday (Saturday being a working day for them) from one of their Directors who, amazingly, adopted almost precisely the same obtuse, aggressive & dismissive tone - at one point straight-up telling me that I'd missed an apology from him in the first few seconds of the call (that I still heavily dispute).
An email swiftly followed from Natasha Eddy, featuring such classics as "I am sorry that you have felt the need to complain" (ie. 'sorry that you think we're wrong' / nothing even approaching an apology for what had happened), a report that the matter will be 'looked into' (ok, so what does that do for us?) and that they "fully adhere to the terms of the Tenancy Agreement" - an agreement I should point out that is only between us and the landlord, not Black Katz.
On my assumption alone, this agency seem to pride themselves on an almost perversely brutal approach to customer service. Their agents are nothing short of impudent with anyone other than prospective new custom, their response to complaint feels a million miles away from conceding the prospect of error on their part. If you prefer 'go-getters' (who go and get only in the interests of the agency alone), then you'll probably love them, but then some people like being treated badly I guess.
Do yourself a favour - search locally, peruse private ads or at worst develop a good working relationship with an independent estate agency that don't patronise people in the name of a quick conversion.
If you still have time after that, check back for their reply to this review for one of two things - a 'pro-forma' copied blank statement response like the ones in the lowest rated reviews here or one that applies itself to points raised in this review with terse rebuttal & yet more passive-aggressive 'sorry, not sorry' back foot posturing.
AVOID.
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We are truly sorry that you are not happy with Black Katz.
Furthermore we can assure you that we tale all complaints very seriously.
We have been going since 1992 and let over 50,000 flats and houses and would love to have 100% customer satisfaction and where we don't we always look at how we can improve.
You start off being highly critical of Black Katz but you have never used Black Katz. You have never been a customer of Black Katz.
Having looked into the matter in detail:
1. We provided you with sufficient notice as per a Standard Tenancy Agreement. It is a very busy summer and we are trying to secure homes for many prospective tenants; if you feel we were being pushy in requesting any viewing then this was never the intention and we apologise.
2. Your flat mate on the viewing raised issues with the property, criticised Black Katz and started promoting another local agent but we never let you the flat, the other local agent did and any issues should be reported to them. Any issues with a property we will take forward to the landlord. Being critical of Black Katz when we never rented you the flat in front of our prospective tenants rightly made our negotiator feel uncomfortable and he pointed out that he felt this was not fair; which is not unreasonable given you have never been a customer of Black Katz.
We take on board all comments in our pursuit of better and better Customer Service.
Our apologies you were not happy; we wish you all well for the future.
Regards,
Andrew Black
Director
Black Katz