0% sales valuation accuracy
0% sales fee satisfaction
0% lettings valuation accuracy
0% lettings fee satisfaction
Apr 07,2022
Apr 07,2022
10
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Systematically incompetent – Stirling Ackroyd is a slow-motion train wreck that lost my deposit TWICE in the space of a year.
Poor tenant selection:
Stirling Ackroyd assured me that their recommended tenants would be OK. I trusted them, and it was a big mistake. The tenants were a big headache from the start, and Stirling Ackroyd simply could not manage them. The tenants actually left after one month of a 12-month contract, and Stirling Ackroyd was so inept that they got to keep their deposit.
Bad property management:
The day-to-day management was also unreliable. Quotes for work were always at least twice as high I could find myself in 30 minutes of internet research. They quoted over £1650 for a roof repair that I got organised for £650. They quoted £405 for cleaning that I got done locally for £110. You end up doing more work yourself trying to work around their unreliable system.
Terrible conflict management:
When the dodgy tenants wanted to leave after one month, the “compliance service” was terrible. On several occasions one employee denied all responsibility for the case, and the person they said was responsible also denied responsibility. The property manager insisted all along that I trust them, and that the departing tenants would cover all my costs until new tenants came in. They then messed up communication with the tenants so badly that I could not claim the deposit. Stirling Ackroyd is so hopeless. The arbitration body made it very clear that I lost the deposit because of how Stirling Ackroyd handled the case.
Then, as if this was not enough, when I complained, they took 3 weeks to say that they thought the case had been managed fine, and I should get no compensation from the agency. I had to escalate again, and in the end I settled for a partial amount, which came nowhere near to covering my losses. The customer experience department at least offered some compensation, but their approach was rather condescending. They seem to think their customers are stupid. I guess it was rather stupid of me to pick Stirling Ackroyd, but I have learnt from this mistake.
High fees and lots of accounting mistakes:
Stirling Ackroyd charges extra for everything. Contract fees, monthly compliance fee, £99 annual statement fee, and withholding money for works - you name it. You need to watch them like a hawk, because you can agree one thing on the phone, then they slip in an extra charge.
I managed to negotiate them down (FYI they can go as low as 10% + VAT for full management), but even the reduced rates are not worth it. They consistently got payments wrong, including 2 or 3 mistakes in the rates in the contract, then they sent the wrong amount of compensation for their mismanagement.
Mistakes in contracts:
Stirling Ackroyd put the wrong fees in the contract – I had to get them to correct it twice.
They also changed the wording to commit me to repaint the entire property, and pay for extra cleaning. Their contractors would have charged thousands of pounds. Yet again, I had to find my own contractors and organise the job myself to get it done properly. You really have to go through any document they produce with a fine-tooth comb, because if you don’t it will cost you.
Terrible communication:
“I am your personal property manager” a bubbly voice told me on day one. This person was useless, difficult to speak to on the phone, and she handled the property so badly that I was left thousands out of pocket with an empty property.
Then without warning, the “personal property manager” kept changing. They get through a lot of staff, but oddly the incompetent ones seem to hang around.
It took me about a year to find out some details of the disastrous situation they created, and then I was faced with sarcastic responses from the head of customer experience. Really, they are so bad it’s almost funny.
Wasted time, leaving the property empty:
Before Christmas we agreed on new tenants, and Stirling Ackroyd assured me that the new tenants could move in on 18th December. This was delayed, then on 5th January the agency said they would not move forward with the new tenants – there was no new information that they could show me, their internal processes just took that long. In the meantime, I was paying council tax and other bills for the empty house.
The tone of Stirling Ackroyd employees was irresponsible and sometimes aggressive.
During this entire time, the house was off the market, and I only got new tenants in at the end of January. Stirling Ackroyd never compensated me for this – what compensation they paid only covered part of the previous deposit.
Another chaotic handover:
After a year, I negotiated a release from my management contract with Stirling Ackroyd, but they had a few more mistakes in store.
Their automatic system transfers the council tax and utility bills into the landlord’s name. I immediately responded to an automated message to tell them not to do this, and I sent a backup email. No response. Then I started getting emails and SMS messages from Scottish Power. I followed up again – no response. In the end I emailed Stirling Ackroyd 15 times, and called at least 5 times. Nobody sorted out the problem. I had to speak to the bill management agency, then Scottish Power directly, to get the changeover cancelled. Stirling Ackroyd would not have done anything.
Sure enough, after I had already put in many hours to solve the problem myself, someone made contact from Stirling Ackroyd, and her main concern was to deflect blame from herself. That approach runs through the entire company, and I got rather tired of it.
Lost deposit for a SECOND TIME:
Having wrangled with Stirling Ackroyd at some length to get them to sort out the bugs in their system, I thought I was out of the woods. No. A week after they had handed over the keys to new agency, the deposit had not been sent. Yet again, I had to chase it, and navigate a complicated and opaque system at Stirling Ackroyd. When they finally did transfer the deposit, they sent it back to the tenants, not to the new agency.
Unbelievably, they had managed to lose my deposit TWICE in TWELVE MONTHS (!) You could not make it up. I had to make many phone calls to get through to a manager in the accounts department. They initially refused to send the money to the new agency. I insisted, and they said they would do it with a same-day transfer. Then they went back on that promise, and sent it with a slower transfer. Finally, I was free of this disastrous agency.
Conclusion: Avoid Stirling Ackroyd at all costs
Stirling Ackroyd seems to have a business plan that involves separating every part of the job, to save money. Every person I spoke to seemed to be trying to shrug off responsibility, and whenever there is an unusual situation, they just can’t cope. Even with a heavily discounted rate, it’s just not worth it. I have found a better agency with just a few branches, and they seem to offer a much better service than these large agents.
I accepted about £2,000 in total compensation, but in hindsight maybe I should have gone to the ombudsman for arbitration. Overall, I have probably lost thousands more than this, along with many hours of work, and months of hassle. It was much less work managing the property directly myself, and Stirling Ackroyd failed utterly.
Stirling Ackroyd was a complete disaster from start to finish.
Poor tenant selection:
Stirling Ackroyd assured me that their recommended tenants would be OK. I trusted them, and it was a big mistake. The tenants were a big headache from the start, and Stirling Ackroyd simply could not manage them. The tenants actually left after one month of a 12-month contract, and Stirling Ackroyd was so inept that they got to keep their deposit.
Bad property management:
The day-to-day management was also unreliable. Quotes for work were always at least twice as high I could find myself in 30 minutes of internet research. They quoted over £1650 for a roof repair that I got organised for £650. They quoted £405 for cleaning that I got done locally for £110. You end up doing more work yourself trying to work around their unreliable system.
Terrible conflict management:
When the dodgy tenants wanted to leave after one month, the “compliance service” was terrible. On several occasions one employee denied all responsibility for the case, and the person they said was responsible also denied responsibility. The property manager insisted all along that I trust them, and that the departing tenants would cover all my costs until new tenants came in. They then messed up communication with the tenants so badly that I could not claim the deposit. Stirling Ackroyd is so hopeless. The arbitration body made it very clear that I lost the deposit because of how Stirling Ackroyd handled the case.
Then, as if this was not enough, when I complained, they took 3 weeks to say that they thought the case had been managed fine, and I should get no compensation from the agency. I had to escalate again, and in the end I settled for a partial amount, which came nowhere near to covering my losses. The customer experience department at least offered some compensation, but their approach was rather condescending. They seem to think their customers are stupid. I guess it was rather stupid of me to pick Stirling Ackroyd, but I have learnt from this mistake.
High fees and lots of accounting mistakes:
Stirling Ackroyd charges extra for everything. Contract fees, monthly compliance fee, £99 annual statement fee, and withholding money for works - you name it. You need to watch them like a hawk, because you can agree one thing on the phone, then they slip in an extra charge.
I managed to negotiate them down (FYI they can go as low as 10% + VAT for full management), but even the reduced rates are not worth it. They consistently got payments wrong, including 2 or 3 mistakes in the rates in the contract, then they sent the wrong amount of compensation for their mismanagement.
Mistakes in contracts:
Stirling Ackroyd put the wrong fees in the contract – I had to get them to correct it twice.
They also changed the wording to commit me to repaint the entire property, and pay for extra cleaning. Their contractors would have charged thousands of pounds. Yet again, I had to find my own contractors and organise the job myself to get it done properly. You really have to go through any document they produce with a fine-tooth comb, because if you don’t it will cost you.
Terrible communication:
“I am your personal property manager” a bubbly voice told me on day one. This person was useless, difficult to speak to on the phone, and she handled the property so badly that I was left thousands out of pocket with an empty property.
Then without warning, the “personal property manager” kept changing. They get through a lot of staff, but oddly the incompetent ones seem to hang around.
It took me about a year to find out some details of the disastrous situation they created, and then I was faced with sarcastic responses from the head of customer experience. Really, they are so bad it’s almost funny.
Wasted time, leaving the property empty:
Before Christmas we agreed on new tenants, and Stirling Ackroyd assured me that the new tenants could move in on 18th December. This was delayed, then on 5th January the agency said they would not move forward with the new tenants – there was no new information that they could show me, their internal processes just took that long. In the meantime, I was paying council tax and other bills for the empty house.
The tone of Stirling Ackroyd employees was irresponsible and sometimes aggressive.
During this entire time, the house was off the market, and I only got new tenants in at the end of January. Stirling Ackroyd never compensated me for this – what compensation they paid only covered part of the previous deposit.
Another chaotic handover:
After a year, I negotiated a release from my management contract with Stirling Ackroyd, but they had a few more mistakes in store.
Their automatic system transfers the council tax and utility bills into the landlord’s name. I immediately responded to an automated message to tell them not to do this, and I sent a backup email. No response. Then I started getting emails and SMS messages from Scottish Power. I followed up again – no response. In the end I emailed Stirling Ackroyd 15 times, and called at least 5 times. Nobody sorted out the problem. I had to speak to the bill management agency, then Scottish Power directly, to get the changeover cancelled. Stirling Ackroyd would not have done anything.
Sure enough, after I had already put in many hours to solve the problem myself, someone made contact from Stirling Ackroyd, and her main concern was to deflect blame from herself. That approach runs through the entire company, and I got rather tired of it.
Lost deposit for a SECOND TIME:
Having wrangled with Stirling Ackroyd at some length to get them to sort out the bugs in their system, I thought I was out of the woods. No. A week after they had handed over the keys to new agency, the deposit had not been sent. Yet again, I had to chase it, and navigate a complicated and opaque system at Stirling Ackroyd. When they finally did transfer the deposit, they sent it back to the tenants, not to the new agency.
Unbelievably, they had managed to lose my deposit TWICE in TWELVE MONTHS (!) You could not make it up. I had to make many phone calls to get through to a manager in the accounts department. They initially refused to send the money to the new agency. I insisted, and they said they would do it with a same-day transfer. Then they went back on that promise, and sent it with a slower transfer. Finally, I was free of this disastrous agency.
Conclusion: Avoid Stirling Ackroyd at all costs
Stirling Ackroyd seems to have a business plan that involves separating every part of the job, to save money. Every person I spoke to seemed to be trying to shrug off responsibility, and whenever there is an unusual situation, they just can’t cope. Even with a heavily discounted rate, it’s just not worth it. I have found a better agency with just a few branches, and they seem to offer a much better service than these large agents.
I accepted about £2,000 in total compensation, but in hindsight maybe I should have gone to the ombudsman for arbitration. Overall, I have probably lost thousands more than this, along with many hours of work, and months of hassle. It was much less work managing the property directly myself, and Stirling Ackroyd failed utterly.
Stirling Ackroyd was a complete disaster from start to finish.
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
Agent Response / Add a Comment
You can use this form to reply to the above review or a displayed comment on the above review.
Browse popular links for estate agents, letting agents and properties nearby
Latest Reviews
6th Sep 2016
reviewed by 'LondonTrader'
2nd Jul 2015
reviewed by 'Will_in'
Opening Hours
Address
Stirling Ackroyd
96 Three Colt Street
Canary Wharf,London
Greater London
E14 8AP
0208 036 5804
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | % | 0% | £0 | £0 |
| Lettings | 0% | 0% | £0 | £0 |
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Areas covered
Services offered
- Sales
- Lettings
- Block Management
- Surveys
- Conveyancing
- Mortgage Advice
- Home Builder
Advertise on
Members of
Rankings
Overall
Overall
Latest Properties
No Properties
Sep 06,2016
Sep 06,2016
2
people found
this helpful
this helpful
We are the easiest clients to deal with - honest, efficient and nice - and these lot seem to be manipulative, disorganised, dishonest to our face and just dismissive. May need to use them now but won't be doing any more business through them in ...
read full review
read full review
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
Jul 02,2015
Jul 02,2015
2
people found
this helpful
this helpful
A very rude, arrogant and confrontational agent and that's before talking about their services...
read full review
read full review
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
Apr 07,2022
Apr 07,2022
10
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Systematically incompetent – Stirling Ackroyd is a slow-motion train wreck that lost my deposit TWICE in the space of a year.
Poor tenant selection:
Stirling Ackroyd assured me that their recommended tenants would be OK. I trusted them, and it was a big mistake. The tenants ...
read full review
read full review
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
Vendor Fees
No fees set.Landlord Fees
No fees set.Tenant Fees
No fees set. Last updated at 17/03/2023, 6:16 PM by Ellie WyattComplaints Procedure
No procedure set.
Last updated at 5:16 PM 17/03/2023 by Ellie Wyatt
