“My experience with City Rooms was appalling. ......”
1 Star Review
Jan 09,2023
By:
'Adam'
Jan 09,2023
Branch: London, First Floor, 3-5 Globe Road
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Rent PCM: £910
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: SE14
Branch: London, First Floor, 3-5 Globe Road
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Rent PCM: £910
Postcode: SE14
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people found
this helpful
My experience with City Rooms was appalling. I strongly advise you to avoid this company and book with someone else. Trusting City Rooms was one of the worst decisions I've ever made.
The original listing promised a "fully equipped" kitchen with "nice and friendly" housemates in a five-bedroom house with two nice bathrooms in Wood Green.
However, when I arrived, an existing tenant warned me that the other housemates were scary and one of them had been stealing from other people in the house, using drugs, making threats, and blasting music all night. The "equipped kitchen" was empty except for a few appliances (there weren't even forks or plates), and the dishwasher and washing machine were broken and smelled disgusting. One of the two bathrooms was actually a part of someone's private room, so everyone had to share a single shower. The doors of the house were also left unlocked and ajar at night.
I decided to stay with a family friend for a few days because the situation seemed unsafe. While I was out of the house, I wrote an email to City Rooms expressing my concerns about a tenant who was possibly going to jail. Without consulting me, City Rooms forwarded the email (with my name attached) to the tenant, who got angry and tried to break into my bedroom, damaging the door in the process. He also threatened to "break [my] neck and throw [me] out the window" according to one of the tenants who I maintained contact with over WhatsApp. If I had been there, I would have been in serious danger.
When I contacted City Rooms about the incident, they refused to admit that they put me in danger, but confirmed that they had forwarded the email. Initially, they offered to move me to another location, but after ignoring my messages for days, they admitted that there was nowhere available that met my criteria for price, cleanliness, and proximity to my office. I had to stay in a hotel, which was very expensive.
After multiple calls with their director, Jorge Sanchez, he agreed to refund my deposit and all of the money I paid for my first month's rent except for 300 GBP. This was not a fair deal considering they made my home unsafe, but it was better than what they were legally required to offer me according to the fine print of the contract.
After a few weeks of silence with no money coming through, Jorge informed me that he had changed his mind and would be keeping everything except for my deposit, which he was contractually required to return. He even refused to refund the deposit in full because of a peculiarity of the way I booked that had me transferring from one room to another after a the first few days. I could have taken them to court, but I didn't think it was worth the legal fees and effort.
In my last conversation with Jorge before he permanently stopped communicating, he told me that the whole situation was of my own making and that I should really be taking responsibility for all of this.
I eventually received my deposit (in part), but it was a terrible and stressful experience. City Rooms lied about the nature of the listing, stole my money, and endangered my life. Stay away from this company and warn anyone you know who's moving to London to avoid it like the plague. If I could rate this company 0 stars, I would.
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