“I rented a Phillip James property with a friend. On ......”
1 Star Review
Jul 14,2013
By:
'unhappycustomer'
Jul 14,2013
Branch: Manchester, Ground Floor, Oxid House, 78 Newton Street
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: M5
Branch: Manchester, Ground Floor, Oxid House, 78 Newton Street
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Postcode: M5
5
people found
this helpful
I rented a Phillip James property with a friend. On viewing properties, I have to say Phillip James were very accommodating and very easy to get in touch with. They appeared professional, competent, friendly and before moving into a property I had no reason to expect that they weren't a very professional and competent letting agency. However, after finding a property and signing the tenancy agreement unfortunately 5 star service depreciated at an alarming rate.
To list a few problems we had;
- We were told on viewing the property that we would be allocated a parking space in the underground parking facilities of the complex. We however never received a fob, and on phoning Philip James we were then told that this had never been part of the tenancy agreement. I was forced to park illegally in the property for 2 weeks as the day after moving in I went on holiday. Philip James refused to even acknowledge the mistake on their part, and would not even help to rectify the issue. I ended up having to leave my car parked illegally for 2 weeks and to arrange legal parking while on holiday on another continent.
- Phillip James property management were hard to get hold of, and on getting hold of them, appeared pretty clueless. One example was that our first electricity bill was massively overcharged, and on contacting Phillip James to ask the simplest of questions i.e; for previous readings, where the electricity meter was located (we were in a large complex) I was met with no answers, confusion and a sense of complete disinterest from Phillip James.
- On moving out of the property, Phillip James with held our deposit for 6 months. After a long and tedious battle, where Philip James clearly did not wish to return our deposit money, we received a cheque. All of our final bills were paid up and the property was left cleaner then we had entered it. The only thing left was a small box of items I had forgot to throw in the rubbish. We however received a letter from Phillip James asking us to pay an extortionate amount for them to supposedly clean the property, including cleaning the carpets (which I had professionally cleaned 3 days before moving out as this was listed in the tenancy agreement for when moving out of the property).
These are only a few of the issues we encountered. To sum up though, Philip James are great and will treat you in the best possible way while showing you properties. Just don't expect them to help in the slightest after you've signed the dotted line, they have your cash and that's all the company cares for.
What agent could do to change your mind?
Philip James would have to majorly improve their customer services before I ever considered even viewing a property listed by them in the future.
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2) Our maintenance software allows us to recall a previous meter reading within seconds and we also hold details of where the meters are in the blocks. We apologise if this tenant feels that we have not answered her queries but as this information is so easily available to our staff we are surprised that they didn't provide this immediately. Obviously the readings were provided to her as she had her electricity bill corrected.
3) All deposits are returned within 10 days of us receiving proof that the utility bills are paid or the suppliers have a forwarding address for the tenant, as is clearly stated in our tenancy agreement and Move Out letter. If the tenant does not agree with any deductions from their deposit they are encouraged to take their complaint to TDS. No-one waits 6 months for the return of their deposit.
4) This is where we believe that this tenant has put her review against the wrong Letting Agent. We do not ask for carpets to be professionally cleaned in the tenancy agreement.