AT LEAST DICK TURPIN WORE A MASK!! Not so *Let Direct NE I met up with David at the above property at the pre-arranged time of 1 pm on Wednesday 2 April 2014. The property was in a state of slight disrepair with wallpaper peeling off the walls in both the main bedroom and the living room (there was also a bin bag stuffed with an old duvet left in the bedroom); loose/bunched up carpet in the main bedroom and the passage cupboard was filled with various paint cans and assorted rubbish. I may be wrong but I thought that it was a pre-requisite of any Letting Agent to clean a property before allowing it to be viewed; not in this case. Having previously worked in an Estate Agency myself, we never showed a property until it had been cleaned and cleared throughout. Still, even though this property was not up to my exacting standards, I decided to take the tenancy as, due to serious health problems I am desperate to move as soon as possible. After learning that the 'Admin Fee' was £195 I offered to pay the cash there-and-then as I wanted to secure the property. David went to his car and returned with a folder containing, I believed, a receipt book; I was wrong. After counting out the money into David's hand he took down my address and said that a receipt would be sent, along with an application form to be by post. I must admit that alarm bells rang when I didn't receive a receipt immediately but dismissed my concerns as I was extremely exhausted at the time (not having slept for three days). The following evening I received a distressing telephone call from a very close family member detailing an upsetting diagnosis which they had received. Because of this I immediately afterwards emailed Let Direct NE (addressing the email FAO David); explaining the change in my circumstances; apologising for any inconvenience caused and explained that as I was to take over the caring role of said family member I would not be able to take up the tenancy as my family member lives outside of the area. I asked if, under the circumstances, I could received a full refund (I am, after all, on benefits and can ill afford to lose such a large amount of money). When, by Saturday - three days after I had met with David and paid him £195, I had not received the promised receipt and application form, I again contacted the agency; still no response. A few days later I had still not heard from anyone in the office I rang and left a message for David stating that I was going to call the police. Lo-and-behold; the following morning David rang me and said that he had been away for a few days and just received my messages - an obvious lie but one I let slide as I had no firm proof of this; though why no-one in the office had replied to my emails and telephone messages was not explained. When I asked David why I had not received my receipt of application form, he was unable to answer and so I asked him again, to send me a receipt and was ignored again. Since then I have sent further emails requesting a receipt; nothing. After leaving another telephone message for David in which I called him a thief; he rang me on Friday morning and said that I had to send a written complaint to the office. I asked him again; why I had not received a receipt and he tried to fob me off by saying that he had put off other prospective tenants once I had decided to accept the property - another lie; I let him know the following evening of the change in my circumstances and today the property is still listed. I asked him why he had not, upon taking receipt of my money returned to the office (as he had told me he was going to do); and handed over the money to whoever dealt with the accounts and arranged for the receipt and application to me that day - that should, after all, have been his first order of business before attending to his other duties. He ignored me. I have written a letter of complaint but hold out little hope of achieving a satisfactory result. I do, however, intend to take this matter further as not only has David openly stolen from me but he has clearly not put this money through the books. For a family run company that describes itself as friendly and professional; Let Direct NE is anything but. Yes, it was stupid of me to hand over cash without obtaining a receipt but, that aside, there is no excuse for theft. David clearly saw me as an ill and vulnerable woman, someone he thought he could steal from and get away with it; he was wrong. Protect yourselves, and DO NOT entertain this company.