It is with regret that I write of my unpleasant experience with Oliver Towns. We travelled to London specifically for three days of house viewings and over the course of those three days saw ten different properties, with ten different agencies - Oliver Towns were by far the worst. I booked a viewing for a property in Camden Monday morning and with all credit to the agent, was booked in for a viewing that same afternoon. We arrived on-time at 2 o’clock and the experience was initially positive, greeted by the agent cordially and taken inside the property, where we were shown around and given some basic information. Unfortunately that is where the positive experience stops. From then on we were victims of rather obvious, but still incredibly uncomfortable pressure-selling tactics and general unhelpful-ness. Little did we know that we were booked in for a viewing lasting only 20 minutes (our first example of pressure-selling) - this may be ample time for some properties but for us, we needed and expected a little more time to explore the property and have our questions answered. We were rushed around, with little time to take anything in and when we did have genuine questions like “is the energy supplied to the house Gas or electric”, “we’ve spotted some damp, has the previous tenant ever had any problems with damp previously” and “are bills included in the price” which some agencies offered, we were dismissed straight off the bat, as if we were silly even to ask. The second was when my partner asked if it would be possible to return for a second viewing. This was laughed off and again the pressure selling continued as we were informed that the property would not be available the following day, no more viewings were taking place after ours and actually the landlord had received an offer which he had accepted and that, if we wanted the property we needed to tell her by close of business. At this point the agent announced “I’m not lying” and actually showed us a text message from the landlord, informing the agent an offer had come through, which he was happy to accept and to liaise with her colleague, Rodney, to get the ball rolling. We wondered at this stage if we were even meant to be viewing a property which was clearly under-offer and, with evidence of the text in full view, the landlord had accepted. We left feeling rushed, overwhelmed and completely frazzled with what we had experienced and felt that, if we wanted that property we had to rush into placing an offer, after a 20 minute viewing where questions were left unanswered. Despite our first experience, we loved the property so much we decided to give the agent another chance and called them to ask for a second viewing of the property with family. This was our first experience living in London, flat-hunting in London and renting in London and, with a relatively large budget we wanted the second opinion of family to ask any questions we may have missed. The reaction from the agent was unsurprisingly, less than accommodating. The agent said and I quote, she felt “uncomfortable” at bringing family to see the property, that it showed “uncertainty to the landlord” and that parents can often “get in the way” of a potential signing. Only when I said to her that viewing the property with family could result in a positive outcome of a signing did she change her tune and agree to it. Unsurprisingly, when we returned with a member of our family she was pretty sheepish and left the property entirely to sit outside in her car. Interestingly, with a family member present her attitude changed completely - there was no pressuring into decisions changing from “you need to give me an answer today” to “give me a call and let me know”. It’s funny how the agent’s attitude could change so dramticially between when we viewed as a couple versus when we viewed with family. As of posting today, the property is still on the Oliver Towns website, contrary to the agent grandstanding that it wouldn’t be available the following day and contrary to the text message she showed from the landlord stating he had accepted an offer. I’d leave it to the reader to decide whether that text was a phantom offer in order to pressure potential clients. It is obvious from our experience with Oliver Towns that this particular agent regarded us, as students and first-time renters in London, “fair game”. to be pressure-sold a flat. Out of 10 agencies we viewed with, ALL asides from Oliver Towns did their utmost to answer any and all questions we had - they offered us second viewings as standard, welcomed family members to view the flats and worked tirelessly to put any worries we had at ease. We never felt pressured into a decision, we’re never patronised for asking questions (no matter how obvious) and felt we had the time we needed to make an informed decision, even with the rental market moving quickly. I would encourage anyone, especially; students, young professionals and first time renters in London to think twice about using Oliver Towns. I also propose the question: why buy or rent through an agency who clearly have no time or respect for their customers?