By : 'melengi' Services : Letting(As a Tenant) Would you recommend ? : No
Feb 8, 2011
People found this helpful5
Utterly incompetent with an attitude problem to boot. Uncontactable when you need them to do anything other than take money from you.
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By : Paul Deveney
Mar 2, 2011
Hello, I am sorry hear that about our staff. We are very well know for our friendly approchable staff, so I am surprised to hear this. Please give me a call on 020 8378 1211 to discuss the matter further. Given that we let over 250 properties a month and manage over 2000 properties, complaints are a rarity, however any type of complaint is taken seriously and I would like the opportunity to discuss these with any of the people on this site. Kind regards, Paul Deveney, Director - The Acorn Group
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By : 'A' Services : Sales( As a Vendor ) Sold price : £80750 Would you recommend ? : No Postcode : SE19
Oct 21, 2021
People found this helpful1
We encountered nothing but stress and incompetency from the team in Crystal Palace from start to finish. They were not transparent and were not interested at all in acting in our best interests . As soon as our offer was accepted they withdrew all assistance and were non responsive for the most... Read Full Review
Services : Sales( As a Vendor )Date: 21st Oct 2021
We encountered nothing but stress and incompetency from the team in Crystal Palace from start to finish. They were not transparent and were not interested at all in acting in our best interests . As soon as our offer was accepted they withdrew all assistance and were non responsive for the most part. We could never recommend them and actually in the end had to complain to a senior manager in their Bromley head office to get any movement at all.
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THE SIX FAILS OF ACORN - NOT ...
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1 Star Review
By : 'Melissa' Services : Letting( As a Owner ) Would you recommend ? : No Postcode : SE19
Jun 20, 2020
People found this helpful4
The only good thing I can say about Acorn is that we are no longer letting our flat through them. FAIL ONE: Their very aggressive letting agent offered to discount our first month set-up fee from £360 to £199 but they charged us £360 regardless. The letting office... Read Full Review
Melissa Arden said about Acorn Group Estate Agents
Services : Letting( As a Owner )Date: 20th Jun 2020
The only good thing I can say about Acorn is that we are no longer letting our flat through them. FAIL ONE: Their very aggressive letting agent offered to discount our first month set-up fee from £360 to £199 but they charged us £360 regardless. The letting office denied all knowledge of the discount and it was a battle to get it reinstated. FAIL TWO: We rapidly discovered that almost all our calls and emails to Acorn went unanswered and it was virtually impossible to communicate with them. FAIL THREE: They charged us £180 for a PAT electrical appliance test, and we received no response when we queried it – or when we queried their lack of response. We subsequently discovered the PAT test was not a legal requirement, and that they had not even performed it. They then denied charging us for the test, and we had to prove that they had. FAIL FOUR: They also charged us £210 to apply for a Croydon landlord licence fee on our behalf and then left the application incomplete, whereupon we received a threatening email from Croydon Council demanding immediate payment. FAIL FIVE: They charged us £96 for a plumber’s visit in which the plumber did nothing except suggest spending over £400 on replacement bathroom taps, when we knew that the originals had cost £64.75. When we tried to follow up direct with the plumber he dropped all communication with us. FAIL SIX: Finally the tenant abandoned the flat without notice, leaving it in a filthy state and full of junk, with bathroom fittings pulled out the wall. We notified Acorn by phone and email with photographs of the mess. The tenant then advised both Acorn and ourselves by email that she could not afford to clean it and that we would have to pick up the cleaning tab ourselves. We had it professionally cleaned at our own expense and emailed Acorn on 22.05.2020: “Please advise where we may pick up our keys on 28.05.2020” which was the date the tenancy legally ended. Predictably there was no reply and their local office was closed on 28.05.2020. However, on 29.05.2020 – the day after the tenancy ended - they sent in a check out team who left lights on, drawers and cupboards open, items on the kitchen counter, the toilet seat up and the new throw and mattress cover pulled off the newly cleaned bed – the day before our new agents were due to show it. For this unauthorised incursion, they charged us £159. When we challenged this, they insisted that we were contractually obligated to pay for a checkout. We responded: “What part of “Please advise where we may pick up our keys on 28.05.2020” do you not understand?” I received the response: “I cannot see that you received a response from us to confirm key collection.” Yes, dear readers, you read that right. They didn't have to return our keys on the grounds that they ignored our email requesting the return of our keys! Best of all, Acorn gave the tenant a copy of the check out report as well as a reference, allowing her to pass on the abuse the next landlord.
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Really impressed with the ...
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4 Star Review
Andrew
Jack
By : 'Amita' Services : Sales( As a Vendor ) Sold price : £435000 Would you recommend ? : Yes Postcode : SE19
Dec 6, 2017
People found this helpful0
Really impressed with the friendly and honest service. Jack and Andrew pushed hard to get our sale through and we are very grateful.
THANK... Read Full Review
Really impressed with the friendly and honest service. Jack and Andrew pushed hard to get our sale through and we are very grateful. THANK YOU.
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Ricky the Branch Manager said ...
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1 Star Review
By : 'AZ' Services : Sales( As a Vendor ) Would you recommend ? : No Postcode : SE25
Nov 14, 2017
People found this helpful0
Ricky the Branch Manager said he could sell our property within 7 days at full asking price and we saw he sold a couple in our neighbourhood in the previous weeks so decided to opt for Acorn. Within 7 days we received a somewhat fraught phone call from Andrew the Assistant Manager saying we needed... Read Full Review
Services : Sales( As a Vendor )Date: 14th Nov 2017
Ricky the Branch Manager said he could sell our property within 7 days at full asking price and we saw he sold a couple in our neighbourhood in the previous weeks so decided to opt for Acorn. Within 7 days we received a somewhat fraught phone call from Andrew the Assistant Manager saying we needed to 'open up the guide price to encourage footfall' only to be delivered with laughable offers of some £80k under the asking price with freshly renovated property. Andrew even had the audacity to try to get us to accept an offer at this level saying it's a good offer and the market prices are crashing. Complete waste of time.... demonstrated lack of integrity and desperation for quick sale to get commission
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Hi "AZ", I am sorry to hear about this and would really like to investigate the issue further. Would you be able either call me on 020 83156922 or email me at...
Aidan has been fantastic, ...
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5 Star Review
aidan
By : 'Andrea' Services : Letting( As a Owner ) Would you recommend ? : Yes Postcode : SE19
Nov 6, 2017
People found this helpful0
Aidan has been fantastic, stuck to his word and delivered to his promise. Very happy with Acorn and Aidan! I am sure they will deliver equally well during the... Read Full Review
Services : Letting( As a Owner )Date: 6th Nov 2017
Aidan has been fantastic, stuck to his word and delivered to his promise. Very happy with Acorn and Aidan! I am sure they will deliver equally well during the tenancy.
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Thanks for the review Andrea and glad you were happy with the service received. Andrew Roberts - Customer Relations...
We instructed Acorn to market ...
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1 Star Review
By : 'Ian' Services : Sales( As a Vendor ) Would you recommend ? : No Postcode : SE19
Oct 20, 2017
People found this helpful1
We instructed Acorn to market our flat in June. Laura was very helpful to complete the advert promptly, which looked very professional.
We were informed that Acorn already had several potential buyers ready to view the flat, so were very hopeful. We timed the sale of the flat with a holiday we had ... Read Full Review
Services : Sales( As a Vendor )Date: 20th Oct 2017
We instructed Acorn to market our flat in June. Laura was very helpful to complete the advert promptly, which looked very professional. We were informed that Acorn already had several potential buyers ready to view the flat, so were very hopeful. We timed the sale of the flat with a holiday we had booked, to enable the estate agents complete access at any time of the day. However, in the 3 weeks we were away, we had minimal communication from them, and it transpired we only had approximately 4 viewings. We were very disappointed, but understood that this could just be a slow period. Over the next couple of months, we had several viewings, but no offers. We were then asked to drop the price by £15k which we agreed to as we were informed the 'market was changing'. We then received our first offer which was a further £25k lower than our reduced price. We politely declined, but were pressured by Andrew and the team to accept quickly. We were reluctant to accept, as we had reliably been informed of a suitable price from several other agents. Instead, my wife was regularly pressured and backed into a corner, to the point that I asked for all communication to come through myself. The buyer eventually raised his offer to £5k lower than our reduced price, as he was supposedly a 'hot buyer' ready to move asap with no complications. Both Ricky and Andrew blatantly encouraged us to just accept the offer, and begin our own search for an onward purchase, with the belief that we could just pull out at any time if another buyer came with a better offer. Both my wife and I were astonished at the suggestion, and I promptly rejected the idea on professional and moral grounds. I was concerned that the buyer would be paying for searches and surveys under false pretences. It was clear that Acorn wished to string us along as their 3 month instruction was coming to an end and they had only found one buyer after 20 viewings. We regularly consulted our mortgage broker to ensure this offer could facilitate our next purchase, and we accepted after careful consideration. It was at this point that we began searching for our onward purchase, and were then informed that our buyer needed to remortgage his property. I questioned this, as we were led to believe his position was completely different. Instead, we were informed there is nothing to worry about, and it would be sorted in a weeks' time. We were understandably concerned and chased this up. Approximately a week later, Jack had confirmed that the remortgage was complete with no issues, and the buyer was patiently waiting for us to find our purchase. We called Acorn at least once weekly to ensure that the buyer was happy and all relevant people were kept informed of our progress. We eventually found our dream house, and promptly informed Acorn. This was on the basis that our buyer was ready to move, and we could therefore make a quick purchase too. Again, several other members of the Acorn team confirmed that the buyer's remortgage was complete and he had moved into his parent's property, ready and waiting for us. After completing our survey, and some searches and instructing our solicitors, things had progressed quite far. Suddenly, completely out of the blue, Jack then calls us to say there had been problems with our buyers remortgage and he was going to be a further £60k short of funds. We were understandably shocked and confused as we were regularly informed by most of the Acorn team that the remortgage was sorted months ago. Unfortunately, the buyer could not find another mortgage lender to facilitate the purchase of our flat so had to pull out. In turn, this meant that we lost our dream house and our vendors subsequent purchase was in jeopardy. We asked Jack to visit us rather than give excuses over the phone. He did, which we very much appreciated. However, it transpired that Acorn's financial advisor had massively overvalued the buyer's property, and they intentionally told him not to remortgage until we had found our onward purchase. The blatant lies, and guesswork from Acorn ultimately risked everyone's property purchases, which is unforgivable. They were very reluctant to accept any responsibility or give any apologies. The underhand practices of stringing people along with poor communication and lies should probably have been obvious to us when Ricky himself suggested accepting the offer with the intention of pulling out further down the line, but we naively trusted them. Jack repeatedly assured us for several weeks that there were no issues with the buyer. All we asked for was honesty and some integrity. I tried to inform Jack that the loss of our dream house has much wider implications, such as starting a new family, and planning to visit relatives abroad as well as changing careers. All these were planned on the basis that we would move early next year, but we are now in limbo, desperately trying to sell in possibly the worst season for property just before Christmas. Disappointingly, whilst Jack clearly tried to excuse himself from any wrongdoing, he was never supported or backed by Ricky. We heard or saw nothing from Ricky which is surprising from a branch manager when a complaint is raised.
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Dear Ian, I am very sorry to hear about your recent experience with our Crystal Palace office. I would like to investigate this internally and wondered if you could let me have the property address...
Dear Belinda.
Having you head ...
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5 Star Review
Belinda
By : 'Tim' Services : Sales( As a Vendor ) Sold price : £545000 Would you recommend ? : Yes Postcode : SE20
Mar 29, 2017
People found this helpful0
Dear Belinda.
Having you head our sale meant the difference. Good team work. Today, we finally exchanged, over 4 tortuous months after acceptance of offer. You kept your cool, constantly communicating with all parties and keeping us in the know. This is gave us comfort and the assurance we needed... Read Full Review
Tim and Victoria. said about Acorn Group Estate Agents
Services : Sales( As a Vendor )Date: 29th Mar 2017
Dear Belinda. Having you head our sale meant the difference. Good team work. Today, we finally exchanged, over 4 tortuous months after acceptance of offer. You kept your cool, constantly communicating with all parties and keeping us in the know. This is gave us comfort and the assurance we needed to get through this difficult sale. You are super trouper work horse with a heart of gold. Keep it up gal, and you just might find yourself at the helms in No. 10!!!. Cheers. Tim and Victoria.
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Absolutely fantastic at ...
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1 Star Review
By : 'Angrytenant' Services : Letting( As a Tenant ) Would you recommend ? : No Postcode : SE25
Aug 30, 2016
People found this helpful8
Absolutely fantastic at getting back to you ASAP to move you in and take your money. Non-existent after that. Endless emails and calls to try and get issues with the flat sorted and nothing all back from them. The conditions of us moving in were not met, that being we didn't want a broken fridge... Read Full Review
What agent could do to change your mind?
Bad, overpriced.
Professional cleaning fee for 2 people who took an entire day to mop a floor!
Comments on Agent Fees
Bad, overpriced.
Professional cleaning fee for 2 people who took an entire day to mop a floor!
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )Date: 30th Aug 2016
Absolutely fantastic at getting back to you ASAP to move you in and take your money. Non-existent after that. Endless emails and calls to try and get issues with the flat sorted and nothing all back from them. The conditions of us moving in were not met, that being we didn't want a broken fridge with a broken freezer in it. It took 3 weeks after moving in to get this despite it being a condition before moving in for it to be replaced. Move in date changed twice, they tried to change it a third time and I was having none of it. Move in day, cleaners were supposed to be gone by lunch time, we were then told sorry it'll be 4pm. I arrive at the station to a voicemail from Acorn saying sorry they're still there, can you come to the office to pick up the keys instead? So I walk all the way there to be told cleaners are still in the house and to go on to the flat anyway. I arrive and so does the removal man, we try and move things in with the cleaners still working they eventually left after 8pm! Upon closer inspection the house is still filthy. Stains on the walls, mould along taps and tiles, stained curtains and dust and dirt along the side of appliances. Professional cleaning? Don't make me laugh! Good thing we took pictures of this that are time and date stamped for proof. A month in and the boiler leaks and we are left with no hot water for a week, we contact Acorn and they say there is nothing they can do and we just have to wait. Any other issues we have reported and they tell us too bad contact your landlord....who is completely useless and never replies to messages (which is what we feared and why we went through an agency to begin with) Incompetent, unprofessional, unhelpful and completely clueless. You may as well take the risk and go private, they'll just tell you to contact the landlord in the end when things go wrong anyway. Stay away.
Oh and the cherry on top? Their Target Sales board displayed in between desks in clear view of the public showing, their push to close all their leads and chase sales. That says it all really, we're all a number. Nice.
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They rented me a property ...
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1 Star Review
Danielle
Katie
By : 'NH' Services : Letting( As a Tenant ) Would you recommend ? : No Postcode : SE26
Feb 5, 2014
People found this helpful57
They rented me a property without hot water, central heating and when the electricity went off I moved out.
I used the property as storage while they tried to sort.
After 4 months of living with my SO I moved out (I freelance and there was a death in my family meaning it bothered me less than... Read Full Review
What agent could do to change your mind?
See was nice and offered my fees back. But ultimately had no power and should never have letted the property unfinished.
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )Date: 5th Feb 2014
They rented me a property without hot water, central heating and when the electricity went off I moved out. I used the property as storage while they tried to sort. After 4 months of living with my SO I moved out (I freelance and there was a death in my family meaning it bothered me less than it would a young family).
- There is a dispute with the providers and they will not connect.
Acorn kept the agency fee and deposit. I am currently taking them to court. TDS adjudication does not apply to 'counter claims'.
No professional service was offered. On asking for example of their professional sevice for taking the hundreds of pounds in fees (for a storage cupboard in winter) - they hung-up.
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We had nothing but problems ...
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1 Star Review
By : 'MJ' Services : Letting( As a Tenant ) Would you recommend ? : No
May 31, 2011
People found this helpful7
We had nothing but problems from the start with Acorn. The girls at the local branch were fine, but any dealings with head office such as when the fridge broke down took weeks of us contacting them again and again to try and resolve the problem. Each time we called we had to repeat ourselves and... Read Full Review
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )Date: 31st May 2011
We had nothing but problems from the start with Acorn. The girls at the local branch were fine, but any dealings with head office such as when the fridge broke down took weeks of us contacting them again and again to try and resolve the problem. Each time we called we had to repeat ourselves and re-lay the information as they never seemed to have a record of our previous contacts.
On moving out of our property they were supposed to re-pay our deposit within 10 working days and inform us of any deductions they wished to make. 7 weeks on we have still not received our deposit back nor have they listed any deductions despite us contacting them on a weekly basis.Every time we contact them regarding this they seem to have an 'I don't give a S**t' attitude. We have now had to get the TDS involved. A stress which should never have happened.
Never let from this company!!!
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Utterly incompetent with an ...
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1 Star Review
By : 'melengi' Services : Letting( As a Tenant ) Would you recommend ? : No
Feb 8, 2011
People found this helpful5
Utterly incompetent with an attitude problem to boot. Uncontactable when you need them to do anything other than take money from... Read Full Review
Hello, I am sorry hear that about our staff. We are very well know for our friendly approchable staff, so I am surprised to hear this. Please give me a call on 020 8378 1211 to discuss the matter...
I'm currently renting my flat ...
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1 Star Review
By : 'andi' Services : Letting( As a Owner ) Would you recommend ? : No
Aug 2, 2010
People found this helpful7
I'm currently renting my flat with Acorn, thank god it's coming to the end of the lease, I can't wait to leave them as they've been horrendous. I'd never recommend Acorn to anyone else, the service has been beyond... Read Full Review
Services : Letting( As a Owner )Date: 2nd Aug 2010
I'm currently renting my flat with Acorn, thank god it's coming to the end of the lease, I can't wait to leave them as they've been horrendous. I'd never recommend Acorn to anyone else, the service has been beyond terrible.
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They have a VERY fast staff turnover, use people to do backlog work then get rid. Phones are constantly ringing so one is unable to carry out job role properly.
Need to start improving staffing...
My initial contact with Acorn ...
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1 Star Review
By : 'NotAHappyChappy' Services : Letting( As a Tenant ) Would you recommend ? : No
Jun 10, 2010
People found this helpful4
My initial contact with Acorn was August last year when I needed to find a new one-bed flat for myself only. I gave them my specification with particular emphasis that I wanted a long-term contract, min 3 years. No problem they said. I viewed a nice flat and agreed to take it. They said they would... Read Full Review
NotAHappyChappy said about Acorn Group Estate Agents
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )Date: 10th Jun 2010
My initial contact with Acorn was August last year when I needed to find a new one-bed flat for myself only. I gave them my specification with particular emphasis that I wanted a long-term contract, min 3 years. No problem they said. I viewed a nice flat and agreed to take it. They said they would try for 5 year tenancy and would speak to the landlord. I paid upfront
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Their attitude is very good ...
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4 Star Review
By : 'purple' Services : Sales( Prospective Vendor/Buyer ) Would you recommend ? : Yes
Apr 19, 2010
People found this helpful1
Their attitude is very good and act professionally and promptly. The agent we deal with is experienced and understand our goal well. She managed to acquire the price for seller to put the property off market and we match the offer and secure the offer! The agent website also updated immediately... Read Full Review
Their attitude is very good and act professionally and promptly. The agent we deal with is experienced and understand our goal well. She managed to acquire the price for seller to put the property off market and we match the offer and secure the offer! The agent website also updated immediately once the property is under offer.
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Did an estate agent at the branch write this themself as they are just another rogue estate agent happy to flog properties that are illegal conversions and advertise properties without having a HIP...
Kindly note that legally, letting agents need to publish information about their tenancy fees, government-approved redress schemes and client money protection schemes on their website and on third party websites (on which agents are listed). For properties to lease/rent in England, agents need to keep this information up to date and precise on allAgents or specify within the property description.
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Last updated at 11/30/2, 12:00:00 AM by allAgents
Awards won by Acorn Group Estate Agents, London SE19 3RW