Countrywide Residential Lettings

Customer Reviews  (Page 1 of 3)

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1. 

   A 1-star review by 'Not Very Happy! .com!' 1/2/2012

   Branch:

   1 Winkley Street

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Tenant)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   :-( Never ever go with this company!!! I have had tiles coming off behind my sink taps in my bathroom for near 2 years!! (Since I moved in) With a little 2 year old.... not a goood idea!!! Now trying to say I owe them money for my rent??? No idea! And have contacted my guarantor saying that I owe last months rent...... that has been payed????!!!
   Never ever again will I use Courtwide lettings after this experience!!!
   I have already had one flat from hell with them but thought they may have sorted themselfs out!! Obviously not!
   Never ever again!! Ever again!.....
   Be very aware!!!

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2. 

   A 1-star review by 'dantw' 31/1/2012

   Branch:

   21 Clifftown Road

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Tenant)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   countrywide what can i say.
   since november they have threatened to change my locks, have phoned me demanding money, sent numerous letters and are now taking me court for unpaid rent.
   the best part is they cant spell my name, and even better I DONT HAVE a tenancy agreement with them, and my landlord has no idea either.

   good business just charge random people rent for a house that you have nothing to do with.

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3. 

   A 1-star review by 'angrytenant' 24/1/2012

   Branch:

   131 Lichfield Street

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Tenant)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   Beyond Disappointing...

   1. Countrywide has some of the highest agent admin fees around to get into a rental property. Expect to spend serious £ £ £ .

   2. There is no month to month rolling allowed at the end of our 12 month contract. This has been a nightmare for us as we are trying to buy a house while avoiding another costly contract.

   3. Expect your annual lease renewal fees to double (ours went from £ 80 to £120 in 1 year). This is what they charge to print out and send last year's lease with a new date on it. Can you please justify this cost?

   4. Our upstairs tap... (read more)
   

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4. 

   A 1-star review by 'Frank Smith' 19/1/2012

   Branch:

   75 Westgate

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Landlord)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   Please do not use this agency or Frank Innes who acts as the letting agent, just read other reviews and you will see why.
   I have a list so long of complaints ,and they have ignored my emails. If anyone has an email or telephone number e of the Company Director or General manager I would be most grateful as these incompetent, unprofessional managers do not care, and there does not seem to be a complaint procedure to report situations to so this will carry on being a bad firm.

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5. 

   A 1-star review by 'ooshelley' 13/12/2011

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Tenant)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY: COUNTRYWIDE, AUSTIN & WYATT & MANN & CO are the same company.
   My husband & I rented our flat out (with Kivells very a good agency!) & rented a house through countrywide when we were expecting our first child. Their incompetence is outstanding how they get away with it I do not know. I had water dripping down from the loft I rang them & 3 days later some1 came & took photos. They then sent a plumber about another week later after several heated phone calls who said he fixed the leak we went away for 4 days & when we came home the... (read more)
   

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6. 

   A 1-star review by 'Darren' 6/12/2011

   Branch:

   113 Old Christchurch Road

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Tenant)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   As a tenant, and a customer the service I received was the worst I have ever had from any company. Basic repairs were not carried out for months, such that we could not even lock the doors or flush one of the toilets; the direct debit instruction was sent twice and came out of my bank account twice, yet I received no apology and was told to sort it out with the bank; and in breach of contract they changed the utility company we used and again no apology was given, with the branch simply blaming Head Office. The final inventory was completely different to the discussions had with the inventory clerk, whilst the I had at least two pages of amendments to the original inventory. It was an absolute nightmare and I would recommend any prospective tenant thinks three times before using them as they are the landlord's friend!

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7. 

   A 1-star review by 'Laura' 1/12/2011

   Branch:

   28 Norfolk House George Street

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Tenant)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   This agency is abysmal. My friend and I rent a property through one of their agents, King and Chasemore, based in Crawley, West Sussex. They are unwilling to help, never return our phone calls and generally treat us with disdain whenever we do contact them, whether the matter is regarding an issue with the property or if we simply require information from them. They are the most discourteous people I have ever come across, and their customer service skills are practically non-existent.
   We have had several issues with the property, the main one being that for four months during 2009 we had... (read more)
   

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   A 5-star review by 'Belinda' 27/11/2011

   Branch:

   9 Queens Road

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Landlord)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? Yes

   The agency was phenomenal. They took great care to ensure that my property was managed properly, they understood that it was my house but their attitude was "if it were my house, how would I feel ..." it was a very personal service that I received. I was quickly informed of any issues, and excellent advice was given as to the best course of action. Sam - who I dealt with - was extremely fair and made sure that whilst i undertook my own responsibilities, I wasn't taken for a ride in any way. Brilliant connections with workmen to ensure speedy resolution of any problems with the house, meant I knew it was always well looked after by the agency (if not always by the tenant). The attitude it was about what was the right thing - ensuring everyone was fair and proper to the agreements. I would recommend Countrywide - first class service, excellent communication, excellent property management and a very individual and personal service.

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9. 

   A 2-star review by 'Judith' 26/11/2011

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Landlord)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   I had some problems as the tenant did not maintain the garden and Countrywide did not ensure that this requirement was met. My main complaint is that at the end of the tenancy Countrywide changed the gas & electricity supplier from Scottish Power to EON without any reference to me. When they did this they gave the address for accounts as their own office, consequently the first I knew of the change was a letter from a debt collection agency to the house because of unpaid bills. Since the house was unoccupied this action was taken on the basis of estimated bills when no utilities had actually been used. As I live in South Africa this has caused me considerable time and expense to sort things out. Their office in Stockton told me "Oh, we do this as standard now and have our own team with EON" Other landlords beware as they obviously get a kick-back from all transfers!

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10. 

    A 1-star review by 'Angry tenant' 24/11/2011

    Branch:

    1 Euston Place

    Services:

    Lettings (as a Tenant)

    Experience:

    Would you use the agent again? No

    The worst agency ever! They are rude, unprofessional and just plain useless! They called me numerous times for apparently owing money to them, only to find out that it was a mistake from their behalf so effectively I was doing their inadequate job. They are useless in so many ways. I will really encourage people not to let any property from them and this are not words coming from my mouth but also from one of my colleagues who happened to rent a house with them.
    Once my hot water broke and I had to go to the agency twice to get fixed.
    Once I finish my tenancy, I will go to the Students Union and hopefully publish in the newspaper about how appalling their services are.
    Two words: Terrible Service.

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1. 

   A 1-star review by 'TickedOffLandlord' 22/11/2011

   Branch:

   66-70 London Road Stockton Heath

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Landlord)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   I used this agent for about 5 years, in various guises (Bridgfords, Countrywide), etc. There are not enough adjectives to describe what a terribly inadequate, unprofessional service they provided. The tenant was pretty bad, whch really exposed the limitations of the agents. Poor communication, misrepresentation of events, everyone blaming someone else, pathetically superficial house inspections. I ended up spending hundreds of hours arranging for repairs, etc., myself. I had the full management option, but when I asked the agent (several times) to call the Council to report low water pressure... (read more)
   

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2. 

   A 1-star review by 'AngryIsAnUnderestimate!' 12/11/2011

   Branch:

   4 Princes Building George Street

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Tenant)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   We dealt with Beresford Adams who are under the CWL umbrella. Me and my partner thought it was amazing at first, they were very polite and helped us look at the two bedroom flat we were interested in. The mistake we made was renting the property. We have just moved out of the property and it is such a huge relief. We had no hot water for the three years we lived there and where always fobbed off by BA, CWL and the landlords each saying that it wasn't their problem it was someone else's. The only hot water we had in the property was the electric shower which broke after 6 months of living... (read more)
   

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3. 

   A 1-star review by 'Angry' 2/11/2011

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Tenant)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   To start with the letting agent were great; friendly, co-operative - they would do anything to make sure that I rented the property. The mistake I made was paying them money. As soon as I had signed up and paid my deposit and 1st months rent, they just did not want ot know!!! I've been in the property just over 3 months and have no hot running water to the kitchen sink, the family bathroom is just a toilet as the shower has never worked, there is an elertical fault so we have no light also in the family bathroom, the ensuite shower (shared by a family of four with grown up children, very... (read more)
   

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4. 

   A 1-star review by 'ANGRY Danni' 11/10/2011

   Branch:

   1 Winkley Street

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Tenant)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   absolutely crap!!
   rude, incompitent, unprofessional and dishonest, i rented off countrywide/bridgfords for nearly 2 years and had nothing but trouble. if you want passing between staff none of which who know what they are doing, lost paerwork, no correspondence, wrong amounts of money taken from youre account and general rude unhelpful behaviour they will be perfect,
   add that to lies, lost keys and conversations and emails actually being denied they will make you feel unbelievably frustrated.
   my advise to tenants/landlords, go elsewhere
   my advise to bridgfords is revise what youre actual job is and start again!

   proof of how much this company actually cares is right here...not 1 reply to 70 complaints.

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5. 

   A 1-star review by 'annoyed' 11/10/2011

   Branch:

   1 Winkley Street

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Tenant)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   absolutely horrendous, lazy, incompitent, un organised...shall i carry on!! spent 2 years renting through bridgfords in preston and they never failed to cock up the task given, they never called back, replied to queeries or even admitted to speaking to me! D, N and team need to take a course in 'customer service'.
   to sum up..if you want to get ripped off, ignored, and have youre correspondence denied go with bridgfords, oh and dont forget they will keep youre deposit at the end of the lease as they will insist they have never recieved the property keys back! although they should chat to each other as half the team admits to receiving the envelope whilst the other insists they havent!!

   good luck wi this one.

   not a happy customer from preston.

   not a happy landlord...

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   A 1-star review by 'Smoky Joe' 10/10/2011

   Branch:

   26 Hallgate

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Tenant)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   Very nasty experience. I would never use this agent again.

   It would be very boring to list every problem, but if you just think in terms of lazy and rude staff who have no interest in the tenant at all and bungle basic admin tasks, you will not be far wrong.

   They are a large agency and have many interesting properties, but if you use them you will be taking a massive risk. Trust me.

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   A 1-star review by 'Alison' 3/10/2011

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Landlord)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   DO NOT use this agent

   I have had two years of hell. Never speak to the same person. They never the right number to call. They do nothing for their management fee.

   I have just had solicitors chase me up for an invoice they were supposed to be dealing with. 2 years this invoice was outstanding and the first I heard of this was a summons to court. I asked the company who were unpaid and they said that they have been writing to Countrywide for 2 years to ask for the payment. I was totally unaware that this bill was unpaid. I NEVER leave bills unpaid and I was really upset.

   Now I have... (read more)
   

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   A 1-star review by 'Angie' 30/8/2011

   Branch:

   25 Skinnergate

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Landlord)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   Absolutely awful company. Have been letting my 3 bed detached property in Darlington for almost 2 years. The first tenant did a midnight bunk without paying his rent for 2 months, had made so much damage and received so many £25 letters that there was no deposit left. So for the next set of tenants we requested working professionals, they put in a so called professional couple with a child who have been hit and miss with rent payments through out the 18 months they have lived there. Currently they have not paid for 2 months and have made 6 phone calls to Countrywide to get the legal protection for non payment of rent started as we live somewhere else and need the rent to pay the mortgage, but they are still not answering the questions about this. Will be putting this house on the market as soon as we have given 2 months notice to our now squatters, never going to go through this company again. No doubt will get ripped off again and not see a penny of the deposit.

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   A 1-star review by 'litterbox' 28/8/2011

   Branch:

   Unit Z First Floor The Galleries

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Tenant)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   As long as a person as to do 'something' they charge a MINIMUM of £25. Everything from a bit of dust to return of money accidentally paid to them. Even the landlord is charged for duplicate tenancy documents at the start of a new tenancy, when all it cost is probably about £25 for a few button presses, paper and electricity. A total of £250 to renew the agreement. As an ex-landlord I was hellishly surprised that it would cost this much and surprised that the landlord was charged as well. As a money making machine it works, as value and service to the customer it's very POOR value for money.

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10. 

    A 1-star review by 'Unhap' 23/8/2011

    Branch:

    127 Albert Road

    Services:

    Lettings (as a Tenant)

    Experience:

    Would you use the agent again? No

    I would advise anyone to avoid this company at all costs. Apart from all the charges they throw at you my main complaint is with the inventory system they use. When they check the flat at the start of the agreement all seems fine, no problem. Then at the end when they check again they check in many more places and much more thoroughly. It appears they are just looking for an excuse to charge you. I was charged £60 cleaning for dust on the sideboards and dirt in the washing machine (which I never used, never even opened the door) plus a £60 charge for "Administrative charge for invoking dilaps process". Hopefully all this will back fire on them because I, and I am sure many others, will never use this company again.

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1. 

   A 1-star review by 'Catherine' 18/8/2011

   Branch:

   37 Micklegate

   Services:

   Lettings (Prospective customer)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   Just called up to ask about a property and asked for information for the fee's involved...
   £150 for the tenancy agreement
   £75 pp for a credit check
   £90 admin fee
   £50 for something else, I stopped the guy on the phone from talking at this stage! £440 for fee's?!?!?! No wonder that house is still vacant, even though the monthly rent is great the initial fee's make it totally unrealistic. It would take us 3 months to make that money back in saved rent!

   Wish i could contact the landlord directly!

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2. 

   A 4-star review by 'stargirl' 16/8/2011

   Branch:

   1 Euston Place

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Tenant)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? Yes

   The office staff were wonderful helping me out when I was in a most distressing situation. i needed somewhere to live very quickly. I now am living in a perfect house. I would like to thank them for their help, support and communication throughout the process.

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3. 

   A 5-star review by 'happy' 14/8/2011

   Branch:

   1 Euston Place

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Landlord)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? Yes

   Having read all the disappointing reviews above, I am glad to say that I received an outstanding service from the branch in Leamington Spa. My tenants were found very quickly, and the whole process was efficient and painless, the staff were friendly. I hope this continues....

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4. 

   A 5-star review by 'Mike' 13/8/2011

   Branch:

   1 Winkley Street

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Landlord)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   I'd like to have rated them 0 stars, but was prevented from doing so.

   Ironically, as a direct result of dealings with them, I decided that I could do a better job and now run a lettings agency elsewhere.

   We had two flats with them in a new development (at the time) and they took an inordinate amount of time to let them. They pressurised us into marketing at a rent higher than we needed on unencumbered flats, supposedly because otherwise we'd be "lowering the development's value"

   Since we were not local investors, we took a lot on trust and we were left with the distinct... (read more)
   

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   A 1-star review by 'Amanda' 13/8/2011

   Branch:

   9 High Street

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Landlord)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   Where do I start??? Firstly, one star is way too much.
   Two years of complete mishandling with regard inspections. Gave them the benefit the first year, added written and verbal agreements to contract to inspect the property 4 times during this last year. How many times was the property inspected by Countrywide?? NONE!! 0000! Zero!!!
   And what was there excuse??? "Computer error" "A slight mistake" "It's not our fault"
   And, when I said I'd had enough and was taking the property away from them, the senior lettings agency manager said "Cool"

   Amazing!!
   I agree, if you want to stay sane, NEVER use Countrywide IOW.

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6. 

   A 2-star review by 'Lauren' 2/8/2011

   Branch:

   70 Bradshawgate

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Tenant)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   What credit checking company do countrywide use as i have been told so many horror stoires about them? any ex tenants pleace can you advise me.

   Thanks

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7. 

   A 1-star review by 'BRIGHT' 6/7/2011

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Landlord)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   It has been a very stressful two years with these estate agents and have caused us lot of anxiety and grief. They make their own rules and regulations and will try to make life difficult for you as a landlord no matter how .
   Our tenant has also had a difficult time with them and will not use them again. No wonder many rental properties and sales are veering away from them.
   They don't deserve even a single star rating.

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8. 

   A 1-star review by 'EX CRL Customer' 21/6/2011

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Tenant)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   Just one bit of advice.................AVOID these cowboys like the plague unless you want to lose a lot of money through their total incompetences

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   A 1-star review by 'bmtg' 14/6/2011

   Services:

   Lettings (as a Landlord)

   Experience:

   Would you use the agent again? No

   Beware of using Countrywide letting agents, they have so too many offices doing different tasks i.e Austin & Wyatt Southsea find the tenant, Mann & co do the maintenance, statements are sent from Mansfield and Legal Dept is just another office in Nottingham, Southsea branch do not explain how the Co operate so beware, read all their forms before you sign any agreement with Countrywide.

   They are so expensive they take monies from clients for things I never heard of i.e top up reserve £100.00 to £200.00 just held by them in case repairs are needed, another charge is monthly deposit scheme due about £2.00 p.m their inventory check out costs landlord £110.00 + v.a.t Inventory make/update£115.00 +v.a.t. and many more fees they will charge .

   Out of my first monthly rent of £600.00 I ended up OWING Austin & Wyatt £37.00, so beware as to what you are signing up to. Their sales technique is good so do query each item before you sign a agreement with Austin & Wyatt.

   Disappointed client living overseas.

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10. 

    A 1-star review by 'ugis' 8/6/2011

    Branch:

    108 Whiteladies Road

    Services:

    Lettings (as a Tenant)

    Experience:

    Would you use the agent again? No

    Horrible. Everything is really nice until you hand over your money. After they become so greedy. Charging you for things you haven't broken, not providing anything they're supposed to. Takes ages to get the deposit back, with mystical deductions.

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