Duck and Hedges
Customer Reviews
Reviewed by pavlov's dog on 29th May 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 3P1.AWC.WYW.3B1
Duck & Hedges managed to move in two new tenants a WEEK before my flatmate and I were due to move out... Cue coming back from a day out with two strange men standing in the living room and all of our belongings piled up in one of the bedrooms.
This was the straw that broke a mangy camel of tenancy disasters. While our property wasn't 'managed' by D&H, the tenancy procedures (both beginning and end) were painful beyond belief.
The astonishing incompetence wasn't quite as hard to swallow as the rudeness that accompanied it. When showing around prospective tenants, the agents would barge in unannounced. They also lost their key and hounded us with calls throughout the day to demand we be in when it suited their house viewings.
Reviewed by Samwell on 28th May 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 3P1.AWC.WYW.3B1
Never could I have imagined a poorer service. Con artist doesn't really do D&H justice. Very helpful until contract signed then appalling. We also paid a large sum for them to 'manage the property' which was money for nothing as they manage nothing and don't help with any problems. When we moved into the property this is what we found:
a) toilet didn't flush
b) windows wouldn't shut
c) shower didn't work properly
d) no shower curtains or curtains in general
e) furniture had not been made
they finally fixed the toilet after 2 weeks and everything else we needed to do ourselves
currently our kitchen sink does not drain and fills up with disgusting water when the washing machine is on. They have so far suggested we use a plunger and now we are unable to contact them at all!
Please God don't use these jokers!
Commented by Duckpower on the 18th June 2009
That's terrible! Nearlly as bad as our experience below. The only way Duck and Hedges will ever learn is if you complain. Really boring but otherwise they will just get away with murder. ripping of tenants, landlords and builders alike. Please contact The Property Ombudsmen (www.tpos.co.uk). There are several forms to complete,
Reviewed by Freddie on 8th May 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: SLL.UNU.SM9.TTD
Helpful and friendly until contract is signed, then you will find them extremely unprofessional, ie, dont answer phones or reply to emails, takes up to two weeks to even sort out boiler issues in middle of winter and then they will send people in without your consent or permission when it suits them. As for their fees its daylight robbery and dont bank on getting back your deposit in a hurry, they will drag it out as long as possible in my case seven weeks, thats what left of it once they help themselves to unnecessary petty deductions, be warned people, very warned, i wish i had read some of these reviews before signing contract. I am so glad i am shot of these tossers as they have caused me much stress and ripped me off with deposit. I am now in a much nicer place which i found through a very nice sympathetic agency with minimum fee and good supportive follow up so take heart Londoners there are good guys out there unlike the duck and hedges cowboys.....
Reviewed by Duckshooter - Hedgecutter on 23rd April 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9U.UD9.TND.UTD
Reviewed by Jim on 20th March 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: S97.TDT.T7Z.T7D
I'm quite shocked to see some of these reviews. I've had some very bad experiences with Estate Agents - Duck and Hedges are by no means the worst. I'm in a slightly different situation as the property found through D&H is managed by a very consciencious landlady so I don't have any experience of D&H as managing agents.
However, I must say that D&H went out of their way to find us a property matching our needs and processed the letting agreement in a week with very little trouble. I had no problem with their staff and all went well. In fact, they even dealt with a worried landlady who was double checking everything.
It sounds like some people have had a bad time, but some of the reviews sound a bit unfair.
Commented by Samwell on the 28th May 2009
It's not the finding of the property that is the problem with D&H, in fact they're very proficient at that. It's just that once they have got you in there they are no use to you what so ever and will leave you high and dry. It sounds like you got lucky with a decent landlady, but D&H 'manage' our property which means we don't get to speak to the landlord (or D&H to be honest) but we pay extra for the 'service'.
Reviewed by thebeesknees on 17th March 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9FJ.JRX.JIF.9EJ
Reviewed by Pleasant Suprise on 7th March 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: 9QE.9VR.J3V.9BJ
After reading these reviews I planned to steer well clear of these guys, however, after calling a unmarked ad it turned out to be them, an as alot of the stuff i had seen so far had been such a let down I decided to go and have a look. After a little mix up with the meeting, I was shown round the flat to which I was annoyingly very interested in. This posed a dilemma. After a bit of thought I made the choice to go with it. The signing over process was not too bad and after a few well placed questions, all the info I required was fairly readily offered up, and done so in a courteous enough manner. Since then I have fully signed and moved in and had no problems, bar a small amount of dust from slightly rushed cleaning, but I've certainly experienced worse. Overall I was very happy with the whole procedure, perhaps this was as I was expecting the worst, but I have dealt with hundreds of agents in the past and can honestly say that there are alot worse out there. If anything changes I'll post otherwise but until then.. although Ive been up north for the past week though so lets hope the apartment has not blown up :-)
Reviewed by JaneLane on 24th February 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: JFB.EJ3.9FV.9QE
I recently had some very minor maintenance work that needed doing in my flat - it was a five minute job that took nearly a month for the agents to sort out. However, it was not merely that they were sitting in their office twiddling their thumbs (although this did count for quite a large part of it) , when they bothered to do anything it took on the character of a total and utter cock up. I have never come across such an unfailing ability to take a request and strip away all the useful information that comes with it - never mind the fact that it ended up taking four weeks of this kind of carelessness and stupidity to see any results.
Reviewed by charlotte on 24th February 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: UZG.TNG.S9M.UMG
To begin with we were very pleased with Duck and Hedges thay found us the perfect flat in the perfect area. We were sold the property at a price which included heating and hot water :-). We signed a holding contract and gave a deposit. The second amount of money then also came out, this was fine. We then organised a meeting to come and give all our information i.e bank statements, only to be informed that the property did not include heating or hot water at the price we had offered which was not discussed with us at the time of viewing, therefore they had miss-sold us the property.
So obviously we were not happy and although we discussed this they would not budge. After having to give in to this point it came to the moving day. I arrived at the office to pick up the keys, my parents were traveling up from the south coast to help me move, only to find that we had been given 1 key, that is 1 key for two people and two front doors. So we could not enter the property without constantly buzzing up to the other flats and hoping they were in, this was less than satisfactory, we were told that they would call us back by 2pm which is the time that they closed on a Saturday, obviously we didn't hear anything. We moved on the Saturday and didn't actually get the other keys until the next Monday.
Luckily Duck and Hedges are not managing the property as I would not want to deal with all these problems throughout the whole tenancy and I am pleased to say that the landlors company is a pleasure to deal with.
Reviewed by Nosferatu on 20th February 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: JFB.9XR.JRX.9VQ
Appalling service. The whole company is disorganised and doesnt care about their clear lack of effort in resolving tenancy issues. I, like most others reviewing D&H, have never written about lettting agents before but was compelled to after months of them not resolving things like lack of running water, broken fittings and furnishings. We had issues throughout our tenancy and they were never efficient in resolving as well as being very difficult to talk to or even reply to emails. Got totally shafted with the deposit too, I'm thinkning of taking them to court so anyone else had the same experince we could team up?
Commented by J on the 21st February 2009
Hi Please write to ARLA the only way Greg and Wayne will learn if legal action is taken against them. I have complained to ARLA and will take them to the small claims court. Your deposit shoudl be secure in the Tenants Deposit Scheme if yu complain to them you can receive it back! I would like to bring a joint claim
Commented by Duckshooter - Hegecutter on the 23rd April 2009
The comment made that the only way that this crowd will ever learn is spot on. They can only do so much damage in the letting process but whatever you do never rent a flat that they manage. Their are not words in the English language to describe Duck and Dodges.
I am bringing a County Court action against them for specific performance and damages because ex-employees of Duck and Dodges have told me this is the only way to get their attention. I would be happy to make this a class action i.e. with other partyies acting with me or to receive evidence in support.
It may be that we are all too late because on Monday all the emails bounced back and the fax and telephone was not being answered. i sent someone around to their premises on Tuesday morning and they were closed and all the property details had been removed from the window. greg was hiding in the back and refused to answer the locked door. It looks as though they have gone bust as their ex-staff have forecast they would but they are probably planning a phoenix operation.
They have my deposit
Help!!!
Commented by DuckPate on the 18th June 2009
Did you get your deposit back? If not write to Duck and Hedges, within 14 days they must tell you they placed the deposit. Its normally with the Tenants Deposit Scheme who will act as a third party to get your money back! Alternatively, provide your name and the scheme will tell you if they hold the money.... http://www.mydeposits.co.uk
Reviewed by Greg on 16th February 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Landlord)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9U.UGT.TD7.UZD
Terrrible service. incorrect bills, failure to return phone calls. Agressive when you go to their office, theatening behaviour.
Commented by J on the 18th February 2009
Can I suggest you write to Greg Hedges and request his complaints proceedure and timeframe for him to respond and then register the complaint with ARLA (Association of Rental Letting Agents) .We can then have this accreditation removed so that we can warn other tenants and landlords not to work with Duck & Hedges.
Reviewed by Richard on 3rd February 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9QR.EIB.JBX.9IE
I have never written an online review before but this company makes my blood boil.
We found the perfect flat in Clapham, which we're very happy with. It was a shame we had to deal with these con artists who have no knowledge of landlord/tennent law and openly broke it with their lies and incompetence.
We signed over a deposit, only to find lots of hidden fees were then put ontop with no indicator given of such fees when we'd actually signed our money away. Moving in issues were: Not enough sets of keys, leaking sinks, changing the bank account the rent was to be paid into with zero warning and when we moved in the fridge and freezer were both broken. They took over a month to replace it, constantly blaming the landlord, or the contractor without ever taking any responsibility to getting it sorted. We were lied to, fobed off, and I had to phone them every single day to make sure they were dealing with the issue. Everytime I rang them I was given the same old line "I was just this minute about to chase that up". I heard that every single day for almost three weeks with zero progress. Did they think we were going to just go away?
Anyway, the good news is that one of their biggest clients who rented properties through them has recently fired them, and we have a new agent. They have been a breath of fesh air throughout the transition period appologising on behalf of D&Hs, and saying they will offer a much better service. So far so good.
Stay away from these jokers. I have used 8 different agents in the past and D&H are in a league of their own.
Reviewed by Disappointed on 8th December 2008
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9N.ULL.SLT.TNZ
Every dealing with Duck and Hedges has been met with rudeness, incompetence, inefficiency and lies.
We encountered several problems when moving in, with extra fees and broken promises because the agent was 'new' and didn't realise despite us very clearly asking what the fees were (and having this in writing) - a complete bunch of lies to lock us into an 8 month contract.
Their property management service is a complete joke. It is absurd to pay £180 a year for the worst customer service I’ve experienced in my life. Every issue lodged is met with they ‘can’t get hold of the contractor' or they are 'very busy in the office'.
I would never normally actively discourage people from using a particular business; however, numerous dealings with this appalling agency have forced me to do so. Save yourself the frustration, avoid Duck and Hedges.
Commented by greg on the 18th February 2009
I am taking Duck and Hedges to Court! They have a complaints proceedure to follow. Please do the same.
Reviewed by jprescott on 11th November 2008
Services: Lettings (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: SZN.UZ7.UMD.TGG
STAY AWAY FROM DUCK & HEDGES!!! They are the most INCOMPETENT bunch of muppets I have had the misfortune to deal with. Totally unprofessional, dishonest and good luck getting your money back in a timely fashion from these jokers. Who knows, I may get a ‘copy and paste’ response too just like the other folks who’ve had the unpleasantness of dealing with them.
Reviewed by Jim on 6th November 2008
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: TUL.UD9.SMD.UL9
incompetent or con artists, i'm not sure. I wonder if my comment will trigger another copy and paste response from Alex.
Reviewed by Very Satisfied on 6th October 2008
Services: Lettings (as a Landlord)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: S9U.UGL.UML.UGN
They helped me and my house mates move into our new four bedroom property with a great deal of professionalism and understanding. I won't say it was hassle free (when is moving house!) but it is certainly the best estate agent move we have ever had. The admin team really kept us informed all the way though the process. I just felt compelled to right this review as we have had some hideous experiences before. Well done duck and hedges!
Commented by tania on the 8th December 2008
No doubt the work of Duck and Hedges...
I can't imagine someone ever saying anything good about this letting agent.
Commented by SW on the 21st February 2009
To move in, Yeah, they are very friendly and professional. Hope they will keep like this, not wishing you any bad but they are evil and I will not be surprised to see you here soon with very bad reviews!! Good Luck.
Commented by JaneLane on the 24th February 2009
do you work for Duck and Hedges?
Commented by Alex on the 24th February 2009
Clearly this site uses IP addresses so that agents can't write their own reviews! We are actively encouraging our tenants to review on this site so we can get accurate feedback even though in most cases the only people that are going to go to the trouble of writing a review are going to be the people that had have some trouble along the way.
Thanks
Reviewed by Not happy on 29th September 2008
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: JFX.9CB.9JQ.9JR
Totally useless and incompetent. I wish I had read the other online reviews first. I have never written an online review in my life, but felt it necessary. I would avoid them at all costs. I know estate agents don't have the best reputation for service, but this is new level. Admin team is impossible to get a hold off, are rude and unhelpful. They take no responsibility for the representations they make and hide behind the fine print. Without a doubt the worst experience I have had letting a place in London.
Commented by Alex Savill on the 7th October 2008
Dear "Not Happy",
We take the satisfaction of our clients extremely seriously. It is regrettable you have experienced a lower level of service then we would like. We offer our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Please contact me to discuss the matter so we can investigate why you experienced a poor level of service and the changes we can make to ensure this does not happen again.
Yours Sincerely
Alex Savill
Lettings Manager @ Duck&Hedges Ltd
Reviewed by Furious Tenant on 10th September 2008
Services: Lettings (as a Tennant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9N.UMZ.UDZ.UGN
After handing over money and signing the contract their professionalism seemed to go out the window. Moved into the flat which had not been cleaned, furniture falling apart, broken boiler and missing keys. It took a week and numerous phone calls and emails to sort out things out and during that time, the staff were rude and not at all understanding. They see money and they lose site of client satisfaction. What ever you do, avoid them but if you do use them...dont let them walk all over you! Unfortunately I have a contract to live out, and I hope nothing goes wrong as I dont want to have to deal with them to much.
Commented by Alex Savill on the 7th October 2008
Dear "Furious Tenant",
We take the satisfaction of our clients extremely seriously. It is regrettable you have experienced a lower level of service then we would like. We offer our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Please contact me to discuss the matter so we can investigate why you experienced a poor level of service and the changes we can make to ensure this does not happen again.
Yours Sincerely
Alex Savill
Lettings Manager @ Duck&Hedges Ltd
Commented by UNCHUFFED. on the 27th April 2009
Would be ok, if any of you were actually properly qualified or certified to run a Lettings agents.
You lot couldn't run a bath between you .
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Estate Agent Information
Duck and Hedges
Duck&Hedges is a fresh, forward thinking, family run business based in Clapham Common dealing with lettings and management of all residential properties across south London.
Offices / Branches
Services
- Lettings
Commented by justiceforrenters on the 18th June 2009
The only way Duck and Hedges will ever learn is if you complain to the Association of Residential Lettings Agents (ARLA) or the National Federation of Property Professionals (www.nfopp.co.uk). If you complaint concerns financial concerns (deposits, rent not returned) then contact The Property Ombudsmen (www.tpos.co.uk). There are several forms to complete, however, if no one takes action Duck and Hedges will continue to offer this appalling service.
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