“My friends and I feel completely cheated and let down ......”
1 Star Review
Aug 27,2015
By:
'Anna'
Aug 27,2015
Branch: London, 157 Hoe Street
Services: Lettings (Prospective customer)
Rent PCM: £1400
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: E17
Branch: London, 157 Hoe Street
Lettings (Prospective customer)
Rent PCM: £1400
Postcode: E17
65
people found
this helpful
My friends and I feel completely cheated and let down by this agency. I would advise others to think very carefully before using Victoria Knight, based on the treatment we received.
We were the first people to view this property in Walthamstow, were shown around and decided there and then outside the property that we wanted to take it. The agent drove us to the office immediately so we could sign the paperwork and have our documents photocopied (which we had brought along with us to be ultra organised).
The staff were friendly and seemed enthustiastic to help us with the letting process. The amount of information they required was staggering though - not just the usual passports/driving licenses etc but months and months worth of payslips (which involved a lot of to and fro over the following days), bills, wedding certificate of my friends, working visa (one friend is Canadian), references, years' worth of addresses, bank statements showing not just salary but expenditure for months and month - more than any agency since has requested. We were told we could offer £1300 a month for the property and it would be accepted since we were first - if someone else who was looking round later that day offered £1400, however, we may have to match their offer - were we comfortable doing this? We said we were. Victoria Knight had advertised the property at £1300 so we wondered why it could go up, but thought this must just be part of the competitive London market.
We paid £500 straight away to secure the flat and were informed of the (extortionate and questionable) further fees we would have to pay when we moved in. We agreed to all of this because we really wanted the property. We signed, dated the document and were informed that we would hear shortly about whether our references had checked out and when we could move in - we were given 7th September as the date.
Over the next few days, we were asked to provide further paperwork which my friend duely did, using her work hours to fax and email documents across. My friend also called the office and spoke to someone every single day that week, where she was told we were still waiting to hear from the landlord who is "very busy as he owns 400 properties". So we waited and waited. Thursday night caem (we had viewed the property on the Monday) my friend called again and they said they'd still heard nothing from the landlord.
Friday morning, my friend received a call from the agency telling her that she and her husband had to go into the office to meet the landlord that afternoon at 3:30pm. They had to leave work and make time, in the middle of the working day, to meet the landlord who had apparently only just decided to meet us. So my friends both dropped everything at work - one of them works in Colchester so had to drive to Walthamstow - to meet with him. Upon arrival, my friends were taken to another agency down the road, where they didn't meet the landlord but another agent who asked them some basic questions (e.g. if they had children or pets) then were told they'd find our soon (again) if we had the property. All of this had taken around 3 minutes - my friends were wondering what the h**l was going on by this stage. It turned out the 'landlord' (or the agent down the road acting on behalf of him) was meeting another couple that afternoon who put their bid in at £1400 (the price the landlord was actually charging) and they subsequently got the flat.
We found out a week after our viewing, the following Monday, that our request had been unsuccessful, at which point Victoria Knight tried to tell us they "liked us so much that they'd found us a better flat" we took a look at the online profile and it wasn't what we were after at all - not better and not meeting our specification a bit. We demanded our $500 back, which they did, and started our house search all over again, this time giving Victoria Knight a wide berth.
Whatever shady dealings went on in that week, we should never have been told the property was £1300 - every other agent we've met since says the house was always advertised at £1400. We shouldn't have had money taken off us if the 'competition' was still open, and they should have been up front with us about what was happening, not kept us waiting for a week. During that week, we suspended our house search, under the impression that the property would be ours - think of the opportunities we missed to find a home. We still don't know what the episode with the other agency down the road was about, but it all felt decidedly back-handed and dodgy - like agencies are striking deals with each other and taking a share of the fees for themselves.
Our experience with Victoria Knight has left us extra wary of agencies, in a climate which already fosters fear and suspicion in renters and buyers. My advice would be not to use this agency and any agencies you do work with to demand information about other viewers, transparent rental prcies and document requirements up-front. I wish readers luck with finding their homes!
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