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Oct 09,2015
Oct 09,2015
3
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Firstly, all Countrywide Landlords, did you know that Countrywide (or is it Bridgefords) do a deal with energy providers. When a tenant leaves your property, they switch your energy provider - getting a back-hander from the energy company as they now have your next tenants business. Currently in the North West area, they change you over to Spark and yes, they put you with an expensive provider on an expensive tariff. Is that underhand?
So, what have Countrywide done to me. I have rented out with Countrywide for over 10 years. Up until a couple of years ago, didn't really have too many problems but now it seems that the staff are quite willing to lie and do underhand tricks.
So, verbally, the Tenant has 2 little dogs and you complete the contract only to find that there are 3 big dogs. The tenant told them very clearly that there were 3. Oh no, says Cathy, I quite clearly told you that there were 3. Instead of sorting it out with the Landlord, Cathy goes and tells the Tenant that I'm not happy with her for keeping 3 dogs at the house. Next of course comes the tenant saying do you want me to move out? Nice customer service Cathy.
Time to pick up the keys from a vacated house - oh yes says boy (name omitted cause he's only an apprentice) the keys are here. Into Preston centre goes the wife and speaks to Monique. Monique has a look and says no, no keys here. But he told me just 15 minutes ago that they are here (pointing at boy). Monique says go and get the keys boy. Of course, boy turns up red faced. "Can't find them". Wife has to go back home.
Finally, "yes, we've got the keys". We'll drop them at the Bamber Bridge office to "save you a journey". They'll be there before 17:30.
I fought through the traffic that night to pick up the keys and... they weren't there.
The lady of that office then phoned up Cathy who said that she would drop them in my house I clarified "going to drop them at my house" Yes, says the lady in the office. I went home and waited - for nothing. The following day, wife phones Cathy who denies point blank that she said she was going to drop them at our house. Once again, makes the promise that she will drop them in at the Bamber Bridge office for my Wife to collect.
Wife went into the Bamber Bridge office and yes, this time the keys are waiting but, "oh, do you remember my husband coming in on his motorbike?", yes? and where did Cathy say she was going to take the keys? "she said she was going to drop them in at your house". Never mind Cathy, getting used to the way you are. I'm not going to deal with you without everything going down in writing in future.
My wife has just withdrawn from Countrywide Lettings and re-let through Holdens as she felt they dealt with the rental in the most appalling manner.
Other arguments? Gas certificates. Gas Engineers say, "oh, be right if it goes a couple of weeks over". Countrywide say, must be 2 weeks before. I manage my properties myself. My gas certs are done to the exact date and I keep 7 years copies as advised by Gas Safe. Countrywide "forget to remind me they are due for renewal and just send their contractors in 2 weeks before I get my done on the correct date. Then they try to charge me for them :) Yes, we've had discussions over that one. Why should I lose 2 weeks gas cert every year and pay them extra for a gas cert I get done for £40 rather than their £75?
Other incidents where my tenant phones them to report a problem, they send someone out to fix it without asking me (when I manage the property myself) and think I should pay (more costs to them). One problem took them 3 weeks to report to me - but it was only a toilet leaking all over the place, and that is why I manage my own properties.
The list of my problems with countrywide is very long. Needless to say that up until now, they have always been very quick to find me a tenant. Even this efficiency is starting to reduce. The standard of their tenants are dropping and they now try to place you with Tenants who have medical problems and the tenant is the agency that is trying to house these people. If they do this, you are not insured and there is likely to be damage done to your house. * This is very much at your own risk - as I said, you are not insured!
And my final finding with Countrywide. Did you know that if your tenant pays late that they get charged a fee. Is this fee passed onto you, the person who is missing out on the biggest part of the rental income? Not likely. Countrywide don't want you to know that they are ripping your tenant off and not passing late fees onto you.
Actually, one other, at the end of the annual tenancy agreement, instead of paying another years admin fee to these robbers, go onto a rolling contract. The original contract still stands, the tenant needs to give you one months notice, you give them 2 months notice. Financially, you and the tenant save £175 each per year!
I've said my piece on this one now (bout bl**dy time I hear you say). Yes, I currently have 3 houses all on Tenant introduction only through Countrywide, I am always learning sneaky new tricks that they have and when they fail to get a new tenant within a 2 week period, I will drop them like a stone!
So, what have Countrywide done to me. I have rented out with Countrywide for over 10 years. Up until a couple of years ago, didn't really have too many problems but now it seems that the staff are quite willing to lie and do underhand tricks.
So, verbally, the Tenant has 2 little dogs and you complete the contract only to find that there are 3 big dogs. The tenant told them very clearly that there were 3. Oh no, says Cathy, I quite clearly told you that there were 3. Instead of sorting it out with the Landlord, Cathy goes and tells the Tenant that I'm not happy with her for keeping 3 dogs at the house. Next of course comes the tenant saying do you want me to move out? Nice customer service Cathy.
Time to pick up the keys from a vacated house - oh yes says boy (name omitted cause he's only an apprentice) the keys are here. Into Preston centre goes the wife and speaks to Monique. Monique has a look and says no, no keys here. But he told me just 15 minutes ago that they are here (pointing at boy). Monique says go and get the keys boy. Of course, boy turns up red faced. "Can't find them". Wife has to go back home.
Finally, "yes, we've got the keys". We'll drop them at the Bamber Bridge office to "save you a journey". They'll be there before 17:30.
I fought through the traffic that night to pick up the keys and... they weren't there.
The lady of that office then phoned up Cathy who said that she would drop them in my house I clarified "going to drop them at my house" Yes, says the lady in the office. I went home and waited - for nothing. The following day, wife phones Cathy who denies point blank that she said she was going to drop them at our house. Once again, makes the promise that she will drop them in at the Bamber Bridge office for my Wife to collect.
Wife went into the Bamber Bridge office and yes, this time the keys are waiting but, "oh, do you remember my husband coming in on his motorbike?", yes? and where did Cathy say she was going to take the keys? "she said she was going to drop them in at your house". Never mind Cathy, getting used to the way you are. I'm not going to deal with you without everything going down in writing in future.
My wife has just withdrawn from Countrywide Lettings and re-let through Holdens as she felt they dealt with the rental in the most appalling manner.
Other arguments? Gas certificates. Gas Engineers say, "oh, be right if it goes a couple of weeks over". Countrywide say, must be 2 weeks before. I manage my properties myself. My gas certs are done to the exact date and I keep 7 years copies as advised by Gas Safe. Countrywide "forget to remind me they are due for renewal and just send their contractors in 2 weeks before I get my done on the correct date. Then they try to charge me for them :) Yes, we've had discussions over that one. Why should I lose 2 weeks gas cert every year and pay them extra for a gas cert I get done for £40 rather than their £75?
Other incidents where my tenant phones them to report a problem, they send someone out to fix it without asking me (when I manage the property myself) and think I should pay (more costs to them). One problem took them 3 weeks to report to me - but it was only a toilet leaking all over the place, and that is why I manage my own properties.
The list of my problems with countrywide is very long. Needless to say that up until now, they have always been very quick to find me a tenant. Even this efficiency is starting to reduce. The standard of their tenants are dropping and they now try to place you with Tenants who have medical problems and the tenant is the agency that is trying to house these people. If they do this, you are not insured and there is likely to be damage done to your house. * This is very much at your own risk - as I said, you are not insured!
And my final finding with Countrywide. Did you know that if your tenant pays late that they get charged a fee. Is this fee passed onto you, the person who is missing out on the biggest part of the rental income? Not likely. Countrywide don't want you to know that they are ripping your tenant off and not passing late fees onto you.
Actually, one other, at the end of the annual tenancy agreement, instead of paying another years admin fee to these robbers, go onto a rolling contract. The original contract still stands, the tenant needs to give you one months notice, you give them 2 months notice. Financially, you and the tenant save £175 each per year!
I've said my piece on this one now (bout bl**dy time I hear you say). Yes, I currently have 3 houses all on Tenant introduction only through Countrywide, I am always learning sneaky new tricks that they have and when they fail to get a new tenant within a 2 week period, I will drop them like a stone!
What agent could do to change your mind?
Customer service is more important than you realise. Be more efficient. Realise who your customer is. Realise where your money is coming from. Customer service. Stop lying. Customer service. Get the facts instead of reporting what you think. Customer service. Get a CRM and proper tenancy housing computer system. Customer service. This market is getting much bigger and you have gone from being the biggest and best to one of the worst. Oh, and did I mention that your customer service is appalling.Attached Filesnbsp;
Comment on agent fees
Starting up fees are above others but as up to now, you have always found me good tenants, quickly, am happy to pay this. Everything after this is overpriced and in numerous cases down right underhand and these grind very heavily on the back of my mind. If everything after check-in were perfect, higher costs are acceptable but as everything after check-in is appalling, they are not.
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Opening Hours
Address
Countrywide Residential Lettings
1 Winkley Street
Preston
Lancashire
PR1 2AA
01772 258317
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lettings | 100% | 50% | £430 | £650 |
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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Mar 22,2016
Mar 22,2016
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Rented a house, while sorting out a new house and flats for myself. Was the worst company i have ever dealt with, so decided that i would go to a different letting agency for my flats. Once i bought my house over a month later ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Had no idea about fees until i got a letter through the door.Since i paid for the boiler and the fence to be repaired. Apparently the boiler was too old to fix? I got someone who fixed it in less than an hour.Attached Filesnbsp;
Comment on agent fees
Had no idea about fees until i got a letter through the door.Since i paid for the boiler and the fence to be repaired. Apparently the boiler was too old to fix? I got someone who fixed it in less than an hour.
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Yes
Oct 19,2015
Oct 19,2015
4
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Terrible company; absolutely nobody takes ownership of a problem. They make false promises or drag their feet over things. They managed to re-let my property and the new tenant had already moved in but nobody seemed bothered about returning my deposit. Several phone calls later, ...
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Oct 09,2015
Oct 09,2015
3
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Firstly, all Countrywide Landlords, did you know that Countrywide (or is it Bridgefords) do a deal with energy providers. When a tenant leaves your property, they switch your energy provider - getting a back-hander from the energy company as they now have your next tenants ...
read full review
read full review
What agent could do to change your mind?
Customer service is more important than you realise. Be more efficient. Realise who your customer is. Realise where your money is coming from. Customer service. Stop lying. Customer service. Get the facts instead of reporting what you think. Customer service. Get a CRM and proper tenancy housing computer system. Customer service. This market is getting much bigger and you have gone from being the biggest and best to one of the worst. Oh, and did I mention that your customer service is appalling.Attached Filesnbsp;
Comment on agent fees
Starting up fees are above others but as up to now, you have always found me good tenants, quickly, am happy to pay this. Everything after this is overpriced and in numerous cases down right underhand and these grind very heavily on the back of my mind. If everything after check-in were perfect, higher costs are acceptable but as everything after check-in is appalling, they are not.
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Yes
Apr 15,2015
Apr 15,2015
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Initialy they were fine, we got the flat smoothly and moved in with no problems. Then the issues started. At first they simply ignored the issues we identified on moving in, such as advertised white goods not working properly, a sink leaking, the shed being ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
The actual condition of the appliences meant this property should really have been on the market for a lower rent.Attached Filesnbsp;
Comment on agent fees
The actual condition of the appliences meant this property should really have been on the market for a lower rent.
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Feb 01,2012
Feb 01,2012
8
people found
this helpful
this helpful
:-( 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 ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Nothing they are pretty useless!Attached Filesnbsp;
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Oct 11,2011
Oct 11,2011
8
people found
this helpful
this helpful
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 ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, NO THANKS!!Attached Filesnbsp;
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Oct 11,2011
Oct 11,2011
6
people found
this helpful
this helpful
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 ...
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Aug 13,2011
Aug 13,2011
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
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 ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Care a bit.Attached Filesnbsp;
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Aug 15, 2011
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THIS SHOULD BE A ONE STAR RATING. ACTUALLY, IT SHOULD BE NO STAR, BUT THE RIDICULOUS SOFTWARE WON'T ALLOW IT. NOT A TERRIBLY RELIABLE SITE IS IT? ...
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