I only wish I had read reviews before signing up with this agency. I am renting a property through Bridgfords as of 17th December but am extremely unhappy with the way that our property has been handled in entirety. 1) Viewing the property, 6 groups of potential tenants were asked to arrive at the same time and then made to wait outside to view one by one. Whilst viewing we were told multiple times that the flat was very popular and would go that night so if we wanted we would have to put the money down there and then in the flat. It's not fair on any prospective tenant to put that amount of pressure to make a very quick decision concerning the expensive, non-refundable £360 holding deposit. We didn't put the money down. 2) The next day I got a phone call from them as the property had not gone and that they were offering a reduced rent of £100 a month. We were willing to take it at the reduced rate. I was beginning to read out the details on my debit card over the phone, a verbal contract agreed, I was told that 2 people had walked through the door that second and offered more and therefore was told the property was no longer available, sorry. 3) Next day, Bridgfords call saying that the funds had not gone through the day before, therefore they were now offering the same reduced rate to me again. We wanted the property so agreed to put the deposit down straight away. As I got my debit card out to pay over the phone and someone was telling me the amount for the letting fees, very quietly it was mentioned that there was an additional £210 moving in fee to pay on top of the £360 letting agency fees. These had not been mentioned until the moment I was about to transfer my money, which in my opinion is very shady. I have never had to pay a 'moving in fee' on any rental property before and did not know of their existence. Reluctantly I agreed to pay this fee as otherwise I was told they would immediately offer the property to someone else. Again, a large amount of money, high pressure, no time to consider situation. 4) I received an application form to sign and send back. This was the last time that Bridgfords made contact with me until days before we were due to move in. 5) Our estimated move in date was the 17th December, 27 days between us paying the holding deposit/move in fee and moving into the flat. In those 27 days I contacted Bridgfords countless times asking how our references were progressing, questions about the parking and contents of the property and most importantly, when we would be receiving and signing out contract. I was told different information by 3 different people at the agency, including "the contract will be with you tomorrow before 12, if it is not please ring back and we will get it sent over by email". This didn't happen and when I rang, someone else told me that that was incorrect information and the contract was in the process of being drawn up. I was also informed that I was not to worry as we would get a contract before we moved in. Duh! 6) Literally 2 days before we were due to move in, I got the first contact from Bridgfords. I recounted our terrible treatment so far and that we were not happy still not having a contract so close to moving in as we were both in desperate need of accommodation. Although apologising and sending through a draft copy of a potential tenancy agreement, 28 HOURS before being due to move in to the property I received a phone call saying that the Landlord had decided he wanted to sell the property and therefore "would we like to switch from a 12 month to 6 month contract?" I wanted a 12 month contract as agreed and said no. I was told it wasn't an option, it was 6 month contract or we no longer take the flat. Where had the choice I was offered suddenly gone? I told Bridgfords that this was unacceptable and that they've put us in a situation once more where we make a time pressured decision with no other option but to lose the flat. I demanded compensation. I was told that they could waive the £210 moving in fee only and that the other money had been allocated already. After talking with the Branch Manager, the only offer would be to reduce fees if we rent our next property through Bridgfords. I was told I had to make the decision that day as otherwise the contract would not reach the office in time for us to move in the next day. Another time pressured decision, despite me chasing for information far earlier. Reluctantly once again, still not having seen our contract, having no back up option for a place to live, I had no choice but to agree to the (in my opinion) minimal offer of compensation. They promised that the new landlord would almost definitely be renting and not want to live there himself and that he would legally have to take on our contract. 7) On the day of moving into the flat, I finally saw the contract and inventory of the property for the first time. I was told that there were no changes to the contract from the draft I had been sent apart from the details specific to our property had been added. There was one clause after I checked that had had the wording altered but the meaning was not changed. There was also a section 9. Luckily I had already highlighted the issues I had with the draft agreement and went through them. The contract stated that we must have contents insurance on our property for the term of the tenancy either through Bridgfords via Letscover or prove our own. This should be my choice to do it, not a contractual obligation. I asked the agent if this clause stated we HAD to have contents insurance or if it was just a strong recommendation from the letting agency. She said strong recommendation initially but after further discussion about the clause it was proved that it was contractually binding that we must have insurance or be in breach of the contract. Arguing about this, the letting agent made the point of "If you don't like it, then you don't have to sign the contract", "it's only a fiver a month". This to me is bullying tactics as they already knew we had nowhere else to live if this agreement fell through. We were ready to move in, with all our belongings then. Arguing my point of view over the situation she told me that I was being aggressive, to which I responded, "I am not, I am frustrated and arguing a point I disagree with in my contract that you have just lied to me about" and the letting agent had to walk away to cool off. I asked a witness whether she felt honestly that I had been threatening or aggressive. She confirmed to me that she didn't feel that I was being aggressive but that I was clearly frustrated by the situation. Regardless, when the agent returned I apologised if she felt offended but unfortunately she had to bear the brunt of my frustration as she is the representative for relaying any issues through to Bridgfords. Reluctantly, with no contingency plan, I signed the contract. The state of the keys for the car parking were abysmal, held together with tape and we were informed one function on both was broken. Not a single person in the office could tell us where the car park entrance was and they forgot to tell us our car parking space allocation, so I had to park in a space that I hoped was not allocated to someone else for the night. 9) We entered the property and the toilet seat was broken, this was promised to be fixed before by Danielle on the day we viewed the property. There were lightbulbs blown or missing, yet our contract expects us to leave them all working. The flat had not been painted; the glassware and crockery had dead bugs and dirt in them. The bin had unspecified liquid and pieces of food waste stuck to the inside. The chest of drawers in one bedroom had one drawer broken. There was no hoover, as promised and photographed in the inventory. The inventory check was meant to be a thorough detailed check worth £210, "best in the business" so the Branch Manager claimed. Writing a broken toilet seat is 'good' condition. The dishwasher did not work. The kitchen extractor fan was broken. The oven sounded like it was about to blow up. The mattresses were exhausted and stained. The lift in the car park was broken so I couldn't access my space. 21 days later and they've only just come to replace the light bulbs and toilet seat. 10) Idiotically they organised for the potential buyer of the property to come view the flat one last time without an agent. I asked him immediately if he intended to rent or live. He said he wanted to live there. I said, that's a shame as we wanted to be there more than 6 months. He said they had told him the tenants' contract was only 3 months long and he could move in in February. They also lied about the EPC rating of the property. I was told it was a C, it's actually an F. This means our bills will be a lot more expensive. They also hadn't mentioned any of the problems with the lift and parking in the building to the buyer. The buyer told us he had had his offer accepted on the property before we put our holding deposit down. Bridgfords never informed us of this until the day we moved in. In short. They lie, they don't respond to email,t and I will be taking things to all o they never send you information even if you physically go to the office. They're rude; they manipulate and bully you into doing things you don't want to. They're incompetenmbudsmen and if necessary small claims court. Disgusting practice.