0% lettings valuation accuracy
0% lettings fee satisfaction
Jul 18,2012
Jul 18,2012
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I had the displeasure of being a tenant to this agent for almost 2 years, while the basic service (as long as nothing went wrong) was ok, that being, visits were periodical roughly every 3 months with at least 24 hours notice. When something did go wrong, or we needed to contact the agent, they were utterly useless. Several times I left many voice messages and sent Emails to no avail and ending up getting things sorted myself.
When first moving into the property we were without an oven for 2 months since the previous tenant broke the oven door. The garden was.. Well, overgrown would be an understatement. But after 6 months of calls and Emails, being assured that the landlords dad would sort it out, we took on the job ourselves. We had to nag for 6 months to get a working lawnmower to be able to keep up the newly neat garden.
These are just a few examples of where lack of contact with or action of russells has caused us greif.
Upon moving out of the property we had the standard checkout procedure, and even though the house had been sold and not re-let. We still had to pay for cleaning and decorating charges, despite the fact that the property was in far better condition than when we first moved in. Any correspondence we did have with Russells was unhelpful and the staff came across as arrogant, especially during the checkout procedure where they tried everything possible to squeeze more money out of us. Including using a 5 year old inventory that had many many clear mistakes and problems on it. Fortunately for us, when we first moved in we picked up on this and changed our one over 50 different items all signed by the agency to verification. They took a copy of this new inventory yet still didn't amend it, bringing the old one in order to try and charge us more for doing the sold house up. Even after doing this we still ended up paying for things that weren't our fault because of things that we missed when we first updated the inventory. I'm just glad that we managed to keep hold of our version, or we could have ended up losing all of our deposit.
The short version of it is that they are hungry for money, and will take every step possible to drain every single penny that they can out of you, they aren't even subtle about it. I would NOT use this agent again, and overall I would say that the experience has put me off of renting properties entirely.
When first moving into the property we were without an oven for 2 months since the previous tenant broke the oven door. The garden was.. Well, overgrown would be an understatement. But after 6 months of calls and Emails, being assured that the landlords dad would sort it out, we took on the job ourselves. We had to nag for 6 months to get a working lawnmower to be able to keep up the newly neat garden.
These are just a few examples of where lack of contact with or action of russells has caused us greif.
Upon moving out of the property we had the standard checkout procedure, and even though the house had been sold and not re-let. We still had to pay for cleaning and decorating charges, despite the fact that the property was in far better condition than when we first moved in. Any correspondence we did have with Russells was unhelpful and the staff came across as arrogant, especially during the checkout procedure where they tried everything possible to squeeze more money out of us. Including using a 5 year old inventory that had many many clear mistakes and problems on it. Fortunately for us, when we first moved in we picked up on this and changed our one over 50 different items all signed by the agency to verification. They took a copy of this new inventory yet still didn't amend it, bringing the old one in order to try and charge us more for doing the sold house up. Even after doing this we still ended up paying for things that weren't our fault because of things that we missed when we first updated the inventory. I'm just glad that we managed to keep hold of our version, or we could have ended up losing all of our deposit.
The short version of it is that they are hungry for money, and will take every step possible to drain every single penny that they can out of you, they aren't even subtle about it. I would NOT use this agent again, and overall I would say that the experience has put me off of renting properties entirely.
What agent could do to change your mind?
Better correspondence with the tenant, including answering Emails would be nice. Getting things done when they say they will rather than putting it off indefinitely. Not trying to take you for every penny at checkout and keeping records updated. I don't think there's anything that they could do to reconcile the experience. Avoid.Attached Filesnbsp;
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
Agent Response / Add a Comment
You can use this form to reply to the above review or a displayed comment on the above review.
Browse popular links for estate agents, letting agents and properties nearby
Latest Reviews
27th Nov 2014
reviewed by 'Lisa'
3rd Jun 2013
reviewed by 'Jack'
9th Dec 2012
reviewed by 'VERY'
18th Jul 2012
reviewed by 'Mourningrise'
Opening Hours
Address
Russell Residential
20 Main Street
Ely
Cambridgeshire
CB6 1PJ
01353 865910
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lettings | 0% | 0% | £900 | £950 |
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Areas covered
Services offered
- Sales
- Lettings
- Block Management
- Surveys
- Conveyancing
- Mortgage Advice
- Home Builder
Advertise on
Members of
Rankings
Overall
Overall
Latest Properties
No Properties
Nov 27,2014
Nov 27,2014
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
This estate agents are awful. I would advise anyone who is thinking about even renting a property with russells please think again. I have never been with an estate agents like this before,side with landlord all the time,the do not care about tenants ...
read full review
read full review
What agent could do to change your mind?
Being fair as a company,listen to tenants and stop trying to get money out of people....oh and stop lying!!!!!!!Attached Filesnbsp;
Comment on agent fees
Awful fees,don't know we're they get them from its an absolute joke how much they charge,there all about money and that's all they care about oh and the landlord!!!!
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
Jun 03,2013
Jun 03,2013
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I'll start with the positive. When things broke they got fixed rapidly but that was more thanks to the landlord having a good set of handyman contacts than anything Russells did.
In terms of everything else, I can't agree more than enough with the other ...
read full review
read full review
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
Dec 09,2012
Dec 09,2012
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Have never been so angry in my hole life, They are so rude, liars and most of all money grabbers. Make sure you take pictures of absolutely everything in the property or they will try and accuse you of damaging things witch are already broken ...
read full review
read full review
What agent could do to change your mind?
not lied, understand us, not make up things about the property, have someone look round the house at the same time as we check all the things that are wrong with it, make the prices lower, no check out fees. NO MORE LIES!!!!!Attached Filesnbsp;
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
Jul 18,2012
Jul 18,2012
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I had the displeasure of being a tenant to this agent for almost 2 years, while the basic service (as long as nothing went wrong) was ok, that being, visits were periodical roughly every 3 months with at least 24 hours notice. When something did go wrong, or ...
read full review
read full review
What agent could do to change your mind?
Better correspondence with the tenant, including answering Emails would be nice. Getting things done when they say they will rather than putting it off indefinitely. Not trying to take you for every penny at checkout and keeping records updated. I don't think there's anything that they could do to reconcile the experience. Avoid.Attached Filesnbsp;
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
No fees information available
Kindly note that legally, letting agents need to publish information about their tenancy fees, government-approved redress schemes and client money protection schemes on their website and on third party websites (on which agents are listed). For properties to lease/rent in England, agents need to keep this information up to date and precise on allAgents or specify within the property description.
Complaints Procedure
No procedure available.
