“Exceptionally terrible service.I am a previous tenant of Britannia ......”
1 Star Review
Jan 22,2013
By:
'glad_to_see_the_back'
Jan 22,2013
Branch: Birmingham, 521 Bristol Road
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: B13
Branch: Birmingham, 521 Bristol Road
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Postcode: B13
19
people found
this helpful
Exceptionally terrible service.
I am a previous tenant of Britannia Property Services and it was the most unprofessionally managed company I have ever dealt with.
The first issue came when I had first collected my keys to the property. When I arrived the fire alarm in my room was beeping continually but could not contact the agents. Having to start work that same day I left a voice mail on their answering machine and nobody got back in contact with me the entire day, needless to say, they were shut when I was finished and so had to solve the problem myself with a broom. I managed to get through the next day to be told I was breaching my contract by even touching the fire alarms.
The next issue arose when they decided to re-furbish the bathroom. They did not inform any of the tenants and so it was a pretty big shock to come home to a torn out bathroom. "stop complaining" you may say "at least you got a new bathroom!" ...the work took them over a month to complete and when they left they had removed the light switch, there was no flush function on the toilet and the bath tub had a sharp metal rim which you would catch yourself on each time you entered the shower. After many attempts to get them to complete the work they got someone to super glue a flush to the toilet but more often then not you would have to dip into the cistern to flush the toilet.
One of my favourites is when the internet was not working. Britannia use an e-mail service for their repairs, so when I rang to explain the issue I was confronted by an extremely rude lady who told me it was my problem, not hers if I couldn't get online to report the fault. After 10 minutes of arguing with her she finally accepted that in this instance I could not report, online, that my internet was not working if in fact my internet was not working. This also took almost a month to fix.
There were so many issues with this property including a faulty boiler, leaking washing machine, insect infestations, faulty locks on doors etc. however the most frustrating issue that I experienced with Britannia is my leaving of the property.
I had signed up for a 6 month contract, but when I gave my 6 week notice it was rejected. I was informed that I had another 12 months on my contract. Looking over my contract I found that the dates were another year along but in writing before the dates it states that it was a 6 month contract. Granted, I should have read these dates more closely, however, the fact that it states it was supposed to be a six month contract highlights to me that there was a typo.
When trying to get an explanation about this I was confronted by the same rude member of staff I had dealt with previously, who hung up the phone during a conversation with me. I then asked for the number of their head office and her response was that the head office doesn't have a phone. I tried explaining to her that that was absurd but she repeatedly said that even if she wanted to contact the head office it would have to be in writing. After going on their website, they do indeed have a phone.
To avoid the loss of my deposit I decided to find someone to take over my tenancy instead of arguing the ridiculous contract. The charge was £120 to swap names on the contract however, they took £200 out of my account and were extremely reluctant to refund the remainder.
On leaving I phoned to ask if I could leave my keys in the room, they agreed, however, after I had left they phoned me to say they were taking a late submission of keys fee as I had not brought my keys back. I mentioned the phone call to which they responded "that phone call wasn't in writing" and so I had to return from Nottingham, shimmy up the drain pipe to enter the property and return my keys to them before 12. After doing all this and getting to the agents by 11.45 they said the keys were still late. It took 10 minutes to convince them that the time was before 12 and so by the terms of my contract they were, in fact, not late.
They also attempted to keep the majority of the months' rent when the new tenant had moved in on the 10th of the month.
All in all - a dreadful service with rude and incompetent staff. I am glad to be out of the property and will most certainly not be using or recommending their service to anyone.
19
people found
this helpful
Was this helpful?
Yes