“Let's face it - letting agents and estate agents have ......”
1 Star Review
Jul 21,2013
By:
'ExCustomer'
Jul 21,2013
Branch: Leeds, 1 Dock Street
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: LS9
Branch: Leeds, 1 Dock Street
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Postcode: LS9
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Let's face it - letting agents and estate agents have a bad reputation. Some of it is probably unjustified and some of it is probably justified, so I tend to take each company as I find them and on their own merits - in the same way I do with all other service providers I come into contact with. It's a shame that Morgan's don't have that same view when dealing with their own tenants. I should also say that I am not a serial renter, but I am in no way property inexperienced.
This is an agency which grew off the back of the Leeds apartment boom and now positions itself at the top end of the spectrum - charging premium rent for what are supposed to be premium services. When you first start being shown round places, you'll get the charm of the lettings negotiators and everything will seem to be very easy. As soon as you've paid that first month upfront to secure your place - forget any of the personalised chit-chat you've had up to that point - you'll now be served in a horrendous manner. You'll get such an arrogant and complacent approach you might actually wonder why they bother answering the phone or opening the office on a daily basis.
My initial issues on moving in go something like this:
- No mailbox key or parking permit when checking in - response "can't find them"
- Broken washer drier
- Broken window
- Broken bedroom furniture
- Showers x2 broken
- Broken iron (bought my own but was part of the lease)
Now you think to yourself, that's alright, I'm a reasonable person, I'll just give them a quick ring and they'll send someone round in a day or so and get all that sorted. I am paying a premium rent after all for a premium service. How naive.
What you get from Morgans is passed around like a hot potato by the kids in the "customer service department" who need to be trained to a) listen b) take a message if "It's not my job" c) actually pass that message to the person whose job it is (funnily enough as a tenant I don't work at Morgans and don't need to know tha vagaries who whose job it actually might be) d) show a bit of humility, not flippant arrogance. In a Morgans property, you are also like to speak to the "maintenance department" which consists of Martin. I'm not sure what he actually maintains as after terminating my lease and moving out six months after moving in some of those maintenance jobs listed earlier are, lo and behold, still needing to be done.
You'll then get things like being called up demanding that they can come and "inspect the property for damage" and telling you "oh but you don't need to be there for that" (and no this isn't a check-out - we'll get to that in a minute). As if.
When you've decide you'll just cut through all the rubbish and all the people who have no idea what is supposed to be going on you might also get the pleasure of the supposedly highly experienced Branch Manager - Emma. Emma who's standard line as the Branch Manager is - that's not my responsibility. Oh, ok? Are you sure? That swanky wannabe business card in your pocket says "Branch Manager", it must be my mistake that as the Branch Manager the buck stops with you but clearly I am a stupid person who has misunderstood the meaning of the words Branch and Manager. You have to make the assumption as well then that she is also responsible for staff training.
Then there's the famous Morgan's check-out. To be fair mine was a smooth as it should be by the lad who just happened to have also checked me in. Place was damage free, cleaned and left probably in better condition than when I moved in. The hilarious part was actually trying to get them round in the first place. Being a dutiful I called two weeks ahead and made the appointment. I then get letters demanding I make the appointment. I give a quick ring to find out that I hadn't dreamed thephone call from the previous week. Oh, no I haven't dreamed it, I do have an appointment. I then get a phone call the next day from the SAME person wanting to know why I haven't yet made a check-out appointment. There's a saying somewhere about the left hand and the right hand not knowing what they are doing, I've never actually experienced it with the same person before. Thanks Nick, I really am learning something new every day.
It's a simple as this. Jonathan Morgan would be far better suited to doing some M'ing rather D'ing in his role as MD/Proprietor/I Want To Be Seen As The Face of Leeds Property. Instead of running all round West Yorkshire trying to score some big deals or splitting his time telling everyone else in the Lettings business that they do such a bad job on everything from upfront fees to service, maybe he should just focus on the thing that should be most important to him and his paying customers - his core business.
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