0% lettings valuation accuracy
0% lettings fee satisfaction
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Dec 13,2013
Dec 13,2013
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I was a tenant of Big Fish Lettings from January 2013 - October 2013 when I rented one of their properties in Doncaster. The overall initial experience of viewing the property, signing documents, handing over payments etc. was all smooth and I have no complaints of that part of the service - except for Barry Upson and Erica Heath being a little rude in person (not having much customer service/friendly skills) everything generally went well with the move in.
Once in the property however, I suddenly realised I hadn't been told a lot of information. Which car parking space was allocated to me...what was the door entry code number...who do I call if no-one answers the emergency mobile number on the pack I was given?? As one instance an alarm in the building was ringing and ringing so I called the number and it just rang and rang - no voicemail or nothing! When Barry Upson finally called back 20 minutes later, he had been in the theatre apparently and didn't even apologise for not answering. Nice to know for the landlord if the place had gone up in flames, they'd have been on the ball....
But with every question I asked about simple things, such as how to work the ancient washer/dryer and do I have to recycle with the shared bins, whether via email or phone, Erica or Jo Upson always seemed to want to pass me onto the building's Maintenance Team- who in return said they couldn't deal directly with tenants and had to speak directly with the Letting Agents?!?!
Eventually I wanted exit my contract 3 months earlier to move into my boyfriends house which they said ok to as long I paid the £250 fee I had read and signed to when entering the property and found a new tenant to move in (the fee is simply for them to re-advertise the property, it was my responsibility to show propspective new tenants around).
I found a tenant who agreed with me a move in date in early November and all went smoothly thankfully - no thanks to the Big Fish team all telling this new tenant hardly any details about the property! The poor guy didn't know when it was available, how much bond he needed and was also told 2 different dates as to when I would be leaving!
Everytime I called their office to get a progress update on things to see when I could finally leave - all I got was a ridiculously rude "It'll be done when it's done. You'll have to wait."
The only person who always held up an ounce of customer service integrity is Heather - who was always polite, friendly and helpful.
They eventually did their job at Big Fish, but it's their entire team attitude of 'you're just another tenant to us - we don't need you're business' that absolutely stinks!
Once in the property however, I suddenly realised I hadn't been told a lot of information. Which car parking space was allocated to me...what was the door entry code number...who do I call if no-one answers the emergency mobile number on the pack I was given?? As one instance an alarm in the building was ringing and ringing so I called the number and it just rang and rang - no voicemail or nothing! When Barry Upson finally called back 20 minutes later, he had been in the theatre apparently and didn't even apologise for not answering. Nice to know for the landlord if the place had gone up in flames, they'd have been on the ball....
But with every question I asked about simple things, such as how to work the ancient washer/dryer and do I have to recycle with the shared bins, whether via email or phone, Erica or Jo Upson always seemed to want to pass me onto the building's Maintenance Team- who in return said they couldn't deal directly with tenants and had to speak directly with the Letting Agents?!?!
Eventually I wanted exit my contract 3 months earlier to move into my boyfriends house which they said ok to as long I paid the £250 fee I had read and signed to when entering the property and found a new tenant to move in (the fee is simply for them to re-advertise the property, it was my responsibility to show propspective new tenants around).
I found a tenant who agreed with me a move in date in early November and all went smoothly thankfully - no thanks to the Big Fish team all telling this new tenant hardly any details about the property! The poor guy didn't know when it was available, how much bond he needed and was also told 2 different dates as to when I would be leaving!
Everytime I called their office to get a progress update on things to see when I could finally leave - all I got was a ridiculously rude "It'll be done when it's done. You'll have to wait."
The only person who always held up an ounce of customer service integrity is Heather - who was always polite, friendly and helpful.
They eventually did their job at Big Fish, but it's their entire team attitude of 'you're just another tenant to us - we don't need you're business' that absolutely stinks!
What agent could do to change your mind?
Took a class on how to become a more customer friendly business. Treating your customers right is number one and treating them like they don't matter is unforgiveable.Attached Filesnbsp;
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Opening Hours
Address
Big Fish Lettings
1 Station Road
Chapeltown
South Yorkshire
S35 2XE
0114 257 8999
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lettings | 0% | 0% | £0 | £0 |
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Areas covered
Services offered
- Sales
- Lettings
- Block Management
- Surveys
- Conveyancing
- Mortgage Advice
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Dec 13,2013
Dec 13,2013
0
people found
this helpful
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I was a tenant of Big Fish Lettings from January 2013 - October 2013 when I rented one of their properties in Doncaster. The overall initial experience of viewing the property, signing documents, handing over payments etc. was all smooth and I have no complaints of that ...
read full review
read full review
What agent could do to change your mind?
Took a class on how to become a more customer friendly business. Treating your customers right is number one and treating them like they don't matter is unforgiveable.Attached Filesnbsp;
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Jun 20, 2014
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With regards to this firstly I apologise that you feel we let you down and that our service was not up to scratch. With regards to the main complaints at the top with bins, car parking spaces, block run alarms etc then yes we do have to direct you to block management as they run the block and our landlords pay them to do so, so all communal matters do need to go through them, and if they are passing it back that that is in correct on their behalf.
The emergency line we run, we do have in orde ...
Oct 26,2013
Oct 26,2013
1
people found
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this helpful
I will start from the top. My first viewing of the property went fine. I was shown around by a man (who from my dealings with them is the only male that works there) and he took the time to show me a couple of ...
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Oct 26, 2013
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Response from Erica, Office Manager.
The appointment on Thursday was arranged as a second viewing to measure up. Due to the time of year, it is extremely busy on the run up to Christmas and going to the appointment on Thursday would have left no members of staff in the office. I therefore asked for the appointment to be rearranged and apologised for the inconvenience this may cause. Wayne insisted that the appointment was the next day for around the same time due to work commitments. At that ...
Aug 13,2013
Aug 13,2013
0
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From my first contact with Jo Upton at Big Fish, I was lead through a really streamline process for my property management. I'd dealt with my own marketing, insurances and maintenance issues for my portfolio of properties in the past, and then through a friend ...
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Jun 28,2013
Jun 28,2013
1
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Throughout my experience their communication was appalling. I was promised a service (that I paid for) that I didn't recieve. For some reason it takes 9 days to transfer a rent payment (every month not just once) from the tenant to my account. The final straw ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Communicate promptly and honestly. Transfer money promptly. Deal with issues promptly and honestly without making excuses or blaming others.Attached Filesnbsp;
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May 21,2013
May 21,2013
1
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Big Fish lettings managed my property for under 3 years. I have just taken mh property back and
it is in an appalling state! However the company had apparently inspected regularly and claimed it was kept in excellent condition! Eveidentlty this was not the case. The ...
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Sep 20,2012
Sep 20,2012
1
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Big Fish are pretty useless to be honest, they offer a "full management" service which they are meant to fully manage your property yet they always seemed to pass on things to me (landlord) instead of them dealing with the issues. In my opinion of ...
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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.
The emergency line we run, we do have in order to help people out of hours, a lot of agents do not even have one. But yes a member of our staff will be answering it out of hours in their leisure time and we do try respond as soon as we can.
With regards to issues with leaving the tenancy early, its always a difficult situation as a landlord thinks they have secure rent for 6 months and that is not the case, so we have to make sure everyone is happy and we can afford no void periods, to ensure the rent remains the same. Most information is given to tenant on the viewings, so tenants would not know going round for the first time everything the tenancy would entail. All of our rent and bond figure would have been displayed online however. If the tenant agrees to do viewings themselves then we do explain that they must direct all questions at the office and we shall answer anything they want to ask. I'm sorry if you found yourself answering questions you shouldn't have to.
Looking at this site it seems we have issues with a particular development in Doncaster, so I will make sure my staff deal with things better going forward.