Pauline Scott Property Management Ltd

My partner and I applied for a property in March of this year on the basis that we would only be happy with a 12 month contract as made very clear in our application. Pauline Scott took a £201 deposit from us on the 8th of March to hold the property and our application was accepted by the landlord. We agreed on a move in date of the 16th of March. We then received an email on the 13th of March stating "It is with pleasure to confirm you have agreed to take a 6-month tenancy on the above property...". As you can probably guess, neither of us were best pleased. This email also stated " it is requested that the first month’s rent and remainder of the deposit are paid into our bank account before move in – please note that full and final funds need to be cleared in our bank account 48 hours before move in - you will not be able to move into the property on the agreed date if we have not received them." We responded appropriately the same day to confirm our application stated we applied on a 12 month tenancy basis and not a 6 month. We did not receive a reply and chased for a response the next day. We were then informed on the 14th "The landlord wishes to proceed with a 6-month agreement initially. After the 6 months has finished, we can look to sign you for another 6 months." We were not asked if we were happy to proceed this way, there was nothing in the small print stating that this may happen and once again informed Pauline Scott that we were not happy with the circumstances. In this email we also made it clear we wanted confirmation on the following: " - That the lease can be provided for our review - How long the holding deposit secures this property for us - That a new move in date can be arranged (we are busy next week, could I perhaps suggest the 1st April?)" and, "It is unlikely that we will be able to send funds by 11am (i.e. 48 hours prior to 11am on the 16th) and therefore will be unable to pick up the keys on Thursday." We were responded to at midday on the 14th stating that only a 6 month tenancy agreement was available and this would continue on a rolling monthly contract, that the hold deposit secures the property for 14 days and that Pauline Scott would discuss the move in date of the 1st of April and "get back to you on this" My partner and I discussed this that evening in person and decided together after reading into rolling contracts (which we had no explanation of what this was, given that we were first time renters/buyers we thought this would have been explained) we were not happy to go ahead with the contract. My partner was called by an employee at Pauline Scott the morning of the 15th of March chasing us urgently for an answer which was not appreciated given we had to chase for answers on multiple occasions over email for information from them and we both had work commitments which they were aware of. The conversation led to him requesting we were sent the hold deposit back, given that we were signed into a contract we did not agree to and it was the group of employees dealing with our applications fault that the sale did not go through. He was refused in a rude manner. A follow-up email was sent stating the following reasons were why the the hold deposit was non-refundable: "We received no response to our email to reschedule the move in date as suggested by yourselves. No prior mention of pulling out and less than 24 hours notice was given to withdraw your application." We were disgusted by the handling of this matter and contested this giving plentiful evidence we required this deposit returned. We were ignored and had to chase once again two days later for a response from them. They refused us again, "You requested 12 months on the application form but there is no guarantee that the landlord is happy to offer that term." We contested again with further evidence with time stamps and quote on quote statements over the weeks, and were refused again. Either one of us kept being taken out of copy of these emails, keeping up with this all sort to confuse us. However, we were completely confident we were owed our money back from them. Excuses upon excuses were being made, the reasons for us being given our deposit back kept changing. Firstly it was that we didn't respond to an email to reschedule the move in date (they said they were discussing this with the landlord and would get back to us) then it was that the application form is not a formal agreement, then it was we didn't respond in time to get our hold deposit back, then it was rescheduling and withdrawing your application are two different options... The list is endless.. We were given a complaints procedure and the next step was to contact the director of the company. I sent an email very similar to my original email explaining why we required our hold deposit back and all of the evidence. On this complaints procedure sheet it states "the Director will set out in writing to you his findings and recommendations as final viewpoint on how he believes your complaint can be resolved". We were not contacted and a £201 deposit appeared into my bank account within the following days. Needless to say Pauline Scott Management are neglectful, unprofessional and abrupt. The worst customer service experience I've had in my life, the company as a whole left a sour taste in our mouths We went with William H Brown instead who have been incredible so far in our journey for our first property!