I have never been so badly treated by a letting agent in the manner in which Fox & Sons dealt with me.
Upon viewing a rental property with the Eastbourne branch of Fox & Sons, my partner and I decided to go ahead and proceed with the application. Not having the greatest financial past we mentioned this to the agent in advance to avoid problems later down the line and that we did have a guarantor as back up.
The agents answer was 'absolutely no problem!' Great, I thought and handed over a cheque for the agency fees, happy that we had found new accomodation.
We recieved online forms to complete which I must say are the most intrusive I have ever come across.( all that seemed missing was questions about blood type, sexual orientation and inside leg measurements but I digress!) We filled in the forms anyway still feeling uncomfortable about the amount of information supplied.
Minutes later my guarantor called me quite distressed that they had just been contacted by the reference agency to say that they were not suitable and did not have enough earned income to comply. I know this persons financial status and they are MORE than suitable, that is why I had asked.
Upon hearing this I contacted Fox & Sons to find out more, the only answer was you need another guarantor.
However this resulting situation could have been avoided if the agent had disclosed the full information from the start and as such I WOULD NOT have proceeded and certainly NOT handed over any money as I knew I would have lost it. The situation only got worse as my enquiries and requests to Fox & Sons resulted in only parroted corporate speak and lack of communication, I began to lose confidence and politely asked for my money back as I would not like to continue with the company. The answer was a NO!
At the same time as contacting Fox & Sons, I had contacted another lettings agent regarding the same property. Upon my displeasure with Fox & Sons I asked the other agent if I could rent the property through them. A quick call to the landlord resulted that she was more than happy to rent the property to us with this other agent. Great! But that was to change...
Still trying to retrieve my money back from Fox & Sons, due to their incompetence and still getting No, as the answer, I am informed that they are trying to put the blame at my feet and calling my actions underhand! They also put a blight on the possibility of renting the said property by calling the landlord and bad-mouthing us, hardly a professional attitude! The slur did not stop there, as Fox & Sons also bad-mouthed the other agent to the landlord, resulting in them losing out as well. Quite childish!
All this bother could have been avoided if Fox & Sons had..
-Given all the relevent information in the first place.
-When it was revealed the mistake was a their door just admitted liability and apologised.
-Given the money back when asked, with no fuss.
-Not acted in sour grapes and hindered our chances with the landlord.
-Been more professional and not slurred the other agent.
-Been more human and not spouted policy like little corporate sheep.
-Got the facts right in the first place!
All in all, I strongly suggest that this company be avoided at all costs as the way they deal with people is monumentally displeasing.
Thank you for reading my moan.
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4340 days ago