Countrywide Residential Lettings

I’m reading your reviews there is not much to add other than if you take them on as letting agents make sure you have thousands in the bank because over a period of 18 months we have had thousands of pounds go out of our account to line the pockets of a damp proofing contractor for work that wasn’t really necessary - you would expect that the maintenance department would know that a solid wall requires lime mortar in order to allow moisture to pass through where this has been replaced with sand and cement mortar and dry lined (expensive option) - we now have damage to brickwork because the water is trapped within the structure of the wall we find ourselves having to tell them and direct them how to do the job!! we are currently considering a legal suit for damages and would recommend that everyone either stay away or if you are with them find a local family run business - quite frankly we could do a better job ourselves

We have probably been one of the few people in the uniquely awful situation of being both landlord and tenant with this terrible company. Fortunately we were able, as landlords of a property, to switch to another company - as tenants it is a different story and we are stuck with them. We had no problems with our rental property until they took over to "manage" it, it was a catalogue of disasters from the start - no checks done on the house, exorbitant charges for any repairs - we put up with it for a year and then switched to a smaller family-run company with whom we are very pleased. As a tenant I have practically given up on getting any repairs done - there is a system whereby you can post your repair on line - forget it, nobody ever seems to check. When you phone the office there is rarely anybody there to pick up the call. I actually don't know how they stay in business, unfortunately they seem to be going from strength to strength and taking over other letting companies. Obviously total incompetence pays!! I would award them zero stars if I could, terrible doesn't accurately describe how bad they are.

This is the worst client-oriented company I have ever had the unfortune of working with. Unprofessional, untrustworthy and helpless, the customer service team is technicaly inexistent - or not likely to do its job, although the agency fees are very high! We have had several attempts to contact them via phone and email in order to solve various issues (some of them having ended up with us sleeping in the hotel and over friends while paying rent), with no fructified results until a formal complaint has been put forward.

I definitely don't recommend this agency to anyone, as their only desired outcome is to take as much money as they can, while not giving a monkey's how their customers feel.

Renting my house out with Countrywide was one nightmare after another. I can only imagine how dreadful it was for the tenant.

It's difficult to know where to start - and the issues seemed to be without end, months after our dealings concluded.

Here’s the highlights:

** Rent was rarely paid in on time. Try that one on with your landlord, every single month!

** Ghastly fees were racked up for minor tasks, including routine letters being sent to the tenant, as well as services I never asked for; for example "tax evaluation assistance" – ie, an invoice detailing how much money you’ve been paid.

** Communication routinely broke down, with two different departments doing different things without the other's knowledge, despite all my efforts. Calls were not returned, and emails were not acknowledged or plain ignored for weeks on end.

** Inspections were simply not carried out. So my house was turned into a bombsite, the garden became a latrine for a pet dog - expressly forbidden in the terms of my lease, fact fans - and appliances and furniture were thrown out without consent.

** They couldn't even spell my name right on the paperwork, despite repeated requests to sort it. Just as well there isn't any legal documentation or anything important involved in the process, eh, Countrywide?

** When the tenant defaulted on their rent, I didn't find out until I tried to use my bank card - while I was on honeymoon. Again, a phone call or an email might have helped.

** A complete and utter mess was made of what I thought was a simple insurance claim, ending with the tenant being served EVICTION PAPERS without my consent.

If you must use this company, do NOT sign up for their own in-house rent and legal protection policy. It is not fit for purpose. When the policy kicked in, I was paid just over £100 for two months' missing rent. That's some protection! I must have misunderstood the term "insurance", as under Countrywide this seems to stand for "pay us money for nothing".

Of course, there's a human side to problems with tenants. So it was heartening to know that someone decided to serve the tenant with eviction papers without my permission, one month before Christmas, when I tried to collect insurance to cover missing rent. When I tried to have this rescinded, I was told that it would not be possible, as doing so would completely invalidate my insurance.

I have no way of contacting the tenant, so for what it’s worth, I’d like to say – I am truly sorry for what happened to you.

I had made it clear that the eviction should be the absolute last resort, not the first.

Compounding all of the above, when I tried to get a little – not a lot - back out of the deposit after the tenant ruined my carpets, painted over light fittings and windows, left a pile of junk and turned my lawn into a dog muck-infested sandpit, I had to deal with a truculent individual who was so adversarial and blunt on the phone that I wondered if I had perhaps initiated a conversation with a character from Viz magazine: Incredibly Rude Lettings Management Agent. It was one of those exchanges where you start to wonder if you had unwittingly encountered this person in a personal capacity in the past, or perhaps even slept with her, and this had disappointed her in some way. I’d hate to have spoken to her if she wasn’t on my side.

Oh yes - and I paid them more than £100 for a "deep clean" once the tenant moved out. When I inspected this "deep clean" I found rubbish stuffed down the back and side of the fridge, with bags of refuse left in cupboards and a shed. The fridge-side detritus included elderly food waste and, somewhat fittingly, a pair of knickers. I'd advise you not to pay for a "deep clean" as it is more of a "superficial clean", or indeed “f*ck all cleaning”.

My initial inquiries about making a complaint to Countrywide regarding their hopelessly unsuitable insurance resulted in a letter informing me - and I quote - "As this complaint relates to a Non-Regulated Product, it does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service." So in other words, "we don't care - and get stuffed".

The Countrywide story was one of utter incompetence. The company from the ground up seems blithely indifferent to any difficulties which may arise which it is their job to remedy. One or two people were quite helpful, but as a whole Countrywide was an absolute disgrace. I'm sure staff are hard-pressed, but that's not in the small print when you sign up for their services.

Even better than this, once the tenant was evicted, Countrywide then signed me up to an energy company which charged me through the nose for gas and electricity despite no power being used at all in the property, as it was empty. I wish I could italicise this part, but I can't. I'd put it in caps, but it would seem ranty. Well, rantier.

Even better, I received no notification of any bills from this power company to my home address, which Countrywide had on file; the first I heard of it was when a debt management company contacted me with the typically threatening letter, warning me to pay up or face consequences.

This firm is a shambles. They have no excuse whatsoever - they simply want to take money off you for no discernible service. AVOID.

Steer clear if you are renting. Absolutely uncaring. All they care about is getting money out of you and treating you like garbage. They did not care about the fact that we were a family with little kids and had no proper accommodation to move on to and refused to extend tenancy by couple of weeks.

We had complete lack of communication, always different people calling from the office, we had to direct them what to do next, management or lack of it was pathetic. We changed agents and had a fantastic service until they sold out to the countrywide bozos, we were promised the same level of service etc..etc... we laughed at this as we had already experienced the countrywide poor service. It didnt take long before we were struggling to get an answer outof them. We changed to a different agent again to avoid them, they behaved like a sulking child and have not completed the handover, the other agent remarked on their non proffesionalism, we have still not received an answer from countrywide rep we emailed complaining of the lack of service, they just ignore it and hope you go away. Please seriously consider if you can afford to have this company so called manage your property.

My property was rented out in a fully managed agreement with Countrywide who suppossedly interviewed the potential occupants, and safeguarded with a full audit my apartment. This they did not do - with repeated complaints from neighbours, to both council, police and Countrywide with nothing passed on to me. Property was damaged by occupants with broken doors, toilet seats, carpets stained etc etc with the end of occupancy audit not picking up any of these items - i would suggest that this was a paperwork exercise and in fact didnt take place unless they had a white stick

To be blunt do not touch Countrywide if you have a quality property that you want returned in the same condition as handed to them to 'look after' talk to yiour friendas and find a reputable compant where they keep their promises and meet their obligations

Firstly, if I could have given less than one star I would. I'm not at all shocked to find this company have an average rating of 1 out of 5 and 101 reviews stating their services as 'terrible' on this review site alone.

Efficiency, capability and helpfulness are certainly 3 words you would NOT associate with many of the staff. In the time we have been using this agency they have failed to collect rent from our tenants, failed to ensure the property is well maintained by the tenants, given incorrect information about current policies, and consistently failed to follow up on promises of phone calls and emails to resolve the situation. We are now at least £5,000 down in pocket, and having to take legal action.

The departments do not seem to know or understand how to work together to problem solve, and the staff turnover is so high that you rarely get to speak to the same person in order to ensure consistency.

Poor in all areas of service - would recommend using any other agency you can find.

This company have been the worst and most unprofessional organisation that I have ever had the misfortune to use. We have been without a washing machine for over 5 weeks. The lies that keep coming out of the mouths of this agency are shocking. We have live wires in the property and water leaking through the bathroom light above the bath!!

This agency are based in Penzance. I have been renting for over 8 years and never have I been so appalled at the misconduct that goes on within the letting industry.

Money is all they are interested in, not the condition or state of a property. I am at the end of my tether.

They should never have taken on such a property that is in such dis-repair.

My concerns are for the children that I have.

Avoid them like the plague.

Honesty, courtesy, customer care and professionalism are words that, in our bitter experience, could never be associated with Countrywide Residential Letting and their subsidiary, Fulfords Lettings of Exmouth. It is glaringly obvious that they are interested only in making money – by any means. In our short but unhappy dealings with this organisation, they were grossly dishonest, indifferent, rude and amateur in all their dealings. So much so that we took them to the Property Ombudsman, who eventually awarded in our favour.

Firstly, and most importantly, the employee at Fulfords lied about obtaining a reference from the previous letting agents, failed to do a proper financial check and thus landed us with the proverbial ‘tenants from hell’. A 30 second Google search showing a Court report regarding one of these tenants would have shown their undesirability. In short, neighbours were subjected to obscene screaming, noise and abuse from the day they moved in. Damage was caused to the property, police were involved several times and they lied on their application form regarding their previous tenancy and being non-smokers. When we finally got them out, we were again lied to by Fulfords about the final inspection. Our complaints were shockingly badly dealt with by Countrywide Residential Lettings throughout, while they repeatedly broke the Property Ombudsman’s Code of Practice.

At no stage was any apology made for the considerable stress and expense caused by Fulfords’ gross negligence. When the award cheque was received from Countrywide, there was still no letter of apology and unfortunately, everything seemed to point to the fact that Countrywide Residential Lettings management condoned their staff’s lamentable behaviour. They appear to support a policy of obtaining business by any means, with no fear of staff losing their jobs. This is backed up, not just by our deeply unpleasant experience, but also by the large number of negative reviews on the Internet, their low ranking among their competitors and lack of any signs that senior management, from the CEO downwards, were prepared to take any action to correct their lack of business ethics.

My advice is to avoid them or it could cost you dear, and not just in monetary terms. Every organisation makes occasional mistakes but it is how these are dealt with that shows the true worth of any company. As far as I am concerned, Countrywide Residential Lettings and Fulford Residential Letting failed dismally with every aspect of what they laughingly called ‘award-winning service’ and customer care doesn’t appear to be in their vocabulary.