F'ing Foxtons

I had the misfortune of having to deal with the lettings agency Foxtons these last few weeks. I cannot stress how absolutely unbearable it has been. Shockingly. Customer service at its absolute lowest. Dealing with them I become the person I really don't want to be...

Thankfully amongst the horrendous there was a little glimmer of helpfulness. She may not have got it all right but she sympathised, stayed calm and actually kept her word when it came to "getting back" to me (the only person that actually did what I asked her to!). 

Whilst chasing up late rent (tenant had paid I hadn't received it three months later nor was it featuring in the rental statement) it transpired that because of our very Covid friendly reduced rent the tenant had technically "overpaid" us. I was OK with that explanation. Well Foxtons were holding on to this "extra" rent. It didn't get logged on the rental statements. It didn't get returned to the tenant. I wasn't OK with that. It just stank of sneaky unprofessionalism. Here we are all making sacrifices and allowances for Covid. All of us except Foxtons that sat on over £3k of the tenant's money. While he was just getting by... he had no idea how much money they were holding. He assumed it had been paid to us. So we couldn't be paid an extra £500 but they could sit on over £3k.... quietly. Until someone made a fuss. I made the fuss. 

Even if they had returned the money to the tenant I would have gone away quietly. Even signed a renewal contract with them. But NO. Instead I got rude emails from someone telling me I had been overpaid. By £6k. I had to return the money. In another email I was told I owed even more money. That I had received so much money I wondered why we'd reduced the rent in the first place. Each time I replied with emails showing payments received, rental statements and cc'd my tenant in to show there was total transparency. I asked for dates of when I would have received all this money. Nothing came back. Another email another amount I owed. It was painful. Like trying to reason with a toddler. 

All this took way to much time of being kept on hold, being ignored and then receiving rude emails from someone so incompetent that in the end I didn't even reply to her.  Oh, and all this was happening in the shadow of a renewal contract. Despite not signing the paperwork I got charged commission and the end date of my tenancy was changed. All done without my signature let alone my agreement. 

It became obvious that the relationship was over. I emailed Foxtons to say I wouldn't be renewing. IGNORED. Phoned the agent. Left a message. IGNORED. And so on and on. Four weeks of that unpleasantness, utter incompetence and dismal customer service. 

Hopefully it is over now. Of course the deposit hasn't been received nor has the overpaid commission been returned but they are out of the equation for the future. My blood pressure can return to normal and I can stop shouting down the phone at people!