Absolutely no surprises here that all of the five star reviews are from landlords and all the lower reviews are from tenants. If you’re a tenant do not go with Umega if you can possibly avoid it. I know it’s hard to get a flat at the moment and most letting agents have a bad reputation among tenants, but trust me, you deserve better than this. They are exceptionally bad. I’m currently in an ongoing dispute with Umega over a cleaning fee which among other things they are deducting from my deposit and dear god... where on earth is the common sense at Umega? Having cleaned the property myself before moving out I was aware that it wasn’t completely spotless but £168 for a 40 square metre flat is absolute robbery. They’re claiming that it took 7 hours to get it up to the standard that they wanted. That’s over 10 minutes per square metre of the property. I have also seen looking at some of the other reviews here that I am not the only person they have done this to. And they respond to me with rudeness and say that it’s fair and a reasonable 7 hour job providing no time breakdown of normal cleaning tasks and how long it took to complete the deep cleaning as if this is not a totally understandable and normal thing to ask after receiving a bill that high. They also initially wanted to charge me with the hallway lampshade being in a cupboard and not being on the light and they also wanted to charge me for a mirror but I got a reduction on those because they couldn’t produce a receipt for the mirror and they probably realised that the lampshade charge is really really dumb but they acted as if they were really going out of their way for those two things so.. thanks I guess? I’m exhausted after dealing with Umega, their rudeness that they have given me in this dispute process (if I’m not fobbed off by them entirely), and their stupid passive aggressive emojis that they leave at the end of all their emails as part of their corporate strategy to be as annoying as possible in the process. I graciously await my “I’m sorry you feel that way” or something else a bad boyfriend would say type response to this review that they have responded to all the other negative reviews with.
0 Stars Umega POD2 Team. For an "award-winning" agency, I was not left with award-winning levels of satisfaction nor service. This was my first dealing with any letting agency, and the whole experience has left me thoroughly unimpressed. I found them unprofessional, incompetent, and unpunctual for a business that deals with time-sensitivity. They did not acknowledge ANY of my concerns raised on multiple occasions. The main agent I was dealing with, had been called for Jury Duty (a planned absence), and any emails/queries were not picked up thus causing unnecessary delays. The whole process was lengthy, and the closer we came to the original move in date was just causing me unnecessary stress, and left me worrying whether I'd have a home at the end of my current lease. Due to the overall experience so far, it gave me pause for concern for any future matters that may arise within the flat where this agency/team would need to be involved. I withdrew my application yesterday (24th Jan) via email. I notified the tenants in the flat share immediately afterwards. It was only after this that they tried to scramble to rectify their errors, and tried to get me to move forward with the process still. Originally meant to move in tomorrow (26th Jan) but had asked to alter this to 31st/1st Jan/Feb (which was only fully confirmed AFTER I forfeited the room), and they still had MORE stages to complete on their side. I received another email from them this morning after I had already withdrew my application, stating the following, which I just find insulting: "As we haven't heard back from you we will not be progressing any further with your application. Thank you for all your patience with this, appreciate it wasn't the smoothest of rides!"
We applied for a place in Whitson, they sent the application to the wrong landlord about an address in Newington. When they acknowledged the error, they claimed it was then sent to the correct landlord and within 1hr 30 minutes they had rejected the application and decided to go with another tenant and were taking a deposit from them. Effectively, the application was too late to be considered by the correct landlord as Umega originally sent it to the wrong person. This error has cost us the opportunity of this property. I would not recommend Umega. EDIT: Rebecca has now admitted they decided not to proceed with the application rather than the landlord. In short, Umega lied in the first instance. Avoid.
I currently rent a flat in Edinburgh and I’ve had various problems over the last year. The main issue is relating to a window which can’t be closed and swings open when there is a strong wind. This problem has been ongoing for well over 6 months. Umega has done nothing to correct the issue. I have never experienced such a terrible service before. I’m now very worried about winter and the increased cost of heating my flat. I would not recommend Umega. Ian
Umega seemed good at first, but things quickly took a turn. If you have the option, please, please avoid renting with this company. They put our health at risk and never respond to correspondance. Firstly, the landlord had taped up a pipe under our sink with duct tape. When this inevitably broke and flooded our entire kitchen one weeknight evening, Umega responded relatively fast - though to this day have not fixed the moving floorboards caused by the leak. The first major problem came when a sink was broken in the bathroom. Umega took a month to replace this sink - the only sink in our bathroom - which meant we had to go to the kitchen to wash our hands. This is obviously a hygiene hazard and there is no reason why a sink should have taken over a month for replacement. Next our toilet broke, again no help from Umega with an extremely long wait for replacement. Let me restate this: we only had one toilet so had no toilet for weeks on end and no way to flush, you can imagine how awful that was. Then lo and behold, our boiler broke. Not only did this break but also our back up water heater. This meant we had no hot water - no showers etc for almost an entire month in December - one of the coldest months of the year. Until I chased up Umega multiple times they didn't even offer us electric heaters or alternative methods to shower. Because of the dangerous and unsanitary conditions of the flat, we went away for a week - during which Umega was supposed to fix our toilet and hot water. (By this point we hadn't had hot water for two weeks). We come back to a cold flat and guess what? Still no hot water. We then had to have our flat pulled apart for a whole day - especially disruptive as we both work from home, in which a lot of woodwork was damaged. Since then, I have been falsely harassed by Scottish Power for a bill which doesn't belong to me. Umega has been 'trying' to fix this despite ignoring my emails and leaving me to face potential legal action over a bill that is not even for my flat. If you are considering renting with them, please save yourself the hassle and avoid them. They have honestly ruined my mental health and they are not worth working with, even if their properties look good on the surface. I will be looking into legal action now that our tenancy is coming to an end with them.
No issues until it came to claiming back deposit. Minor cleaning issues noted by the estate agent and we agreed to cleaning reduction assuming would be small amount for a couple hours. Charged £200. Ridiculous as would have required 2-3 hours maximum. Additionally had added value to the flat we rented by building a built in wardrobe with landlord permission. No offer of cash or even a thanks for this. Will be strongly advising anyone against using Umega.
Awful maintenance and response team. The flat I'm renting is nearly a grand a month. There was a mouse problem which took weeks to fix, I found mouse droppings in many places. The boiler was leaking gas and I had to call the emergency services. The TV went off with a bang, which was compensated relatively quick. Now the bed has been broken for over 2 months since I reported the problem and is still not fixed. The cistern also takes forever to fill up and have no response from the team after a week. Is the team ran by Uni students??? Just not very professional at all. Edit: It has been a month since I have written the review, I'm still waiting for a new bed, I have written to the department manager and have received nothing for two weeks, this is beyond a joke.
I have been a customer of Umega for 2 years as a landlord. I have now left this agency due to the shocking treatment I have received in the last 2 months. As a very busy person I relied on them to provide me with reasonable quotes for work that needed to be done in my flat. I received a quote for over 3k to have some screed and laminate put down in a very small area. When I questioned this I was basically told it was either pay that or go elsewhere. I had to take time out to go and source a joiner who did it all for less than £300. What upset me the most was I was told that my flat was dangerous and the floor was going to collapse. I had sleepless nights over this damaging misinformation which was confirmed to me was absolute nonsense. When I informed them of my dissatisfaction and I was leaving they really didn't care, the customer service I have received has been very unfriendly. I also got in touch with one of the directors, and to this day he has ignored me. So much for their jolly facade! I have also tried calling them and no one is answering my calls. To top off this unfortunate experience, my flat has been left filthy. I have asked them why it hasn't been cleaned and handed back to me in the clean state I handed it over to them and they have told me it has been cleaned. It hasn't. The contractor they use is either confused or not very good at cleaning! This is just another mess of theirs I need to sort out. If you are a landlord looking for an agency to manage your property, I certainly wouldn't recommend them. If you are reliant on them to source tradesmen (i.e. your not based in Edinburgh) for you you could be in a situation where you would have pay 3k + for a bit of laminate flooring!
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Umega Lettings 10 Lister Square, Edinburgh, EH3 9GL, UK, EH3