We did a viewing for a rental house in portslade back in August. My partner was contacted by the agency a few days later telling us we got that place and needed to come down to put down a deposit. My partner was going for an job interview and told the agent he will call back within an hour. We tried all day to contact him. No respond, no call back, nothing. We left messages with his colleagues and still we didn't hear anything. Then half an hour after they closed we got an email from the agent tell us the property had gone to someone else. How is this acceptable? We had two weeks to find somewhere to live and it was an absolutely nightmare. To be promised a property and cancelling other viewings to then be told it's not available anymore AFTER they closed so you can't call them. We got hold of one colleague next day and he was very apologetic. Never heard from the agent. Very poorly handled
Reply from agent
Thank you for letting us know where we might have let you down. We are an ever evolving company and always look for honest feedback so we appreciate you taking the time to let us know what we can improve in the future. After looking into this further we would like to explain how we think communication broke down.
Messages were left specifically for a member of staff who was on back to back appointments during the day therefore not able to respond. During this time a viewing took place at the property and that particular tenant came into the office immediately and placed a holding deposit for the house. When this member of staff came back in to branch after the day of external appointments (outside opening hours) he left a message with the bad news.
In future we will make sure to explore all left messages here in the office in addition to letting prospective tenants know that they can speak with other members of the team to handle holding fees and deposits.
We never set out to make moving stressful. We hope you can accept our apologies in how this breakdown in communication might have exacerbated and already difficult time for you. We hope your partner was successful in his job interview and you are happy in your new home.