WARNING… …suffer the consequences should you make a valid complaint about their service. It was only their actions, or lack of, that compelled me to write a negative review. All was OK until my Mum left the property she was renting. She was advised by Martin & Co that despite leaving the property very clean and in the same condition it was when she moved in, the checkout report didn’t look good and could result in the loss of the deposit. The 'moving in' inventory was very top level and vague, but the checkout report included photos of small specs of dust, even a rubber band left on a door handle. In addition to what appeared to be a negagtive checkout report I was advised that the deposit was being transferred from one holding company to another which would cause a delay and I would just have to wait. Why their internal business decisions and actions should be my problem was beyond me. I was told that the landlord wasn’t prepared to go visit the property to see for themselves that it had been left in a very clean and ready to move in standard. No one followed up and kept me up to date with the situation … if they had I wouldn’t have needed to chasing this up. Only upon calling was I informed that the member of staff who was dealing with this was off sick and I would have to wait. No problem with someone being ill but does a business shut down because of it? Naturally after a few days of no updates I called Martin & Co to be told that the person was still off sick so I asked to speak to another member of staff who took offence at my insistence to speak to someone to find out what was going on with the deposit… to say they were unsympathetic and unhelpful is an understatement! The company where the deposit was being transferred to had no information of our deposit and so we weren’t able to request the return, and so with no further communication or updates from Martin & Co, as a last resort I decided to post a negative Google review (it was actually different to this one)… funny how that seemed to prompt some action! The deposit was eventually refunded, but not by the company to who I was advised it was going to, and so because I was made whole and had recieved the deposit in full I delete the negative Google review … until I was prompted to write another one!!!! It was my Mum who rented the flat from Martin and Co and she was moving to Wales for family reasons. She found a place to rent but was advised by the letting agent that Martin & Co wouldn’t provide a reference. On calling Martin and Co I was advised it was because I had written a negative Google review. My Mum is 76 and was a model tenant, paying six months upfront and leaving the flat spotless but because I had challenged them on their service, or lack of, and wrote a negative review they were going to penalise my Mum by not providing a reference for a new property she had found. Unprofessional, shameful and childish actions by the owner. BTW, the faulty window which was pointed out before my Mum moved into the property was never fixed. Their website says: Martin & Co Southampton has a reputation for providing a reliable and professional service with a dedicated team who would be delighted to help….I think not. Shame on you.

Lettings director turned up to do the viewing a tracksuit. We were chased for a holding fee despite avoidance of a simple question of how the property would be left as it was unclean when my husband viewed. I had to request a tenancy agreement to understand what their terms were as Andrea simply wouldn't given a straight answer. Once fee was paid we sent over the information for referencing, being due to move in in 3 weeks I asked 2 days later how long roughly the process takes. I was told basically they don't know how long it takes and I hadn't provided the information, I explained I'd emailed the information 2 days later and asked what happens with my reference check as my company was on Furlough (like a lot of England) I was told they don't know and to take it up with the reference company and she just didn't read the email properly ( this happened a lot) and asked again for the referencing info. I screenshot my email from 2 days previously and AGAIN explained I had sent it 2 days prior in the email trail we were communicating in. She then replied again stating it was me delaying the process as I hadn't sent the information.... So dodgy they got the money and then basically did nothing. Having finally uncovered the property was managed by them (I'd asked in an email days before but it was ignored) we made the decision not to go ahead and requested a refund and made a complaint about the service we received. In which they replied saying they think that's best, we are currently waiting for the money back.... Fingers crossed they actually refund it. Avoid at all costs. Tenancy agreements don't have much to cover the properties being fully cleaned on check out and the service is horrendous (and this was from the director!) So I can only imagine how bad it would have been if we went ahead and then had an issue at the property. Maybe the lettings director should remember a saying my old boss used to say when I worked at an estate agents “tenants can be future landlords”. So maybe treat them with some respect and actually provide some decent customer service, I wonder how the landlords would feel if they saw how off putting your service is and to a point it literally makes people pull out of renting properties they like because of it.

No words.

Awful, had endless problems before moving in, trying to get us to sign contracts that where wrong, kept calling both myself and my partner by wrong names, argued back and called us liars when we explained we did not want to be called different names, they where then silent when I sent all of the emails with at least 5 different names they had called us. One of the worst state agency ever stay away from them Barry is the letting manager unprofessional and rude don’t even think to get a property to rent or give them to rent .

If I could give zero stars I would. Poor and unprofessional communications assured at all times.

As other people as stated avoid to rent with this overrated company. They will charge you a lot when entering to the property and, when you leave, they will try to take as much money from your deposit as they can, trying to find bad excuses. Awful experience! And by the way, of you have something that need fixing in the property, be ready to wait for months!as they wont pay attention to you.

Probably the worst agency I have ever dealt with would not recommend to anyone!

Dealing with this agency was one of the worst experiences we had. The flat was horrible, we couldn't even last 1 month there , it made us sick, and at the end we didn't get our deposit back for bunch of silly reasons. Deserve no star Regarding the deposit, at first you asked for an additional 1 month rent for the last month, we didn't agree as there was other tenants living there already, then you asked for the previous month's rent, we told you that we already paid for that, of course you didn't believe us until we gave you proof from the bank. Then you started asking for things that were not mentioned in the first agreement as the early release and check out fees. And regarding the shouting clearly we had no other way to communicate with you as we've done our part and you guys didn't. We were never late for paying rent although the living conditions were unbearable. Since the beginning we reported problems that affected our health as well as our babies health such as the mould and weren't helpful and blamed us for it "talk about professionalism" And a little advice here, instead of accusing people that they were wrong try pausing for a second and try fixing problems in your agency, cause based on your response professionalism is only a fantasy here. Never forget that "customers are always right " . I reported the truth based on my experience and by you not liking my review doesn't make it not true I'm glad i didn't submit my complaint in your office cause by this lack of professionalism i saw in your response, it just shows me that going there and talking to you won't be worth it.