The staff have always been really helpful and approachable. We moved in a couple of months ago and have not felt an intrusive presence from Martin & Co, but they have sorted out any questions we have had promptly.

This agency isn't the best. I'm a private tenant, need to report things not working or in a bad state. Staff weren't very helpful, not listening and ignored my needs. The maintenance man was more helpful and very kind. I know my landlord personally, and he's nice too. Probably that's the reason why I'm not leaving.

In reply from Martin and Co, here is our response: You have claimed you have spoken to the two plumbers you currently used and you previously stated to us on numerous occasions that stuff from the taps couldn’t have caused the mark. But the stain could have been caused by something else as it materialised around the same time your inept plumbers where in the building. Also neither of the two plumbers you have attempted to clarify with were the plumbers in question. While your current two plumbers are no doubt reputable they are not the inept ones who were there and therefore cannot possibly comment on how or what they did. Those guys were so good they collapsed the garage ceiling, nothing is potentially beyond them especially stains on carpets. This was informed to you by telephone. You are correct, we mistakenly believed we had emailed about it, as 95% of the time we would have e-mailed. On this occasion we had misremembered and recalled that it was actually a phone call. This happened because I had suffered a serious health problem and my wife and I were more distracted by more serious issues than the inability of your plumbers and the fact you don’t make note of calls coming into you. All this was stated in the original review. As the member of staff that received the call is no longer with Martin and Co we have no way to verify our call which would clear us and as Martin and Co’s call logging is clearly non existent we were left with no way to prove it either. In regards the cleaning contractor, again you have failed to listen here. The contractor did not advise us as we were cleaning. He advised us BEFORE WE HIRED HIM on the phone that all we really had to do was just clean the carpets. He informed me that at the most that’s all we’d need as if we cleaned reasonably well it would pass the inspection, therefore putting himself in pole position to be hired as of course he would be the cheapest as he was offering a minimal service. This is the cleaner you recommended to us, and therefore we had no reason to doubt his claims would be genuine. We then find out this is not the case and more was required, no doubt to be carried out by the same guy who did us in the end. As I had better offers elsewhere for a comprehensive clean I would have gone there instead, but as your man under pitched knowing he’d get the job twice that’s how it ended up. You may feel the comments are spurious, but yours aren’t even taking in to account anything we’ve actually said so are redundant. You are right, a number of contractors visited, and once you hired a decent plumber we had no further complaints until the end, when having completed a decent clean which was praised by the LANDLORDS THEMSELVES, Martin and Co got involved and suddenly everything was wrong despite saying in the first email that the house was ‘generally in a good condition.’ The Fumigation was originally sold to us as something that HAD to be completed because we had a dog. Quotes were obtained but only when we spoke to the pest control company you recommended did it turn out that we actually DIDNT have to fumigate as the chemicals are dangerous and should not be performed lightly. A fumigation should only be carried out if there is absolute evidence that it is required. This is NOT what we were originally told and it was later you had to clarify this proving that the clause in your contract was completely wrong. You later admitted your mistake and clarified you would keep back a portion of the deposit until 2 weeks after the new tenants had moved in. With regards to the Oven, thank you for confirming that your inspection between tenancies was inadequate in this case. We feel our comments are perfectly justified, and thank you in your return comments for proving our point with a lack of attention to detail, and for showing you do not wish to learn from a negative review. This is how we found your responses in our email exchanges too and now its here for all to see. Regards.

Ive rented properties for nigh on 20 years now. Normally Ive never felt the need to leave a review for any as normally all has gone smoothly and any issues have been small. However in the case of Martin and Co, Worcester I will make an exception. From the beginning things didn’t start off terribly well. Forced to accept their Inventory without being able to amend it for any issues we found was the first red flag. All you could do was e-mail your findings and hope they remembered it. Then they described the Oven as having ‘a good appearance’ yet failed to note that it actually didn’t work. The oven thing went on for a while, but then to add insult to injury they booked plumbers to replace some leaky taps that had been reported by the previous tenants. It was bad enough that they replaced the taps in the wrong bathroom, but then when they were forced to come back to fix that mistake they made an even bigger one. In refitting they didn’t seal it properly causing a leak to run down the back of the sink and in to the floor. This then pooled up until eventually the ceiling collapsed in the garage under the weight of the water. Also around this time a mark appeared on the carpet leading to the ensuite, which we believe had been caused by those same plumbers. We actually reported it at the time but unusually we did it by phone instead of email/app. Had we known then what we know now we would have photo’d it and logged the phone call. You see it turns out that Martin and Co failed to log that phone call. Also the agent who answered the call no longer works for the company. Therefore when the time came to get the deposit back they had no record of our report. This ultimately meant that we were blamed for mark, and without any proof it was our word verses theirs. Despite the multiple examples of poor work by the plumbers, it HAD to be our fault. Add to that a couple of pieces of dodgy advice (we HAD to fumigate, advised by their pest control guy that we actually didn’t for instance) and recommending cleaners for the end of tenancy clean who gave bum advice about how much needed to be done (why would we doubt it, being M&C’s preferred cleaner??) just to land the job and what you have is a company with numerous operational question marks. They hired dodgy contractors to carry out their works and when it all then goes sideways they are happy to pass these costs on to the renter. We ended up losing a sizeable chunk of our deposit as a consequence. When we complained to the higher management we were promised a review of the situation, but so far no outcome has been forthcoming. We would therefore recommend to anyone else thinking of renting with these guys to do the following: 1) Report ALL repairs and maintenance as soon as possible. 2) Make sure they are photographed and kept safe in case needed later. 3) ONLY report using E-mail if possible. Even the PropertyFile app turned out to be useless because we lost access as soon as our tenancy was over so we couldn’t go back to find previous house inspection reports. 4) Save all House Inspection reports somewhere safe! 5) If you have to phone make sure you log the time and date of that call and what it was about. They won’t. (Save your phone bills just in case!) 6) When coming to the end of tenancy book your own cleaners. 7) If you need plumbers make sure you ask for Neil and no one else. 8) If you want to avoid all the hassle, rent with someone else……. Good night and Good Luck! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- REBUTTAL TO M&C RESPONSE: SEE PHOTOGRAPH Always a pleasure.....

Ive rented properties for nigh on 20 years now. Normally Ive never felt the need to leave a review for any as normally all has gone smoothly and any issues have been small. However in the case of Martin and Co, Worcester I will make an exception. From the beginning things didn’t start off terribly well. Forced to accept their Inventory without being able to amend it for any issues we found was the first red flag. All you could do was e-mail your findings and hope they remembered it. Then they described the Oven as having ‘a good appearance’ yet failed to note that it actually didn’t work. The oven thing went on for a while, but then to add insult to injury they booked plumbers to replace some leaky taps that had been reported by the previous tenants. It was bad enough that they replaced the taps in the wrong bathroom, but then when they were forced to come back to fix that mistake they made an even bigger one. In refitting they didn’t seal it properly causing a leak to run down the back of the sink and in to the floor. This then pooled up until eventually the ceiling collapsed in the garage under the weight of the water. Also around this time a mark appeared on the carpet leading to the ensuite, which we believe had been caused by those same plumbers. We actually reported it at the time but unusually we did it by phone instead of email/app. Had we known then what we know now we would have photo’d it and logged the phone call. You see it turns out that Martin and Co failed to log that phone call. Also the agent who answered the call no longer works for the company. Therefore when the time came to get the deposit back they had no record of our report. This ultimately meant that we were blamed for mark, and without any proof it was our word verses theirs. Despite the multiple examples of poor work by the plumbers, it HAD to be our fault. Add to that a couple of pieces of dodgy advice (we HAD to fumigate, advised by their pest control guy that we actually didn’t for instance) and recommending cleaners for the end of tenancy clean who gave bum advice about how much needed to be done (why would we doubt it, being M&C’s preferred cleaner??) just to land the job and what you have is a company with numerous operational question marks. They hired dodgy contractors to carry out their works and when it all then goes sideways they are happy to pass these costs on to the renter. We ended up losing a sizeable chunk of our deposit as a consequence. When we complained to the higher management we were promised a review of the situation, but so far no outcome has been forthcoming. We would therefore recommend to anyone else thinking of renting with these guys to do the following: 1) Report ALL repairs and maintenance as soon as possible. 2) Make sure they are photographed and kept safe in case needed later. 3) ONLY report using E-mail if possible. Even the PropertyFile app turned out to be useless because we lost access as soon as our tenancy was over so we couldn’t go back to find previous house inspection reports. 4) Save all House Inspection reports somewhere safe! 5) If you have to phone make sure you log the time and date of that call and what it was about. They won’t. (Save your phone bills just in case!) 6) When coming to the end of tenancy book your own cleaners. 7) If you need plumbers make sure you ask for Neil and no one else. 8) If you want to avoid all the hassle, rent with someone else……. Good night and Good Luck! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- REBUTTAL TO M&C RESPONSE: SEE PHOTOGRAPH Always a pleasure.....NegativeProfessionalism

Usually a viewing is supposed to last 15 - 20 minutes . We travelled all the way from Manchester to go see this property and were running just under 8 minutes late to go see the place due to traffic in a new city. We were informed that the agent had left to be at another viewing , when we pleaded with receptionist to just allow us some time he simply said that the agent had another appointment somewhere else and we'd need to reschedule. I don't know who books these appointments in but booking another location within 15 minutes of another place is just a bad idea. Won't be using these guys again.

Be very careful if you sign up with them as they might harras you and try to force you to agree to terms that are unfair or force their way to visit you without your consent. From a legal point based on the language used in their communications it appears they are drawing up the contracts (which are very unfair), but when questioned they say they are not actually the ones writing up the contracts, just try to enforce them. So which one is it? Take this advice seriously and if you see any listings with them avoid. Find a more serious company.

Really disappointing service from Martin & Co when viewing a rental property. No level of customer service. Lettings Manager didn't care that there were issues with the property, 'let as seen' attitude despite there being damage to walls and issues in the bathrooms, snagging issues throughout. Not provided any information on next steps or application process. Waste of my afternoon, having taken time off work to go and view the property.

Renters beware! The contract contains contradictory, unreasonable, irrelevant and borderline illegal clauses that they refuse to change. When moving in they send you the inventory with a request to sign it as proof of receipt, but when you look at the signature declaration it is to say that you agree with it. When pointing out damage that isn't marked on the inventory they refuse to update the document and promise to keep your comments on record instead, but if you've signed the inventory then I imagine that it would be hard to argue that it's wrong if they try to charge you later. 1/5 stars for quality, but 5/5 on the sharkyness scale!NegativeQuality, Professionalism

Having experience a very poor service by local letting agent Martin & Co Worcester which cost my son the opportunity of renting a property. Poor attitude and customer service.NegativeQuality, Professionalism