[Topher Bear]

How many times have you come across the perfect rental property, start dealing with the Letting Agent, then begin to wonder if in fact these guys are o.k. or not? No house is worth the hassle of a bad letting Agent who is going to be finding ways to keep your deposit and generally make your life a constant battle to get anything done. The trouble is unless we have dealt with them before, or at least have been in the area a while to know on the grapevine who are good or not, usually we don't have a clue. Some of the agents we thought would prove tricky, turned out not to be, while others were the opposite. Of course sometimes we ignored the alarm bells and paid the price!

Well I believe I may have the answer. I came across this website the other day: All Agents, You can rate your letting agent (and estate agent) anonymously.

If all the HPCers could rate up their past and present Letting Agents, it will really help the website to become a really useful tool in the armoury of the Tenent.

If we could make this website the first port of call when considering a particular property of not, then many of the rental horror stories might be avoided, the worst Letting Agents might find themselves struggling to let out their properties, and then Landlords may well stop choosing them and then they go out of business!

For too long the (prospective) tenent has been on the butt end of the situation. A Landlord gets to choose which agent he wishes to put his property on with and no doubt they choose on the basis of a financial decision and the Letting Agent/Landlord relationship, which of course bears no relevence on how the tenent is treated. There is commercial competition among Letting Agents. For the Tenent, however, there is no competition to keep Letting Agents on their toes. Each Property is individual and for each property there is a monopoly situation. If a house is the right one and none similar are available, then the prospective tenent has no choice but to go with that Letting Agent, even if their charges are extortionate.

Filling in this website, won't change that situation, but it might help swing a decision that a perfect property may not be so perfect after all. As I said, if (prospective) tenents can find the villains of the Letting Agency world, then perhaps they can be given a wide birth, bcause of course it is the tenent that pays their wages...without tenents, they have no business!

Give it a whirl and lets see what people power we can weald!

Topher Bear

[asquithea]

They are so going to get their arses sued.

I added my review.

[Live_in_hope]

What about ones that are missing ?, I'd like to make a few negative comments

[asquithea]

Live_in_hope, on Aug 25 2008, 04:44 PM, said:

What about ones that are missing ?, I'd like to make a few negative comments

There's a facility for adding additional estate agents.

[redwing]

That was fun.

But I didn't see many letting agents from my area. And the comments/reviews are a bit thin on the ground.

I'd like to see this site prosper.

[Aladdin]

http://www.allagents...ntial-lettings/

5 comments all posted in the last 48hrs giving this letting 5 stars.


I smell a rat....

[Topher Bear]

Aladdin, on Sep 1 2008, 04:37 PM, said:

http://www.allagents...ntial-lettings/

5 comments all posted in the last 48hrs giving this letting 5 stars.


I smell a rat....

Hmm.

I see what you mean.

Thing is, the comments and ratings don't go up until they have been "approved" and you must supply your e-mail address to ratify your comment and they claim to review all comments.

Perhaps it is all the members of the Agency doing their own review from their personal accounts.

I think I'll point this out to the website for them to check it is koshur!

Thanks

Topher Bear.

PS, thinking of pinning this thread to the top. Good idea?

[Matt Henson]

Topher Bear, on Sep 1 2008, 11:50 PM, said:

PS, thinking of pinning this thread to the top. Good idea?

yes if it is genuine

[Jay7]

Hi, thanks for posting the link to our site here.

asquithea, on Aug 25 2008, 10:11 AM, said:

They are so going to get their arses sued.

Well, many agents have tried it, so far none have suceeded. Perhaps it helps that the site is owned by a company registered in Slovakia.

Live_in_hope, on Aug 25 2008, 04:44 PM, said:

What about ones that are missing ?, I'd like to make a few negative comments

Suggest the agent here: http://www.allagents.co.uk/add-agent/
We will add them to the directory but please allow up to a month for it. We'll notify you once it is possible to review the agent.

Aladdin, on Sep 1 2008, 04:37 PM, said:

http://www.allagents...ntial-lettings/
5 comments all posted in the last 48hrs giving this letting 5 stars.

All reviews have been posted from unique IP's and confirmed by reviewers with unique emails. That's all we can check I'm affraid. Unfortunatelly we can't tell for sure if they've been posted by genuine customers or agent's employees.

Any questions or suggestions are welcome.
Thanks.

Jay

[Topher Bear]

Jay7, on Sep 3 2008, 09:46 AM, said:

All reviews have been posted from unique IP's and confirmed by reviewers with unique emails. That's all we can check I'm affraid. Unfortunatelly we can't tell for sure if they've been posted by genuine customers or agent's employees.

Any questions or suggestions are welcome.
Thanks.

Jay

Thanks very much for this site. I noticed the registration in Slovakia and thought 'smart move'

About the Wolfs, thats pretty much what I figured. I guess the only way to get around such issues is for as many genuine customers to voice their opinion as possible so that the odd employee vote is swamped by reality!

So everyone....get commenting!!

Sorry about making more work for you Jay! :o:huh:

[porca misèria]

Aladdin, on Sep 1 2008, 04:37 PM, said:

5 comments all posted in the last 48hrs giving this letting 5 stars.


I smell a rat....

Maybe a rat, but it could be a perfectly innocent one. I have no idea (never heard of the agent in question), but the following scenario seems at least faintly plausible.

Scenario: agent is good, and knows it. Has good relations with its clients, both landlords and tenants. Someone at agent finds out about this review site, and puts it in a newsletter. Hey presto - a bunch of more-or-less genuine reviews.

[gilf]

niq, on Sep 8 2008, 11:32 PM, said:

Maybe a rat, but it could be a perfectly innocent one. I have no idea (never heard of the agent in question), but the following scenario seems at least faintly plausible.

Scenario: agent is good, and knows it. Has good relations with its clients, both landlords and tenants. Someone at agent finds out about this review site, and puts it in a newsletter. Hey presto - a bunch of more-or-less genuine reviews.

Only just seen this added the agents I have delt with over the last few years, except the one I have major problems with.... they went bust

I agree a savvy agent would get his customers to stick up a review, could be suspect but could also be genuine, I know I'm more than happy to promote any of the good agents I have come across.

[Ferienwohnung oder Apparte]

This is a nice idea. But I think some agents will just have to create many accounts and put some 5-star reviews for their own selves

[Markie6]

Ferienwohnung oder Apparte, on Jan 8 2009, 01:03 PM, said:

This is a nice idea. But I think some agents will just have to create many accounts and put some 5-star reviews for their own selves

probably an agency with 5 members of staff...