"I was a tenant who paid the..."

I was a tenant who paid the checkin chages, but got the house in a shabby conditions with a 70page report of all the issues. The basic health and safety was compromised and there was no inspection carriedout. My kids fell sick because of dust and mould in the house and no one in parkers cared about us and value for human life was neglected.We lived inhaling leaked gas for months and one day boiler failed and had to call emergency.There was no proper inspection carried out and justification for checkin charges was not addressed and the house was not safe to live. There is Illegal practices followed by the team and there is favourism to be in good books of the owner and where ever possible tenants are fined to get te large repair work done all though it was not the mistake of the tenants. It was a hard struggle to go to Ombutsman and they will not tell you the process. The check out was also not professional and they will Rip of the advance payment even though I got the cleaning done from their authorised cleaning agency.

"Unhappy and overcharged..."

We rented a flat through Parkers and stayed for two years as we paid relatively low rent for Reading. The initial letting process was easy though the fees were expensive (with an extra charge tacked on to what we were initially told it would be when we went to Market Place branch to pay). The flat was old-fashioned and needed a full clean, we asked for a professional clean to be done before we moved in and this was put in the contract and agreed. While the place had been given a fresh coat of paint, clearly the professional clean was never carried out and the flat was a disgrace with the previous tenants' 'marks' still in the toilet. Further evidence of the state of the flat was in the inventory which stated the kitchen and bathroom had been 'domestically cleaned', not professionally. Being keen to move in we naively set about cleaning it ourselves and didn't take any photographs - fast forward two years and we leave the entire flat cleaner than when we moved in but have nearly £300 taken from our deposit for cleaning, including such petty items as 'dust in carpet around door frame'. We admitted there were two items with minor damage which we accepted and paid for but having received less than half of the deposit we feel completely ripped off - we lived there quietly for two years and in the end were rinsed for all the money they could get from us. Perhaps we could have taken it to a formal dispute but without hard photo evidence we realised we didn't have the proof to back ourselves up, plus we couldn't bear having to deal with Parkers for any longer than we had too. I've noticed the positive reviews on this site are mostly from the landlords and sellers, with negative 1-star reviews from the actual tenants, and I think that really tells you everything you need to know about where Parkers' priorities lie. My advice to anyone renting through Parkers is to ensure you photograph everything yourself when moving in and do not rely on the inventory - keep all complaints in writing as evidence. We are doing this from now on and happy to say our new letting agency is 100% better.

Went

When I first started renting with Parkers they seemed pretty good but over the years their standards have definitely slipped. They took far too long to carry out repairs. I spent two weeks in the middle of winter without a working boiler (and I had a 17 month old baby at the time). I wasn't given any indication of when it would be fixed or any reassurance that they were trying to sort it out during that time. Some (by no means all) of their contractors were rude and intimidating and sometimes they were given keys to enter the property without my knowledge or permission. They were dishonest when dealing with the return of my deposit, claiming that the TDS agreed with some of the charges. When I contacted the TDS for advice I was told they (TDS) could not comment on specific cases to anyone as they were impartial. I raised a dispute and it turned out that actually the TDS did not agree with those charges. When I moved out my email address was added to their marketing mailing list without my permission, but at least they have removed it since data protection laws have changed.

First time buying so it's a completely new experience for me. For this reason I was enthusiastic to see a financial advisor at Parkers (Andrew Ravenscroft) to seek advice. I'm appreciative of all the answers he provided to my questions but I have to say his attitude was a disgrace. Firstly, he was reluctant to shake my hand when he greeted me. As I sat down, he threw his business card onto my side of the desk. And then during our conversation, he used the word 'affordability' and the went on to elaborate "affordability in English means...." I've been living in the UK 21 years and proud to say my English is better than many British born, thank you! I'm really curious to know if I was treated this way because I'm of my Asian race or because prior to seeing me he already knew that I wasn't going to earn him any commission (given my financial circumstance, I cannot afford to buy on my own in this area)? Update: Just read their previous reviews and it seems all the bad reviews came from people of coloured skin complaining of their rudeness. That explains everything.

Absolutely deplorable. If I could give it zero I would. Happy for any one to PM me for details.

Gave a cheque for the deposit and first rent payment and one day before I moved in we were told if I wanted to move in I had to transfer money over within the next couple of hours (I WAS ON HOLIDAY) as they forgot about the cheque. Moved into the rented appartment with them. My hob didn't work and didn't get sorted for the first month while I was there- it was their responsibility to know this. A lot of things in the flat which didn't work weren't even noticed in the inventory. Would not recommend using them ever. Not friendly, take your money and do not provide anywhere near money's worth of service.

ZERO STARS - Horrible Service. They are just monsters waiting to suck and do whatever they can do charge to their customers! They are not practical and pragmatic and just use every single excuse in the world to increase the charges for everything! Very horrible experience and would never recommend them to anyone!

If there were 0 stars, I would have awarded 0-stars. One of the WORST estate agents ever eager to suck money from people! Never ever recommend them to anyone! Its a viscous trap who just charge for every single thing and are very rude and non-courteous! They just suck money for everything including and don't have patience to address any queries

Totally agree with Kyle's previous comments. Also, I have to add that this is an agency which does not care at all about the tenants but trying to get money from everything without a simple explanation. About the staff: rude, unprofessional and unkind, who are proud of charge you £150 for a check-out fee, get into your property without letting you know with at least 24-hours notice in advance (that happened 2 times when they were showing the property to be rented, who knows how many times it occurred and I was not aware of), being annoying on your tnenacy checking every 2 months that the property is in good conditions, charging you £30 for a reference, charging almost £100 for a 'professional cleaning' which never was held at the end of a tenancy contract. Proud of leaving bird's poo on the balcony's floor, black mould in the shower and uncleaned oven, but when the check out is done by another unprofessional third party company, they found the minimum detail to charge you the double of what it cost to rip you off at the end. An agency proud of not let you talk on the phone when asking for returning your deposit which took almost one month to be returned after the landlord could not reply a simple email sent by an unhelpful property manager who does not consider at all the conditions which I received the flat where I moved in one year ago, disgusting. Yep, very proud. The worst agency I dealt with so far in my entire life as a tenant. Please avoid Parkers Reading Letting Agency at all cost.