SHAMBOLIC, DISHONEST AND TOTALLY INCOMPETENT. UNTRUSTWORTHY.
We instructed these people to find a tenant for a newly refurbished house which was carried out to a high standard.
They did absolutely nothing.
We had to do our own advertising on Rightmove, Gumtree etc.(They would only put it on Zoopla)
In two months they did not generate even one enquiry, let alone viewing, let alone again one applicant.
We were getting approximately one enquiry per day due to the workmanship of the interior of the house.
We found two separate sets of tenants which they then lost for us.
Being reasonable, nice people ourselves we gave them the opportunity to talk it through whereby most landlords would have just walked away without a word.
Upon funding more advertising for ourselves whilst these people sat on their laurels we managed to find yet another applicant.
The applicant wanted to pay the referencing fees of £125 the following day and the deposit the following week. Kensingtons told them not to come in and pay the £125 but to wait a week and pay it altogether. The applicants had a date they needed to move by and Kensingtons were aware of this so why shorten the time period?
I did not know why they had told these people that and so sent two emails questioning it, to which I did not receive the courtesy of a response.
I was later told by Sian a staff member, that the reason they told them this was because, if after paying their substantial fee of £125 the tenant disappears or fails the referencing then Kensingtons have their money to keep for themselves. Due to the failed tenant possibly causing them to miss out on a better one and losing them the opportunity of the money tenanting the property, would have generated for them.
We, as landlords, would have been happy to have taken the house off the market for a week in the hope of the tenant proving suitable. However, we were not given the option.
Kensingtons then did absolutely nothing to reference them apart from sending out a couple of templates with four questions on it with yes or no answers! Unbelievable.
I then had to do the referencing myself as time was of the essence.
They did nothing to chase up the referencing, absolutely nothing,
I then asked to speak with the owner Mike, a totally ineffectual drip of a guy. I was told he could not phone until Friday. The call never came - unsurpringingly.
I emailed them again and phoned. No response.
Then at almost the close of business for the day I was phoning around desperately trying to find someone who sounded competent and professional. I managed to find one and the process started again.
We now have two days to get these applicants in. They managed to extend their move out date.
Now Kensingtons are refusing to refund their money because they did the referencing.
An absolute lie. As of Friday there was nothing done on the referencing.
They are refusing because I changed agency. They were given chance after chance after reprieve until we had no other option left open to us.
In my opinion they are nothing more than fraudulent.
Do yourself a favour and don't give your hard earned away for nothing.
With all due respect to the other review printed on here the person did not actually end up using them. Surely anyone can sound friendly when saying "hello" as it would appear that was all his experience amounted to in the end. It does not mean they are honest or competent because they are friendly.
If our tenants cannot get in by this date they will be facing costs of temporary accommodation and storage.
It is a shame when people cannot admit their mistakes and do the right thing.
Kensingtons have lost nothing.
Us and these tenants are about to lose everything.
Shocking. They should be closed down and charged with fraud. read more
