Purple Frog Property reviews in Birmingham, Bristol and Nottingham

Dear Em Sorry to hear that you did not enjoy your tenancy. I can see that you reported a smoke detector as not working on moving in day and that this was replaced. We also conducted a fire alarm test during the tenancy and replaced some that needed to be renewed. Looking at the maintenance records for the property, I can see a report of a broken light and a door handle, both of which were fixed in good time. I can't see any reports of issues with the problems with the door frames or windows. You reported the oven needed cleaning in September and we sent someone to clean it. If you remember who told you to paint the wall yourself, please could you let me know? I can see that it was reported but that we didn't paint the wall. Sorry to hear that contractors visited the property without informing you. I can see several of the notices that we will attend the property on your tenancy profile. I can't see that any tenants reported that they weren't receiving these. Please could you send over some information about how and when you told us about this, so I can follow up and see why you weren't receiving the notices we send out? Tenants can dispute any charges that have been added by mistake. We make this clear when we send out the deposit statements, along with information on how to dispute. Sorry to hear that we missed the deadline we'd given you for returning your deposit. Please could you let me know how much longer you had to wait and how this delay was communicated to you? My email address is james.mason@purplefrogproperty.com. I look forward to hearing from you. Best regards James Mason

Dear Young J Sorry that you found our deposit process to be unfair. We do explain the process for deposit returns to all tenants several times before the end of your tenancy. I do take your point that some of the deposit returns have been much slower than we would have liked this year. Sorry to hear that yours was one of them. You are right: students are exempt from paying council tax. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that you can just live in a property without letting the council know that you are exempt. If you don't tell the council this, they will assume that you are eligible to pay the tax. The reason why we ask for proof of the exemption is that councils will send debt collectors to a property to demand the unpaid tax. As student tenants tend to have short tenancies, this means that the debt collectors are banging on the door of new tenants. That is unfair to the new tenants. As you are a Nottingham tenant, we sorted out your council tax exemption proof for you. I'm sorry that this took us longer than we had hoped. Sorry to hear that some of the deductions on the deposit were added incorrectly. By the sound of it, you used our dispute process to make us aware that we'd added a charge we shouldn't have and it was removed. The reason that we have a dispute process is because, inevitably, sometimes things go awry. We deal with thousands of deposit returns every year, and hundreds of properties. That does mean sometimes deductions are added by mistake or that we are not as familiar with the details of a property as the tenants are. Neither we nor the landlords we work with receive any profit from deposit deductions. Any money that is taken is used to pay for cleaning or repairs, outside of normal wear and tear. If you are on a joint and several contract, any deductions for communal areas will be split between all of the tenants. There is an overview of the process here: https://www.purplefrogproperty.com/blog/make-deposits-fair/. Sorry to hear that your room had dog hair in it. As a rule of thumb, we do not allow pets in our properties. Your room should also have been inspected and cleaned after the previous tenancy. If it was not, it is always worth telling us. As I mentioned above, we pay cleaners. If they're not doing their job, it's helpful for us to know. I hope that, going forwards, your experiences in the rental market don't cause you as much stress as you seem to have experienced at the end of your tenancy with Purple Frog. Kind regards James Mason james.mason@purplefrogproperty.com

Dear Karan Budhrani Sorry to hear you're not happy with the service you received from us. I can't find you on our tenant database. Please could you drop me an email at james.mason@purplefrogproperty.com so I can find out more about the issues you are experiencing? I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards James Mason

Sorry to hear that you were unhappy with your stay at Hockley point. Firstly, I think I should mention that the staff at Purple Frog do not leave reviews for the company. All of them, good and bad, have come from tenants and landlords. We are dedicated to customer service and want to hear from everyone, when we are doing a good job but also when we need to do better, it helps us improve our service. If we found that team members had been leaving false reviews, we would demand that they were removed and the person who did it would be disciplined. One of our core values is that we are honest. There is a very high chance that anyone caught cheating would not work for the company for long. Sorry that you were not happy with the mattress in your room. We can’t find a record of you reporting this to us. Had we known about it, we would of course have changed it for you. Yes, the elevator did indeed stop working. And, yes, it took longer than we would have wanted to repair. We had to wait for a part to be delivered. This took longer than we anticipated. Yes, it was frustrating; it was for us too. The washing machines did become an issue and since you have left, all of the washing machines and dryers have been replaced. Fire alarms are sadly something out of our control. We test them every week, but if an alarm goes off any other time then this is for your safety. There are lots of things that will trigger the alarm - high levels of smoke from an oven, or someone breaking the rules and smoking in their bedroom, to name two instances. As there are no staff on site, we need to send someone to the property. This is also the case for lock outs. We aim to get to you as quickly as possible. Our aim is 30 minutes or under, but this is not always possible. Yes, there is a charge for attending to open your door. The doors are auto-locking for your security. That does mean you need to keep your card with you at all times, something we tell you at the start of the tenancy. While it may seem steep, our charge is cheaper than calling out a locksmith out of hours. The cleaning in the communal areas is something we have addressed and spoken to our teams about in great detail. An issue that the cleaners regularly found was that tenants had taken advantage of the cleaning service by leaving their communal areas in a bad state. Our cleaning contractors are paid to attend to do basic cleaning to keep the areas in a good, liveable state. I am, of course, not saying this was specifically the case with your flat. But if our cleaners found excess rubbish/mess then they would not clean. Sorry that the deposit took a while to come back. Looking at the tenancy, I can see we had to wait on your council tax proof. We only received this on 10th May. We then had to request bank details and process the return. Once again, I am sorry that these issues prevented you from enjoying your stay at Hockley Point. I hope that your next accommodation is better suited to your requirements. Kind regards James Mason James.Mason@purplefrogproperty.com

Dear Maria Sorry to hear that you've had problems with your deposit return. Looking at the time frame, I can see that the council didn't send us your council tax information until 14/08/2018. We do say that we don't release deposit statements until we have confirmation that all council tax is up-to-date. Students are normally exempt, but we still need to check that the council are happy that there's no tax owed. We do this because councils are very happy to send bailiffs to properties, even for the smallest sum. Obviously, by the time the bailiff arrives, there are new tenants, who get the shock of their life. For your tenancy, we've asked the council directly for the information. Unfortunately, the council took far too long to reply. I understand how frustrating it is, having to wait for a third party so you can get your deposit back. I am very sorry that you've had to wait for this. Once we have the information, we say it can take up to five days to send the statement. In this case, we've not sent the statement in that time. This is totally our error. I'm sorry that you've had to resort to posting on a public forum to get your statement sent. I have spoken to the deposits team about your case and they will send your statement to you today. Again, I'd like to apologise for this delay. Please would you email me to confirm when you receive your statement? My email address is james.mason@purplefrogproperty.com. I look forward to hearing from you. James Mason james.mason@purplefrogproperty.com

Dear Elizabeth Sorry to hear that you're not happy with your experience with Purple Frog. Looking at the maintenance reports, I can see that pest control was sent within three days of us receiving your initial report. Unfortunately, you had to send another report three weeks later. When you did this, we sent another contractor out to deal with the issue again. Pests like rodents can be persistent. They are also happy to set up home in any house. Both times we received reports we sent someone to attend to the problem. That you didn't have to report the issue again suggests that the two visits were sufficient to solve this. While paying rent that includes bills is a simple way to manage payments, it is based on fair usage. This will have been explained in the contract. If tenants go beyond the fair usage allocation, it is only right that they have to pay for what they used over this amount. When you queried this, we did explain that all of the tenants are paying equal amounts for the excess utilities. The other two tenants are not part of your tenancy agreement. That means that, other than explaining that all tenants have been charged, we can't discuss their contracts with you. Sorting out the council tax exemption is the tenants' responsibility. As the deposits team explained to you when you spoke to them, we cannot speak to the council on your behalf. This is because the council will not speak to us because of data protection. We advised you that you were doing the right thing and to speak to the council again. It would make our lives so much easier if we could influence the council, so we do understand your frustration. I am sorry that you think that we have not been truthful with you. We send information to all tenants at the start and before the end of their tenancies to make it clear what you need to do to ensure your deposit is returned quickly, with the minimum deductions. Please would you email me at james.mason@purplefrog property.com, so I can find out more information about why you feel you have been lied to? I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards James Mason

Dear Anisha Sorry to hear that you're not happy with us. Please could you drop me an email with more information about your experiences? My email address is james.mason@purplefrogproperty.com. I can't see a maintenance report for a used needle or for cleaning. If you find something hazardous, please let us know as we wouldn't expect you to dispose of it. Please could you send me some more information about the other maintenance issues you've experienced? The majority of maintenance reports all seem to have been closed off in good time. If we are missing reports, it will be useful to know. I have asked the lettings team to look into when you are sent notices of viewings. So far, I can see that your house has only had one booked. Is this the one you are referring to that no one showed up? Once I know more about the situation, hopefully we can start to put it right. Once again, please drop me an email at james.mason@purplefrogproperty.com. I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards James Mason

Hi Harvey Sorry to hear that you're not happy with our deposit return process. Having looked at your tenancy details, I can see that you haven't received your deposit statement yet. The inspection document lists possible charges, but isn't the final document - that's the statement. Once you have your statement, you will be able to dispute any charges that you think are unfounded. One of the deposits team will look at all of the evidence and any deductions that should not have been added will be removed. We want any deductions to be fair. If you don't think that our dispute resolution is correct, you are able to raise the dispute with the deposit protection scheme that holds your deposit for you. Sorry that the inspection clerks forgot to bring the inventory with them. It is normal practice to bring it along. Unfortunately, with lots of inspections to do, sometimes people accidentally forget things. We ask you to sign the inspection report to say that you were present during the inspection. I understand that you declined to sign the document, which is of course your right. I do feel it's worth mentioning again that the check out inspection isn't the final charges. The charges that we add are to cover the cost of hiring cleaners and maintenance people to attend a property. I am sorry to hear that you think the way Purple Frog organises its moving out process makes us 'evil'. We try to make the process as transparent as possible. This includes sending emails before your tenancy ends to make sure you report any maintenance, as well as an explanation of possible charges and a list of what cleaning will need to be done. We also give out free cleaning materials. Your statement should be with you within 28 days of the end of your tenancy, provided we receive your bills and council tax proofs. This will detail the actual charges that have been made. If you are still unhappy after receiving this document, there is also a clear explanation of the dispute process included with your statement. In the meantime, we publish lots of information about deposit returns on our website. There's some information here: https://www.purplefrogproperty.com/blog/make-deposits-fair/ I sincerely hope that, once you receive your deposit statement, we can sort out any incorrect charges that might have been added, as described above. Kind regards James Mason James.Mason@purplefrogproperty.com

Dear Liv Rudkin Sorry to hear that you are still waiting for your deposit to be returned. Looking at your tenancy, I can see that the gas and electricity proofs have not been ticked as received. If this is incorrect, please would you drop me an email at james.mason@purplefrogproperty.com so I can chase this up for you? In terms of the deposit returns process, we do explain this to you before the end of your tenancy. For instance, we emailed you on 13/06/2018 and again on 29/06/2018. We make it clear that we will only release your deposit statement once we know that there are £0 bills for the property. The reason that we do this is so that we know new tenants won't be visited by bailiffs or suffer unfair utility tariffs because of debts from previous tenants. This is incredibly stressful for the tenants, especially if they have a visit by a debt collector. If we have missed information that you've sent, I am sorry that this has happened. Please email me at james.mason@purplefrogproperty.com. Please note that I do not work in the deposit team so will not process your statement. I will, however, ensure that they have received any paperwork that you have sent and we've not recorded. Looking at the maintenance log for the property, I can see that the majority of your maintenance reports were dealt with quickly, in line with our published standards. I am sorry that it took longer than expected to replace the mattresses and microwave. I have flagged this with our maintenance team. Please confirm with me when the two outstanding bill proofs were sent and I will chase these up for you. Kind regards James Mason

Dear Naomi Sorry that you were unhappy with with the moving in information you received. I can see from the tenancy that Leah has personally emailed all of the tenants to apologise for the confusion. It appears the problem was caused because we changed the rent schedule to enable you all to pay quarterly, rather than monthly. While we can do this, we do still need tenants to pay their first rent instalment before they can collect their keys. This is stated in our contract and is common practice amongst all lettings agents. To make up for the confusion, we have made sure that all tenants at your property can pay a smaller amount now, in order to collect your keys. Again, apologies for the confusion, but I am happy to see Leah sorted it for you. Kind regards James Mason james.mason@purplefrogproperty.com

Dear Rizzan Sorry to hear you had problems with your viewing request. Please could you drop me a line at james.mason@purplefrogproperty.com with some more information about how you made your booking? I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards James Mason

Hi Jordan Sorry to hear that you're unhappy with our deposits returns process. Sorry that you find us patronising. We try to be straight forward but friendly. It's unfortunate to hear that we've come across in a way we didn't intend. We aim to return deposits within 28 days of the end of your tenancy. Your contract says that you also need to do somethings to ensure we can return your deposit within that time. One of these is to send proof that shows you have paid all of your utility bills for the tenancy. I realise that this is annoying. We do it for a good reason, though. Sometimes in the past, tenants have left without paying their bills. The next residents that moved the house had to deal with bailiffs coming to the property to demand money that was owed by people who were long gone. Not a pleasant experience. You received a reminder email on 29/06/2018, which detailed how to return your utility information to us and that not doing this would slow down your deposit return. I can see that some bills proofs were sent to us on Thursday 26/07/2018. Unfortunately, these were not sufficient to show that the bills had been cleared, so we asked for them to be resent with additional information. Once we have received your bill proof we aim to get your deposit statement to you with five working days, so you are not waiting round any longer than you need to. The majority of our tenancies ended on the same day as yours. To manage expectations of how long it might take us to reply to an email, we send an automatic response that says we could take five working days to respond. You're right, that is a while to wait. But, we are upfront about this and don't make any claims to having a faster response time. To try and keep our tenants informed of the process, we have published a blog about deposits: https://www.purplefrogproperty.com/blog/make-deposits-fair/. If you have any comments about how we can make the process easier for students, or where you feel we have got it wrong, please let me know. Finding out about people's experiences using our services is how we improve. Please drop me a line at james.mason@purplefrogproperty.com. I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards James Mason