Trusted Agent profile · Cathays, Cardiff
Verified
★★★★★
219 reviews across 1 platform
3-5 Fanny Street, Cathays, Cardiff, CF24 4EG
Pinnacle Letting and Estate Agents's office in Cathays, Cardiff, at 3-5 Fanny Street, is rated 2.2 out of 5 across 219 reviews on 1 platform, including 219 Google reviews rated 2.2.
Pinnacle's Cardiff branch is on Fanny Street in Cathays. We offer a wide range of homes; anything from studios, flats, shared houses, family houses, new builds and maisonettes. There is something for everyone from students to families, housing Benefit tenants and tenants with pets.
Every review we hold for the Cathays office, from every platform, shown as written. First names only.
4/5
Google4,5 years with them. We had a very very good landlord. In the end of the tenancy we have received our deposit without any troubles in 2 weeks time. We took a very good care of rented property so it might be the reason why. Can't really say anything bad about this agency.
1/5
GoogleAwful agency!!! Been with no hot water and heating for almost two weeks, got told it would take two- three days for the part for the boiler and still nothing. My house is freezing! It’s starting to affect my health. I shouldn’t have to sleep in extra clothes just to keep warm. Have tried several times ringing, texting, emailing and nothing!!! Getting the council involved now and the environmental health officer as this is an emergency. There quick enough to ring you for rent but don’t communicate otherwise. Also contractor came into my room and went through all my stuff to do pat tests, no warning or anything. Not what I want after a 12 hour night shift!!!!! Reported the fence was broken months ago, pinnacle refused to do anything about, reported again as the weather was going to take a turn for the worse, and wanted to prevent the fence to completely break down, yet again pinnacle ignored emails and calls and come up with every excuse, I now have no fence in my garden, no privacy no the neighbours can see everything, all the loose screws ripped my cats paws open which lead to very expensive vet bill. They’ve not once apologise and just called me aggressive. Reported blocked drains months ago, nothing still has been done. The smell is just awful! Sometimes I can’t go by the kitchen sink and wash dishes because of this. Contractors refuse to wears masks when they eventually do come to property, they don’t care about covid or anything. I am a vulnerable person and have to be careful. There quick enough to message you about rent and money but are extremely slow when coming to fix things. Horrendous agency! I’m trying to find a new place to live. AVOID this agency! They discriminate against disabled people, they lie, and ignore maintenance issues.
1/5
GoogleI urge you, if it's either rent through Pinnacle, or go without a home.. choose the latter. We were with Pinnacle as an agent for 3 years and we spent pretty much the entire time desperate to leave them. From the moment we picked up the keys to our very first rental, we knew that we weren't going to have an easy time. We firstly arrived at the property realising that one of the locks on the front door was broken. We reported the issue within 10 minutes of being in the property. The lock was NEVER fixed, even after reporting the issue 3 more times. We immediately contacted the agent that we dealt with, she met us at the property, we walked around the property and took photos and notes. ALL of the carpets were marked. ALL of the walls were marked, damp ridden & full of holes. A light fitting was broken. A drawer in the freezer was broken. Window seals were covered in damp/mould. The 2 cupboards that were against outside walls were full of damp/mould. The flooring in both the bathroom & kitchen were not fitted properly, were not fitted against walls, cupboards etc. so, damp had got underneath and were lifting. Our first 2 days at the property were spent painting, professionally cleaning carpets, de-moulding most rooms and cupboards AND we replaced the flooring in full, in the bathroom & kitchen, sealed windows/ frames.. all at our own expense, as we already had word from the agent, that they nor the landlord were likely to take on any of the cleaning/repairs. Over the course of our time as tenants, we had to report multiple repairs, many of which we had to remind Pinnacle of/ Chase, sometimes for days. We had to go over 24 hours without water to the property, until we called an emergency plumber. Between year 1 and year 2 of our tenancy we were told that the Standing Order that we originally set up, would have to be done again (we would have rather a direct debit, but they only work with Standing Orders). After we set up the Standing order Pinnacle told us that the payment would not be made in time, so we had to transfer the funds.. a day later we noticed that not only did the transfer go through, but so did the Standing Order, after all. Once we informed Pinnacle, they told us that they would send us 1 months worth of rent back. But, they would do so using BACS. Meaning that it would take 5-7 working days.. after almost a week, the money DID land in our account. But, they accidentally sent it to us twice. They immediately noticed and hounded us to transfer some back asap using bank transfer. Funny how when they owed us, it would get to us whenever.. but when they made the mistake and we owed them money, it had to be immediate. Finally, when we were able to sort out alternative accommodation and let Pinnacle know that we'd be vacating the property. We were sent an email including instructions on how/where to make sure we deep clean the property. Also requesting that we film a video just prior to exiting the property for the last time, illustrating the cleanliness of the property & showing all windows, doors, cupboards, drawers & lights working as they should. The email also stated along the lines of, our deposit would be dependant on the video.. All of this goes to show that they DO NOT enter the property to clean or inspect before the next tenants take on their lease. So, I do hope that they don't charge the landlords for any cleaning or inspections/repairs.. because we, the tenants, do that work. After we left the property for the last time, we sent Pinnacle the video and posted the keys through their Cardiff branch postal box. We logged in to the Tenancy Deposit Scheme website (where all deposits are kept legally now). We requested our despot back. Weeks go past and the TDS inform us that they have not had any response from Pinnacle and that we should submit a 'statutory declaration'. TDS knew that Pinnacle would not comply. I tried to call Pinnacle dozens of times and sent them multiple emails, asking why they had not agreed to release our deposit money back. But, to no avail.
1/5
GoogleBEWARE!!! To all that are thinking of using this company, do yourself a favour and go with a different agent, this company is a complete and utter joke and should be made to stop trading. The service you receive from their staff is beyond a joke, you'd get better service from a dog. You call them and are greeted with "calls are recorded" before getting through, you then make a complaint with them, they then speak to you worse than trash and fail to follow any complains procedure let alone log the complaint. They deny any calls ever being made, they apparently do not record calls either and then they turn around and state "oh we outsource to a different company to take all our calls" um excuse, you're a tiny little letting agent and you have to outsource for calls to a call centre don't make me laugh. Read all other reviews and you'll save yourself time and stress by NOT DEALING with this pathetic excuse of a letting agent.
1/5
GoogleAs a previous subcontractor for pinnacle, a lot of these comments ring true. Pinnacle don't care about their customers. The owner is more about his air b&bs and is not that bothered about his lettings. Read the reviews and learn before you rent .
1/5
GoogleDo not sign with this letting agency. - Extremely unprofessional, our letting agent seemed to be more confused about the renting process than we were. - We didnt recieve our contract for weeks after our tenacny started and only after multiple emails from all six of us at the property. - The price we agreed when signing had changed when we finally recieved our contract. - Our legal documents and inventory were in the names of the previous tentants. - We were casually told that someone from the previous tenancy did not return their key so we only had five keys for the six of us. No action to these things were taken after emails and phone calls, they were just met with unprofessional excuses and receptionists who were unable to forward us onto anyone higher up than themselves.
1/5
GoogleAbsolutely atrocious. Was finally able to book a viewing and the agent just never showed up. I work 9-5 and spent my whole lunch break waiting for him. The office kept telling me he'd get in touch with me soon and no response whatsoever. I don't know why some landlords of lovely flats choose to use them. I would have put a deposit down straight away if I could, but that's a little hard when they avoid or ignore any attempt to get them to do their jobs
1/5
GoogleWish I could give no stars or negative stars. Terrible service almost never answer the phone. Don't respond to maintenance requests. They sign your keys out to contractors and don't get them back from the contractor so they could just walk in to your property day and night. They also ask you to do repairs yourself when they cannot be bothered or can't do it correctly. I would strongly, strongly, strongly advise you to avoid them. Dealt with many property management companies in my time but these are hands down the worst. Also making a complaint achieves nothing, they become even more unresponsive if you complain.
1/5
GoogleWish I could give no stars or negative stars. Terrible service almost never answer the phone. Don't respond to maintenance requests. They sign your keys out to contractors and don't get them back from the contractor so they could just walk in to your property day and night. They also ask you to do repairs yourself when they cannot be bothered or can't do it correctly. I would strongly, strongly, strongly advise you to avoid them. Dealt with many property management companies in my time but these are hands down the worst. Also making a complaint achieves nothing, they become even more unresponsive if you complain.
1/5
GoogleAbsolutely atrocious. Was finally able to book a viewing and the agent just never showed up. I work 9-5 and spent my whole lunch break waiting for him. The office kept telling me he'd get in touch with me soon and no response whatsoever. I don't know why some landlords of lovely flats choose to use them. I would have put a deposit down straight away if I could, but that's a little hard when they avoid or ignore any attempt to get them to do their jobs
1/5
GoogleAVOID AT ALL COST!!!!!! When I left my flat they tried to pass off photos taken A YEAR before I actually moved in as the pictures for my final inventory and take all my bond for new carpeting etc, needless to say, I got ALL my bond back eventually when we challenged them over their dishonest behaviour. I'm still waiting for them to explain themselves. In addition to Pinnacle fraudulently passing off photos for my inventory taken over a year before I signed my contract and moved in to illegally take money from my bond, the office staff would often tell me when I phoned up the manager wasn't in that day as it was her day off but then tell my partner who would call after me that she's on her lunch break, I'm afraid lying is a way of life for this particular letting agency so don't use them, as you are able to see, no response from Pinnacle over this matter as yet UPDATE: Thank you for the response below to my complaint, however, I still haven't received an answer to the blatant, very distressing and illegal behaviour that took place when battling to claim back my bond. Using photos taken a year before I moved into the property as photographic evidence for MY inventory is fraudulent and against the law. I feel that you are skipping over this issue and not addressing this at all, you don't seem to understand the gravity or seriousness of the situation. I look forward to hearing back from you over this situation
1/5
GoogleAVOID AT ALL COST! The most horrendous company that has ever existed, wish I could give it zero stars. Rented a property as a student with three other people at the beginning of last year. Once we were given the keys we went to the flat and found the whole flat covered in rubbish left from the previous people. Open bin bags, food waste, unclean bathrooms, unclean everywhere. Took two weeks for us too clear and to get it to a liveable state. Though out the year we had many problems, we informed them that we had found mince living in our flat, filled out the correct forms several times and nothing was done. They provided no alternative form of rubbish waste so sometimes we had to wait 2 weeks with waste inside our flat. Whenever something broke, nothing was done about it. They tried to charge us for a lost key....we were only ever given three at the beginning of the year because the previous people lost one, between the four of us we had to juggle keys around everyone. Since moving out the property, they have not given us our deposits back. We have sent several emails, and been in to see them, we have had ONE reply in the last three months which simply said here is the state of the house. Furthermore, when going into see them they were rude and horrendous and just simply said you will just have to wait. From the ONLY response we have had, they are trying to charge us with damages etc...we have left the flat in a better state when moved in AND repaired everything thought the year at our own expense in order to live in a liveable flat. They are the rudest staff ever, who simply couldn't care about you or the fact they are at work. We will be taking them to court, if deposits are not back and if they try to charge us for things, as we have evidence which proves them wrong. WHATEVER YOU DO, AVOID PINNACLE
1/5
GoogleIt is the worst agency ever. I have been trying to get a property to rent for couple of weeks. I tried to email them, no response. I phoned and they took my details promising to get back to me, with no response at all. I had to pop in, they were opening illegally during the lock down. Last time, I went yesterday when the city has been unlocked, she told me that she cannot rent me any property without viewing and the viewing is not allowed. However, the viewing is allowed for unoccupied properties. She acted like she does not wanna rent anything to me. I called them again, another one took my details again with no response as usual. The worst agency ever and I hope that landlords stop market through them.
1/5
GoogleDo not go near them. One of the most shocking companies I have ever experienced. Problems we had took an unbelievable amount of time to be sorted out, no matter how many times we contacted them during the tenancy about it, some things were never even sorted (~30 mice, I'm looking at you). The workmen they sent in were rude and walked into our house without even knocking or announcing their presence. My room got repainted whilst I was away and no coverings were out down so my stuff ended up covered in paint splatters and dirt. Not to mention, it is now 2.5 months since we moved out and after contacting them on 7 separate occasions, we still have no word on receiving the deposit back, despite this being a breach of the tenancy deposit scheme standards agreement, and all correspondence since the end of tenancy has been extremely rude.
1/5
GoogleIf I could have left no stars I would have. Do not use this agent, they are terrible. I was the guarantor for my sons tenancy which finished at the end of July 2019. It is now 10 weeks later and after telephoning and emailing them they have not replied to me once and are still holding the deposit. The property was filthy when he received the keys and there were many maintenance and safety issues with the property which were reported to Pinnacle and most of which were never dealt with or repaired. He was unable to move in for the first month due to the state of the property but still had to pay the rent. The property was left in a better and cleaner condition than when he picked up the keys. AVOID THIS AGENCY at all costs, they are a disgrace, they haven’t even confirmed that the deposit is being held in a tenancy deposit scheme.
1/5
GoogleI am still in the process of trying to get back my deposit since July! I have had no updates or information on possible deductions... nothing! Every time you call them they just say that they'll ring you back and never do, they've never responded to an email either. The most worrying thing has been that when we checked the deposit protection scheme website, it looks like none of our deposits has been paid into it which is illegal! It's scary that we don't know where our money is! The problems don't just stop at getting our deposit back, there was also no support during our tenancy either. We complained multiple times at the landlord coming into the house and entering our rooms with no notice and nothing was done! We also complained multiple times to say we had mice ( noticed right from the start of the tenancy) and not once did anyone do anything about it! I would tell anyone to avoid this letting agent and also to advise the council to look into their dodgy practices. It's disgusting how they treat their customers/ tenants and expect them to live in below standard properties, withholding money from them with no explanation or reason. I understand this is a busy time for them but in my years of renting, I've never known this to happen!
1/5
GoogleDo not go near them. One of the most shocking companies I have ever experienced. Problems we had took an unbelievable amount of time to be sorted out, no matter how many times we contacted them during the tenancy about it, some things were never even sorted (~30 mice, I'm looking at you). The workmen they sent in were rude and walked into our house without even knocking or announcing their presence. My room got repainted whilst I was away and no coverings were out down so my stuff ended up covered in paint splatters and dirt. Not to mention, it is now 2.5 months since we moved out and after contacting them on 7 separate occasions, we still have no word on receiving the deposit back, despite this being a breach of the tenancy deposit scheme standards agreement, and all correspondence since the end of tenancy has been extremely rude.
1/5
GoogleI have rented through 7 different agencies in my life and have never been treated as badly as with Pinnacle. They are unresponsive through email and tell you to email when you call so communication is impossible. They even altered dates on photographs for their closing inspection of the property, with dates 3 days in the future from when the inspection summary was sent by email! No morals - especially worrying considering the number of students renting off them. They took our money, left us with maintenance issues in the house that they never managed to fix in the year long tenancy. They deemed the house in generally good cleanliness throughout on closing inspection and still billed us for cleaning without providing a receipt. They have no escalation process for complaints. They have no process for disputing their closing inspection charges other than complaining to the deposit protection agency. Avoid avoid avoid. I didn't listen to the warnings because I was fooled by friendly staff as a prospective tenant. Once they've taken your money though it's a different story. They also asked us to leave a positive review after signing with them and gave us a gift bag as a thank you. Don't trust any positive reviews!
1/5
GoogleParents of University students need to be aware! Poor service from Pinnacle, ignore emails, ignore reported maintenance issues, hold onto deposits (still chasing deposits 2 months after moving out)- charge large amounts for minor damages. On visiting the agency poor customer service - agents can't be bothered to get off the seats to talk to customers! we had a issue with missing keys - pinnacle never ever found they key during the years let! The only time you here from pinnacle is when the rent is due ! They make mistakes with that also chase you when you have already paid ! I have rented many student lets for my children I have never experienced such service either face to face/phone or by email but they want your money well in advance - other agents in Cardiff only ask one month in advance! BE WARNED ! They don't even deserve the 1 star
1/5
GoogleStay away from this letting agency especially if your landlord is a Mr Sall. Our landlord didn't put our deposit in a deposit protection scheme which is illegal and it was only after he was reminded of this fact did he return the deposit from his own bank account, again very illegal. Not only this but he actually had the nerve to try to give me only half of it back even though he had acted illegally and it was not until I threatened to seek legal advice did he return most but not all of it.
1/5
GoogleAs you will see with many of the reviews on here pinnacle are certainly a 1 star estate agents. They fail on every level from looking after the property adequately to remaining in contact with their rentee, with promises of call backs that never happen. It has truly been embarrassing for them to suddenly turn up during the last week and complain about the house after we have sent them a multitude of emails and embarrassingly they've only ever answer to one of them. Additionally to this, I challenge anyone to give pinnacle a call and actually get through to the Department or person you want to talk to. I think I've managed about 37 calls in one day and managed to get through once. so anybody who's willing to take up those odds be my guest, but better than that AVOID PINNACLE.
1/5
GooglePinnacle started off as a great company - the house looked great and the staff seemed friendly. However, over time cracks start to show in their service. When we moved into the house half the inventory was missing - including a vacuum cleaner, meaning we had to drag hoovers from home about 4 hours away just to clean the carpets! Despite phoning them about the issue they did nothing, and then had the nerve to charge us when we moved out to clean the property! Contractors who were sent to our house were completely unprofessional - they turned up unannounced during EXAM season to repaint the walls in the kitchen and redo one of our bathrooms (banging away at tiles at 8 am every day for 2 weeks!!!!). I just had an operation and couldn’t go to the library, so I had to sit listening to that banging whilst trying to revise - they gave us no warning that work was being undertaken and that they were completely ripping out the bathroom and redoing it because if I’d have known I’d have stayed at home instead of being disturbed by them during a really important time! Contractors also left inappropriate messages scribbled into the dust left over from paint, such as “slag” and “slut” which I have photo evidence of. We were made to feel extremely uncomfortable in our home and it was a really unpleasant experience. Since moving out, I have sent pinnacle an array of emails about the deposit which have all been ignored. The only time they replied to one email was when I phoned them to ask why they don’t reply and got frustrated with them. It took us 2 months to get the proposed charges back for the property. However, since then we still haven’t received the deposit back which we were promised would be returned in 7-10 working days. It has now been OVER 10 working days and I still don’t have my money back despite sending them countless emails and phoning them multiple times. I can guarantee if this was me not paying my rent they would not ignore us for this long! I am absolutely appalled by this company and I advise everyone to NEVER rent with them. I rely on the money I spent on my deposit as a student and I can’t believe they are allowed to behave like this - we might be students but we don’t deserve to be treated like idiots. They’ve broken TDS guidelines by not giving our deposits back within 10 working days and I’m sure this won’t be the last time! Steer clear!!!!!!!!!
1/5
GoogleI wish I could've 0 stars. Please if you are thinking of letting from them do not, it was the worst decision I have made as a student in Cardiff and me and my flatmates have had a horrible year with them. We have had to get the council for them to remove last years tenants rubbish and a sewage overflow that took over the whole garden AFTER 7 MONTHS. Do you know how disgusting that is?? They will not fix anything without cancel involvement, we have rats and ants and all they sent me a bug spray link. Our boiler broke down and they said we should YouTube how to fix it??? You have been warned. Even if the property is attractive, you will soon find out why it hasn't been rented yet. If you're viewing ask the tenants who live there of their experiences, I would bet money it's negative.
1/5
GoogleDreadful letting agents run by clowns. Fraudulent- tried to make me pay money when I had previously paid my rent, I then had to prove this by providing bank statements which fortunately I had in my records. Staff attitude is abysmal, they never answer the phone and the poor admin team have the thankless task of feeding on these messages without them so much as getting back to anyone at all. I had to threaten to sue them to get back my deposit, they gave it back eventually but initially did not budge. Organisation dreadful, we asked for improvements to be made on our student house before moving in. None of this was done. Blamed asking me for money on a ‘restructure’ I threatened taking them to the ombudsman (I still might) and legal action and eventually they backed off. Incompetent, useless and dreadful. Please save yourself grey hairs in the future and avoid this bunch of clowns like the plague.
Where the same review appears twice we show it once. We leave out reviews that name another agent or another of the brand's offices.
Pinnacle Letting and Estate Agents's Cathays office has 219 reviews across 1 platform: 219 on Google.
Pinnacle Letting and Estate Agents Cathays is rated 2.2 out of 5 across all 219 reviews, and 2.2 out of 5 on Google from 219 reviews.
Pinnacle Letting and Estate Agents Cathays, 3-5 Fanny Street, Cathays, Cardiff, CF24 4EG.
