Trusted Agent profile · Manchester, Greater Manchester
Verified
★★★★★
745 reviews across 2 platforms
241 Deansgate, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M3 4EN
Ascend Properties's office in Manchester, Greater Manchester, at 241 Deansgate, is rated 3.5 out of 5 across 745 reviews on two platforms, including 724 Google reviews rated 3.5.
What sellers, buyers, landlords and tenants say, where the review tells us who wrote it.
As an investor client, I cannot fault Ascend, by far the best agency I've dealt with over the years. Adam Stephenson is a pleasure to deal with, attentive and ...Read all 2 from landlords
Ascend were very quick to arrange a viewing for me and during the viewing Aaron was very helpful, answering questions and then providing clear next steps. He ...Read all 17 from tenants
Welcome to an independently-run, independently-minded estate and lettings agency. Ascend was founded on the belief that estate agents could do a lot better. We’d been working in the industry for a long time and were frustrated that most agencies were just so ordinary. Like their houses, these places were in need of a new lick of paint. Bit of rising damp in the basement too. So we decided to build our own home. This new home wasn’t made of sticks or straw. It was founded on a deep-rooted, decade-long knowledge of Manchester, from the very bricks and mortar of the city centre to its outer reaches. By a team of savvy individuals who loved the city and loved helping people invest, move and live in it. A team of quick thinkers and good listeners who did that rare thing: treat customers like people instead of transactions. Because they knew great service wasn’t just about experience and expertise. We had one philosophy: to keep the promises we made. Then we opened the doors. Welcome to Ascend. We’re built on higher standards.
Every review we hold for the Manchester office, from every platform, shown as written. First names only.
5/5
GoogleI would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to William for his outstanding assistance in helping us secure a rental property. From the very beginning, William showcased remarkable efficiency and responsiveness, ensuring a seamless and swift process. His dedication to promptly addressing our queries and concerns was truly commendable.
Hi Aisha, Thank you so much for your lovely review!
1/5
GoogleWithout doubt the worst estate agents i've ever encountered. I cannot believe for one second that these reviews are all real. I made an offer for a property with Ascend which was accepted by the landlord after a bit of bartering. I paid a deposit and provided all of my information for the security check. I had viewed two properties that I liked and was happy to have secured one, so I told the other estate agents that I was no longer interested. However, after telling me the property had been taken off the market, it materialises that Ascend decided to continue with viewings behind my back in an attempt to get a higher offer. They eventually did get a higher offer and simply emailed me telling me they'd "made an error" and that the landlord had decided to go ahead with someone else. I explained that they were not allowed to do this and their response was literally "well it's not illegal. sorry nothings going to change. it's done now". The other property that I liked has now gone and i find myself in a position where i've put in my notice in to my landlord that i'm moving out and I no longer have somewhere to move into ... a few weeks before Christmas. On top of all of this, I had to call them 4 times in 2 days before they eventually refunded my deposit. All in all, they are hugely unprofessional, deceitful and lack any consideration whatsoever. If you have viewed a property with them, please don't make the same mistake that I made by trusting them. Go with another estate agents instead whose reputation isn't propped up by fake reviews.
Thank you for your feedback. As we have discussed we have a duty of care to our clients to present all offers from potential tenants. We had an offer from an applicant that viewed the day before you viewed, they then offered the same day you paid your fee. As clearly stated in our terms all offers are subject to contract, no contract was ever offered or issued to you by the landlord. The owner of the property in this scenario chose to go with the other applicant for reasons we have discussed. We refunded all fees paid by yourself and apologised on behalf of the landlord. We apologise if this wasn’t communicated to you in the way you would have liked. We also compensated you for your time, although this wasn’t the unreasonable amount you tried to have us pay. We standby doing very little wrong, we act as agents on behalf of our clients and therefore decisions on issuing tenancies remain at the discretion of the landlord.
1/5
GoogleA very unprofessional service, which in the end I decided not to pursue with. I had a couple of viewings arranged with this company and on both occasions the viewing did not take place. The first was meant to be carried out by a "Ryan Mullender", who did not answer phone calls on the day of the viewing and didn't even have the decency to reply to my email afterwards! I was then dealt with by "Aaron Rasheed" who I arranged another viewing with a week later. It seems that communication at this company is non-existent as I turned up to the viewing only to be told it would be handled by someone else who was stuck in the traffic. However, I waited and no one showed up 45 mins later and then as I drove away I received a call saying they had been waiting near the entrance of the building for the last 20 mins, now this was a gated property and so I waited at the gated entrance but the lack of common sense of the agent baffled me to the point where I did not want to engage in any use of their service any longer. Will definitely avoid and tell others to do so as well after this experience! I was given a phone call from Ascend soon after this review asking to work out a deal with me in return for taking this review down! Very unprofessional conduct indeed!
Hi Pradeep As discussed on the telephone, we have thoroughly reviewed this and unfortunately it would seem that we’ve not lived up to our usual high standards on this occasion. As you can see from the majority of our reviews, this isn’t really our style. Now we’ve spoken, we hope you haven’t completely lost faith in us and we’d love the opportunity to help you find your next property.
1/5
GoogleNow had 2 awful experiences with this company - one where they did not turn up at all for a viewing, a second one for which they were half an hour late and after I had waited for 30 minutes in the rain, the guy turned up and said he didn't have the keys. Complete waste of time and money, given them two chances now and they messed up on both occasions. The guy's excuse was 'Well I don't actually really work for these guys, I just do the odd Saturday for them.'
Hi Shauna, please accept our apologies that you do not appear to have received our usual high levels of service. I can see a trail of events on our system which I think had led to some confusion as there were a number of viewing cancellations (which is unfortunately the nature of the market right now where property availability is changing on almost an hourly basis). I can see that we were indeed late for a viewing and apologise for this. I cannot find reference to a viewing where our agent didn’t turn up. I can see from our notes and phone records that you had called out of hours to ensure that your viewing was still going ahead and that a member of our team confirmed at their earliest that they were still due to meet you. You said you hadn’t set off and could we squeeze you in later in the afternoon, which unfortunately we couldn’t. That being a said, I believe you’ve been dealing directly with our branch manager, Ryan who is continuing to assist you with your search and hopefully we can help you find your new home very soon.
5/5
GoogleHad a very quick and professional experience, Christine was very helpful during the process.
Hi Bethany, thanks for taking the time to leave us a review. I have passed your kind comments over to Christine & the team. Feel free to reach out to us with any questions you may have along the way. Many thanks, Manchester Team.
1/5
GoogleAvoid! Terrible and rude customer service. Firstly, they gave us the wrong monthly cost of the flat, only notifying us it was higher after we said that we wanted it. We regularly received phone calls telling us that we had not paid rent, when in fact it was on a standing order (set up with them when we signed the contract) that was scheduled for three days before the due date (as suggested by them). After notifying them on each occasion that it had been paid we were simply told that they would look in to it, only to not here from them again until they accused us the following month and offered no apology. Eventually they accused us of have multiple months unpaid. We did not. They appear to have no handle on communication within the company and their communication with customers is simply rude. There are many more things to complain about but I'll leave it there. **Do not believe the dubious number of 5 star reviews here. Ascend offer their clients money in order to leave good reviews. Furthermore, as someone has already stated, many of these reviews are not genuine but written by parties of vested interest.** Terrible company.
Hi Jordan Thanks for your review, all client feedback is incredibly important to us. We have tried to call on numerous occasions to discuss but unfortunately have been unable to get hold of you. Whilst we do not have any record of you being told an incorrect rental figure, we are aware of you wrongly being contacted for outstanding rent and we do sincerely apologise for this. This was corrected as soon as we investigated it but we understand the frustration this would have caused you. Unfortunately we are human and errors do occur from time to time, but we apologise that you’ve not received our usual high levels of service in this instance.
5/5
GoogleAscend Properties have been heaven-sent throughout the signing on process! Securing accommodation is always challenging, this was particularly difficult during the COVID-19 Pandemic. But with the help of the useful staff, particularly Ewan, we managed to view and move-into the property within 1 week! Couldn’t have had it any other way and would definitely recommend.PositiveResponsiveness
1/5
View AgentsDeposit rip off
Absolutely dreadful letting agency , so disappointed in their services . I rented a property a year back , the state of the property when we moved in was appalling , no inventory check was conducted , The agent that was dealing with our property was changed and a new one took over who had no idea what was happening . When it came to moving out , we were charged for cleaning even though we cleaned thoroughly and left the flat in a better state that we received It . We were also charged for things that we were not responsible for it as the agency and landlord did not bother doing an inventory check they blamed us for the dreadful state of the flat . To top this all off ascend were useless in getting our full deposit back from the landlord , absolutely dreadful will never rent or buy from this agency ever again. Appaling services
Thanks for your comments. Is it possible for you to please give our team a call on 0161 669 4982 so we can look into this for you? As you've not left a name and the comments you've written here do not match any cases on our system, we're unable to identify you so we can seek to resolve this. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Adam.
1/5
View AgentsPaid agency fee to find out property was let
Very disappointed, was told the property was still available after viewing and were told to pay an agency fee (which was very expensive) which we did straightaway, to only having to wait several days with no phone calls or emails until we contacted them ourselves to find out the they have already let the apartment even though they took the agency fee. Waste of time, do not recommend as there are many fees that the agency would make you pay before hand.
Thank you for your feedback. I have looked into this and can only apologise that you’ve not received our usual high levels of service. Unfortunately due to this being an incredibly busy part of the year for our lettings team, if a property is reserved by an agent before the other agent is aware, we can find ourselves in situations like this. We do hope you’ll give us the opportunity to help you find your new home.
1/5
View AgentsHorrendous customer service, unnecessary fees and a huge let down
1. On the veiwing of the flat myself and my friend had to take holiday leave at work as they wouldn't agree to an evening or weekend viewing. On the morning of the veiwing the agent said the locks had been changed over night and she had the wrong key so we couldn't view it. 2. Was told the flat would be available in two weeks to move in, however we didn't hear anything for over a month and when I tried calling (and got ignored while the guy on the phone wished his colleagues a great weekend) that they didn't know what was going on and didn't own the property yet. 3. We then got asked for extausionate fees which were also unnecessary such as an immigration check (although we both have UK passports) a charge for the inventory check list and check in fee (as well as a very pricey admin fee amongst other charges). I also requested a list of furniture but didn't receive one along with a second viewing which didn't happen. 4. Exactly 1 week before the move in at approx 5pm on a Friday before the bank holiday and after we had paid the fees, we got an email to say the application had been withdrawn by the landlord - I asked why and they said due to personal circumstances. We were left without anywhere to go and didn't get offered alternative options or any kind of back-up/or to even say we would be prioritised for any new properties. Absolutely dreadful experience and wouldn't wish it on anyone.
It would appear that you've not received our usual high levels of service and for this we apologise. I believe a member of our team has tried to give you a call however, we'll try and explain the situation here. Regarding the change of locks, unfortunately this wasn't communicated to us by the landlord of this property which left us with no alternative other than to reschedule your appointment. The new ownership was due to take place on 28/04 with an agreed move-in date for 05/05 but unfortunately due to a change of circumstance, this was not possible. Regarding the fees, you were given a reduction against our usual fees as a gesture of goodwill - a number of the referencing checks are mandatory and even though you hold UK passports, these checks are still required by law. I believe you were offered alternative accommodation within the same building however due to this not being furnished, this was unacceptable to you. We appreciate your frustration at our service however, there were a number of points raised which were unfortunately beyond our control. We do hope you'll give us a second chance to help you find your new home if something suitable comes onto the market which meets your needs.
1/5
GoogleTerrible experience. Went to view two properties which bore no relation whatsoever to the pictures posted on the website. In fact i'd be surprised if they were even in the same building. The website did warn that pictures were for 'marketing purposes only' so I expected furnishings / decor to not be the same, but when I saw the actual flats I felt totally duped and that I was there under false pretences. A total con and waste of my time. Agency fees also significantly higher than other comparable agencies I looked at. Avoid.
Thanks for your feedback. We are disappointed you didn't like the property you viewed. As you mentioned, we did caveat this particular listing stating that the images were not an indicative interpretation of this property. Unfortunately with tenanted properties, we have no control over how they are presented at the time of viewing. We are also surprised at your comments regarding our fees as we feel we are very competitive in the market place, please refer to this article for further guidance - http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/property/highest-lowest-letting-agent-fees-11313790
5/5
GoogleRebecca has been extremely helpful in my search for a flat. When the first one I wanted feel through she kept me on record and got back to me when a similar one became available.
1/5
GoogleTerrible experience. Went to view two properties which bore no relation whatsoever to the pictures posted on the website. In fact i'd be surprised if they were even in the same building. The website did warn that pictures were for 'marketing purposes only' so I expected furnishings / decor to not be the same, but when I saw the actual flats I felt totally duped and that I was there under false pretences. A total con and waste of my time. Agency fees also significantly higher than other comparable agencies I looked at. Avoid.
Thanks for your feedback. We are disappointed you didn't like the property you viewed. As you mentioned, we did caveat this particular listing stating that the images were not an indicative interpretation of this property. Unfortunately with tenanted properties, we have no control over how they are presented at the time of viewing. We are also surprised at your comments regarding our fees as we feel we are very competitive in the market place, please refer to this article for further guidance - http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/property/highest-lowest-letting-agent-fees-11313790
1/5
GoogleThe reviews here are fake. I had a terrible landlord in Leeds whose reviews are also fake. A quick google search for the words in one of their own fake reviews has taken me to Ascend properties, who have exactly the same review, word for word, apart from the name of the business has been changed. If you're interested, the fake review was on Rooftop Living, and it's the one that goes on about how the company was found on rightmove, service was great, bla bla, all the usual stuff. Word for word, exactly the same review for both property companies. RUMBLED, YOU CROOKS!
Hi Stuart We take allegations like this very seriously and have looked into this. We’ve managed to find the review in question and whilst we cannot speak on behalf of the client who left it, we can see by the dates that the client left Ascend’s review in May and her partner left a review on another agents site around a month ago. Whilst there are some similarities between the reviews, they are completely different and members of our team are also given a personal mention. All of our reviews are from genuine clients ranging from vendors and buyers to landlords and tenants. Should you have any questions regarding this matter Stuart, feel free to call us on 0161 637 8336 or email us at contactus@ascendproperties.com.
5/5
GoogleHave just signed for our first rental and Ascend have been fantastic throughout the process! Mollie was informative when showing round the flat and answered any questions I had. Since then, they have been swift and communicated with me really well. Couldn’t recommend more - especially compared to the other estate agents I dealt with in Manchester.
1/5
View AgentsThe worst flat viewings I ever had today with Ascend, The pictures they have online of their properties has nothing to do with the reality! I travelled all the way from Chester to view these beautiful modern flats as it's shown on their website to find out a shitty filthy properties!! When I asked that's not how it looks like online they said it's SHOW ROOMS PICTUERS!!! I would rather call it fake pictures! I've told all my friends who's looking for flats in Manchester to avoid this Estate Agent for their deceiving.
Thanks for your feedback. We are disappointed you didn't like the property you viewed. We are a completely transparent agency and where applicable, all properties where we use 'show property' images for, are clearly noted on all property descriptions. Unfortunately with tenanted properties, we have no control over how they are presented at the time of viewing.
1/5
View AgentsComplete con
Terrible experience. Went to view two properties which bore no relation whatsoever to the pictures posted on the website. In fact i'd be surprised if they were even in the same building. The website did warn that pictures were for 'marketing purposes only' so I expected furnishings / decor to not be the same, but when I saw the actual flats I felt totally duped and that I was there under false pretences. A total con and waste of my time. Agency fees also significantly higher than other comparable agencies I looked at. Avoid.
Thanks for your feedback. We are disappointed you didn't like the property you viewed. As you mentioned, we did caveat this particular listing stating that the images were not an indicative interpretation of this property. Unfortunately with tenanted properties, we have no control over how they are presented at the time of viewing. We are also surprised at your comments regarding our fees as we feel we are very competitive in the market place, please refer to this article for further guidance: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/property/highest-lowest-letting-agent-fees-11313790
1/5
View AgentsWorst experience ever
I am not surprised at all to see so many good reviews of Ascend here, as the first thing they do is to ask you for a review if you want the check-in fees to be removed, so, obviously, everybody recommend it (as we did) because they have only see how friendly and nice Ascend people are. But after you move in that is all, they are friendly and nice but that friendliness does not solve problems. And the problem we had was the worst nightmare ever, I wouldn't wish it to happen to anybody. We moved in into a house with a bedbug pest!!! We left the property before the contract finished but we were suffering them for 5 months. To begin with, the guy that showed me the property promised me that the landlord was going to change the carpet. Once I had paid the deposit and fees, I asked about the carpet and it turn out that the landlord was not going to pay for it. Once we moved into the property, the washing machine door was broken, it took two weeks to have it replaced so they told us to go to a laundry in the meantime, that Ascend would cover the cost. We gave them the receipt and never saw that money back. The hoover, included in the inventory list, was broken and full of insects, we asked them for it to be taken away but they told us that the landlord wasn’t going to pay for a new one. My boyfriend and I moved to this apartment being this the first time we would live together without sharing the property and were very excited, but during this time we didn't have live at all, we didn't do anything other than call Ascend, the contractors, being at home for them to fumigate the house, buy new bedding, cleaning and cleaning a house whose bad smell was impossible to get rid of. They worked on the problem but always trying to spend as minimum money as possible. They just changed the mattress although I told them that there were no insect there and they must be in the mattress base. I was again bitten with the new mattress, I told them, it took to me one week to have a contractor visiting the property because they kept telling that the contractor was going to contact me and he didn’t. When he visited us I showed him the bites I had, the document of the doctor who had confirmed that they were bedbug bites and a photo of a bedbug on our bed the previous week. They told me that definitely I had a clean house and it wasn’t my fault and that he would tell the agency to have a two course treatment done. When I went to the agency to ask for the treatment to start as soon as possible they told me that no treatment was going to be carried out as the contractor had found no evidence of bedbugs!!! What??? We had a frustrating discussion and had to prepare an email with all the proofs and send it to them. Finally they started the treatment, it didn’t work. I asked them for inspecting the carpet, mattress base and headboard. They didn’t. Instead they fumigated again and it didn’t work. It costed us time at work, we were sleeping on a sofa for 2 months (while paying £700 for a "high-standard" apartment) so we were tired all the time. I suffered a sleep disorder, I couldn’t sleep at all because I got bitten every night, I was awake at 3 am every day and I didn’t want to go to bed until the point of falling asleep on a kitchen’s chair. I lost work hours while going to the hospital because I had bites all over the body, I was taking pills to alleviate the reaction I had, and obviously, all of this situation affected our relationship. We had to get rid of 2 duvets, 4 pillows, all the bedding, and they only paid us for one duvet... and before the moving out I had to wash every piece of our clothes very carefully to avoid taking the insect to the new house. But that doesn't finish here. They agreed on paying us £250 compensation when leaving the property but, as always, 1 month after the moving out there was no sign of the money so we had to be after them for 1 week while they kept saying that the money had just been transferred and I would have it next day. Lies, they don’t do anything unless you send an email to all the managers, I had the money 5 minutes after I did that. Horrible, terrible, disastrous, a nightmare, I do not have adjectives, the worst experience ever, I don’t recommend this agency to anybody.
Thank you for your comments, we’re equally disappointed with the number of issues you’ve had however, we believe we did everything we could have done to assist you. It is unfortunate that the pest control reports undertaken were returned to us with no evidence which clearly prolonged the issue however, we still initiated treatment as a precautionary measure. When further complaints were raised, we treated once again and replaced the mattress and bedding. Despite giving you the opportunity to vacate on numerous occasions, this was declined. As the problem persisted, the only option left was to fully refurbish the apartment including the removal of all carpets and furniture which meant that you needed to vacate the property. You were refunded the full deposit plus compensation as you have mentioned however, we do recognise that there was a delay in releasing the funds and this was due to the London based landlord wanting to check the apartment before the release was made. As an agent, we can only act on the professional advice given from contractors so once again, we do sincerely apologise for the number of issues you’ve had.
1/5
GoogleAbsolutely appalling service. I was a tenant and have been waiting 4 months for my deposit back. DO NOT rent a property if Ascend are managing, they are awful and will ignore you and refuse to pay your deposit back. 4 months and waiting now for 3 Dee Lane, Chester, CH35AH.
5/5
GoogleCould not fault Ascend at any point! Ektha was the one to show me round the property twice and nothing was too much trouble. Amanda helped push the conveyancing along and was the driving force behind how quickly everything went through. When I went to pick up the keys on completion, everything was ready and waiting on time!
5/5
GoogleEwan was really helpful and flexible for arranging viewings for the flat, friendly and informative when we had any questions. Tenancy and referencing checks were completed efficiently meaning we could move quickly with taking the flat on - Amanda processed these swiftly. Professional and prompt service with quality properties on their books to rent, would recommend highly.
5/5
GoogleThe whole team at Ascend have been very helpful in my search. I had booked my viewing a few days in advance. Beth knew how keen I was, and called back within a few hours to move my viewing forward after another cancellation - really appreciated! Aaron was very professional during my viewing, and answered all my questions. Thank you both!
1/5
GoogleDon't trust this thief agency, they even dare to defraud local people out of their money, let alone you, a foreigner. The difference between this group of people and bandits is that they will wear formal clothes and tell you in official language, "I don't care, you are wrong, I worked very hard, regardless of the facts, you have to pay me." If you go back and knock on the door after moving out to ask the next unlucky person, you will find that three tenants in the same house can be asked for money three times for the same reason, and the damage is in the same place.
1/5
GoogleDon't trust this thief agency, they even dare to defraud local people out of their money, let alone you, a foreigner. The difference between this gang and bandits is that they will wear formal clothes and tell you in official language, "I don't care, you are wrong, I worked very hard, regardless of the facts, you have to give me money." If you go back and knock on the door after moving out to ask the next unlucky person, you will find that three tenants in the same house can be asked for money three times for the same reason, and the damage is in the same place.
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.
17 reviews from tenants, rated 3.0 out of 5 on average. For example, Stephanie wrote: "Ascend were very quick to arrange a viewing for me and during the viewing Aaron was very helpful, answering questions and then providing clear next steps. He ..."
