Bassets Salisbury reviews

Dear Laura, We apologise you have not been able to arrange a viewing on a specific property. We have had an exceptionally high volume of calls and enquiries of late, with a single property alone generating 60+ enquiries within 48 hours. Unfortunately, this has also coincided with a staff member leaving and another self-isolating due to COVID, making the sheer volume very difficult to deal with. We endeavour to answers calls as quickly as possible, and if we are unable to pick up or are on another line, we aim to get back to voice messages promptly. When dealing with voice messages & enquiries, we respond to these in chronological order, as we believe this is the fairest manner to do so. However as previously mentioned, due to the sheer volume and speed in which these are being received, we are disgruntledly having to turn people away when we have booked in a set number of viewings at a property already. I can again, only apologise that we did not get back to you straight away & you have missed out on a specific property. However, if you would like to contact our Assistant Manager, Luke Russell on 01722 820590, he would be more than happy to help with your enquiry directly.

Dear Mr Rehman, Thank you for your review but also thank you for highlighting the procedure we take when an offer is to be accepted on a property. When putting offers across to our clients - the Landlord, we make them aware of any outstanding viewings still to be carried out and applications we are awaiting receipt of. From this point, it is the Landlords decision as to whether they proceed with an applicant or whether they would prefer to proceed with the further viewings. On the occasions you have highlighted, both properties have had offers accepted and Holding Deposits paid. So, correctly, we have to cancel all outstanding viewings as the property is no longer available. As you will already be aware of from the email you received, saying: “Thank you for showing an interest in ‘X’ Property however, we are going to have to cancel your appointment to view this property. We have made the Landlord aware we have outstanding appointments for this property, but they have now decided to proceed with an application we have already received.” We understand your frustration with the situation, however due to extremely high demand for properties and a limited number on the market, properties are being Let Agreed extremely quickly. In conclusion, we believe your review to be extremely unjust and misplaced, as we are simply following our clients instructions and correct procedures, by removing the property once an offer has been accepted and a the Holding Deposit paid. If you would like to discuss this further, please free to get in contact with our Head of Lettings, Quentin Thatcher on 01722 820580.

Dear Mrs Geneux, Thank you for your review. I can only apologise that you made the journey from Bedfordshire and did not get the opportunity to physically view the property Monday. Due to the high level of interest received & the number of viewings arranged, we did take the property off of the market to stop further enquiries from coming in. This particular property is not one that is managed by ourselves, but a third-party company who instruct Bassets to advertise on their behalf. Therefore, processes are slightly different as we are reliant on their communication to confirm what the next steps may be for a successful/unsuccessful candidate. Due to your particular circumstance with travel we tried our hardest to accommodate your viewing as we appreciated that you had made a lengthy journey. Again, instruction needed to be taken from the third-party company before this was allowed. Unfortunately, despite receiving agreement, when we contacted the existing tenant to make these arrangements, they advised us that they were having to self-isolate and therefore, as per Regulatory Body & Government Guidelines, we could not physically allow you to attend or enter the property. To have done so would have put ourselves, you and any others we may come into contact with at risk. The final option that we could offer was a virtual viewing, ensuring that you still had an opportunity to see the property, where we would provide you with videos of the property, kindly carried out for us by the tenant currently self-isolating. Whilst we absolutely appreciate your circumstances, having travelling from outside of the area, we have attempted to provide alternative options for you as best we could. This was despite the decision on the property being out of our control. We apologise that you feel so strongly that we were ‘dishonest’ and for any inconvenience caused. We can also only apologise for the incorrect entry of your email address and I believe this has since been rectified and application paperwork sent to you, with the option to have this submitted to the third-party Management Company at your earliest convenience. Again, I can only apologise you have not had the opportunity to view the property, but as mentioned above we would still be more than happy to provide the ability to virtual view the house and submit an application. If you would like to contact us further in regards to this matter, please contact our Assistant Manager, Luke Russell on 01722 820590.

Dear Miss Torres, We are sorry to hear of your frustration at being unable to view a property you had pre-booked an appointment for. However, we would like to draw your attention to the timeline and chain of events meaning we had to cancel your viewing. The property was initially advertised on the 26th February, we received your initial email enquiry at 4.56pm on the 3rd March and a follow up call 5.08pm where we booked an appointment for the 12th March the earliest convenient date for a physically viewing to take place. As such I think your criticism in not getting a reply within 12 minutes does seem somewhat unfair. The viewing date agreed was down to various reasons including the checkout being carried out at the property following the previous tenants vacating. We also had other physical viewings already booked and have to consider industry guidelines with regards to a large number of viewings being conducted back-to-back and effective open house. So we were unable to arrange an earlier viewing as we were adhering to our COVID Guidance, allowing an adequate time frame in between prospective tenants visiting the property ensuring we minimise the risk to both our viewers and staff alike. In the meantime, prior to your viewing, having received multiple applications the Landlord decided to accept and proceed with an application. In all cases, this decision is made in the full knowledge that there might be further viewings arranged. In this case, the landlord decided to accept an offer as the applicant’s scenario betters matched their requirements We accept that all our adverts state “We will allow the appropriate time frames for viewings and applications/offers to be received” and feel that in this case as with all others we have allowed an appropriate application/offers to be received. It must be noted that the final choice to accept an offer is always the landlords. More importantly, once the successful applicant has made payment of the Holding Deposit, we have a duty to inform all other offers (which we had received 6 applications) and any future viewers that the property is no longer available. We again apologise that you have been unable to view this specific property, and hope we have been able to demonstrate that in this instance we have acted properly, in the best interest of our landlord, taken their instructions to accept an offer and have correctly and efficiently informed other parties of this fact. Whilst we understand prospective tenant’s frustration when missing out on a property it does seem somewhat unfair to give a one-star review in these circumstances? If you or your partner who made the initial booking would like to discuss this any further, please feel free to contact Head of Lettings, Quentin Thatcher.

Dear J R G, Thank you for your review, and we apologise for your upset caused by the viewings being cancelled. Unfortunately, as you have submitted this review without providing a name, we are unable to address your situation directly. However, to explain our COVID procedures, when we are to re-advertise a property, we always check with our existing tenants If they are happy for viewing access whilst they are still in situ. A tenant/occupier could well be in a high risk/extremely vulnerable group or simply working from home so simply not wanting to take the additional risk at this time. In the instances where tenants decline access, we arrange viewings for the earliest possible date when the property becomes vacant. As frustrating as this may be, we have to respect a tenant/occupier wishes in this regard. We do have robust COVID protocols, which are in the interest of safety and to protect tenants, viewers and staff alike. We have absolutely no regrets about being tougher with our guidelines during these unprecedented times. When access is restricted, we make viewers aware that for most of our properties, a Virtual Viewing can be carried out to apply for the property. A Virtual Viewing can consist of the existing marketing material, a link to 300+ photos from the latest Inventory and a 360° Tour if this has been carried out. We do not recognise your comments regards our attitude as all of our front of house staff are fully trained and have many years of experience. We record all phone calls and these are used for monitoring and training purposes. This is to ensure we aim for the highest standards of customer service. We have dealt with more than 5000 enquiries year to date and try and treat everyone equally. We note by your own admission you were able to pre-book two viewing appointments. When a property is applied for and we put forward an offer and application to the landlord they are always informed of any outstanding viewings & applications we have booked or await completed paperwork. This means properties are not being Let Agreed on a ‘first come, first serve’ basis. However, it is the Landlord in all cases who makes the final decision to proceed and accept an offer. The rental market has been very busy of late with large numbers of enquiries, and whilst we have a number of properties on the market, stock levels across the board are considerably lower than normal. This simple fact means there is an increased number of potential tenants applying for fewer properties and as such there are increased levels of unsuccessful applications and cancelled viewings. With this in mind, we try to make unsuccessful applicants aware of this as soon as possible, whilst trying to find suitable alternate properties and arranging further viewings as appropriate. As for your vexatious comment regards ‘fake’ reviews, we can confirm that this accusation and statement is unfounded and completely untrue. Our reviews are 100% genuine and we are immensely proud of the large number of 5-star reviews we have received (41 out of 61 reviews). We are immensely proud of these and this feedback is in part why we are Salisburys Leading Letting Agent and receive so many recommendations. We are always disappointed to receive a negative review, but this is all the more disappointing when they appear to be about missing out on or not being able to view a property. The process to apply for a property is clearly explained on our website and in ALL cases it’s the landlord who accepts or rejects an offer (not Bassets). Once an offer has been accepted and the holding deposit paid, we immediately cancel all further viewings and to receive negative feedback for doing things correctly is frustrating. If you would like to provide us with more details, please feel free to contact our Head of Lettings, Quentin Thatcher, who would be more than happy to discuss this.

Dear Mrs Bardas, Thank you for your review and we are sorry you feel this strongly about this issue. However the allegations you have made are completely untrue. The first serious and totally unfounded allegation is in regards to you not being English and Bassets treating you differently. We must state, in the strongest possible terms that we refute this allegation and there is no evidence to collaborate such an accusation. As you are more than aware we have an employee in the office who also originates from Romania. Our dealings with you have only ever been professional, and warning a tenant that if the property is not returned in an appropriate condition (as detailed in the original independent Inventory) may mean deductions are made, is only fair and factual? Thank you for highlighting that we called you prior to leaving the property to check that you had followed and understood the comprehensive leaving information pack we had sent you and checking you had arranged or carried out all the required works, ensuring you could receive back your deposit in full. In most people’s eyes, this would be seen as both helpful and very proactive. We make it very clear that a perfect scenario is tenants returning the property in the correct condition as this means all parties are happy. The outgoing tenant receives their full deposit back. The landlord has a property handed back in the correct condition so are happy with little work to carry out other than dealing with wear and tear and maintenance. The agent is happy as they don’t have to spend time and money arranging contractors to carry out works and cleaning which was the tenant’s reasonability. At Bassets we pride ourselves on the success we have with regards the tenants having the large majority of the deposit being returned. In 2019 Tenants on average received over 84% of their deposit back, we are very proud of this statistic and genuinely want tenants to have all their deposit back. We accept in this case we have proposed to withhold 31% of your deposit and genuinely believe we have justified every deduction. We would also like to make it very clear that unlike many High Street Letting Agents we don’t have hidden commissions or admin charges for contractors who conduct end of tenancy works (or maintenance for that matter). So our tenants and clients are safe in the knowledge if we are proposing deductions we do not financially benefit from these monies or works. Following the independent inspection of the property, our experienced Property Manager has correctly, totally professional and in accordance with the correct procedures and guidelines highlighted areas of concern and proposed appropriate deductions to rectify the areas highlighted by the independent inventory company. We totally accept that tenants never like having deductions taken from their deposit, that said we feel we provide everything needed for a tenant including recommended contractors to ensure we they don’t have deductions. Our paperwork throughout the process is clear that if an agreement cannot be made then the matter can be reviewed through the deposit companies’ independent adjudication process. You will be aware of this as this is the process your case is now following. So, to conclude our dealings with you have always been professional and appropriate and with more engagement from yourself from the outset a better outcome would have been reached for the benefit of all parties concerned. We note that you have provided two Google review for the same incident and this is disappointing and we believe unfair. If you believe you have a genuine service-related complaint other than deposit deductions, then please do feel free to pursue the matter through our internal complaints procedure which is detailed on our contacts page on the website and also the Tenants hub which all our tenants have access to.

Dear Katie, We’re sorry to hear you feel this way about the service you received, however your own response has already explained as to why we did not take any money from yourselves and why the landlord did not proceed with your application and offer. These reasons being, as you’ve already stated are; you may have failed the credit check due to a payment problem causing a credit issue, which you did not disclose until after your initial application for the property, and then offering a significant increased offer. These two things combined raised alarm bells with the Landlord who asked for us to continue with marketing and viewings and review their definitive decision at a later date. Subsequently they found what they thought to be a more suitable applicant. Once we were informed of this decision we then informed yourselves. We’re sorry at the length of time it took for us to inform you of the final decision not to consider your offer. In all cases it’s the landlord who makes the final decision on accepting or rejecting a prospective tenants application and we pride ourselves on our commitment to act in the best interest of our Landlords, ensuring they have all relevant information allowing them to make an informed decision that they think is best for them. If you would like to discuss this any further, please feel free to contact our Head of Lettings, Quentin Thatcher on either 01722 820585 or quentin.thatcher-bassets@home.letmc.com Kind regards, Bassets Lettings