Service and communication BAD
<p>My wife and I rented an apartment from Etchells & Young, after a couple of months there was a problem with the geyser, as it was drippng water on some of our property that was stored in the closet, including golf sets and bags, winter clothes in duffle bags and extra items stored in cardboard boxes. It was reported to the broker that helped us, but with no reply from the broker, there was nothing we could do. It was later said that we did not follow the right procedure to get help in case of this happening, this was not said from the start.</p> <p> </p> <p>After not getting any help for 2 weeks, mould started to build on our property, I took matters into my own hands to get someone to look at the issues that we were having. After 2 weeks, the mould was so bad that we lost a lot of money in our property. We were then told that we need to use our own insurance to cover the loss. After the reporting of the problem that we had, it was only fixed 3 weeks later.</p> <p> </p> <p>My wife also reported that there were some issues as soon as we moved in, that was only fixed about 7 months after I had to keep asking them to send someone to fix it. This included a broken window and a Shower door not working.</p> <p> </p> <p>After having enough of all the drama we had, we decided to move out. Then the big struggle came as the deposit was meant to be used to renovate repaint damaged that occured when we were living there. 1st they wanted to do the repairs and charge us R9000 as there are 2 people working on the same portfolio, this means that from office to office or desk to desk there are no communication between Portfolio managers and the Maintenance managers or staff. We then asked for the final amount, on a statement of all other fees that we needed to pay. The balance came out to R0. After we asked to get another Quote for the repairs, they suddenly had a charge of an additional R1800 for 10 days rent. Note that this amount was added because the first and second repair quote, had a difference of about R1800. And it was subtracted from our Deposit.</p> <p> </p> <p>If you can't run the business properly or communicate, close it down or have less tenants or customers so that the focus can be on them and not just the paycheck in the end of the month.</p> <p> </p> <p>I will never use them again, nor will suggest that people use them, UNTIL THEY INCREASE THEIR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN DEPARTMENTS.</p>
Hello Hilfred,
We are sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with us. We aim to provide excellent client service and the general lack of other complaints on Hellopeter is testimony to this.
Every tenant that rents a property that is managed by Etchells &Young receives a Welcome Letter (email) when they move in and this spells out exactly how everything is meant to work and includes a Maintenance Guidelines brochure, packed with useful information such as what to do in case of emergency, how to deal with an array of other maintenance occurrences and most importantly, exactly who to contact when you report any maintenance issue, including an emergency and after hours contact number.
It is a pity that you did not refer to this Welcome Letter when you discovered the geyser problem. Your email to us dated 14 March 2016 confirms that "By the time we noticed the damage to the golf bags due to the mold it was to* late." (*too) Unfortunately we cannot repair anything that we are not aware of. After we received your email, the geyser was repaired on 14 March - the same day!
You then cancelled the lease and we simply followed procedure, the Landlord has a right to receive the property back in the same condition as it was when you moved in, if not we are entitled to use your deposit to get it back into the same good condition. As a courtesy to you we requested additional quotes (not required in terms of the lease) to repair the items and used the least expensive contractor. The Landlord is also entitled, in terms of the lease, to charge a cancellation penalty if you cancel your early before the termination date, you agreed to this.
Thank you for your thoughtful suggestion to close down our business, but we will politely decline this advice as we do run a fantastically successful business with very many happy clients. Perhaps you will however take your own advice and become a more effective communicator. We suggest that you start by reading important documents such lease agreement, welcome emails, contact details etc. We are always amazed, how, when someone complains, they "forget" to mention so much important information....
We sincerely wish you all the best in your next property and hope that it will be a happy experience for you.
Etchells & Young Management Team
Hello Hilfred,
We are sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with us. We aim to provide excellent client service and the general lack of other complaints on Hellopeter is testimony to this.
Every tenant that rents a property that is managed by Etchells &Young receives a Welcome Letter (email) when they move in and this spells out exactly how everything is meant to work and includes a Maintenance Guidelines brochure, packed with useful information such as what to do in case of emergency, how to deal with an array of other maintenance occurrences and most importantly, exactly who to contact when you report any maintenance issue, including an emergency and after hours contact number.
It is a pity that you did not refer to this Welcome Letter when you discovered the geyser problem. Your email to us dated 14 March 2016 confirms that "By the time we noticed the damage to the golf bags due to the mold it was to* late." (*too) Unfortunately we cannot repair anything that we are not aware of. After we received your email, the geyser was repaired on 14 March - the same day!
You then cancelled the lease and we simply followed procedure, the Landlord has a right to receive the property back in the same condition as it was when you moved in, if not we are entitled to use your deposit to get it back into the same good condition. As a courtesy to you we requested additional quotes (not required in terms of the lease) to repair the items and used the least expensive contractor. The Landlord is also entitled, in terms of the lease, to charge a cancellation penalty if you cancel your early before the termination date, you agreed to this.
Thank you for your thoughtful suggestion to close down our business, but we will politely decline this advice as we do run a fantastically successful business with very many happy clients. Perhaps you will however take your own advice and become a more effective communicator. We suggest that you start by reading important documents such lease agreement, welcome emails, contact details etc. We are always amazed, how, when someone complains, they "forget" to mention so much important information....
We sincerely wish you all the best in your next property and hope that it will be a happy experience for you.
Etchells & Young Management Team