Unprofessional, disorganized, unreasonable deposit deduction
I appreciate that they could provide a 6-month contract for me as an academic visitor to Southampton. However, bad experiences lead to this review of no recommendation and even avoiding them as possible as you can.
First, when my friend looked for apartments and contacted them, they changed their mind all the times. Once a while they said you have a discount, and at another time they said no, you don't. My friend had a so bad experience with them, and finally ignore them even though she already paid the reservation fee and couldn't get them back. I didn't have this horrible experience when I took a look at the apartment, maybe because I signed the contract immediately after the look.
Second, after six months, I evacuated the studio I lived in, and clean as much as I can. I think I have made it look as clean as when I just moved in. However, after their inspection ( I was not present in the inspection), they claimed the studio had strong smoke smell, and deep clean for this requires 250 pounds. That is wired! I am a non-smoking person and never let any smoking person enter the studio during my occupation. I asked them to provide any evidence. They just gave me a invoice indicates cleaning the smell takes 135 pounds, and for the rest 115 pounds, they just claimed, with no evidence, that it was for whitewash the wall because of the smell. The invoice did not say anything about the smoke smell. I know I should have been there when they conducted the inspection. And this is not the end, since I don't want to argue with them anymore, I just said okay and please return the rest deposit to me. However, when the deposit was returned, I found I got 365 pounds deducted from the deposit. Why is there another 115 pounds deducted? They never claimed this amount to me.
In a word, this company is like a scam. They give you a deposit protection scheme in the beginning, but they can still deduct the money from your deposit for something you didn't do. Just never try this company if possible.
