Rental Problems with Haart- Four weeks on and no progress!

[Frost2015]

We moved into our new home on the 23rd January, after refusing to pay a check in fee (£70) for somebody to come to the new house and give us the key, we collected it at the branch. When we arrived at the house it was in a terrible state, carpet satined, marks on the wall, mould on the windows, cobwebs and outside it looked like a rubbish dump! In the centre of the lawn was a pile of old rubbish and dotted around the garden was chicken wire, metal poles, broken furniture, old road signs. When we checked out our new garden room it already had a welsh dresser and lots of the old tenants belongings. The two sheds and the greenhouse was full of belongings and broken things and a pane was broken on the greenhouse. Cigarette butts littered the ground outside and after days of cleaning and moving in on our first night we put the extractor fan on in the kitchen and it stunk of smoke and when we put the one on in the bathroom to bath our daughter the same thing.
On the first day I called our local Haart branch twice and they said they would get back to me, they didn't. I also spoke to their maintenance department. Five days later we had managed to get hold of a managers email address and had escalated our complaint. We only provoked a response from him after leaving bad feedback on Facebook and because I pointed out he had a duty of care to younger team members to support them in a complaint of this magnitude. He then spoke to my husband twice on the phone and assured him he was launching an investigation. His investigation concluded we got a rubbish letter that was really five paragraphs, no apology and the offer of a renewel fee being waived!
We then spoke to maintenance who said a contractor would come Friday (they didn't) and the landlord (this is a fully managed property) would be round Saturday to see what belongings he wants to keep and to put them in 'his shed' (not in the contract!)
It is now nearly four weeks later and I am so sick of ringing Haart, writing letters, speaking to various departments who make promises they never keep. I am escalating my complaint up to the next level but Haart are very clever and leave it to the last day they have before replying, I bet, in the hope you will get fed up.
I know I can take them to the ombudsman but I am just really shocked that not one person has been to the house to see the state, and no action has been taken to fix the damage!
Should we take them to small claims court for compensation if we get no joy through the ombudsman?

[Amethyst]

Re: Rental Problems with Haart- Four weeks on and no progress!

Hi Frost

Sorry to hear you are having such problems, must be awful moving into your new home to find it in such a state. Have Haart not visited at all ? Are Haart actually managing the property or the landlord (private?) ?

You've been through Haart complaints process and still no one has been to see the property ?

I'd guess they are quite happy to accept rent payments still.

Sharon
xx

[seduraed]

Re: Rental Problems with Haart- Four weeks on and no progress!

I hope you have good photogrphs of the state of the property before and after. This is playing silly beggers. But you must hve photos as haart are now likely to turn up after you have cleaned the house see it's nice deny anything was wrong and chrge you for the visit .

[leclerc]

Re: Rental Problems with Haart- Four weeks on and no progress!

Three questions: Do you have pictures of the state of the house when you moved in?

What out of pocket expenses do you have for fixing this?

Can you scan a copy of the resolution letter from Haart(taking out your personal details and complaint reference numbers)?

Something that has intrigued me is that I'm not sure exactly what you feel is the resolution for you that is satisfactory because you have mentioned about renewal fees yet from the first impression, I'm not sure i'd want to stay in view of the manner in which the property has been managed from the get go.

[Frost2015]

Re: Rental Problems with Haart- Four weeks on and no progress!

Thank you for all your responses. Yes it is disgusting that Haart have not visited the property but, (as I have said in my complaint letter), I think this means they were well aware the property was in an unfit state.

Luckily we have extensive photographs of when we moved in, they haven't even asked us to email these across. To be fair that is not really surprising as five days after we moved in, after constant nagging we finally got sent a very basic inventory that didn't even list items in the garden room, sheds, garage and greenhouse but did say the windows had mould (I think this was added after our complaint).

I'm new to the site but will try and upload photographs of Haart's reply letter.

The resolution we are looking for is: garden, sheds, greenhouses, etc to be cleared of rubbish, small other maintenance jobs to be carried out, clarification as to whether the landlord has access to one shed and a rent reduction accordingly and two weeks rent compensation for the extra costs we have incurred.

1st complaint email:
Please find our complaint forwarded to customer care below


Dear Sir/ Madam,

We moved into a rental property fully managed by Haart on Friday 23rd January and it has been the worst experience of customer service we have ever had. We have moved house ten times in the last thirteen years and we are utterly shocked at the incompetence, disorganisation and lack of accountability that seems rife within Haart.

We have had to put our complaint in writing because after countless attempts to resolve it with our local Bury St Edmunds branch, we have had no success.

When we arrived at the property on Friday we found that there had been very little attempt to leave it in a state ready for us to move in. The upstairs bedrooms had mould and mildew growing on the sills, there were cobwebs everywhere, marks on the walls, limescale around taps. That was nothing compared with what we found in the garden, (the main reason we had chosen the house). The greenhouse and two sheds were full of broken tools, gym equipment, and general rubbish. All around the garden were broken signs, furniture, metal poles, and chicken wire. Outside the backdoor were cigarette butts everywhere and animal faeces. Later when we were cooking we used the extractor fan and the whole house stunk of cigarette smoke, the same happened when we used the extractor fan in the bathroom. There were only a few light bulbs working.

Is this the usual standard that Haart has for its properties?

It is appalling, our agent knew we were moving in with a one year old daughter and now we are left with this situation where she can't even use her own garden, which is her favourite thing to do. Because all the sheds were full outside we had to take a load of our belongings back to our old house and hire our van for an extra day so that we could move it back again. We still have things in storage now. It took a team of four people two hours to clean the house so it was ready to be moved in to.

This comes on top of a week when our Haart agent decided to tell us the landlord would not be providing white goods so we had to source our own cooker, fridge and washing machine at great expense and at a time when we had more important jobs to be getting on with.

Every time we speak to a member of staff at Haart there is always a different department who is dealing with that or a whole host of excuses, we are sick of this.

If you cannot help us to resolve our complaint directly then we shall be escalating it to the ombudsman. Our demands are simple, Haart needs to arrange for a third party to come and sort the garden out and take all of the rubbish away, the person will need at least a long wheel based transit. We are not happy to let the previous tenants come back and do this, there was time for Haart to arrange that prior to us moving in. We need both extractor fans replacing so our whole house does not smell of cigarette smoke and we need at least two weeks rent compensation for the stress, financial and inconvenience Haart has caused us.

If you could please copy this to the Haart lettings manager and area manager as the complaint needs to go down both channels if we need to escalate it further at a future date.

We are still awaiting our inventory so if this can be hurried along as it is now long over due and urgently needed.

2nd complaint email:

I take it from the lack of communication today, you have still be unsuccessful in securing our inventory. One of the most annoying things when you are in a situation that you are trying to resolve is not being communicated with. I am astounded your manager, Guy, has also not taken the initiative to contact us himself with an update on what is happening, why we have been let down and how you are resolving it.


I can only conclude that it is Haart's poor training on how to deliver customer service. If I ran my business in the way your office has conducted business with us, I would not have a company. We need answers and we need them swiftly:


Where is the inventory and why is it taking so long to 'put the finishing touches' on? We would now like a full explanation as to what is happening as this is now long past unacceptable.


We have no idea if you inspected the garden prior to us moving in but if it did get passed we would like to know why. It is unsafe and there are multiple hazards, especially as we have a one year old.


We would like a formal apology about the way in which we have been dealt with. I called you on Friday Chloe to explain the situation and you told me you would call me back before 6pm. You didn't. You also didn't call me back on Monday.


Guy- I called to speak with you on Saturday but Olivia (who does seem the only person who has got a clue) explained she would note down my complaint and email it to you asking to call me back Monday. After not hearing from you I called at 10am and was told you were available, however in the process of transferring my call the assistant then discovered you were in a 'conference meeting' and took my number to pass on to you. You have not once tried to call me back. Why?


We have still not heard back from customer care but we understand this can take up to 3 days to acknowledge and ten days to reply so Guy I would like your managers email address too please as after mother three days has elapsed our next option is to write to the managing director.




This is all very time consuming and a stress we do not need. It is such a shame you do not have the compassion to understand what effect this is having on us as a family, nor care enough to help us resolve it.


Managers response sent at 10pm!!
Thank you for your email.

Please allow me to firstly apologise for the time it has taken to provide you with a copy of the completed inventory.
Unfortunately it has taken a little longer than expected for our inventory clerk to complete the work.

Also I would like to apologise for missing you on Monday, I was indeed on a conference call and then had to rush out for further appointments.
Although if I would have known that you had called, I would have found the time to make contact with you.

After speaking with Chloe, I understand that your tenancy to date has not been a great experience for you and I can assure that an investigation is under way to ascertain as to why these issues that you have encountered have occurred.

I can see that you have started stage one of our complaints procedure, so please take this as an acknowledgement of your complaint. A response will be with you within ten working days.

In the meantime, I have managed to obtain the inventory for you which will allow you to have an opportunity to make any amendments.

Please feel free to contact me at any time should you need to discuss the matter further

The letter attached we recieved on Friday.

[Melanie Smith]

Re: Rental Problems with Haart- Four weeks on and no progress!

Dear Frost2015

Thank you for your post, I'm sorry to learn of your complaint as detailed, and that we haven't managed to resolve this so far for you. I would be very grateful if you could email me your best contact number so that I may call you with a view to resolving- please let me know the best time to call between 8.30 and 5.00.
My email address is melanie.smith@haart.co.uk.
Many thanks
Melanie Smith
Group Complaints Manager
haart

[Melanie Smith]

Re: Rental Problems with Haart- Four weeks on and no progress!

Dear Frost2015

Thank you for your post and I'm sorry to learn about your complaint and that it hasn't been resolved. I had previously posted asking you to email me with the most appropriate contact number however unfortunately the post was removed. I do have your contact details so I shall try you tomorrow and we can look to resolve this for you.
Regards
Melanie Smith
Group Complaints Manager

[Amethyst]

Re: Rental Problems with Haart- Four weeks on and no progress!

Hi Melanie, Thank you for looking in. My apologies for your original post being moderated, my fault completely as I forgot to tell the team I'd asked your Twitter peeps to look in on the thread. Hopefully you will be able to help Frost resolve this issue satisfactorily now, and possibly give the local branch a kick up the bum. Thanks, Sharon.


Frost, keep us updated xxx

[nemesis45]

Re: Rental Problems with Haart- Four weeks on and no progress!

None of this surprises me I know someone who left Haart's employ in disgust at the way clients were treated.

nem

[Frost2015]

Re: Rental Problems with Haart- Four weeks on and no progress!

Thank you Melanie, any help would be greatly appreciated. I shall forward on all relevant correpsondance tonight.

Sharon- Thank you so much for your help, I shall keep you updated!

[Frost2015]

Re: Rental Problems with Haart- Four weeks on and no progress!

Yes Nem, it seems a shame that such a national company has such terrible customer service ethics. I always think a complaint should be an opportunity to show off your top customer service skills and training, maybe Melanie will save the day?

[leclerc]

Re: Rental Problems with Haart- Four weeks on and no progress!

Dear Frost2015

Thank you for your post, I'm sorry to learn of your complaint as detailed, and that we haven't managed to resolve this so far for you. I would be very grateful if you could email me your best contact number so that I may call you with a view to resolving- please let me know the best time to call between 8.30 and 5.00.
My email address is melanie.smith@haart.co.uk.
Many thanks
Melanie Smith
Group Complaints Manager
haart

I think I'll keep a note of your email Mel as I am also a tenant with Haart with a completely different experience of Haart to the OP