Flatland / Flatland1971.com - London accommodation

Dpq26

Hello all
It's been a while since this happened to me but I see that the company is still up and running so be warned......
I was looking for a cheapish flat in London earlier this year and came across flatland.co.uk or flatland1971.com
They have what looks to be very affordable flats. I popped along to their office in West London and the ask you to sign up by paying about £80 and then they will put you in touch with the landlords. They themselves do very little, just ask for non-refundable cash in return for landlord details. Well, I stupidly said I would think about it as my situation was rather desperate. The office was quite busy, especially with people new to England trying to find reasonable accommodation. The woman then said if I signed up within the next few days she would give me a discount to about £60. The flats she had did sound good and I foolishly paid later that week. I was then given the details of 3 or 4 landlords, all of whom were difficult to get in touch with, and the flats themselves were not anything like how they had been described - often double the price and unfurnished. Flatland themselves were very unpleasant when I complained about this. I have a feeling they are acting illegally - a google search found quite a few complaints on a gumtree forum. Anyway, this company, and several like them, are basically con artists. They take out full page adverts in Loot and many new people to London fall for it. So be warned people! FLATLAND FLATLAND1971 etc
Not to be trusted. They do not have what they say they have, and shouldn't be taking any money just to put you in touch with prospective landlords.
Since the website is still up and running I thought I should report it here, since a lot of people will be fooled by them, and I doubt their operation is anywhere near 100% legal.

alexxx

I heard about these guys from a friend of mine on february . Actually he saw their advert in somewhere and I was in a hurry. I did not even try to check them on the internet and I did not read the honest comments like the above one. So I paid 71.50 pounds for three months service without thinking much on February 2011 and they said to me that they guaranteed that at the end of three months they found a proper place for me. At the first appointment they were very kind and enthusiastic and they told me that I could call them by phone and ask for the places. I did this because I was busy and far away from their office. However, they opened the phones very rarely. When they opened the phone, they did not answer my questions but suggested inappropriate flats. They were very harsh and lazy. They even said to me that I might have tried to find another flat for my friends for free and I should also pay for it. At the end of first week, I told them I will never call you again. I requested my money back but they did not give it back to me. And the only flat that I could see via them has already been rented when I went there. They are still keeping my money. Such a useless service...