anyone rented through Flatland in London?

TerryWaller

Hi good people

I'm here because I was trying to google reviews to see if Flatland looked genuine, and found this thread, which means there may be others like me and their site is still running.

I want to once again highlight the fact that there were many positive reviews which popped up here for Flatland, all written in semi-creatively different styles, but hey - they all joined just before posting and then only made that one post and never logged in again...

How many people do you know who would look for reviews for a service they've previously used just to go on a forum and take their time to sign up and stand up for them by writing a glowing report? Not many. What would be their motive???? Yet here are many.

I suspect the company themselves have seen the publicity of the thread as it's high ranking in Google and made loads of fake reports about their own company. That's just deceiving.

I am not going to play their game and make up some story about having a terrible experience with them, because I haven't - and that would make me as bad as them.

I'm just here to point out that all the positive reports were made by new posters, in a highly unlikely manner, so if the company is willing to deceive you like this then I wouldn't trust them not to deceive you again if you deal with them.

Don't just listen to these new posters' advice without thinking for yourself.

Hey, this is my first post too. Don't even listen to me without thinking for yourself. But please consider my logic and come to your own conclusion. What's the motive for me spending half an hour reading this thread and posting this out of my time... Because I could have almost fallen for it, and there's probably other vulnerable people out there too who hopefully after reading this will think about it themselves and weigh up the evidence to come to their own conclusions. And if that's the case, I've hopefully helped somebody.

Take care guys,
T

brent232

Just thought I would share my experience from my brief visit to their office at Gloucester Road. I wanted to see one or two properties before I could pay their 'subscription fee' - this was rejected. I was met by an elderly gentleman called Mike who absolutely did not like questioning - he told me I was 'cross-examining' him and that he has spent too much time with me. It seems like he only answers questions that he wants to. For instance, I found it amusing that despite having a seemingly long list, he refused to go beyond the second or third property. All he did was point to a map and told me where each property was situated. In fact the only detail he was willing to share was how far it was from the tube line and that he dealt with 4000 landlords for many years so I shouldn't question him on any attributes. I was expected to run like a dog to see as many properties as I can - this sounded insane because I couldn't understand what prevented them from hosting further information about their properties. That would just save people time and they could easily view ones they were interested in! I questioned him on it and all he told me was "This may be your problem but is not mine certainly. I know of an Italian landlord who will tell you ' do you want the effing property or not?' if you ask too many questions like this ".

Then I figured out that he was incentivised only to obtain the £60 from me and point me to random places - he wasn't interested in actually helping me find one!

horribleflatland

Just be careful guys, Flatland is definitely a scam, there are many discussion online about the illicit business model offered by these agencies scamming their lower-than market price ad on Gumtree/Zoopla these websites and allured you to go to their office and pay 100 pounds in advance for their 'service', sometimes they offered you the so-called discount 60 pounds to let you fall into their traps.

Literally they just wrote you down 4-5 addresses for 'flat reviewing' per day and in fact, they are actually referring you to other agencies, I went to 5 flats last Friday and 4 were gone and the last one the agency doesn't actually exist.

I don't know how this company is still operating, probably there are too many students/new-arrival Londoner eager to find a flat here. In fact, everyday they will just send you a list of properties to your e-mail for 3 months (of course you can walk-in to their office every day and get different flat viewings options which are the same as the e-mail flat list.) and you can just google the property flat and see the flats with separate agents without a fee.

If you want the list from Flatland, text me on 07492 728645. Don't pay 100 pounds for the scam company and help them grow, I can help instead. My flat list from this scam company is valid till 1 June,2016.

Carrie851218

Dear T,

The reason for new Users leaving a Review here is that you actually Receivers refund of the Agency fee you paid if you share your experience, hence ALL or mostly new users. I will be doing the same.
Who would not want to receive some money back?! It's a great iniative! Hope this explains

carrie181285

my experience was a good one! I went there as I had enough of sharing with strangers in London. Almost 6 years experience have led me to the conclusion that all I want is have my own little studio. Thanks to Flatland that worked out within a week! Guess I was also a bit lucky as the perfect place in my preferred area came up. I can only recommend them - quick and easy - they help you get the addresses and the rest is up to your own negotiation skills;)

seccima

Great service. You pay for an upfront cost buut then everything it s easy and you deal only with private landlord!
Th aks for the help!

seccima

Great service! You py an upfront cost but then it s easy to find a nice flat and no deal with agency, only private landlord! Perfect I will say!