Report this Review

I urge you, if it's either rent through Pinnacle, or go without a home.. choose the latter. We were with Pinnacle as an agent for 3 years and we spent pretty much the entire time desperate to leave them. From the moment we picked up the keys to our very first rental, we knew that we weren't going to have an easy time. We firstly arrived at the property realising that one of the locks on the front door was broken. We reported the issue within 10 minutes of being in the property. The lock was NEVER fixed, even after reporting the issue 3 more times. We immediately contacted the agent that we dealt with, she met us at the property, we walked around the property and took photos and notes. ALL of the carpets were marked. ALL of the walls were marked, damp ridden & full of holes. A light fitting was broken. A drawer in the freezer was broken. Window seals were covered in damp/mould. The 2 cupboards that were against outside walls were full of damp/mould. The flooring in both the bathroom & kitchen were not fitted properly, were not fitted against walls, cupboards etc. so, damp had got underneath and were lifting. Our first 2 days at the property were spent painting, professionally cleaning carpets, de-moulding most rooms and cupboards AND we replaced the flooring in full, in the bathroom & kitchen, sealed windows/ frames.. all at our own expense, as we already had word from the agent, that they nor the landlord were likely to take on any of the cleaning/repairs. Over the course of our time as tenants, we had to report multiple repairs, many of which we had to remind Pinnacle of/ Chase, sometimes for days. We had to go over 24 hours without water to the property, until we called an emergency plumber. Between year 1 and year 2 of our tenancy we were told that the Standing Order that we originally set up, would have to be done again (we would have rather a direct debit, but they only work with Standing Orders). After we set up the Standing order Pinnacle told us that the payment would not be made in time, so we had to transfer the funds.. a day later we noticed that not only did the transfer go through, but so did the Standing Order, after all. Once we informed Pinnacle, they told us that they would send us 1 months worth of rent back. But, they would do so using BACS. Meaning that it would take 5-7 working days.. after almost a week, the money DID land in our account. But, they accidentally sent it to us twice. They immediately noticed and hounded us to transfer some back asap using bank transfer. Funny how when they owed us, it would get to us whenever.. but when they made the mistake and we owed them money, it had to be immediate. Finally, when we were able to sort out alternative accommodation and let Pinnacle know that we'd be vacating the property. We were sent an email including instructions on how/where to make sure we deep clean the property. Also requesting that we film a video just prior to exiting the property for the last time, illustrating the cleanliness of the property & showing all windows, doors, cupboards, drawers & lights working as they should. The email also stated along the lines of, our deposit would be dependant on the video.. All of this goes to show that they DO NOT enter the property to clean or inspect before the next tenants take on their lease. So, I do hope that they don't charge the landlords for any cleaning or inspections/repairs.. because we, the tenants, do that work. After we left the property for the last time, we sent Pinnacle the video and posted the keys through their Cardiff branch postal box. We logged in to the Tenancy Deposit Scheme website (where all deposits are kept legally now). We requested our despot back. Weeks go past and the TDS inform us that they have not had any response from Pinnacle and that we should submit a 'statutory declaration'. TDS knew that Pinnacle would not comply. I tried to call Pinnacle dozens of times and sent them multiple emails, asking why they had not agreed to release our deposit money back. But, to no avail.