AB-FlatMate

Hello hello guys,
I would like to talk with you about my experience with ABFLATMATE, which was very good!
I had a room, very clean, and my flatmates were nice!
During my stay in this apartment, the table of the kitchen was broken, and the maintenance came in the same day for change it!
They were very professional with me.
I know there are lots of different opinions about this agency, but regarding my experience, it was fine!

Carine

Well, I'm only going to say that after the first month living there we got rats in the kitchen for 2months and half, that was normal due the backyard condition (they promise me that it will be fixed soon, when I left the house was it on the same way.). The solution was to send their "agents", that means 2 guys that barely can speak 2 consecutive words in English to put poison all over the kitchen and leave the open box with poison in the kitchen's contour. After these 2 months and half they decide to send a real professional. Rats die inside the walls, and during 3 weeks the smell was unbearable, and they were coming maggots and flies from the cracks on the walls.
During this period they were no more rats, but suddenly they start to scratch underneath the floor in my room, trying to access, that means usually at 2am, 4am... noisy enough to wake me up. I communicate to the agency, but they ignored me. So after 6 months, when I finished my contract I decided to move. Best moment in my life to get far away from this scammers company, and the worse experience to live there...

I am in London for the summer and been living in a youth hostel for the past week. I was really wanting to get my own place but no landloard wanted to rent me a place for 3 months even in a shared house.
One of the people living in the youth hostel advised me to contact some agencies specialized in short time, so I contacted several agencies.

I got an almost immediate answer from the "AB-Flatmate" agency who proposed me a suitable room near Padington where I work. I got a personal visit from the place and the room and signed immediately for 3 months starting the day after the visite, which was ok for me.
The only drawback would be the £85 administrative fee which I find quite a lot for the service proposed.

I found their attitude very professional and they understood my needs and so I would recommend their services.

In my opinion, agents who are working in AB-Flatmate are incompetent and I found that there was a lot of miscommunication between them. From the first time, when we moved to a new room, they were saying untruth or they weren't well informed about the property. In notice, they put information that house is with garden and every week cleaner is coming to clean house but it wasn't true. Anyway, we rented room for the same (a little bit expensive) price without mentioned facilities. They guaranteed that room will be clean before moving but nobody cleaned it. We had to do it by ourselves. During few months, we had a few issues and usually they were trying to resolve the problem but always it has taken a long time. For example, Internet was reseting by itself and loosing connection many times per day and after few months nothing changed. The agency couldn't sort it out although we were writing complaints. I think that they don't know what's happening in property that they try to manage. Me and some flatmates lost their belongings in house and they don't know what happened and they seems like they don't care too much. Moreover, they are renting rooms for everyone and after that some tenants make a lot of troubles. I can't recommend this agency right now but I hope that they will improve theirs poor quality of management.

During my time with AB Flatmate they ignored my right to 24 hours notice of them sending people into my room... on 5 occasions. During 3 of these the workmen had clearly been climbing on my bed in their work boots, and twice the so called 'repairs' they carried out did basically nothing. One time when I found there was a mouse in my room, I cleaned it and asked them for preventative measures. They sent someone into my room (again without permission or notice) and told me they'd used a 'strong product', without informing me of what it was. It turned out to be a mouse-trap, but I wonder if they would've bothered to tell me if it had been poison. Oh, and they took a year to let us know about the installation of a new carbon monoxide detector in the kitchen - safe!

Everyone in the house has a bad story about AB Flatmate. Apparently on several occasions they have tried to cover themselves by claiming that the company head is 'on holiday', only for him to turn up at the door when the tenant in question threatens legal action. On one instance they tried to take a third of a tenant's deposit for 'overuse of utilities', I suspect because she was moving to Germany and they thought they could get away with it.

Whoever is handling their admin is also a joke. On several occasions, including me moving out of the property, I have asked them to keep me up to date on details and they haven't bothered. A new person is moving in tomorrow, and they still haven't told me what I need to do in terms of giving back keys, cleaning the room and so on.

If you rent with AB Flatmate, you will NEED to show them that you won't take their ridiculous service lying down. If you are willing to deal with them when they are incompetent or if they act illegally, then you should be able to manage. Complaining about how terrible the company is will be a good way for you to bond with your new housemates. Get a paper trail for everything and hold them accountable.

Once I have my deposit back, I'll be complaining to the property ombudsman about them.

Hey!

I actually live in a room of ABFLATMATE agency, and the room is very clean. I have lots of space to tidy all my staff, and the common parts are very good, we even have a living room (that is very unusual in London). Moreover, i had some problems with one of my roomate who was very dirty, and the agency done the maximum to change it, because he really makes an effort! Now everybody clean after themselves, and there is a good atmosphere.
I'll leave my room in one month and i've send my notice form!
Normally, I will receive my deposit 30 days maximum after my departure, I hope so!
I really like my room, and my house!

Mickael

Well, after ONE month living here I'm desperate for moving out. Everything in the house is fixed in the cheapest way possible, that's includes the cheapest home appliances possible, the worse internet connection ever, the people in the house stealing food and with no more than an email from the agency remembering that this is not allowed, so they don't care so much who is living in the house, they only care about the money and that's all.

Today I found a dead fox in the yard, because they didn't repair the yard's fence yet. The only way to contact with them is by mail, so in case of urgency don't expect any quick help. I copy the mail that I received after this, it seems that they have a copy/paste for every situation.

"We will ask our agents to come in as soon as possible and deal with the back garden issue.

We apologise for the situation.

Best Regards,

Team AB-Flatmate"

Completely Pitiful! And the worse is that we pay an incredible amount of money for a room in zone 4. I don't recommend nobody to make any business with them.

I lived in a house of theirs in London. When I arrived at the house it was in such poor condition! After complaining, they promised to fix the facilities and clean the back garden. They never did! I lived there for 11 months and never did they clear the garden. I was the only one in the house who cleaned and when the reat of the household failed to clean the house they sent cleaners who hardly did anything and then charged us each £20 (£140 in total paid by 7 members of the house) which is absolutely outrageous!
They then brought in a second cooker but never fully installed it. After emailing them numerous times asking them to install it, the existing cooker broke and we were left without a cooker for 2 days. Our internet was also not working for over 2 weeks and they said it was our responsibility to sort it out. That month I paid £30 less rent because of the expense of eating out and the additional data purchaced for my phone.
When it came to paying my deposit back they charged me £70 because of my failure to pay the £30!
I am not the only one in my household who experienced such terrible service from AB Flatmate.
DO NOT EVER RENT FROM THEM!