Smoke and mirrors

I was interested to hear from one of my readers and correspondents - another victim of Robin Larkins and The Real World Rental Company - from his own notes of telephone calls with Larkins and the staff at his office.

My contact thought that there were probably fewer people in the office than I was assuming. I had given the names of Vicki Saunders, Rebecca Hayes, Noreen Kelly. But he believed that these three might all be one and the same.

And another of the features of the scam was when you ring up and try and speak to Larkins, you are always told that he is either out of the office, or on another line. There is little or no point in leaving a message for him to call back, because that has never happened.

And Larkins is the only one, as the scam goes, who can discuss any aspect of the money. The return of the money that is. Others seem knowledgeable enough about taking money in, but unwilling or unable (suddenly) to know anything about returning it.

And to try and complicate the service, the "girls" are all new, and know nothing of your case, ("so Robin will have speak to you directly".) They are always new, and know nothing of your case, even if you just spoke to them a few days previously.

I have read on one review*, (a negative one of course), that when they were unable to get a satisfactory answer from Larkins about the maintenance of the property they went to the office in Fulham to confront him. I would be very grateful if this reviewer could contact me with as much information as possible about the office, staff etc. This reviewer also had a problem with a deposit return. No surprise there then.

*Nice flat, shame about the Agent
Estelle Auckland, New Zealand.Date Submitted: August 16, 2008 Date of Stay: May 2008
We stayed in this flat for 11 nights with our 17 year old son. On arrival we were very disappointed to see the whole building covered in scaffolding. Mentioning this to the agent he said there was nothing he could do about that but assured us that work was not starting for 2wks. When asked how many sets of keys were required we said 3. He wasn't sure if he could find 3 but would have a second set left on the table the next day and would also get cleaning lady to drop round iron and toaster. 3 days later we had a painter looking in the bedroom window at 8am, still only one set of keys, no promised appliances and several unreturned phonecalls. We caught train to Putney to confront agent. He would not take responsibility, said that he was doing his best and pointed out the number of properties he had to look after. He suggested we try and get our own keys cut. We did try but security numbers meant we needed owners written authority. By now we were getting worried at his incompetence and asked if he would definitely be at the property by 10.30am on checkout day(our agreed time at check-in) to hand over cash deposit. He assured us he would. The next day we did get a second set of keys and a new toaster and iron. We negotiated with the painters, and they agreed to not start painting on our level until 10am but we could never leave windows open as scafflod meant no security. On check out day we were packed and ready by 10.30am. Agent called at 10.35am, he was stuck in traffic about an hour out of London. He had our money in his pocket so no one else could give it to us. We were not happy. I wanted his office assistant to bring us the money but that wasn't possible he said. He suggested he give it to our daughter, who lives in London, later that day. As we were wanting to get on the road we didn't want her to have to chase him for it. After a heated exchange he said he would get someone to bring the money. 11/2 hrs later, 2 people turned up with the cash. The flat itself was very comfortable, good position, and very clean. The road is discribed as quiet but the flat, being on the corner, gets noise from busy Old Brompton Rd. The photo deceptively doesn't show that, but it never got unbearably noisy. We were not shown the garden and never found out how to access it. We would not recommend this property while it is managed by current agent which is a shame because the flat is very nice.