Pinnacle Letting Agents

As I student I always loved complaining about Pinnacle. I hated it when they suddenly decided our house needed a new dishwasher — a spanner in the works when we just thought we’d balanced that classic student argument of who does the dishes.
It would be nice, of course, if they made us feel like we had a little say in these matters; I would be happier if they called us up and explained why they were doing it. Anything other than plonking a huge dishwasher in front of the kitchen window, seemingly without reason.
But then, hearing all the horror stories from friends with different agencies, I’d consider myself lucky. They may be slow in answering queries, but there’s nothing like a handful of Black Jacks and a cup of fresh coffee to pacify your rental related rages, and the staff always seem willing to have a laugh with you.
The best thing they’ve ever done for us is try and get us out of an awkward housemate-​swapping situation. Despite admitting that they had never had a case like ours, they were quick to re-​advertise the house at no cost to us. They are also willing to do a bit of bartering for you. We asked them to negotiate when our landlord tried to up the rent, and saved a whole £2.50 a month each, so that every month we could have a pint on Pinnacle. If you don’t ask, you don’t get!
So while I don’t think I would actively recommend Pinnacle, I do think that compared to the majority they are okay. I’d like to think that when I use a professional agency I will be treated with a little more respect but until then, I guess I’ll have to deal with it.
URBAN CHALLENGE: Go in with friends and see who can subtly ‘acquire’ the most black jacks

Coming before CPS and Barbara Rees but after Keylet, Pinnacle are the middle child in this trifecta of awful estate agent experiences I’ve had the misfortune of having.
Myself and three housemates found a wonderful house. Spacious, tastefully decorated and in a great place all for a reasonable price, it was perfect for what we wanted. There were a few cosmetic things that needed fixing, and we signed the contract under the belief that the fixes would be made during the two months we were paying half rent over the Summer.
September turns up and no, nothing’s been done. Alright. Maybe Pinnacle just didn’t get around to it. We politely inform them that nothing’s been done and that we were expecting to come back to have everything fixed as promised. They said it was in process. Cool.
Two months later, nothing. We inform Pinnacle that we rented the house on the promise that this would be fixed, otherwise we wouldn’t have rented it. We are, in no uncertain terms, told that no such agreement was made. We sent them the e-​mail and informed them that, in accordance with the law, we’d be paying half rent until the part of the agreement was honoured.
In January, nothing’s been done and the landlord turns up, unexpectedly. He wants to know why we’ve stopped paying our rent. We inform him of everything and he informs us that he received no such information from Pinnacle. Nothing about the agreed changes, nothing about us paying half-​rent until everything was fixed. All Pinnacle had done is stopped paying the landlord the rent we were paying them and then told him we were refusing to pay.
The landlord agrees with us, gets in his own construction crew and agrees that we should pay half rent until it’s finished. Apologises profusely and leaves. The construction isn’t perfect, but it’s at least something. A month later, with the construction still a long way from being finished, Pinnacle inform us that we should be paying full rent again and owe back rent from October. We contact the landlord, he informs us he knows nothing about this. We storm down there, Pinnacle inform us that the landlord is demanding all the rent.
The incompetence gets worse from there, unbelievably. Long story short, do not use Pinnacle. Whilst they aren’t as malicious or as blatantly thieving as Keylet or CPS, they more than make up for this in incompetence.