I agree. He was really cool about being ambushed. A lot of the companies and people that Joe tackles on this tend to be quite aggressive. But despite being on the way to work, he took the time to have a chat with Joe very amicably about his concerns with lettings agencies taking advantage of his site. The guy did seem surprised and not just giving expected responses to concerns and give empty promises. It does look as if it wasn't raised to his attention until now and he walked into work thinking 'right, how do I sort this out? Let's brainstorm.' I like that Joe didn't accuse him or his company of intentional misdeeds. They may've done, but that wouldn't have been a good approach in getting a company to change their ways.
@@JustAnotherPerson4U from this I would think that he went into making spare rooms for all the right reasons but has found himself slightly out of his depth and needs a bit more help in running the company. It's happened to a lot of down to earth people. Let's hope he goes through with what he promised there. I mean when someone is legit trying to swindle people they wouldn't have reacted the way he did.
Storylover 100%, if he had had a bad reaction it would had hugely impacted the way I view his company, but because he reacted so well i have a positive view of both him and the company as I will always associate SpareRoom with his good attitude. He is a good embassador.
That and Joe is a bloody good journalist, not obnoxious like Matt Allwright. Both take the piss, but the message doesn't get lost under overaggressive investigating.
Thought so too. Most would either walk off or deny deny deny. I have a feeling that he saw a gap in the market and believed it would be a positive thing to do for a lot of young people and students. Sadly though his company is flawed but hopefully he is honestly serious about cracking down on this.
Sterling De Vere is really shady. When I was moving a while back, I picked out around 5-7 different ads just from them on Spare Room. I went to their offices and every single one of them had apparently already been rented but they had a room in my budget. The room was located further away from Central London and cost the same as some of the ones they had listed that where closer. It was clearly way smaller than the others and the house was moldy, dirty and in desperate need of repairs. Definitely running a bait and switch scam.
The way these guys tried to intimidate Joe, it was as if they were used to doing it, like it was a habit for them. I reckon If Joe kept digging he would have found Stirling de Verde is a money laundering front.
Marit Ørndal because if they don’t, all the those people ur calling ‘chavs’ will forever be chavs if anything the manager has given them opportunity to earn money and get out of the shit hole areas they’re in.
@@nlomas well sometimes with videos like this they just upload a very small portion of what was actually broadcast whereas with this video they uploaded all of it
Holy what? This CEO seems like a genuinely good human being and I am SHOOKETH. The way he interacted with Joe and addressed public concern was honestly so incredible that I kinda wanna use spareroom and I don't even need it :/
Most CEO’s are like that, generally charismatic people. The issue is a bit lower down where VP’s often have to hit targets so will allow agents like Sterling de vere to operate as they bring in both numbers of lettings, cash flow etc. CEO’s don’t micro manage and are often a bit out of the loop. If a person can get in contact with a ceo, with the evidence they have, more will be done than them getting in touch with the customer complaints department
This makes me so happy I was a victim/customer of Sterling de vere. Mould on the ceiling, aggressive members of staff, broken smoke alarms, refused to replace broken fridge, overcrowded houses and that was only part of it. Thank you Joe and channel 4 you have made my day
they are scamming people and they're fully threatening to incite violence on someone. they're jumped up thugs who think they're gangster "I'd get a move on if I were you" might as well be wearing a shirt saying "I'm afraid of how small I am and my sexuality confuses me"
They refused to return my bond on absolutely no grounds. I was in that exact office and screamed standing on a sofa that it was a scam to all their prospective renters until they agreed to refund me. Worst renting experience of my life. I also phoned the office and had a nice receptionist take my call in the bathroom so she could candidly tell me that it was all a scam and help get my deposit back. I hope they all rot. Scum.
If someone comes out of a children house in the middle of the street and calls you by name, and you’re the ceo of a famous and public company, you really should run
When one of the "letting agents" was getting all up in Joe's face and Joe said he was getting frightened, that was actually SO BAD! Like, the other dude next to the agent had to PHYSICALLY hold the guy back so he didn't touch Joe just because there were cameras about! Scary to think what would've happened if there were no cameras...
Absolute ledge! These agencies are disgusting, never go into an office, if they request that refuse and say you only have time for a viewing as you want to rent immediately. If they still insist on the office they are lying to you. No one would refuse a quick in person sale over a long tedious process so you know the ad is fake or not as it looks like
Take it you've never heard of - Suzie Lamplough? Lettings agents first duty is to their staff and clients. Reputable landlords will be as concerned about the condition of their property at least as much as you, so won't settle for the first chancer to wave a wad of notes under their nose. That's an indicator to walk away and look elsewhere.
@@hlund73 Yes, they will not rent the place to just anyone however reputable agencies have viewings all the time, sometimes with multiple potential clients back-to-back. There is no reason for them to insist on an in offic3 meeting and then a viewing as it also takes up their staff time. Also most rental agreements are made quickly but obviously you have to provide a lot of proof to secure your place (bank statements, employer letters etc). I don't doubt the vetting process or longer agreement times, just agencies that refuse to have you see the property because I've tried 4 of those so far and they will all the same bait and switch scams. One even told my bf to meet him in the office and they will drive to the property, only to (on the same day)say once he came that the property is not available. It's very shady when they don't even have mildly similar properties, which makes you wonder whether the ad was ever truthful.
Can you imagine what that CEO must have said to the employees when he got in that day! "Had an interesting chat with a block on the way in this morning.."
@@piersgooderham8674 It became my nickname after I told some friends of mine that the person who invented the sandwich was called "Lord Sandwich". (Which is true btw.)
Yes... It gives companies the room to react in the way that the company operates. Good companies react well, and bad companies have to change their names to run away from bad press
@@foxyMcFoxface you know what I mean though just show them their fault and allow them to rectify them. Admittedly, such great faults showed not have been permitted to happen in the first place but Joe has provided a platform where complaints can be heard in a big way on said on a much bigger platform. At the end of the day, it's better than allowing it to go on.
emelia Bea I’d say him and James Acaster are best of the new comedians, like the ones that are up and coming now, but between established ones, like Jimmy Carr, Frankie Boyle, Sean lock, Dara O’Brien, David Mitchell, Lee Mack, Hugh and others, he’s really not that good
Thanks Joe! You are my hero! Stirling de Vere are truly awful, went to see some properties with them last year and the same situation as the lady in the vid- properties were completely different to the pictures and the staff were so so so rude when confronted. Renting in London is a joke.
Why is that even important. I just think he’s a good comedian. You wouldn’t call someone a straight icon would you. All this lgbt stuff really isnt as exciting as you think. No one really cares who you fancy and that’s the best kind of equality surely.
@@allwrighty100 When the LGBTQI+ community is still discriminated against in everyday life and still at risk of physical harm & even death from haters just for being who they are, it's important for them to have a visible, proud presence to counter this. I like Joe and think he's very entertaining. I don't think you can separate his sexuality from him and I don't think you need to.
This is the way all companies should respond to critism. It shows Spareroom is a very possive light and I'm sure will give prospective tenants faith in the brand. Let's hope they kept it up.
I looked on spare room the other day and some of the propertys were huge and very nice and they were clearly way too cheap for what you got. I know why now they were most likely fake just to bait you in.
Almost went through the same issue with Sterling Devere as this lady. Saw a room advertised on Spare Rooms, went to the office to get more information, only to be told that it was no longer available, the lady in the office then offered me other rooms at higher prices. I told her my budget but still offered me other rooms above my budget. I didn’t realise this was bait/pressure selling etc at the time. I just thought the lady in the office wasn’t that bright and was just offering me whatever she had available. Luckily I didn’t go through them in the end, I went with a different agency.
Can you look at bait and switch tactics from recruitment firms. They advertise good jobs, then when you go in to get the job they tell you the job role is gone but there are others available. then switch you for a much worse job that you didn't apply for. They take advantage of workers who are desperate for work and lack the english language skills to read the painfully small print.
This. I could tell you a story about workers coming to Canada for school/work and the absolute fuckery that goes on. It’s illegal, immoral and absolutely disgusting. No one will listen. It makes me sick. I stopped working for that company for that and many other reasons.
I'm renting atm at sterling De Vere and in my final year of university. I found a flat that was £131pw with bills Inc. Too good to be true. But I went ahead around August 2018 because I'm young, broke and student and rented it. Only to find out that it was infested with rats and inside the kitchen, drawers were all rotten which I didn't see. When I complained they only covered the holes but the family of Rats came back and ate my noodles and my kilo of rice. No lie. So instead of getting the exterminator, they just transferred me into a new flat which I am paying which might be a tactic that was mentioned on the video. Get this. I'm now fast approaching my final weeks before graduation so deadlines and stress levels are high only to get an eviction notice TODAY with 2-month notice. Also, 2 months until I finish university. Are they having a laugh? Never again am I coming here.
@Gunner Storm first of all i understand mouse are common problem but for you to even defend that RATS infestation is a common problem in london is normal when actually it is unhygienic and against the law. I pay for my rent, this is their property, this is the agency's responsibility. Attachment seen below: england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/pests_and_vermin_infestations_in_rented_homes Secondly, As they transfered me into another flat, I was willing to pay more to prevent this from happening 190pw to be more exact. I'm trapped with this agency until the one year contract finishes. It was just a weird coincidence that the same day this video has been uploaded, that's when the landlord wants his flat back as he probably seen this and wants nothing to do with the agency.
I like using spareroom so it's good to see that they've improved in light of the feedback and that the CEO seems to be a nice guy. I wonder if the interview request they sent him originally was turned down by staff before it actually got to him.
Love Joe Lycett, so entertaining. For the record I found a house share through Spare Room nearly a year ago and its been brilliant, private landlord, no agency involved and it has been great 😁
"More like your bf got it for you" "You won't be smiling anymore" "I would keep it moving if I were you" Does this criminal justice drop-out closeted security dude think he's in a Guy Richie film or something
I had a very similar experience with a company called flintons. The issue with this is every one of their agents register separately so it’s hard to track. I’m still £1,300 down
Spare rooms don't check anything, lucky Joe only looked into agents on the site. Joe look into the massive amount of unregistered people subletting rooms, loads of them do the same thing as agents.
It's not often you get a CEO so down to earth, he was walking to work and was dressed casual & he was actually really kind... 🤔 If only all CEOs were like this.
A lot of Hermes delivery drivers are self employed (I was one for a while). Shocking lack of support from the company, they screw things up and let us take the heat from customers. If I had a penny for every time I received a next day parcel 5 days late, then got the office ringing me asking why I hadn't already delivered it.. smh
Spareroom does absolutely nothing about rogue landlords on their website. I have two extremely bad experiences with live in landlords who falsely advertised and were foul & dishonest bullies who stole the deposits given to them. I left both premises due to threatening behaviour. Spare room gave no means to report these fraudulent renters.
Jesus. Proper dodgy company; homophobic remarks, kidnapping, intimidation. How absolutely disgusting. By contrast, the second chap seemed rather nice. Not to mentioned that he actually made real changes. How refreshing.
Would be interesting to know if a year on SpareRoom actually followed through with what they promised. Press releases are easy to write, actual organisational change takes time, effort, and money.
Fabulous work Joe, I hope your team is well remunerated for following your life threatening instructions. 11 out of 10 to the spare room CEO, he handled that ambush like a champion. That dodgy letting agent will have to go back to selling, low milage, 1 owner Mercedes right offs, down by the High Street.
As a resident landlord I think spareroom is an excellent concept and a great company. They mean I don't have to pay for an agent to market my spare room. This means I am happy to let the room at a lower price. They can't be held responsible if bad companies use it.
Admittedly though they should be vetting the properties before listing - that would stop cowboys like these guys abusing the site and tarnishing you good landlords with the same brush 👍🏼
@@astralynex2439 But then there would be either a very very long delay before it went live, or the fee would go up to pay for number of staff they'd need.
And not being funny ... Who cares? You don't have to rent the room if it turns out not to be what was advertised. And you can investigate yourself to see if an agency are registered. It's just an advert. You don't blame a newspaper or the TV network for advertising a bad company. Why's this any different
@@ralph9182 I feel like it should just take complaints seriously and ban certain agents etc. I think this could help with these agencies as they should be held accountable for these scams. A thorough vetting process is too complicated. Also having a meeting feature implemented in where you set up a viewing directly on the app (using a calendar app is easy to plug in) then basically yoh wouldn't have these in office meetings that are never what they say. I've lost so much time with those tbh.
You star! I Thank you and the Heavens for your energy and blood hound devotion and humour to justice! You definatly have your own blend of super powers! Hero's come in all shapes and shirts! You are one! 😄xxx
Spare room for the win!! I'm well happy the site exists. It was unaffordable to live in a house and I would have been homeless without their website and the fact that it is free. Life saver!
The thing I find so exciting about this show is that the businesses featured form a collective master class of how to and how not to handle bad PR situations.
Favourite emoji? 💩
Watch the full episode here: bit.ly/2UePlXq
the blank space where emojis plop down
🤬
tim 🔑
none. im not a child. cringe.
George Eddie 💮
This should be a training video on how to react to criticism and the spare room guy deserves respect for taking ownership!!
He o'right.
@@Choice777 That shampoo company ?
Just because the man was calm doesn't mean he has morality, he might just have sociopathic tendancies and not actually care what people think
@@celesteteacher3956 It's also just statistically likely that he's just a regular bloke who happens to run a successful company.
I like that he actually agreed to take the tour of the house haha
The SpareRoom CEO seems like a cool guy
I agree. He was really cool about being ambushed. A lot of the companies and people that Joe tackles on this tend to be quite aggressive. But despite being on the way to work, he took the time to have a chat with Joe very amicably about his concerns with lettings agencies taking advantage of his site.
The guy did seem surprised and not just giving expected responses to concerns and give empty promises. It does look as if it wasn't raised to his attention until now and he walked into work thinking 'right, how do I sort this out? Let's brainstorm.'
I like that Joe didn't accuse him or his company of intentional misdeeds. They may've done, but that wouldn't have been a good approach in getting a company to change their ways.
@@JustAnotherPerson4U from this I would think that he went into making spare rooms for all the right reasons but has found himself slightly out of his depth and needs a bit more help in running the company. It's happened to a lot of down to earth people. Let's hope he goes through with what he promised there. I mean when someone is legit trying to swindle people they wouldn't have reacted the way he did.
Storylover 100%, if he had had a bad reaction it would had hugely impacted the way I view his company, but because he reacted so well i have a positive view of both him and the company as I will always associate SpareRoom with his good attitude. He is a good embassador.
That and Joe is a bloody good journalist, not obnoxious like Matt Allwright. Both take the piss, but the message doesn't get lost under overaggressive investigating.
That's because it was actually Mark Ruffalo, he's in REALLY deep "method"-level research for his next role in a dramedy about a website owner.
What a great lad the CEO Rupert Hunt seems to be. Enjoying the banter and actually owning up to the concerns.
Fair play
Thought so too. Most would either walk off or deny deny deny. I have a feeling that he saw a gap in the market and believed it would be a positive thing to do for a lot of young people and students. Sadly though his company is flawed but hopefully he is honestly serious about cracking down on this.
Couldn't have said this better. I was mightily impressed with his reaction.
Yeah, but if he was smarter he would have worked his ass off to clean up the loop holes the second after channel 4 first contacted them.
Its called a gambit. Hes got superior social skill apparently.
"It's tense. We might be killed, but I'm really excited." 😆
Haha, Bless him 🙂
Lol
Need this on a T Shirt 🤣🤣
Why does a letting agent have bouncers?
ian_feel_keepin_it_real it says a lot about how they run their business
probably a front for illegal activities, ehh, i mean more illegal than their open business is
Speaks to the amount of disgruntled customers they get
because they have a lot of unhappy customers
Every place has some sort of security
When I moved to London I actually almost got scammed for a 'viewing fee' by Sterling de Vere - thanks Joe for exposing them!
They sound like cunts, and act like it. Hope they go out of business
As soon as the episode released, Sterling De Vere changed their company names to ‘Camden Living LTD’, ‘Eastend Living LTD’ and ‘JXL Property LTD’.
@JoeLycett you should highlight this in your next episode.
*was released
Are you sure? I still see death veere branded vehicles on the road
*Camden lettings LTD
Hopefully they don't still look like a massive reverberating vagina, too.
Sterling De Vere is really shady. When I was moving a while back, I picked out around 5-7 different ads just from them on Spare Room. I went to their offices and every single one of them had apparently already been rented but they had a room in my budget. The room was located further away from Central London and cost the same as some of the ones they had listed that where closer. It was clearly way smaller than the others and the house was moldy, dirty and in desperate need of repairs. Definitely running a bait and switch scam.
The way these guys tried to intimidate Joe, it was as if they were used to doing it, like it was a habit for them. I reckon If Joe kept digging he would have found Stirling de Verde is a money laundering front.
adnaanu Hugo boss probably did find it but his lawyers probably stopped him before he got in legal troubles
Emilia Knowles lol Hugo Boss
HONESTLY why'd they employ fucking chavs
Marit Ørndal because if they don’t, all the those people ur calling ‘chavs’ will forever be chavs if anything the manager has given them opportunity to earn money and get out of the shit hole areas they’re in.
My girlfriend gave me that.
I think that it was your boyfriend.
Oooh. No. Don't do that.
I like that they uploaded the full segment not just a highly edited 5 min clip
Matthew Jackson how do you mean?
@@nlomas well sometimes with videos like this they just upload a very small portion of what was actually broadcast whereas with this video they uploaded all of it
Spare Room CEO is a role model for startup CEOs
Yea, clearly not a malicious guy, just trying to do whats best but you have to trip over a few times to learn whats right. Good on him.
I love that he humoured them.
He heard them out, and seemed pretty chill
Holy what? This CEO seems like a genuinely good human being and I am SHOOKETH. The way he interacted with Joe and addressed public concern was honestly so incredible that I kinda wanna use spareroom and I don't even need it :/
The fact he carried through and booted Sterling de vere from his platform makes him a winner in my eyes.
Most CEO’s are like that, generally charismatic people. The issue is a bit lower down where VP’s often have to hit targets so will allow agents like Sterling de vere to operate as they bring in both numbers of lettings, cash flow etc. CEO’s don’t micro manage and are often a bit out of the loop. If a person can get in contact with a ceo, with the evidence they have, more will be done than them getting in touch with the customer complaints department
They still are on spare room 😅
This makes me so happy I was a victim/customer of Sterling de vere. Mould on the ceiling, aggressive members of staff, broken smoke alarms, refused to replace broken fridge, overcrowded houses and that was only part of it. Thank you Joe and channel 4 you have made my day
i dont understand why they hide the identities and voices of the aggressive homophobes, would like to see what the gangster estate agents looked like
You have to get permission to show someone's face. If they don't sign a waiver, you can't show their face
@@espurious not in public
They're just the lackeys who work there - those individuals are not scamming people
they are scamming people and they're fully threatening to incite violence on someone.
they're jumped up thugs who think they're gangster "I'd get a move on if I were you"
might as well be wearing a shirt saying "I'm afraid of how small I am and my sexuality confuses me"
I wouldnt say one ambiguous comment actually makes them homophobic
They refused to return my bond on absolutely no grounds. I was in that exact office and screamed standing on a sofa that it was a scam to all their prospective renters until they agreed to refund me. Worst renting experience of my life. I also phoned the office and had a nice receptionist take my call in the bathroom so she could candidly tell me that it was all a scam and help get my deposit back. I hope they all rot. Scum.
If someone comes out of a children house in the middle of the street and calls you by name, and you’re the ceo of a famous and public company, you really should run
survival 101 really
Can we take a moment to appreciate the comedic value of his Asian side kick. He's amazing.
He's uncle shady from man like mobeen!
@@351bugsy he's the absolute best. His dead pan delivery is to die for.
When one of the "letting agents" was getting all up in Joe's face and Joe said he was getting frightened, that was actually SO BAD! Like, the other dude next to the agent had to PHYSICALLY hold the guy back so he didn't touch Joe just because there were cameras about! Scary to think what would've happened if there were no cameras...
He is the definition of mad lad
I agree, absolute mad lad.
maddy laddy
Is Joe Lycett the modern day Robin Hood?
He's a more likeable version of Dominic Littlewood
Yes
I'd liken him to Esther Rantzen
Poor man's Mark Thomas.
yessss
"We might die, but I'm excited" "I'm going to go take a selfie" joe's fantastic
Absolute ledge! These agencies are disgusting, never go into an office, if they request that refuse and say you only have time for a viewing as you want to rent immediately. If they still insist on the office they are lying to you. No one would refuse a quick in person sale over a long tedious process so you know the ad is fake or not as it looks like
Take it you've never heard of - Suzie Lamplough?
Lettings agents first duty is to their staff and clients. Reputable landlords will be as concerned about the condition of their property at least as much as you, so won't settle for the first chancer to wave a wad of notes under their nose. That's an indicator to walk away and look elsewhere.
@@hlund73 Yes, they will not rent the place to just anyone however reputable agencies have viewings all the time, sometimes with multiple potential clients back-to-back. There is no reason for them to insist on an in offic3 meeting and then a viewing as it also takes up their staff time. Also most rental agreements are made quickly but obviously you have to provide a lot of proof to secure your place (bank statements, employer letters etc). I don't doubt the vetting process or longer agreement times, just agencies that refuse to have you see the property because I've tried 4 of those so far and they will all the same bait and switch scams. One even told my bf to meet him in the office and they will drive to the property, only to (on the same day)say once he came that the property is not available. It's very shady when they don't even have mildly similar properties, which makes you wonder whether the ad was ever truthful.
I love how Joe poses when the security guard takes a picture of him outside Sterling De Vere
Can you imagine what that CEO must have said to the employees when he got in that day! "Had an interesting chat with a block on the way in this morning.."
That's... Actually amazing, that they listened and changed their policy! Even removing all those ads, that takes balls! Respect to them!
The guy seems genuinely honest and a right good chap.
I’m a bit frightened of you, what do you want?
every time a stranger approaches me when i'm not sober
I once tried that line on a bully at school. It didn't end well... :(
@@LordSandwichII - Great name, what made you think of it?
@@piersgooderham8674 It became my nickname after I told some friends of mine that the person who invented the sandwich was called "Lord Sandwich". (Which is true btw.)
@@LordSandwichII they should call you Earl, as it was the Earl of Sandwich. But Lord Sandwich is a cool name. 😊
"I'm a bit frightened of you. What do you want from me?
Okay nice to meet you, goodbye!"
Joe really does have our back!!
This show is brilliant because it is actually making companies be better at the same time as being hilarious
Yes... It gives companies the room to react in the way that the company operates. Good companies react well, and bad companies have to change their names to run away from bad press
@@foxyMcFoxface you know what I mean though just show them their fault and allow them to rectify them. Admittedly, such great faults showed not have been permitted to happen in the first place but Joe has provided a platform where complaints can be heard in a big way on said on a much bigger platform. At the end of the day, it's better than allowing it to go on.
Joe is the best British comedian going atm this series is so funny
Love him !
Big up to Sean Lock too!
He's great but best British comedian is a stretch.
emelia Bea I’d say him and James Acaster are best of the new comedians, like the ones that are up and coming now, but between established ones, like Jimmy Carr, Frankie Boyle, Sean lock, Dara O’Brien, David Mitchell, Lee Mack, Hugh and others, he’s really not that good
@@serendipitygate9223 You forgot Stewart Lee.
Thanks Joe! You are my hero!
Stirling de Vere are truly awful, went to see some properties with them last year and the same situation as the lady in the vid- properties were completely different to the pictures and the staff were so so so rude when confronted.
Renting in London is a joke.
He is actually my favourite comedian, absolutely hilarious xx
Him and James Acaster
My respect for joe went up 100% watching this. Way to stick it to them, Joe.
I thought he was going to use a skip again
Also I don’t think that orange orrible office learnt from their tangling with Joey
Oh my god he straight up threatened joe in the street
This show gives me so much satisfaction
Joe is such a delight and an absolute bisexual icon. 😍😍
Sophie honestly we stan him a lot
He’s not a bisexual icon, he’s THE bisexual icon (｡・`ω´･)
Why is that even important. I just think he’s a good comedian.
You wouldn’t call someone a straight icon would you. All this lgbt stuff really isnt as exciting as you think. No one really cares who you fancy and that’s the best kind of equality surely.
Why is his sexuality an issue worth mentioning? He does a good job doing what he does.
@@allwrighty100 When the LGBTQI+ community is still discriminated against in everyday life and still at risk of physical harm & even death from haters just for being who they are, it's important for them to have a visible, proud presence to counter this. I like Joe and think he's very entertaining. I don't think you can separate his sexuality from him and I don't think you need to.
I do like the format of this show. It's like televised protests. Takes me back...
This is the way all companies should respond to critism. It shows Spareroom is a very possive light and I'm sure will give prospective tenants faith in the brand. Let's hope they kept it up.
Mad respect to him for taking it as well as he did! He acted almost like he didn't know, probably didn't! Fair play to the guy!
Sterling de vere are the worst. I’ll never use them again. Mark Silcox is a ledge btw
The Fox!
Joe is incredibly funny. I laugh so hard at this type of humour. He's so beautifully and subtly confrontational and his eye to detail is exceptional.
I looked on spare room the other day and some of the propertys were huge and very nice and they were clearly way too cheap for what you got. I know why now they were most likely fake just to bait you in.
Danny Stevens *properties
They’re acting like gangsters and they’re a lettings agency. Tells you everything about who they are.
Almost went through the same issue with Sterling Devere as this lady. Saw a room advertised on Spare Rooms, went to the office to get more information, only to be told that it was no longer available, the lady in the office then offered me other rooms at higher prices. I told her my budget but still offered me other rooms above my budget. I didn’t realise this was bait/pressure selling etc at the time. I just thought the lady in the office wasn’t that bright and was just offering me whatever she had available. Luckily I didn’t go through them in the end, I went with a different agency.
Comedy and consumer protection. Who knew they'd go so well together. Gotta love a real victory.
Can you look at bait and switch tactics from recruitment firms. They advertise good jobs, then when you go in to get the job they tell you the job role is gone but there are others available. then switch you for a much worse job that you didn't apply for. They take advantage of workers who are desperate for work and lack the english language skills to read the painfully small print.
This. I could tell you a story about workers coming to Canada for school/work and the absolute fuckery that goes on. It’s illegal, immoral and absolutely disgusting. No one will listen. It makes me sick. I stopped working for that company for that and many other reasons.
YES! If the job was real and it's gone then take down the advert!! Happened to me so many times.
I'm renting atm at sterling De Vere and in my final year of university. I found a flat that was £131pw with bills Inc. Too good to be true. But I went ahead around August 2018 because I'm young, broke and student and rented it. Only to find out that it was infested with rats and inside the kitchen, drawers were all rotten which I didn't see. When I complained they only covered the holes but the family of Rats came back and ate my noodles and my kilo of rice. No lie. So instead of getting the exterminator, they just transferred me into a new flat which I am paying which might be a tactic that was mentioned on the video.
Get this. I'm now fast approaching my final weeks before graduation so deadlines and stress levels are high only to get an eviction notice TODAY with 2-month notice. Also, 2 months until I finish university. Are they having a laugh? Never again am I coming here.
@Gunner Storm first of all i understand mouse are common problem but for you to even defend that RATS infestation is a common problem in london is normal when actually it is unhygienic and against the law. I pay for my rent, this is their property, this is the agency's responsibility. Attachment seen below: england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/pests_and_vermin_infestations_in_rented_homes
Secondly, As they transfered me into another flat, I was willing to pay more to prevent this from happening 190pw to be more exact. I'm trapped with this agency until the one year contract finishes. It was just a weird coincidence that the same day this video has been uploaded, that's when the landlord wants his flat back as he probably seen this and wants nothing to do with the agency.
@@brejeamar2225 sorry about their evil ways. Please dont let that be your final judgement of London. Come back again
"What do we make of that Mr. Pussington?
That's right, we're furious!!!"
"I'm a bit frightened of you... what do you want from me?" me @ anyone I meet
The CEO actually seems like a decent bloke, fair enough👍
yall ever think that Joe could possibly be some trickster god from a pagan religion? He's such a chaotic neutral which is typical of tricksters
I don't know why but this made my day. Well... it's 3am but you get my point.
he's obviously chaotic good
@@spiros6515 nah. I thought so too until I remembered a routine he had a while back where he got out of paying a parking ticket
He kind of reminds me of Puck from A Midsummer Nights Dream!
Caitlin Bloody Mary I was thinking of puck myself 😂.
I like using spareroom so it's good to see that they've improved in light of the feedback and that the CEO seems to be a nice guy.
I wonder if the interview request they sent him originally was turned down by staff before it actually got to him.
EdgyShooter could’ve been just because he didn’t have the time, on paper it just sounds like trouble
Love Joe Lycett, so entertaining. For the record I found a house share through Spare Room nearly a year ago and its been brilliant, private landlord, no agency involved and it has been great 😁
It's really cool to see a CEO/company take the criticism and make actual changes.
gotta give it to spare rooms, restoring faith.
"More like your bf got it for you"
"You won't be smiling anymore"
"I would keep it moving if I were you"
Does this criminal justice drop-out closeted security dude think he's in a Guy Richie film or something
Haha who knew a letting agency has actual Bond Villain henchmen ready to deploy 😂😂
This was bloody hillarious
I had a very similar experience with a company called flintons. The issue with this is every one of their agents register separately so it’s hard to track. I’m still £1,300 down
“we might be killed but am excited” AM DECEASED 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Spare rooms don't check anything, lucky Joe only looked into agents on the site. Joe look into the massive amount of unregistered people subletting rooms, loads of them do the same thing as agents.
www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/surrey/guildford/2231106 here is an example, they don't own the property they simply manage it
Mark is such a great straight man. He understates everything so brilliantly. I love him!
It's not often you get a CEO so down to earth, he was walking to work and was dressed casual & he was actually really kind... 🤔 If only all CEOs were like this.
The amount of laws broken is absurd, especially involving threatening and potentially violent behaviour.
This guy is Hugo Bosses Doupleganger
I respect the Owner for playing along with the "tour" and actually doing something About the problems at hand.
fair play to the ceo, he seemed to actually give a toss and listen unlike so many others. facade or not, other companies can learn from that
Joe please do my Hermes they are atrocious! Cons and thiefs!
Ps Joe, I love you :) I think we all do
Not as bad as Yodel! ;)
Look at their fake reviews on trust pilot, but when you search further you will see how many unhappy customers there are!
Hermes suck!!!
A lot of Hermes delivery drivers are self employed (I was one for a while). Shocking lack of support from the company, they screw things up and let us take the heat from customers. If I had a penny for every time I received a next day parcel 5 days late, then got the office ringing me asking why I hadn't already delivered it.. smh
Fuck, ive got a package coming from them. It was meant to come today but i guess it wont
Omygod that's the best reaction ever when someone takes an unwarranted photo of you... just pose 🤣
Spareroom does absolutely nothing about rogue landlords on their website. I have two extremely bad experiences with live in landlords who falsely advertised and were foul & dishonest bullies who stole the deposits given to them. I left both premises due to threatening behaviour.
Spare room gave no means to report these fraudulent renters.
I hope I act like victorious Joe when my exams results come out 😂
Omg yep
Jesus. Proper dodgy company; homophobic remarks, kidnapping, intimidation.
How absolutely disgusting.
By contrast, the second chap seemed rather nice. Not to mentioned that he actually made real changes. How refreshing.
Joe lycett is absolutely hilarious and very good at what he does top fella
Yay! The spare room guy seemed like an alright chap and I’m glad he did get it looked into and got stuff changed. :)
Complete lie, spare room doesn't check ANY of the listings. My friend was conned out of over 1000 GBP to view a property.
Big ups to the Square Space CEO for actually listening to them and changing things.
Joe is the definition of chaotic good and always has awesome jackets
Would be interesting to know if a year on SpareRoom actually followed through with what they promised. Press releases are easy to write, actual organisational change takes time, effort, and money.
Fabulous work Joe, I hope your team is well remunerated for following your life threatening instructions.
11 out of 10 to the spare room CEO, he handled that ambush like a champion.
That dodgy letting agent will have to go back to selling, low milage, 1 owner Mercedes right offs, down by the High Street.
The main dude in the company honestly had a pretty good attitude about it.
As a resident landlord I think spareroom is an excellent concept and a great company. They mean I don't have to pay for an agent to market my spare room. This means I am happy to let the room at a lower price. They can't be held responsible if bad companies use it.
Admittedly though they should be vetting the properties before listing - that would stop cowboys like these guys abusing the site and tarnishing you good landlords with the same brush 👍🏼
@@astralynex2439 But then there would be either a very very long delay before it went live, or the fee would go up to pay for number of staff they'd need.
And not being funny ... Who cares? You don't have to rent the room if it turns out not to be what was advertised. And you can investigate yourself to see if an agency are registered. It's just an advert. You don't blame a newspaper or the TV network for advertising a bad company. Why's this any different
@@ralph9182 But then you're relying on people having common sense... rarer than rocking shit these days
@@ralph9182 I feel like it should just take complaints seriously and ban certain agents etc. I think this could help with these agencies as they should be held accountable for these scams. A thorough vetting process is too complicated. Also having a meeting feature implemented in where you set up a viewing directly on the app (using a calendar app is easy to plug in) then basically yoh wouldn't have these in office meetings that are never what they say. I've lost so much time with those tbh.
Ive rented rooms through sparerooms twice (currently in one) and thankfully a decent experience thus far.
Ceo walking down an alley to work looking like a normal person and being super cool and concerned with the shady shit
💘
Joe is doing really great things with this show
The ceo seems like he would be a great dad
"My lucky number!" 😂😂😂😂😂
Joe Lycett- smart funny mischievous and a babe !!!
You star! I Thank you and the Heavens for your energy and blood hound devotion and humour to justice! You definatly have your own blend of super powers! Hero's come in all shapes and shirts! You are one! 😄xxx
This is now one of my new favourite shows.
Spare room for the win!! I'm well happy the site exists. It was unaffordable to live in a house and I would have been homeless without their website and the fact that it is free. Life saver!
The CEO seems really nice, I’m sure he genuinely wants to make spareroom as good as it can be
I am surprised that KC survived 6 weeks, I wouldn't even last 1 day
It just goes to show that there are different ways to approach confrontation and still get results :)
2:15 it that from deadly class??? (without daniel craig obvs)
I just did a cursory google search. It appears as Sterling De Vere was given a 167k pound fine in 2021, and it says their business is now closed.
The thing I find so exciting about this show is that the businesses featured form a collective master class of how to and how not to handle bad PR situations.