Direct Wonen helps you to find a new rental property!

Dear Bessy,

We regret that you were not satisfied with the service of Direct Wonen. From your story I can see that there has been a misunderstanding between you, Direct Wonen and / or the landlord. We shall do our best to improve our service of mediating so that our clients are satisfied and happy with their new rental property.

Direct Wonen has in the course of the last 15 years become the biggest rental estate agency in the Netherlands, we are specializing our service to mediation between the landlord and the house seeker. At the moment we have 22 offices throughout the country and more than 100 experienced housing specialists. We are helping house seekers to find new housing and the landlords find new tenants.

When starting cooperation with a rental agent in a foreign country it is always important to read the general conditions carefully! In our general conditions (which are also available in ENGLISH and GERMAN on our website) it is stated that a paid subscription is valid for one year or until you find housing. It means that when you find your housing via Direct Wonen your subscription will be blocked. We regret that this point was not clear for you on our website. When registering yourself via the website you have to first accept the general conditions. See step 4 of the subscription on the website. We shall think of a better way to make it clear what a paid subscription contains and when it expires.

It is true that you have to register to be able to see the photos on the website, unfortunately not every object has photos; we are trying to do our best to obtain photos for the every apartment we are mediating as soon as possible, but the mediation process goes sometimes so quickly that the apartment is mediated before we get photos of the object. This is also a good point for us to make clear on our website, with a paid membership you can see photos only if they are available. You can check this without being signed in on the website, in the search results you can see the thumbnails (small photos) next to the property, if there is no photo, than it means there are no photos available yet on the website.

If you have made any agreement with the landlord (e.g. about the curtains, painting, furniture etc.), let it always sign by both parties. This always cares for less or no misunderstanding in case of any problems at the side of one or another party. If the agent doesn’t seem to listen, I advice you to contact the manager of the office or the quality team at the head office of Direct Wonen (see the contact information below).

When signing a contract, read it carefully as well. Direct Wonen has English contracts available for our English-speaking clients. In the contract there always has to be stated from which date you can enter the property and also if it is a contract for a definite or undetermined period. It is not wise to sign anything you don’t understand! If you are a foreigner who does not speak Dutch, always ask for an English contract or ask someone you trust to translate it for you. Again, there are English contracts available at Direct Wonen, if you do not get one, please contact us via one of the contacts shown below.

As to our office in Utrecht via which you found your housing, you have rented a semi-furnished property, which means that there is a carpet or another floor covering (laminated floor) and sometimes there are also curtains. The landlord agreed that the time he needed to do the painting would be abducted from the second months rent. The landlord also offered to store, free of costs, your furniture, which you have, send over from the States. For more information / comments / criticism please contact our office in Utrecht at [email removed] or +31 (0) 30 – 234 2002.

In case of any trouble with the office(s) of Direct Wonen please feel free to contact the manager of the local office or our quality team at +31 (0) 70 304 26 40 or at [email removed]. Our quality team will discuss the problem with you and also with the office, which is / was involved and will try to solve the problem between the two parties as soon as possible.

Also if you have any trouble with the website or if you have questions about our website or about Direct Wonen, you can contact our specialized Internet helpdesk at +31 (0) 70 304 2650 or at [email removed].

Best regards

Katie Junasova
Direct Wonen Helpdesk
[email removed]
www.directwonen.nl/en/default.aspx

Anonymous 05 Oct 2005, 03:42 - Report