u/UnavoidablyHuman

Had some faff this morning ringing various customer service lines as we were all set to move house this weekend but it fell through. All of them were very nice (I love when I get connected to a Welsh customer service line) and ended the call with "I hope you have a lovely day". But I think Thames Water takes the cake with this one:

> Wishing you a joyful day ahead filled with love and laughter alongside your family and friends. Hope you have an amazing day ahead.😊

I'm looking to travel from Oxford Parkway to London return. I don't know whether I'll be using Paddington or Marylebone or both, since it depends on timings on the day.

On the GWR website, if I search for a return journey between OXP and PAD, the route options show up for both route stages. However, once I select any return ticket for the outbound stage, all of the options for the return stage disappear? It won't let me buy the ticket without selecting both halves? It seems it'll only let me buy 2 singles for twice the price 😰

What's going on? Am I okay to purchase an off-peak day travelcard between OXP and MYB and still go via paddington instead (if it's an all routes permitted ticket), or am I locked into Marylebone?

Looking for a restaurant we haven't tried before for my birthday next week. I've read the previous recommendations but Pierre Victoire is a bit out of our budget. Ideally we'd like to spend around £25 per head, maybe 30 for a good steak.

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Places we've tried before:

- Gees (sorry but not good)

- Cherwell Boathouse (was great but I wasn't paying)

- Pan Pan (10/10 love it but want to try somewhere new)

- The Fishes

- The Trout

- Six Bells

- Chester Arms

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We could also consider driving out to a village if there's a decent restaurant. Probably willing to drive max 45 minutes. Any good recommendations?

TL;DR put in a holding deposit nearly 15 days ago, letting agency has been unresponsive since referencing. I want to ask the landlord if they can use a different agency or rent to us directly.

We viewed and were accepted for a place a couple weeks ago. Paid the holding deposit on the 9th.

After a lot of faff with references due to the agents dragging their feet, we eventually passed referencing and gave notice to our current landlord.

Since then we haven't heard a peep. It's been a week, and the deadline for the deposit to be refunded is on Sunday. I am concerned that they won't have sorted the contract by then so I want to know my options.

\- Ideally I'd like to contact the landlord directly and explain that we'd love to go ahead with the property but don't trust the letting agents. How do I get their details? I'm guessing the agency won't give them to me and are unlikely to pass on a message from me that talks about their lack of professionalism.

\- If the lease falls through, can I cancel the notice to quit for our current place? Presumably we'd need landlord's permission - are they likely to say it's okay? We were looking to move because current LL is selling but they hadn't yet issued the notice for us to vacate.

TL;DR put in a holding deposit nearly 15 days ago, letting agency has been unresponsive since referencing. I want to ask the landlord if they can use a different agency or rent to us directly.

We viewed and were accepted for a place a couple weeks ago. Paid the holding deposit on the 9th.

After a lot of faff with references due to the agents dragging their feet, we eventually passed referencing and gave notice to our current landlord.

Since then we haven't heard a peep. It's been a week, and the deadline for the deposit to be refunded is on Sunday. I am concerned that they won't have sorted the contract by then so I want to know my options.

- Ideally I'd like to contact the landlord directly and explain that we'd love to go ahead with the property but don't trust the letting agents. How do I get their details? I'm guessing the agency won't give them to me and are unlikely to pass on a message from me that talks about their lack of professionalism.

- If the lease falls through, can I cancel the notice to quit for our current place? Presumably we'd need landlord's permission - are they likely to say it's okay? We were looking to move because current LL is selling but they hadn't yet issued the notice for us to vacate.

TL;DR put in a holding deposit nearly 15 days ago, letting agency has been unresponsive since referencing. Want to know my options, see bullet points at the bottom.

We viewed and were accepted for a place a couple weeks ago. Paid the holding deposit on the 9th.

We made it very clear that we needed to put in our notice for our current place by the 14th, so wanted referencing to be done by then. Letting agency said "we will send through the next steps shortly".

24 hours later, heard nothing, so sent them another email.

Another 2 days later, after another email, they finally responded asking for our contracts, references etc. It was a single sentence, I don't know why they couldn't have sent that several days ago.

Anyway, we send through our details as quick as we can and again don't hear back for a couple days. I send an email reminding them we need to put in notice *today*. Nothing.

Until 8pm, where they respond with a passive aggressive email saying that they put in a rush for the references and they passed but "for future reference, we don't work to deadlines". Okay...

Since then it's been radio silence. I am concerned that they might not get the contract ready by Sunday which is 15 days after we paid the holding deposit.

What are my options in that case?

- Ideally I'd like to contact the landlord directly and explain that we'd love to go ahead with the property but don't trust the letting agents. Am I within my rights to ask for their contact details?

- If the lease falls through, can I cancel the notice to quit for our current place? Presumably we'd need landlord's permission - are they likely to say it's okay? We were looking to move because current LL is selling but they hadn't yet issued the notice for us to vacate.

Gave 2 months notice to quit (tomorrow is the first day of the payment period). Received an out of office email from the agent until Monday.

Does the notice still stand as 2 months' notice or do I have to find some other way to get in contact with them?