Romans Letting Agents

Awful, I am extremely disappointed with this company and found them unprofessional and lacking in customer care.
Romans Lettings Tilehurst took £401 as deposit for property I viewed on 20^th August. I took the time to go to their offices on a Saturday, complete their forms and pay the £401 with my debit card.
On the 22^nd they rang and said owner had decided to sell the property and emailled me a form which I would need to complete to get my money refunded, saying it would take 3 working days. Well it’s now 30^th August and since payment was taken on the 20^th I think the 3 working days have long passed. Plus why should I have to fill out a form requesting a refund.
The money was still showing as pending on my account on the 22^nd so I asked if they could fax my bank asking that the payment was not processed, unfortunately this was too late for my bank to do anything, however my bank did say that all they had to do was contact their card payments provider and ask them to reverse the transaction. This was too much effort for them because they didn’t bother and the money was deducted from my account.
It is now the 30^th and I am still waiting for my money. Their lettings manager Michel sent a long winded email about how they had to set me up as a tenant and then cancel the tenancy etc before they could process my refund. Seriously?!? As far as explanations and excuses go that’s an awful one; so in effect in order to process my refund I must endure their convoluted beuracracy, procedures and form filling? Unacceptable, shame on them.
Michel also criticized my bank for not being able to stop the transaction, it is disgraceful to pass the onus for this debacle to my bank, it has nothing to do with my bank, they did not make the transaction. Responsibility lies wholly and completely with them, not me, not my bank but them.
I am considering raising a small claims against them for the money and will be claiming interest and court costs from them too.

Romans is the largest and probably most well know estate agents in Reading.
They sell and offer rental properties. They are also involved with property auctions where you can pick up a bargain property if you know what you are looking for and have a lot of ready cash to hand.
I looked at several properties with Romans but found their prices could be bettered by some of the other agents around Reading.
Perhaps their sheer size is a sign of the profit they make.
I was overall quite impressed by their set-​up, the office is large and modern and comfortable if you’re waiting there.
The agents are prompt ajnd punctual when coming to viewings.