Carter Jonas left property empty for 7 weeks

We are very unhappy with the service provided by Carter Jonas in the rental of our property in Oxford. Due to indifference, or incompetence on their part, they left our property empty for 7 weeks, costing us a total of Sterling 2547 in lost rent and fixed bills. They immediately took their fee for finding a tenant, Sterling 1229, from the first months rent, and told us that we will not be compensated for our loss. Infact we have not even been offered an apology, and it has cost us Sterling 3775 or 23 percent of the annual rent for this property for them to secure us a tenant. This is despite us having to constantly chase them up to find us a tenant. We contacted them 6 weeks before the last tenancy was due to finish, and had to continually phone them from Italy (where we work and live) to find out what the status was. From the outset we informed the company it was essential that the house was not left empty, since the rent is needed to cover the mortgage. They assured us that there would be no problems renting out the property in time. They failed us completely. One of the problems is that the agents receive the fixed fee for finding a tenant (a percentage of the monthly rent) whether they achieve this on time (at the end of the last contract) or 1 or 2 months later. In this respect, they are completely indifferent to the needs of the client. We are not sure whether it was indifference or just plain incompetence that led to our property being vacant for so long, but would advise other potential clients not to rely on Carter Jonas in renting out their propertie. They offered us an extremely poor service. At the least, we would expect them to acknowledge their failings in securing us a tenant, and offer us compensation for the losses we have incurred.