I got ripped by a letting agent; Now What?

If you got ripped by a letting agent, there isn't much you can do about it. Unfortunately, the law in England do not protect a tenant from getting ripped by a letting agent. The law says, "A letting agency can charge you an unlimited fee once you have signed a contract to accept a tenancy. You must have agreed to take the tenancy before the agency can charge you."

Anyway, I have a few points that may be worth reading. One of these could work in your case at least to some extent.

1. Citizen's Advice Bureaux - You could discuss your issue with the Citizen's Advice. I've been there but unfortunately they can't do much to help us in this case because the law is in favour of the letting agent.
• They could try to negotiate with the letting agent as the "trade" was unfair. But I personally find the negotiations in this case a waste of the precious time of Citizen's Advice Bureaux. You can try.
• The Bureaux can forward the case to a "national council" where similar issues are archived. I am not too sure what this council is about but when the same issue appears in the archive multiple times, someone from the council takes it up as a "social issue" and tries to address it. It could eventually get churned into a law.
2. Complaints - Some of the details about how you can complain against a letting agent in England is given at Shelter. 
• It could be worth giving a try to make a complaint directly to the letting agent via their website or to their complaint's section directly. Although your complaint would most probably find the path directly into their waste bin easily.
• Complaints to the professional association(s) at which the letting agent is a member of can help. The details of the associations where the letting agent is a member of can be found on their website or on their shop-window. But those dodgy letting agents aren't a member of any such professional associations.
• The Property Ombudsman: Don't waste your time here. The "Code of Practice" at the tpos.co.uk do not protect a tenant from getting ripped off. All it talks about is that the letting agent has to be nice with the "Client" who is the landlord. Tenants aren't really considered in their "Code of Practice".
• Advertisements Standards Agency - This is something worth trying. If you found the property through an advertisement e.g. Rightmove or Zoopla, the advertisement should provide the rates or at least a way to derive the rates. If not, you can make a formal complaint to ASA that you were ripped off with hidden charges. You can find the details on this link - http://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Media-Centre/2013/ASA-clamps-down-on-hidden-letting-agent-fees.aspx
3. Reviews/Blogs - You could (you should please) write reviews/blogs about your experience with your letting agent. Even if your review is good or bad please spend a few minutes to write it. This could help many potential tenants from losing their savings. Your review could save someone's hard earned money. It could make a lot of difference to people who struggle to make their ends meet. There are people who work day and night, doing tough jobs to earn money and try to bring happiness into their families. And there are these money mongers who make easy money by cheating them.

That's all I know at the moment. Unfortunately, tenants are second class citizens and the law isn't quite helpful where the letting agents rip them off. There seems to be discussions around how to tackle this social menace in Shelter.co.uk, Citizen's Advice Bureaux and other similar bodies who are trying to put pressure to amend to law. Let's hope it does get done soon.