1/5
GoogleIn my opinion I received very poor service from this estate agent who I could never recommend. I went to see a house that they had for sale which I was immediately interested in. The day after I viewed the house, the property sold. At the time, my house was not for sale, so although disappointed, I accepted this. This prompted me to put my house up for sale so I would be able to act faster in future. After 4 weeks, the property I viewed still hadn't been marked as sold. I was advised by the estate agent that the property was still for sale, as the original buyer had not been in contact for weeks and the vendor would accept matching offers if received before he made contact. Upon hearing this I immediately reduced the asking price of my house and received an offer on my property. I promptly contacted Ashtons and asked if the original buyer had been in touch but was again told the vendor would accept other offers if received before the original buyer got back in contact. I then put in an offer which I was led to believe was about the same as previously accepted and Ashtons advised they would take this to the vendor. Based on what Ashtons had said, I was confident that this would be acceptable. Within about 2 hours of me making this offer however, Ashtons advised that the original buyer had got back in touch and so the seller would remain with this buyer unless we increased our offer substantially. I was told Ashtons had not contacted the original buyer following my offer, but my suspicion is that they must have done and this was what prompted him to get back in touch, otherwise he would have lost the house. Although not impossible, I find it most unlikely that in this buyer’s numerous weeks of absence, they happened to get in touch the very moment I make my offer. The actions of this estate agent put me in very poor position and I would recommend caution when dealing with Ashtons. Some further points to answer the challenges mentioned in the response from Ashtons: 1) I am not sure why waiting 6 months to write the review is relevant? It took me 6 months to find and move into another property and it also enabled me to verify the price that the property sold for on Zoopla. This allowed me to write a factual account of the events that happened 6 months ago. I also don’t understand why I would need to go to you before writing this review? As far as I am concerned I am more than entitled to write a review and contacting you would not change what happened regarding the events and circumstances of this property. 2) Your comment about me offering tens of thousands less is an exaggeration and it is also irrelevant. It is true I offered about 20k less than the 310k or 315k asking price, but I offered the same as the original buyer and subsequently an even greater amount, hence my wait for the Zoopla information to be published so my review could be accurate. To pull me up on this show that you are missing the crux of the issue; the point here is that I was led to believe by Ashtons that offers in this region would be accepted. I understand that you are not responsible for the actions of your vendors, but I am questioning the miracle of the original buyer getting back in touch without your intervention.
Agent replied
I have looked into this file following your comments. The information we provided to you on behalf of our clients was entirely accurate. I understand that you were frustrated, though I am not sure why you have waited 6 months to make a public comment without raising concerns with us direct. You did offer on the property, though your offer was tens of thousands lower than the asking price. I entirely refute your allegations of dishonesty which are ill-informed and fundamentally wrong. I am happy to meet with you and go through the detailed notes on our files which substantiate what I am saying. If you remain dissatisfied then you are welcome to refer the matter to the Ombudsman scheme for an independent assessment.
