1/5
GoogleThe property was advertised as being sold by a relative of someone at Woolley and Parks. The said John Bottomley and his business partner bought the property 12 months ago, with the sole purpose of renovating to sell. The property was advertised as being renovated to high standards, with no expense spared. The truth is the work carried out used middle range quality fixtures and fittings. What let it down was the lack of attention to detail, where they felt it would not be noticed immediately. Eg, brand new doors too large to fit doorframes. There were a number of other significant issues. Eg, The back door was locked and appeared to have the wrong key. We therefore had no safe exit from the rear of the property in the event of fire. What goes way beyond this is the horror story of what was to follow within 24 hours of moving in on the 12th January 2023! There are four adults in our family. The most vulnerable person (who Woolley and Parks have been fully aware of, throughout every step of the purchase) is my elderly sister, who I care for. She suffers from severe osteoporosis, is house bound, and is extremely frail & fragile. On 14th January we discovered the gas had run out, and we were going to face three weeks ahead living in the bitter cold of January, without hot water and central heating. John Bottomley had failed to tell us was that the gas supply was on a pre-payment meter and held a debt of the previous owner, which was being deducted from every top up we made! We couldn't afford to keep my sister warm as cost on meter would have been over £850 per month. It easy to have the meter replaced by the supplier, which Mr Bottomley could easily have rectified in the year he owned the property. The healthiest of us in the family have had to wear hats coats and scarves in the property for three weeks, but for my sister it has been a matter of life and death! My sister had the physical and mental torture of being isolated in one room with only an electric bar heater and not so much as a TV, because the aerial sockets had been plastered over, as had the BT socket during renovation. The rest of our home has been icy! In trying to follow this up with Woolley and Parks, Natalie Parks told us that our solicitors would be better placed to help, she commented that “they make more money from this sort of transaction than we do”. I know that some of these issues are not necessarily the responsibility of an estate agent, but any caring business would let common sense and decency prevail. As for Mr Bottomley, he told us we should have done our due diligence and not to bother him anymore. I reported all of these issues to Woolley and Parkes several times and escalated it to one of the owners Natalie Parks who initially seemed concerned. However, she rarely returned my calls and my emails were met with stony silence. We tried to go through our solicitors, but to take matters further they told us would cost at least £4,500. Both Woolley & Parks and John Bottomley are fully aware of this. I feel that they are washing their hands of us because the sale is complete. My expectation, is that since he renovated the property, Mr Bottomley should have been willing to put right the mistakes, such as the doors, which would have been straight forward for him. I am deeply disappointed in Woolley & Parks attitude as they know very well what we have been through. We would have been delighted with a box of chocolates or a bunch of flowers for my sister, though I believe we deserve much more. They couldn’t even do that. Surely this is not the kind of publicity a reputable firm desires, considering the purchase is through one of their brothers. I have delayed writing a review of this firm to give them chance to address the issues but they have done nothing. My advice would be to sell your house with another firm and be extremely careful if you buy through them. This has been by far the worst experience I have ever had with any estate agent in over forty years.
