Shepherds Estate Agents Hoddesdon reviews

Dear Ms Saez, The tone of tour answerphone message was concerning, given we have never met or conversed with you. We refute your account as detailed above and have given a true account to the best of our knowledge of events below. We explained the situation to your mother. However, essentially you are saying: When we had other applicants waiting for staff for an appointment, it was unreasonable for staff to say they needed to re-schedule your mothers appointment? Even though they had waited 1/2 an hour for your mother? So, you would be happy for us to keep all other applicants waiting a significantly longer time in order for your mothers appointment to go ahead? This is disrespectful to the applicants who were also waiting, as no one person is more important than the next. Staff were more than accommodating with the amount of time they stayed at the property for your mother and tried to explain why they needed to leave. The facts: . It was your mother who was rude and put the phone down on staff, NOT the agent, as you have stated. . Your mother advised the agent she had gotten off at the wrong stop from work, NOT that the train was cancelled? . Your mother was offered another time slot but refused it. Staff did their best endeavours to assist your mother at the time but have suffered the unpleasant backlash for doing so. We hope you can appreciate that late attendance has a knock-on effect and sometimes cannot be accommodated, past a reasonable allowance, as was offered last night to your mother. We hope your mother finds a suitable property.

Good morning Mr Williams, thank you kindly for your review, It is always good to hear vendor and purchaser feedback, especially in the same transaction. We hope you will be very happy in your new home. Kind regards Team Shepherds

Thank you kindly Sasha. That is great hear that our Rental department have been helpful, we shall ensure we advise Shane of your kind words.

Dear Mr Singh We are disappointed you feel let down. I have investigated the situation with the sales team and you were fully informed of the situation, when your viewing was cancelled. The team member, Mr Gill advised you/your partner that we had over 45 viewings, offers over asking price (from cash buyers - who had viewed early in the first 2 days of marketing - who did not get the property) but that the vendor was resolute that the property was under offer to a family they wished to buy the house, and we were not to conduct any more viewings. In regard to your comment that this is 'not how you conduct business', that was because we were obliged to cancel your viewing. Whilst it may appear staff were unwilling to allow you to view, this was the vendors wishes. As we work to vendors instructions, we followed their request. Furthermore, our vendor was fully appraised of the situation and of all cancelled viewings and indeed offers over asking price. There were many viewings cancelled, which caused disappointment to many applicants. Sadly, there was only one property for sale, so it was inevitable that many people would miss out on the opportunity. Which is not within our control, albeit we find ourselves being blamed. We are very sorry you are disappointed but the vendor had made their decision. Rest assured, the calls made by you/your partner were documented, as we have caller recognition and knew to whom we were talking. Re your request for a manager to call you back - During the past 3 weeks our staff have been working to strict COVID-19 timescales for viewings and valuations. This has meant that time out of the office for our staff has increased, due to necessary health & safety measures we have adopted. Hence, the sales manager was genuinely out of the office for 2 full days and was not avoiding your calls. Albeit, the vendor position would not have changed and what staff had already advised you, was correct and accurate. We are not sure this will appease your disappointment but we hope it reiterates our position on what staff had communicated to you and how we were following vendor instruction. Good luck in your search for a property. Kind regards Shepherds

Good morning Steve, I am at a loss for words. Your review of our staff at the Cheshunt office is nothing short of amazing, thank you. As a 2 office independent agent, we work hard to deliver our core values and ethics and you are correct, we really do not like hiking values, or 'saying what vendors want to hear' for the sake of an instruction. We try and deliver a fair, transparent service, with integrity and honesty and we appreciate all of your sentiment and testimonial. I hope you wouldn't mind us using it. Kind regards Diane Sanders

Thank you kindly for your review and mention of Carmelo and the sales staff. Communication and support are key to estate agency and it is good to hear the staff didn't disappoint.

Morning Sabrina, Thank you kindly for your comments on the sales service you got from Shepherds, and in particular, Charlie. I shall update the staff at Cheshunt office and Hoddesdon of your kind comments. Regards Team Shepherds. Sales, Lettings, Commercial and Property management

Thank you, Mr Wells, for your review. We take all reviews seriously and assess comments and opinions, to identify if they are justified and if so, we look to see how we can improve our service. That said, we would dispute the facts detailed in your post. Our reasons for dispute are based on the information contained on file and detailed in our reply. We hope our explanation gives a measured account to why we disagree. Not discounting that you were in tenancy with Shepherds for 5 years, so we assume there must have been some things we did right? That said, we are saddened that you felt the need to make a public complaint as we thought we did our best endeavours to help expedite matters as swiftly as we could, looking at the course of events. Our response is as follows: - 1. Shepherds Lettings dept., did not 'take' any money. There were 2 agreed deductions, which were paid to the cleaner and carpet cleaner. This was due to areas missed by your cleaner. Shepherds offered the opportunity for the cleaner to return in order to complete the job (areas missed). However, this was not possible, as she failed to produce liability insurance documentation, as Shepherds were happy to give her access. There was a 2nd, small charge for the cleaning of the lounge/diner carpet missed from the cleaning schedule (new at start of tenancy) and marked and stained at end. Again, we were happy for the carpet cleaning firm to return but trying to help you, we found a cheaper quote, that you agreed? 2. Any issue raised at end of tenancy were not identified by Shepherds and did not reflect mid-term interim inspections (normally carried out by Shepherds). These are a 15 minute snap shot check, during occupation and do not reflect end of tenancy determination (as detailed in all tenant information handouts). The end of tenancy inventory / check-out process was carried out by an accredited external, Independent Inventory professional. The same company that checked you in to the property at the start of your tenancy. Their assessment was unbiased and not an opinion of Shepherds. 3. Deposit return - Every effort was made to execute matters as quickly as possible, including a partial refund, prior to deposit completion. Determination and finalisation, is subject to many factors including; as in this instance, liaising with the tenants, waiting for cleaner’s paperwork/correspondence, which proved unsatisfactory in this instance, requiring our assistance to find you alternative solutions. In conclusion, we are sorry the tenancy didn't end well in your opinion but we wish you all the very best of luck in your new location. We hope you will be happy.

Afternoon Dominic, thank you kindly for the great review. I shall pass on your comments to Shane and the lettings team. It is good to hear such positivity in such gloomy times. Happy New Year.

Thank you kindly Daniella, we shall pass on your comments to Shane, thank you.

Hi Marilyn, It is standard practice for us to financially verify any offer put forward. We will only every report facts back to our clients so they can make an informed decision on who to accept or decline an offer from. Sadly in this instance the owner opted to sell to somebody else based on the facts supplied to them. It is a shame you have made the comments above. We work hard to be a transparent agency and do not believe your comments are justified given the information supplied to us at the time. regards Shepherds

Thank you so much for your feedback. It is very appreciated.

Thank you so much, we have experienced many challenges during lock down and as a small family run independent business, it is so rewarding when we have good feedback. During the COVID-19 lock-down, we have been able to keep a couple of staff in-office (as family) and offer support to clients and customers.

Dear Sonja, In the first instance, I cannot see you registered from your name, so we cannot identify which property you viewed, or whom showed you around the property, so please forgive the lack of specifics. However, we are surprised by your above comments. You mention your husband is a doctor and we trust he would appreciate that we are guided by rules and best practice under COVID-19 viewing protocols. This is to reassure everyone and to ensure our staff, clients residents and viewers are safe. The current protocol is emailed in advance to everyone involved in the viewing. This is so they know what to expect when they arrive and how the viewing will be conducted. There is a detailed specified time allowance for the viewings, which is part of the guidance, to limit contact during social distancing. We hope applicants can respect that we are abiding by the rules and following best practice. We are sorry that this did not meet your expectation and hope you find a suitable property.

Thank you kindly for your review. We are pleased that the Cheshunt Sales team fulfilled your expectations in regard to service levels. It has been challenging during COVID-19 lock-down, so good to know the process went through smoothly.

Ahh thank you Tarek, that is very kind and I shall pass on your kind words. We wish you happiness in your new home! Kind regards, Team Shepherds

Dear Agy K, Sadly I cannot source a registration for yourself without full details, nor know what property you are referring to? In regard to staff being rude, again, without specifics of your complaint or upset, we cannot understand the extent of your complaint. Under COVID-19 protocol, we are operating new and unusual protocols and adopting strict view procedures for everyone. This is to ensure the safety of our clients, our staff and all applicants looking to view. With high levels of viewing requests, this adds to the pressure for the protocols we are adopting for safety, and limits the level of viewings we are able to undertake. We are sorry if this has resulted in what may seem inflexible procedures. If you wish to email more specific details, we can look into the matter further.

Thank you kindly for your feedback. It is always rewarding for staff to hear they have given a good service.

Morning Stijn, Thank you for taking the time to upload your feedback. We are please Shane, in our Hoddesdon office gave you the assistance you needed. Even more pleasing to hear you make good comments about our PPE and COVID cleanliness, as many have complained that we are sticking to the Government guidelines, so thank you very MUCH! A visit from our local authorities (Borough of Broxbourne) last week also resulted in good feedback, as our office being very customer and staff aware with our continued good COVID practices in place. #hoddesdon #lettings #sales #covid-19

Thank you kindly Stephen, we shall pass on your kind comments to all the sales team. We hope you are happy in your new apartment. Regards, Team Shepherds