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“Miller & Son Estate Agents - How Not to Sell Your House”

written by PetenSol on 30/09/2013

Two experiences with this 'estate agent' for you to consider:

1. Several weeks ago, from their Launceston Cornwall office, we had arranged a viewing appointment, traveled down to Devon from the Midlands, and then received a telephone call from this agent on the morning of the appointment to cancel the viewing at the last minute. Fortunately we also had appointments with other agents, so the trip was not entirely wasted. The agent did not contact us about that property again or follow-up in any way. The property disappeared from the market. Suspicious, but gave them benefit of the doubt.

2. Some weeks later, we made another appointment, this time with the Tavistock office of this agency, to view a property in Kelly, Lifton. No postcode or directions offered again, and none in their online description.
Again we made it clear that we would be traveling down from the Midlands on the Friday evening to view the property on the Saturday. Our first viewing appointment required us to leave Aylesbeare at 8am to arrive in Somerset for a 9am appointment, then on to the appointment with Miller&Son in Lifton for 12 noon.
A two hour journey was allowed for but lack of directions and patchy mobile signal on both our O2 and T-Mobile phones conspired to make us run late, despite having printed our own maps and route from Google.
Arriving at the property at 12:23 the surly owner reluctantly answered the door eventually, and simply said "She waited 22 minutes for you then left saying she had to go to another viewing, that's fair enough isn't it?", and did not offer to conduct the viewing himself. Dumbfounded, I could only reply "Fair enough, if you don't want to sell your property!"
After finding a functioning mobile spot we called the agents office to ask why they had not waited or tried to call us. They replied with an unapologetic and aggressive "She had waited for twenty minutes then left a message on your mobile call answering service (which we do not have b.t.w.) and then she had to go on to her next appointment."
Had this agent only allowed twenty minutes for the viewing of a four bedroom country house? A house which, from their description, was "...set in grounds of over 5 acres including stunning gardens, arboretum, pasture and woodland as well as a 65 foot greenhouse."? I think not!
Perhaps the agent IS understaffed, overbooking and behaving unprofessionally towards prospective customers and their clients, losing them buyers by alienating them and wasting buyers time!

I have told Miller&Son to remove me from their database and mailings, and that I shall not view anymore of their properties, having been frustrated in two attempts to do so by their incompetence and unprofessional behaviour.
I must add, that other agents (Staggs and Fine & Country amongst others) I have dealt with in the area so far have all been reliable, professional and excellent, which really convinces me that I simply do not need to deal with this particular agent. Certainly, when I come to sell my Devon properties in years to come, I shall avoid using Miller&Son and advise anyone else to do the same.