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| Value for Money | 0.4/10  |
|---|---|
| Reviewer Rating | 0.3/10 |
| Overall Rating | 1.5/10  |
By Verbelen on 28th Sep 2007
| Used to | Sell Property |
|---|---|
| Location | Bairstoweves |
| Value for money | 1/10 |
| Overall value | 1/10 |
 Verbelen's recommendation | |
None
Arrogance of some staff, disorganised office practise and non-existent communication with seller unless pressed repeatedly which I found, no follow up, disinterested unprofessional, non-existent "service"...
As we planned to migrate to Australia, decided to put our house on the market on 3 July 2007. Called my Bairstoweves local office as they were closest by. They showed up on 5th July, boasting constantly "we're the biggest and best agents in the country". Explained that we planned to migrate by mid September. No problem they said. Measured up the house, took various pictures and signed the 12 week Contract on a no sale no fee basis. Only on 10 July our house appeared on their website and on rightmove site. The pictures were not very clear and overexposed (much too bright) which I mentioned. Nevertheless we had a viewing on 10 July, another 2 on 11th, the one on the 12th didn't show up, but on 13th we got an offer for £ 5,000 under asking price. We mentioned to Bairstoweves that we had specifically priced our house at that full price as to position ourselves attractively in the market. Same day 4 hours later got another call saying the potential buyers were offering the full price "as they loved our house so much"... and Bairstoweves assured us that the buyers property was already sold/under offer too, they had their mortgage sorted and in place and they needed to move into a new property urgently also now...Great! (we thought) and we accepted the offer, being told by Bairstoweves that Completion should not take longer than 6-7 weeks. 8 weeks at the utmost!! In exchange the potential buyers requested to take our property off the market. No problem...
We arranged to book a shipping agent to move all our furniture and belongings to Australia as a 6 week slot on a ship needs to be earmarked for a full container load.
Around the 20th a surveyor came and he told us, no problem with our house and his report would be given to buyers lenders by latest 23th July.
So far so good. Our solicitor (same as we actually used when we bought our house) worked very fast and she had all the required paperwork in place. On 27 July she wrote us a letter saying that the draft contract had been sent to the buyers solicitors already. On the 10th August, our solicitor forwarded us a request from the buyers solicitors for additional information. Some of it was a bit repetitive of info already given but they requested also detailed info on our burglar alarm system to which we replied no codes or passwords would be given till completion. We filled the form anyway and posted it back on same day.
We then repeatedly called our solicitor and Bairstoweves on a weekly basis to follow up on the progress.
The manager of Bairstoweves was on holiday to Mexico from 31 August "for 3 weeks" but said they had no news from the buyers and would hand over "my file" to another branch who "would be fully briefed" and there shouldn't be a problem.
Our furniture and belongings were packed and shipped on 31 August already so our house was now completely empty and ready for the new buyers to move in as we were told they would like to move in beginning September. My wife and child had already departed overseas for a short break at her parents house. I moved to my mum's house in London for a temporary short stay.
When I called the "other" branch a few days later, they didn't know anything really so I called the original branch and was passed from pillar to post with comments of "oh yes...we'll call you back"..(that never happened repeatedly...)
On 11 September called my solicitor who informed me that she had just been notified by the buyers solicitors that the sale of THEIR property had fallen through. I called Bairstoweves immediately. Was told that "yes, indeed..the sale fell through because the buyers place was a leasehold for 72 years only and their buyers wanted to extend this to 99years, but they decided to pull out of that sale because it would cost them £ 9,000 and it had already taken them 3-4 weeks to get this process started and was not likely to go fast. So THEIR buyers pulled out..."
I was absolutely gutted. Bairstoweves told me things like that happen..(!!!) but I reiterated that I was assured there was no problem and if Bairstoweves knew about this leasehold and the already started 3-4 week delay then WHY was I not informed by this??? Did not get apology no further explanation not even a sorry or any expression of sympathy whatsoever. They knew our migration situation but still did not even inform us when there was already a problem few weeks back!
That was not the last of it yet. Bairstoweves said "our potential buyers" were on holiday now for 2 weeks and they also did not know about their sale falling through and they could not be reached until their return from holiday...! Let's wait till they get back, Bairstoweves said...
I said I did not mind but insisted my property to be put back on the market immediately. That took another few days...reluctantly...
Nothing happened for a few days. I repeatedly called but again was passed around between 3-4 different agents of which 2 of them with the same name, causing constantly confusion in subsequent calls.
From the 15th September I had very few sporadic viewings again for which each time I now had to travel from central London down to my property which took 2 hours down...and 2 hours return again by bus, tube and train. One time a viewing at 6.30pm was a no-show entirely and was told by Bairstoweves that I "should've left the keys with them then"... (As if I would now trust them with my housekeys and the burglar alarm codes (!!) especially in view that their branch office is always closed up already by 5.45pm...(I pass there right next to the station)...
On the 19th September a call came from Bairstoweves that an offer was put in for my house, which turned out to be £ 20,000 UNDER the asking price. Would I consider it? Guess what my answer was... (And I am sure Bairstoweves gave that particular potential buyer the impression that because of my migration urgency I could most probably be squeezed for a low offer!)... I declined but mentioned that I was flexible. I was asked what my minimum acceptable price was and I said £ 5,000 under asking price. I then never heard back from them.
Now I am stuck with really awful taken unattractive pictures of my house on their website, our house being empty (which strangely enough seems to put buyers off?!), and Bairstoweves not making any more effort to market or sell my property.
Never got a call back from the Bairstoweves manager when they returned from their holidays, no apology offered and when I contact them I always get a reply..."They are on the phone right now...leave a message or we'll call you back straight away"...
I am still waiting...and waiting...and waiting... It is now 28 September...
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