Connells Estate Agents Review

Overall Rating

I am currently making an official complaint to Connells. I live abroad and am the Executor of my Mother's Estate and last year agreed reluctantly to a very high fixed fee for the peace of mind I was offered - being tempted by the special services given to clients living abroad, such as forwarding on mail, etc. (The property is in walking distance of Connells' offices.)The negotiator boasted of another client living abroad in Canada and said he understood the special needs of such clients. He seemed very professional and extremely helpful and did not mind even if other agencies marketed the property, saying a fee would not be charged if they did not get the sale.
The fee was fixed at the breathtakingly high figure of £3000 and he would not budge on that. But he agreed this was absolutely fixed - no extra hidden costs of any other kind at all on top - this was the absolute final sum I would have to pay. I put this in writing in an email to be on the safe side. He never got back to me to say it was wrong.
It was some time before I received the contract in the post. The first one never turned up. I saw the sum of £3000 in large lettering written several times in a small section - and long dashes - some of which were adjacent to VAT - which I took to mean "nothing". In the spaces for declaring the rate of VAT to be charged this was left blank. This is exactly what I expected to see. I was told it was an all inclusive figure.
I know that traders charging a fixed price have to clearly state the sum or the rate of VAT, and when the price is unknown, the rate must be specified. If the rate changes, then the trader is obligated to inform the client/purchaser within (I think) 14 days.

I was about to withdraw from the contract after a hopeless "service" from Connells. They did not forward on post as promised which caused me enormous problems. They did not read the meters. At one stage I was being chased up by a debt collection agency in spite of being in credit. (British Gas is another story...) Finally, realising no meter readings would ever be forthcoming, and in desperation, I got my son to drive down to Birmingham and do it. He could hardly open the door with post and junk mail. Connells had not opened up the door for over three months.
I had to ask Connells how to withdraw from the contract because it gave no information on the terms of withdrawing (which seems to be in breach of the regulatory system).
Within a few days of making this request, the first of very few (and recent) offers was presented which I could take seriously.
The manager, who seemed to have taken over from the first agent (I found out recently he has left Connells) refused to give me information about the potential buyers and prevented me from making contact. I pointed out had it been a normal situation I could have done this for myself anyway. But she would not budge. I then insisted she must tell me about the next viewing, if any, made by this couple. I got an email giving me about 2 hours notice.
I rang up an old friend and he turned up at the house to meet the potential buyers and ask if they wanted to exchange details. They were delighted to - and had been asking the manager for my details, which she had been refusing - saying it was not a good idea. The explanation given to me was thatit was not company policy. I don't know how they would enforce that "policy" when the client is living on the premises, which is the usual situation! In fact, because I kept asking the manager for contact details, she eventually emailed that she would ask the potential buyers if they minded. BUT - she did this at a time when she had already told them it was a bad idea and already knew that they did want to make contact with me (as we found out later).
The manager continued to be a complete nuisance, trying to weaken my confidence in these buyers. I had to tell her twice to stop marketing the house. She was so problematic that even the buyers's solicitor took the unusual step of bypassing her and contacting me directly.
Had it not been for my friend being able to turn up and the house. I felt bad to find out he had been held back by the manager and was effectively given a telling off for exchanging details. He's in his mid-to-late 70s with a partially disabled wife in her early 80s - he didn't need this attitude. (On entering Connells, the buyers described the manager as unfriendly) Had it not been for the contact established between myself and the buyers, this sale would never have happened.