Avoid like a dose of the trots (Connells Estate Agent)

Member Name: Snozzberry

Product:	Connells Estate Agent
Date:	10/09/08 (100 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The information brochure was nice and shiny

Disadvantages: Poor level of service, client confidentiality leave a lot to be desired

We switched to Connells from our previous estate agent and have to say that we were not impressed with them at all.

The spiel was all so promising. We were assured that advertising on Rightmove accounted for around 75% of their successful sales - yet it took them 6 weeks, umpteen phone calls and four emails/letters of complaint before they actually put our property on the site. They claimed that we had not signed and returned a copy of their sales particulars, which we had done the day after we received it and which they located lying forgotten in a desk drawer while my husband was actually standing in our local branch having gone in to complain yet again.

They also claimed that they were unable to obtain a copy of our HIPs from our previous agent, despite it being sent to them by email three times - on one of these occasions it was emailed by our previous agent in front of my husband, yet Connells still claimed that they had not received it. In the end my husband physically obtained the CD Rom copy from our previous agent and took it to our local branch of Connells himself - all the way across the road!

There was a flurry of viewing initially which tailed off to nothing but which we can hardly blame on Connells in the current climate.

However, then another house in our street was put on the market via Connells. Suddenly they were on the phone all the time telling us what was hapening with this other property, what that vendor was doing, what he was prepared to accept, what he was buying, what prospective purchasers were saying about his property as opposed to ours. I wouldn't rate them for client confidentiality!

Our neighbour subsequently changed agents and sold his property within the week. We are now in the process of following his example.

ADDENDUM added 13 March 2009

Well we are now having trouble with them from the other end of the spectrum: as potential buyers.

One property in particular we want to look at, a respossession, and Connells are marketing it. Only they won't let us look at it. Over the past month we have endeavoured to arrange to view this property 7 times and each time we have been promised a call back or have been fobbed off. We did actually manage to get an appointment last week but have now been told that we can't look at it after all "due to lack of interest". I mean what the hell does that mean? WE are interested. Why else would be continue to go through the frustration of trying to view it?? One can only guess at Connells' motives.

Summary: Never again