Haart
Customer Reviews
Reviewed by MikeRammell on 3rd February 2010
Services: Sales (as a Buyer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: SZN.UZG.UZZ.UUD
Branch: Bracknell
I must admit i didn't finish buying a property through Haart at Bracknell...because it's almost as if they didn't want me to buy from them as agents!
My Partner and I were initially extrememly happy with Haart, we went into the branch, someone (who I won't name) sat down with us and immediately pulled out a handful of attractive properties within our price range and a handful that were a few pounds worth of saving away. He took our details, arranged a number of viewings and we thought we'd found the property for us!
We put in an offer, had it accepted and we were well on our way until we found that the lease was soon to expire (or at least would not have enough years for anyone else to get a mortgage on it, presenting us with an issue come re-sale) so we withdrew our offer.
We soon after received a call from our agent asking what the issue was, and after stating that the Lease was too short and too expensive to extend he insisted it wasn't and started getting pushy as if he though that we would just fork out the cash to extend the lease?! We withdrew our offer and said that we would like to continue to keep looking with Haart as they'd been very good so far.
I never got any more phone calls, no more emails with properties and each time I asked for a call back from our agent it fell on Deaf Ears. I've given up on them. Friendly at first then just ignored on a number of occasions!
We bought with Duncan Yeardley Bracknell in the end, was by far the best estate agent out of the 8 or so we spoke to and dealt with.
Reviewed by Flaffy on 29th January 2010
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: J3R.JFB.9VE.9BE
Branch: Luton
I have recently moved out of rented accomodation which I rented via Haarts and have had nothing but hassle trying to obtain my deposit back.
I have had to chase them constantly, and after 42 days of evacuating I am still without my deposit. They keep promising me that it has been released from their account dept. but to date still out of pocket.
May I just add that the deposit is less £80 which they have kept without my say so for the so called cleaning of the flat. Of which I spent the whole day cleaning upon my departure. When I left the flat it was cleaner than when I moved in!
This matter I am disputing and have logged a compaint with the Tenacy Deposit Scheme.
I would not recommend Haarts as a letting agent, their after-care service is appalling and has left me deeply stressed out trying to obtain back what rightly is mine.
Commented by Jiminy Cricket on the 1st February 2010
Your complaint is a little convoluted but I would have thought any man or beast on this planet who had spent 42 days 'evacuating' would have to leave some kind of 'deposit.'
Reviewed by rich on 12th January 2010
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: SL9.S9M.TUT.UDT
I was looking to sell my house through the Ashford Staines office and found them to be rude and very pressurizing to sell. I only went back to Haart because I bought my house through them so they were the logical choice. Still on the hunt for estate agent that is honest and fair fees, lowest I've found is 1.5% so far in Staines.
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 15th January 2010
Hi Rich. I'm sorry that you have felt our Ashford office to be rude and using pressure. If you would like to formalise your complaint to melanie.smith@spicerhaart.co.uk then I will be able to investigate this for you.
Reviewed by steve on 30th December 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9QE.9JI.9XR.93F
Unhelpful, clueless, obnoxious.
Commented by Jiminy Cricket on the 8th January 2010
Steve, I would hardly call three adjectives a constructive comment. Perhaps you did have terrible experience with haart but without details it just sounds like a baseless attack.
Reviewed by anon on 12th December 2009
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9QF.EJV.EIV.9IB
I can attest of the EXTREMELY POOR service of this agency in E17.
They tied me to a 16 week contract at 2 percent, and sent me just one person to view my flat in the entire time my place was on the market. Yet, the agency had a set of keys. I\'m glad that the contract is now over. Never again!
Commented by bobby on the 14th December 2009
Read my advice below as it is not entirely the agents fault,because you have to work with them and not just expect things to happen. 16 weeks and one viewing suggests there was no liaison,or better still, any kind of attempt to achieve the common goal of attracting a buyer. Try it next time. Listen to them but listen to yourself 1st. No viewings means PROBLEM. Act after 2-3 weeks and dont wait 16 weeks and solely blame them. If it was advertised at £10,000 would you have had more than one person wanting to view? Of course you would.Sounds like a price issue and it should have been addressed quickly.
Commented by anon on the 14th December 2009
To some extent, I agree with the pricing problem. However, I was told that there is no reason for sending just one person to view a property for all this time. It's in everybody's interest to get people to see the place. Poor/sometimes no communication - unless I pressed for it. No one would pick up the phone sometimes and I had to try for ages. They had arranged for another person to see the flat, but no one showed up, and no one even called to say what's going on. The contract is now over anyway. I'm glad.
To give some positive message here, is that if anything else, Haart has taught me a lesson, and luckily, it's not been a costly one. For this, I'm grateful. But I would not recommend them.
@Sarah: there needs to be a serious improvement on communication. I don't know if it's down to low staff levels or busy times.
Oh and about the price problem, I would have been happy to lower the price if the commission had been indexed on the asking price, but it was a FIXED commission at 2 percent no matter how much the place was going to be sold for. It's unfair. Yes I should have done my homework to find out that I could negotiate this. At the time, I did not know that I could.
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 14th December 2009
Dear Anon
I am very sorry to note that you feel the service you received was very poor. If you send me an email with further details, including details of the relevant property, I will be happy to investigate this for you.
sarah.clark@spicerhaart.co.uk
Commented by bobby on the 13th January 2010
This sounds a genuine complaint and something clearly went wrong but it does sound as though there was a lack of communication between agent and vendor and tha should never been allowed to happen. Shame as the complainee was obviously wanting a result.
Commented by Anon on the 28th January 2010
Update on this: I've relisted my property through another agency, and got 3 viewings in one week, which is more than Haart ever got me in 4 months. The other agency have no problem contacting me, and everything is going smoothly so far. Haart has no excuse. I've received an answer from my complaint, which I'm grateful for, but I won't pursue it. That's the end of it. Although I thought it was interesting to give you an update, to show that it cannot possibly be anything other than incompetence from Haart.
Don't use them if you have any other alternatives.
Reviewed by bobby on 11th December 2009
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: SZN.UZG.SZL.U7T
I am happy with my recent sale through haart even tho' I did experience the normal stress associated with all my previous moves. The staff treated me in the same way I treated them and together we worked our way through any little niggles. I did not blame them for adverse comments and people turning up late and I worked it out on my own that, after 10 viewings and negative comments, that I needed to reduce my asking price - contrary to their advice - and this resulted in my receiving competing offers and choosing a buyer quickly. A faster sale equals less stress - something I have learnt over several moves in last 9 years. Whilst I thank them I know that I made it easier for myself.
Commented by poppy on the 14th December 2009
Bravo, at last we have someone who has identified estate agency is a people industry that will always be rife with differences of opinion, so try to work together and realise we are 50% responsible. All the complaints here smack of sour grapes and people admonishing themselves of any and all responsibility and that is wrong.
Reviewed by edenaries on 4th December 2009
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9QX.9JQ.JQI.9I3
Haart in Walthamstow. Terrible service, never ever again!! Wanted to buy a property, agreed the price all the paper work ready they confirmed that the house is off market book a survey... and what to they do? Stab me in back, sell to another party, shameless.
Never trust them again. Anyone using them should be very very carefully. In fact do not use them at all.
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 7th December 2009
Dear Edenaries
I am sorry that you feel our Walthamstow office were terrible. If you send me an email with further details, including the address of the property concerned, I can look into this matter further for you.
Sarah Clark - sarah.clark@spicerhaart.co.uk
Reviewed by Angry_Lincoln on 5th November 2009
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9M.SU9.UZM.TGN
If I could impart one pearl of wisdom on anyone it would be this - please never, ever, use Haart in Lincoln.
I don't even know where to start on this they have been awful from start to finish. But I'll begin at the beginning.
We were using a decent estate agents but sadly didn't get a lot of viewings. Haart agressively pursued our custom and wrote to us practically every week telling us to switch to them. Eventually we relented thinking that as a national name they would do better for us. They did secure us more viewings, I'll give them that, although I suspect this is more by luck than judgment as the market was picking up.
When the agent did our valuation she told us that she was stunned that our previous agent hadn't sold our house (two up, two down terrace) for the £79k it was on for. She said she would have it sold within weeks and that we should box up our posessions now as we would be moving. The only thing she did within a couple of weeks was demand we drop the price - they then tried to force us to take a 'guide price' of £65-£75k, of course people who see that price will offer us the top of the price range! We told them where they could stick their guide price, repeatedly, but they still pestered us.
Viewings - they have only accompanied one potential buyer around our house and that was after we practically begged them following one unpleasant experience. Haart sent a couple of burly men to view our house who then cornered us at the top of our stairs trying to make us sell the house to them so they could rent it back to us (they thought we were right to buy owners trying to move due to financial strife) I told them to leave but I hate to think what would have happened had they visited someone elderly or vulnerable.
We have now found a buyer, initially the guy offered us £69k, which we refused, he then offered us £74k which we accepted, once we found out about the offer. Haart did not tell us about the offer, we only found out about it due to my wife phoning them for an update (something they never do). The offer had been live for 4 weeks before we found out, 4 weeks.
Since that time they have been nothing short of useless. We have repeatedly asked them to chase stuff up for us but to no avail. We have had no idea what is going on and Haart do not help. They phoned my wife demanding (very rudely) that she had to contact our solicitors as the buyer was ready to exchange - we called the solicitor, they hadn't even had a contract or questions returned - so they lied to us.
We are now (hopefully) on the cusp of exchanging contracts now and things have got worse. My wife was in tears in work today due to Haart basically threatening us to complete within a week or the buyer would start demanding things from us. I'll put it simply - Haart threatened my wife (I wonder if they would do it to me -a 6'2" 14 stone guy? I doubt it)
We are paying £2300 fee to sell at £74k and not once have we felt Haart have represented us, both my wife and I are on the edge and it is their fauly - they give estate agents a bad name.
We also have experience from trying to view houses through them. We phoned to make a booking, we were naturally told they would contact the vendor then get back to us - they didn't. We phoned back and were told "Yes you have a viewing today in 30 mins, did no one tell you?" No they didn't. We had numerous people not show up for viewings at our house - I wonder if Haart never confirmed their bookings. They also continually told us that vendors would take lower than the asking price - Great news if you are trying to sell? No, obviously they only want the sale and to hell with you.
Haart have made our lives a total misery, both my wife and I are about to have nervous brakedowns and they just stoke the fire. Never, never use them - they don't care about you and will cause you a world of upset and hurt - and get you a terrible deal.
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 6th November 2009
Dear Angry_Lincoln, I am sorry to learn that you are unhappy with the service you have been provided by our Lincoln office and would welcome the chance to look into this for you. If you would like to send me an email with your concerns you can do so at sarah.clark@spicerhaart.co.uk.
Commented by anon on the 12th November 2009
I wish I had read your comment before signing with them in my area.
Some of the things you described happened to me also: no communication whatsoever, lies (they tell you they'd call you back but they never do), they arrange viewings and no one turns up and no one at the agency tells you what's going on. No feedback whatsoever after viewings either, and this is in fact a breach of the Ombudsman rules which they adhere to.
They're absolutely APPALLING.
In this economic climate, I'd like to know how Haart can still be in business when their service is that poor and that expensive.
Commented by anon on the 14th November 2009
I have dealt with Haart in Lincoln many times and they always get my house sales through really quickly with their pro active approach. I find the complaints by small minded individuals such as these are not warranted and just go to show that they obviously have such uninteresting lives they have nothing better to do. If you have a complaint why not confront the individual and not hide behind slander such as this....
Commented by anon on the 14th November 2009
anon (who posted 14th Nov) different from me.
We're perfectly entitled to express our genuine disappointment of bad service. One happens to one individual is different from another, some will have a good experience, others will be bad. Ours is bad. We're allowed to say so & explain why.
Commented by count on the 9th December 2009
Yes, you said it "If only you could impart one pearl of wisdom" - sadly not.
1. 1st agent brilliant - but can't even get viewings
2. haart sell house - but it sounds like you resent paying for the fact they introduced a buyer? Weird.
3. Solicitors responsible for everything after sale agreed - yet you resent haart trying to hurry it along
4. You explain you are a giant of a man when mentioning haart? A giant - who acted like someone about to have sand kicked in his face when 2 chaps viewed property? On & Off switches for being Macho?
Conclusion: You are just trying to get money knocked off haarts fee because you did not sell at the higher figure recommended by other agent?
Advice: Be happy you have a buyer - many have not!
Reviewed by fastcar on 5th October 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: SZ7.UZG.S7U.UML
Very bad service. We lost money.
Reviewed by maxinejo on 27th September 2009
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: 9QV.EBB.EER.9BX
I found all the staff at Haart pleasant and helpful and was extremely pleased with the service received. They were approachable and always willing to help with any questions or problems. I would recommend them to anyone and would definitely use again.
Reviewed by Oldbazboy on 27th September 2009
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: TUL.S7U.SUN.UNZ
I had the good fortune to use Haart Estate Agents in the sale of my property a little while back and received very sound, professional advice from the manager Andrew Mecke. In short the guy secured me more money than I could have hoped to achieve via another agent (who shall remain nameless!) even though they had received an offer which they were pressurising me to take!! Hats off to Andy a true professional offering good sound advice, reassurance, and backing it up with a sound buyer! would definately recommend him to anyone looking to sell!!
Reviewed by CT on 20th August 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9XE.EIB.9JB.9JF
To all people thinking of letting a property from these sharks:-
DONT!!!
I looked at a property with Haart, and was never told about parking, parked on car behind another got clamped 125 worse off, after appealing the decion as per Haarts request (I think this was to shut me up and get me out of the office) it was declined, and so I went back to Haart and suprise suprise they want nothing to do with it. And said due to my bad parking its my fault!
Funny eh, so now its back to the Weston branch tommorow just to see if they are as arrogant over the phone as face to face?
Commented by poppy on the 13th December 2009
CT do tell me please as I would really love to know the answer. If haart told you to take a run and jump off a cliff would you do it?
Now look in mirror and ask yourself "Whose fault was it that you got in trouble for parking car in wrong place"? Answers on a postcard to your nearest haart office with an apology would be a good idea, so once you have lifted your knuckles off floor and washed blood off, do try and put pen to paper.
Reviewed by Rhodri on 14th August 2009
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: 9QE.JFQ.EIR.9X3
We had a very positive experience with Haart Estate Agents Romford. We recently sold our apartment with them and everything went smoothly and completed inside 8 weeks.
The two main agents we dealt with were efficient and courteous, and queries we had were dealt with quickly.
Very simply, everything went really well and they seemed to keep on the ball and ensured everything moved along. Our one experience with Haart was positive and we would consider using them again.
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 18th August 2009
Hi Rhodri
Thanks for your kind comments of which I have our Romford office aware.
Sarah Clark, haart Customer Relations Manager
Reviewed by tyler on 19th July 2009
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: SL9.UDN.SMZ.TTM
We have been on the market now with Haart since April 2009. The house was valued at between £260-£280.000 which we were pleased with. Initially we had a flurry of people interested in viewing then we had an offer of £270000 which we accepted, this was a verbal offer from Haart but we did not recieve the offer in writing. The Agents are obliged to comply with the 'Code of Practice for Resedential Estate Agents' which clearly states in section 6, 6a 'You must confirm the offer in writing within two working days.
10 days later the offer was reduced to £260000, which after 4 days we reluctantly accepted, after a rather undermining conversation with the Branch manager, who told us we were turning down a good offer, no explanation why it was £10,000 lower than the original offer from the same person or if that was a 'Good Offer' then why had they breached section 2a of the same act which states that ' You must never deliberately misrepresent the value of the Property' they valued the property.
Then a turn for the worst, we accepted the £260000 which did arrive in writing, the buyer had a mortgage and £60,000 cash, this was in June. We heard nothing. I spoke to the manager several times who reassured me that everything was moving as it should be. 5 days later another call from the manager the offer now was down to £255000, possibily because section 7a had been breached 'You must take reasonable steps to find out from the prospective buyer his source and availability of the funds for buying the property'
BEWARE we are still waiting. I would never ever recommend Haart to any one. They are lying cheating and totally unreliable company. We are coming to the end of our contract soon, soon is not quick enough. Having a Solicitor in the familly goes a long way and my god she will love this one ! ! ! Consequently we are both now taking sleeping tablets as our physical and mental health has been affected. Nice advert 'Beware Haart Estate Agents may damage your health' !
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 20th July 2009
Dear Tyler
I am concerned to note your comments. If you can send me an email with further details, including your property address, I can look into this matter further for you.
sarah.clark@spicerhaart.co.uk
Commented by Tyler on the 21st July 2009
Sorry Sarah, unless you are prepared to get us out of this horrendus mess NOW and not charge us the £5000 commision due, then we will continue our pursuit using the legal system that Haart have blindly chosen to ignore,ie the Code of Practice for Residential Estate Agents and the OEA, also any tabloid newspapers that are prepared to support us. If you have any comments to make please address them to this website for all prospective Haart users to see.
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 23rd July 2009
Dear Tyler
Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, without being provided with any further details, I am unable to investigate this matter for you. Should you wish me to look into this for you, please email me at sarah.clark@spicerhaart.co.uk
Reviewed by jess on 17th July 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9QX.JEF.JJ3.9VQ
We moved into a new build property managed by Haart in February, and we have had so many problems since. There is now damp and mould on many on the walls, there are problems with the electrics, work hasn\'t been finished in the property - for example light fittings. The plumbing is a shambles - we have an open drain in the bathroom, the dishwasher wasn\'t plumbed in and water leaked straight onto the floor. The waste pipe in the kitchen was going straight under the kitchen cupboards and wasn\'t connected to the drain. Although many of these problems were not Haart\'s fault, many of them could have been fixed before we moved in and now 6 months later we are still waiting for work to be completed! I feel like I spend hours and hours on the phone and email to the property management office - they promise things will be sorted and then nothing happens! I continually have to chase as no one ever keeps us updated on the progress. We are paying a lot of money to live in a substandard flat.
Two weeks ago I noticed that we were started to get drain flies due to all of the damp and stagnant water around, I emailed Haart to inform them of this and asked them to look into it ASAP. Surprisingly nothing was done. I have just come back from a week away and there are hundreds of dead flies on the floor, and live ones on the ceiling and walls, as it is Saturday evening there is no one available at Haart to speak to. I feel like I am stuck in this flat with no help at all from Haart, not once has someone apologised for these on going problems!
This whole situation has really upset me and everyday there seems to be a new problem to add to the list, Haart just don\'t seem to care!
Commented by bobby on the 13th January 2010
By her own admittance the property was not finished and as much as I do feel for her as it sounds awful i have to ask were haart really managing propery or were asked simply to find a tenant? sounds as tho the builders and building management are to blame on this one.Builders love knocking down walls for me and doing big jobs but try and get them in to fix small snagging jobs such as light sockets switches taps etc.. and they would rather be elsewhere knockng a wall down on a big paying job.always happens when i renovate properties.the agent is the obvious target but i suspect they were powerless on this one--but this is a terrible thing to have happened
Reviewed by AT on 6th July 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9FR.JF3.EEX.9IV
APPALLING! I would advise everyone to stay as far away from Haart as possible. The staff are completely obnoxious, lazy, and totally clueless. They have no idea and take WEEKS and WEEKS to act. They claimed not to have recieved my rent, and threatened me with eviction over a period of about 3 months. I traced the money and found out they had it all the time. No shred of apology. Complained to branch. No reply. Complained to area manager. No reply. Complained to MD. No reply, not even an acknowledgement. Will be writing to watchdog to advise people to stay as far away from this appalling company as possible.
Commented by Tom on the 28th August 2009
Couldn't agree more! They did the same thing to me, because "I owed" about 10 or 20 GBP. They were even threatening me of being evicted!
In contrary now the owe me above 1000 GBP deposit and not willing to pay it back until the Landlady approves that I did not make any damage to the property. They don't care about the contract that clearly says: the Landlord/Landlady has a maximum of 10 days to respond! When we are calling them, they lie every time that the agent is not there and will call us back (of course they always "forget" to call us back).
This maffia attitude is completely unacceptable and will never ever make any business with this "company"!
Commented by Honest Estate Agent on the 24th December 2009
Saying they are lazy and clueless is just your useless opinion. You probably did not put a reference on your payment and for that reason they could not find it. That would make it your fault.
Reviewed by theehm on 23rd June 2009
Services: Lettings (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9JV.9ER.JV3.9JE
I would not recommend any one to ever use Haart to find any rental properties.
We had found a lovely new build apartment in Southgate right opposite the Haart estate agents in Southgate. We were due to move in on the 30th of May. We had a 3:30pm appointment to go through the inventory and then sign the least. I went in at noon just to confirm everything is all set for 3:30pm and I was told everything would be fine. Got there are 3:30pm and was told that I then inventory has already been done. I kindly requested to see the place one last time before signing the least, just to ensure it matches up with the inventory. The lady became very rude and told me the only way I was ever going to see that place again is if I sign the lease. Despite the property being right across the street, she completely refused to show me the place to cross check with the inventory list. How are you expected to move into a place and sign for an inventory list which you did not take part in.
I called her up the next day to ask her when I can come back to collect my £300 pound deposit. She told me I have forfeited my deposit as I pulled out of the deal. I made it clear that it was not me who pulled out and she was being unreasonable as she refused to show me the property. They still have my security deposit and will follow up with this matter as far as I can.
I should have read these reviews sooner and should have known better than to step into any Haart office. I wonder if the landlord knows this is how they are treating potential customers. I will ensure she does.
Reviewed by Mr Pilchard on 2nd June 2009
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9FR.ERX.JXQ.9EQ
House was valued initially in Dec at 160k, we put it on market in Feb at £152k and 2% commission. In March we were "advised" to revalue on a scale between £145k and £155k. This I did reluctantly. In May we were advised to lower to £140k which I have refused to do. The property has been on the market for 4 months now and we have had 11 viewers, 6 of which were not really intrested in our property at all. There have been several heated phone calls between myself and Haart but unfortunately I only seem to get to speak to the office girl Friday. The sales person only came to our house after the house had been on the market for 10 weeks. How can they sell something based purely on a (initially incorrect) brochure which many of our viewers never received. Our contract terminates soon and we have already gone with another agent. I would never again use or recomend Haart to anybody. I am a cash cow, not a customer.
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 4th June 2009
Dear Mr Pilchard
If you can send me an email with the property address (including postcode), I can look into this for you.
sarah.clark@spicerhaart.co.uk
Commented by Mr Tuna on the 10th December 2009
The name Mr Pilchard suggests this complaint is somewhat fishy! Might I suggest he crawls back into his tin.
Reviewed by SarahB on 27th May 2009
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: 9QF.EJV.EIV.9IB
I had been on with another agent for 9 months on a modern development in Fleet. They had been contacting me more then my previous agent while i was on the market which at the start i was annoyed with. I thought i would give them the benefit of the doubt and give them a chance. They sold it within 4 days at just under the asking price so i cant complain. I do know the new manager there which did help them win the buisness but really cant fault them bar once leaving the bathroom light on after a vieiwng.
Reviewed by Helen on 13th May 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9M.SUM.ULN.U7D
When we first moved in to the property it really smelt due to the old carpet which had been in when we camew to view I can only assume. We have had so many problems with the actual house itself that we just got used to people constantly coming around to look at things and fix things up. Now everything seems to be finished but we are having "inspections" from them at least once a month, sometimes two and when we ask them to re-arrange because we won't be in they tell us they can't change the date or time and will use their own key. Considering we are supposed to be able to call this place our "home" we have no privacy what so ever. I am in the middle of my exams and instead of leaving the inspections until after they are finished, which is only a month away, they are coming twice in that month!! It's absolutely ridiculas. I would most definately NOT recommend them unless you like having the company of your estate agents because believe me, you will get to know them very well.
Reviewed by ellie_q on 6th May 2009
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: SMT.STD.UNZ.UZL
I say they 'sold' a property - actually they are currently failing to sell it.
We chose them because we were impressed with the valuer (and liked his valuation) but asked him to please be realistic and list for what he thought it might go for as we didn't want to have to reduce.
Three weeks on, and having had no viewings (and no communications) for over a week, we have been advised to reduce the price. The stroppy little madam I spoke to says this happens 'all the time' as no-one knows what places will go for. She couldn't then explain to me why I'm paying TWO PER CENT for their 'expertise'...
No board up, or offered. No feedback when we were told it'd be within 24 hours. Three viewers didn't turn up, but I only found out because I phoned late the next day - no-one bothered to tell me. No sale. No viewings. Inflated price to get us to sign.
I am counting the days till we can get shot of these jokers.
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 7th May 2009
Hi Ellie_q
If you send me an email with further details (inlcuding the property address) I will be pleased to investigate this for you.
sarah.clark@spicerhaart.co.uk
Commented by eleanor_q on the 12th May 2009
Further to my last comment - we do now have a For Sale board outside my flat.
Problem is, it bears the name of a rival agency! I wish I was making this up.
So Haart have now managed to direct interested parties to someone we have no dealings with.
Sarah, I will gladly give you the full details when we terminate our sales agreement in a couple of days' time - I don't want to give our so-called agents any more excuse to perform poorly than they already have. But I'll bet a month's mortgage that the most I'll get is a 'we regret the temporary departure from our usual high standards etc etc etc'.
Meanwhile, we are probably about to have an offer refused on a house we want because we don't have an offer on our own property. I can't tell you how much I regret signing with Haart.
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 13th May 2009
Hi Ellie
Thanks for your comments. I look forward to hearing from you should you wish to raise a formal complaint.
Sarah
Reviewed by SouthgateBoy on 20th April 2009
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9M.U7N.S7G.UM7
I was just checking on the Internet to see if this company was going bust yet, and I was amused to see this thread.
Having bought and sold many properties in my time, I have to confirm that these are easily the worst Estate Agents that I have ever worked with.
My issue revolves around two issues when I was looking to buy two houses last summer.
Firstly, we put an offer in on a place in Southgate after being assured that it was chain-free. This was important because I had exchanged and was committed to a sale on a particular date.
After my offer was accepted, the negotiator told me that the vendor wanted 8 weeks to find a place... I obviously withdrew my offer as the place was not chain-free as promised, and then bought another place (genuinely chain-free!) moving in a few weeks later.
Afterwards, it turns out that the property that I bought was also on Haart's books, but had never been marketed to me by them. Their fault, not mine.
When looking for the second house a few weeks later, I met again with negotiator who had shown me the first house. He was fine, but ended the viewings by asking why I hadn't bought the first house from them.
"Because you didn't market it to me, or tell me it was on your books?"
Anyway, I had an offer accepted on the second house and was waiting for things to progress. I had a slightly problematic buyer who was a cash-buyer, but first-time and was really, really dragging her heels.
Some weeks later, the negotiator's boss called me up with a rather surly tone asking me what was going on and why I wasn't progressing. I explained that I was waiting for things to progress with my sale and that I'd move ahead as soon as I was happy that my sale was progressing.
Some minutes later, I had an irate call from the branch manager accusing me of 'mucking them around' having bought a house on their books from another agent.
To this day, I still don't understand exactly what the purpose of his call was, or what his point was meant to be, but so appalled was I with his behaviour that I withdrew my offer.
Ironically, my Mortgage Offer for that property arrived the morning that he called me to abuse me.
I feel sorry for the vendor; if this property had been on another agent's books, I would be living there now.
Having worked with close to 20 agents around North London, there is no doubt that these are the worst.
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 27th April 2009
Hi SouthgateBoy
If you can send me an email with further details (inlcuding the property addresses) I can look into this for you
Sarah.Clark@spicerhaart.co.uk
Reviewed by jt on 12th February 2009
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: JFI.9FV.9EJ.9XQ
They overpriced the property, didn't market it until asked why not by me, now they can't even get the property off HOT PROPERTY, after a year.
If using these agent be on top of them
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 16th February 2009
Hi JT. If you can send me an email with the property address (including postcode) I can look into this for you. Thanks. Melanie @ Customer Relations - Melanie.smith@spicerhaart.co.uk
Reviewed by Gareth McConnell on 10th February 2009
Services: Lettings (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: SL9.S9M.TTM.U7L
I'm going through a miserable time with these people at the minute. First of all I had to give my debit card details to hold a flat I wanted to let on the understanding nothing would be taken from my account, they contact me a few days later to tell me the flat's been secured and is mine, when I'm jumping around congratulating myself and thinking 'YES GARETH YOU ROCK STAR!!!'', they tell me there's an invoice being emailed to confirm the flat is mine, a day later I realise they took a whack of money out of my account without asking, my annoyance is only just overshadowed by the fact I have secured the flat but I'm still angry they raped my account without asking.
Next I go into their office with my forms and ID only to be met by the senior manager who's a complete airhead and is in fact the woman who shafted my account and discover she wouldn't inspire confidence in a spell your own name competition, so she goes on to say the photocopier's not working and would I scan my passport and email it to her and I'm thinking, you really know how to treat your customers, I'm paying a fortune for services and you just make me feel DIRTY.
But what happens next really takes the biscuit... next they call to say the tenants aren't moving out and the flat has been taken off the market. CAN YOU IMAGINE - I'm talking shower and scrubbing brush here, skin red raw, doctors analysing what I'm saying and self-help books for the rest of my life!!!! I'm still waiting on my refund and will let people know if they can get that right... Haart???? HEARTLESS!
Reviewed by lawbob on 23rd January 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9U.UNG.UZZ.TN9
I would recommend everyone NEVER to use Haart, based on my experience as a tenant. The staff and especially branch manager are completely imcompetent, and the manager is really not a nice man.
Haart held on to one months rent claiming never to have received it, threatening eviction and the like, while two months later, after pursuing a bank trace, they find the money is in Haart's account all along. I complained but I didn't even get an acknowledgement of the letter, let alone an actual reply. Ongoing problems in the property - i.e. stuff doesn't work! They don't seem to care and take AGES to sort anything out. Many issues are still unsorted. My experience with Haart has been the worst ever with an estate agent. Never again.
Reviewed by Peetie on 7th October 2008
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: EJ3.J3J.JEF.93J
I am not surprised I'm not the only one who has had a lousy experience with Haart.
They sold our property last year having given me all the stuff about having a 'huge database of people wanting just my sort of house in just my area' and wonderful virtual tours and floorplans on the Internet. We were being pressed by the seller of our next property and went with Haarts for the 'hassle-free' service they promised, despite the higher-than-average fees. We thought we'd get what we paid for.
What we actually got was a service which was lacklustre, inaccurate, slapdash and definitely very average. I had to send the brochure details back three times before they were correct - well actually they still weren't quite correct in a couple of very minor details, but as I said we were short of time. It took 3 weeks to get the floorplan done - and then only because I phoned and complained for the third time and the manager came out and did it himself. The picture in the first and largest newspaper advert was awful and they refused to put in another large ad to compensate, despite getting no viewings at all from it. We had to chase important information that Haart should have been bringing to us. Etc, etc that's just a sample.
In the end, we were so appalled by the service that we put in a formal complaint and were offered a derisory amount off the bill in compensation, which we refused.
Instead, we paid a proportion of their fee which we considered was reasonable - about 2/3 - and which was an average of local estate agent and Internet fees at the time.
Haart are now taking us to court for the balance, saying that we breached the contract by not paying the full amount. There are two sides to every contract and they certainly did not uphold their obligations. If they had done as they promised we would have paid in full with thanks. Who committed a breach of contract? Not us.
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 9th October 2008
Dear Peetie
Thanks for your comments. I am unsure whether your formal complaint was answered by me or at regional level without knowing your details, but I am sorry that you needed to complain. You of course would have been able to refer to the OEA of which we are proud members if you felt the amount we offered was derisory and wished to gain an independent opinion.
Commented by Percy33 on the 3rd November 2008
Haart always take non payers to court but you should go to the Ombudsman of Estate Agents "of which Haart are proud members" with your complaint. They look at both sides and will insist on seeing all the paperwork and files Haart have in realtion to your sale - if you have had such bad service they will uphold your complaint - which they have done in the past with Haart. Good luck
Reviewed by mad on 7th August 2008
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9Z.T7N.UZ7.TTM
I'm glad I read those reviews.
I am considering putting my house on the market with them but after reading these I will probably go with someone else. My problem is their fee structure, we were quoted 2% and they don't want to negotiate at all on that - which is a shame as other agents are more relaxed about this (and their fees a low lower).
Reviewed by RoygBiv on 2nd July 2008
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9N.UMZ.S7G.TU9
We placed our property on the market with Haart when we were buying a property also on with them at the start of the year (Farnborough Branch). We had heard on the grapevine that where we were was not their backyard, but they assured us this would not make a difference.
At the start they seemed a little incompetent - spelling mistakes and completely incorrect errors on our sales literature and a couple of meetings where they did not turn up.
They were also reluctant to suggest an asking price for our property and placed the emphasis on me to suggest one. In the end they took what I guessed at price and the property went on the market.
It appeared online promptly but took a while longer to appear in the papers and their window.
Viewings were generally professional at the start - feedback was given within a day or so, but we had to chase sometimes. It also became apparent quite quickly that their policy was to get as many people through the door as possible - we therefore had people no interested who view for reasons that were obvious (i.e. no garage - the literature said this, so why did Haart push them to view?).
An offer was made, for below the asking price, which we negotiated via Haart to a figure we accepted. One of the reasons we accepted was that we were told the buyer was a cash buyer and in a position to move. This was confirmed in a letter from the Branch Manager. Imagine our surprise a week or so later when we were told that actually they had a property to sell first!
Nevertheless we pressed on, found a property and placed an offer ourselves, warning the vendor that it could be a while before we were ready to move due to our buyer.
A week or so after the offer, we were informed by the vendors estate agents (not Haart), that their client had been contacted by Haart direct, warning them that our sale was not likely to go through because of the position of the person offering on ours, and proposing that they rejected our offer and placed their property on the market with Haart. Needless to say, they rejected, but it left us in a sticky situation. In addition, the Haart Manager would not confirm (nor deny) that he had had this conversation.
Communication went quiet from Haart for a bit after this and in order to expedite a sale we placed our property on the market with a second Agent, which generated a bit more interest. In the meantime, the Haart Manager at the branch was replaced and we were pressured into contemplating reducing our price due to the market pressures. In several instances I was (indirectly) blamed for our property not being sold as the asking price had been my idea - despite the fact Haart would not suggest one.
We held firm as we are in no hurry to move and supposedly still had a tentative offer. However, Haart seemed to have no detailed knowledge of this offer towards the end of our agreement and we reached an empase.
The final straw was a viewing that occurred without us confirming with Haart that it was ok - the first we found was when they rung attempting to give feedback. When we queried why there was a viewing they ummm'd and erred and blamed it on a clerical error.
We have now taken our property of the market completely and will wait a year or so to see how the housing market pans out. However, when we attempt to sell again Haart won't be top of our list.
In conclusion, I would say Haart are run of the mill for estate agents in my experience - they want to sell your house, but want the sale quickly, rather than perhaps the word of mouth that can generate repeat business. In a sector where there can be little to separate one company from another, Haart has done enough (or not) with us to be viewed in a worse light that others we have dealt with.
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 6th July 2008
Dear RoygBiv, thanks for your comments. I would like the opportunity to review your experience in more detail. If you would like me to do this please contact me at melanie.smith@spicerhaart.co.uk.
Commented by roygbiv on the 19th August 2008
Hi Melanie.
I think I covered most points in my review. If there is anything specific you think needs to be addressed, feel free to ask them here and I'll answer them in this public forum. Thanks.
Commented by Percy33 on the 17th September 2008
They won't comment in a public forum because they can't answer your criticisms, they are all completely right - funny how she didn't take up your offer!
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 19th September 2008
Thanks for your comment. I am of course more than happy to address any customer complaints, in line with the OEA approved complaints process that we operate and stringently adhere to.
In order to be as proactive as possible, I invite reviewers to make their complaints official using the process in order to be able to answer their concerns appropriately and professionally.
If any complainant wishes to do so, and receives the final viewpoint of the Company, then they would of course be able to quote that response on this forum.
I am unable to investigate any complaint without specific detail, such as property address. I am not able to provide a final viewpoint of the Company via the site.
I trust this answers your further concerns, and hope that if RoygBiv still feels unhappy, that he knows he is able to make a formal complaint, as without this, I am unable to ensure the situation is not repeated.
Many thanks
Melanie
Commented by RoyGBiv on the 26th September 2008
Thanks for the responce.
Ultimately, I am not making a complaint, I am reviewing and offering my opinion, which is what this website is about.
Should I wish to use Haart again, or feel that I was out of pocket or there was some serious breach of guidelines or legislation, I would take up your offer of a formal complaint.
However, the Estate Agency sector is diversified enough that I have the ability to pick and choose someone else to represent me when I choose to move house.
I think I have provided enough detail that should you wish to address the issues you could. I passed on my comments to the branch manager at the time when we ended our agreement, I would expect him to have taken them on board and dealt with them as he saw fit. If he decided not to deal with them then I am sure others will experience the same service we did and will also vvote with their feet.
I repeat my offer again - if there is anything in my review above that is not clear, or you wish more information on, let me know here and I'll quite happily reply (names and addresses notwithstanding).
Reviewed by grundy on 18th June 2008
Services: Sales (as a Buyer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9QR.J3I.ERI.9VV
I unfortunately purchased a property which was misdescribed. When legal action was taken against the Seller, it transpired that they had been 100% open with Haart but Haart had been economical with the truth to say the least! Needless to say the Seller is now pursuing Haart.
Reviewed by Jeff on 16th June 2008
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: EJ3.9BR.J3E.9QX
If you are looking to sell your house I would urge you to look elsewhere. These guys a FRIGHTENINGLY stupid and unhelpful. Their latest viewing of the day occurs while most people are still at work, and they just don't seem very interested in selling houses. Add to that the fact that, when I asked for 3 bed houses with a garden and a garage they sent me adverts for 2 bed flats with neither, and I can't imagine you get much luck selling your house with these jokers.
Reviewed by Winger on 15th June 2008
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: EJV.JIE.EVQ.9VI
Well, we put our property on the market with Haart 8 months ago, at a fixed fee of 1.25%. Now they are pressurising us into reducing our asking price (which we agree with actually) but they won't reduce their fixed fee accordingly. They want it to stay based on the ORIGINAL asking price!
All we want to do is move to 1.25% variable fee rather than 1.25% fixed, but they claim their Head Office won't let them do that. Instead, they claim that Head Office have INCREASED fees to 1.6%!
So what was the outcome? They have asked us to leave if we won't reduce the price, even though we said we would if they make that minor change to their commission!
And they only phoned again yesterday asking when we would be leaving because 'their Head Office is giving them stick for not reducing the price of our (and other) properties!"
Steer well clear, they are selling for themselves, not for their clients.
Commented by topaagent on the 17th June 2008
Please note, this is NOT Head Office policy. Somebody is telling porkies...
Commented by Winger on the 17th June 2008
Very interesting. Mind me asking from which position of knowledge you speak?
Commented by topaagent on the 17th June 2008
Better not - redundancies are looming and I don't want to give them any ammunition!
Commented by Winger on the 18th June 2008
Don't worry. Just wanted to know if you were on the inside, which I guess you are. Thanks, and good luck.
Commented by Winger on the 26th June 2008
Just a final update. Head Office phoned me as part of their general calling programme and I got the chance to discuss this matter.
They did indeed defend their fees policy quite strongly, although were reasonably pleasant in conversation. It seems that this fees issue Head Office driven, and that this is their way of trying to protect their own self interests in this market downturn. Haart's strategy will be tested in a very tough market which is going to get tougher and be prolonged.
They are good at selling houses in a good market, but their aggressive tactics will be unpopular in a bad one. And unfortunately their focus is diverted to distressed sellers, which is why they aren't interested in us.
So I reiterate, steer well clear, in my opinion they are selling for themselves, not for their clients.
Commented by Percy33 on the 13th August 2008
Hi Winger, I worked for Haart for a couple of years and left (of my own choice). I could not agree with their aggressive techniques and the fixed fees are just unfair. As listers we were taught not to explain what it meant just to get the clients to sign up! I take exception to ripping people off and these fixed fees are not explained properly and the more vunerable people are exploited - as you found once you have signed that agreement there is no going back!
Reviewed by jamesp on 16th May 2008
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: SMT.SDG.S5G.U7G
I recently sold through haart in Burnham and found them to be nothing less than EXCELLENT. I am dismayed at some of the comments on here about haart as their staff seemed to be well educated and trained and were professional at all times!
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 22nd May 2008
Dear James
Thanks very much for the lovely comments, I have made the branch manager aware.
Reviewed by Steamerpoint on 5th March 2008
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9QF.EBJ.JXQ.93R
Haart are a joke. I had to type Prospective Customer because I am unable to select Employee. I worked as a manager for Haart for a few months before quitting as soon as my pay arrived in my bank account.
They rip customers off with their fees charging fees on a sliding scale. What they do is over value a property to win the business. Lets say they tell the owner the house is worth £210,000, but really it is worth £190,000. They then pull out a table and along the £210,000 line it says £4725 (Equivilent to 2.25% for example) they write this figure on the agreement and the owner agrees to pay this plus VAT on completion. Of course the house doesn't sell for £210,000. The vendor is pushed into dropping the selling price until they eventually sell for £190,000. The vendor is then asked to pay £4725, which is now equivilent to nearly 2.5% plus VAT. Had they put the owner on a fee of 2.25% the owner would have paid less commission and probably wouldn't have agreed to pay 2.5% on day one if he knew that this would be the eventual fee!
They treat staff very badly, moving them between offices 30 miles away with a few hours notice. Staff are unfamiliar with the area, branch and are completely ineffective. They are disorganised, heavily paperbased and spend more time completing stats sheets on how many viewings they have booked each day than concentrating of getting houses sold.
Staff worry about getting the wrong people around houses just to get their figures up. Moral was very low while I was there and people were leaving after only a few months of abuse. This left little local knowledge in any one office, yet staff were told to wing it and pretend they knew the area, often making big mistakes as they went.
They sponsor football teams in an effort to appeal to the local community, but it is more about advertising their name behind the goal nets for the TV cameras.
They are a nasty company and when they start putting their staff and customers first, before their huge profits, then maybe I could say a good word about them.
Their sharp practices were enough for me to quit estate agency when I left them and I returned to an office management job working with happy people where I was allowed to manage, rather than manage in name only. Avoid.
Commented by GICK on the 9th April 2008
Please give your name and e-mail so that i can call you to give evidence in court.
Reviewed by Barbara on 7th February 2008
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: T00.T00.00M.7L2
Hadleigh branch in Essex and especially some upstart manager called Steve Kelly....truly awful agent.....overly pushy and very un-professional attitude when valuing my home... I don't usually bother giving feedback but I felt I had to warn people off this agency.
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 21st February 2008
Hi Barbara, you may have noted my previous comment about the last review. I am sorry to learn you were unhappy with the valuation provided and would welcome the chance to look into this for you. If you would like to send me an email with your concerns you can do so at melanie.ainger@spicerhaart.co.uk.
Commented by Percy33 on the 17th September 2008
You'll pleased to hear that the Hadleigh branch has been closed now along with several other Haart and Spicer McColl offices - it seems that their reputation is finally having an effect on their business. Long time coming!
Reviewed by timothy on 21st December 2007
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: RBC.DRM.ERB.CDR
awful
Commented by Customer Relations Manager on the 30th January 2008
Hi Timothy
I'm sorry to read that you though haart were awful. If you would like to contact me at melanie.ainger@spicerhaart.co.uk with the details and I'll try and resolve your concerns.
Reviewed by roseandchan on 4th November 2007
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 0D7.504.P8M.047
I used Haart's Thetford branch. Sold throught them but they never knew what was going on. In the end we delt with buyer on the phone. Their conveyancing goes to some big office up north, who also never know whats going on! Sale did go through but no thanks to this agent. Manageress has bad attitude!!
Commented by Chunder on the 1st December 2007
If you spell these comments might seem more convincing.
Commented by mandi on the 12th September 2009
I don't think it's fair to leave a comment about spelling when the thread is about haart!!
Nasty people
Reviewed by Ahsan on 11th October 2007
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 0M7.040.M70.4X5
Booked an appointment with Haart to view a property, went to their office at given time. The guy who was supposed to take me to the property was not there. After a long wait another guy told me that he will let him know that I visited... in other way, buzz off.
Reviewed by AW on 23rd August 2007
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: 0S0.4P0.5SB.SBN
Helpful face to face. Leave "sold" properties on their website (and hence rightmove) when they are long gone.
Reviewed by jethro on 9th August 2007
Services: Sales (as a Buyer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: 95R.M0D.95R.M0D
The team pulled out all the stops when there was a problem with my purchase and sale. I was in a long chain and there were many complications including a person that had a sharia mortgage. The team at Haarts Arnold Nottingham were very efficient and informative.
Reviewed by Jo on 24th March 2007
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9D6.NE8.50B.45C
Reviewed by Netti on 5th October 2006
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 45R.RBB.4HD.S5T
I have been very disappointed with FJ Lord (Haart company for London). I used them for renting a "fully-furnished" one-bed flat. I visited the flat while it was being "refurbished" or so I was told it would be. A month later when I moved into the flat (I signed the contract before checking the flat as I was moving back from abroad and had nowhere else to go to), the only thing that had been done had been painting of the whole apartment (it smelled very strongly for over a month), the carpets had not been changed (there were massive stains, from the boiler blowing up, I subsequently learnt) and there were no curtains. Windows were stained and water pipes and bathroom ventilator all very worn out and noisy. So much for the newly-refurbished flat I had put in an offer for... When I started asking for things to be done, I was asked to speak to various other people - they weren't sure which office or which department was supposed to be dealing with me... After speaking to about 10 people, I finally started withholding rent to get things repaired. Six months later, two weeks ago, everything was finally repaired. Last week, I got a notice that the landlord wanted to regain possession. I am glad I am leaving but will never use FJ Lord again. They misled me into putting an offer for a "newly-refurbished" flat, lied to me about the carpets being changed and were completely incompetent to get things repaired once I was in the property - the property managers had never even set foot in the flat and couldn't even tell me where the meters were! As an agency, they have various standard forms which are very much to the advantage of the landlords, so please beware before you sign anything with this agent.
Commented by kp on the 11th December 2008
I totally agree with this review. I've had a very similar experience recently, and I wish I'd seen this review before I walked into a Haart office. The letting agent at the Ealing office assured me of a lot of things such as professional cleaning, fittings etc, and NONE of which was done when I moved in. I had to pay a lot out of pocket for the things I'd requested on the flat, because I'd already signed the lease on the word of a smooth-talking letting agent. Would recommend having any discussions with lettings agents on paper as obviously verbal agreements did not hold much water in this case. Do not sign a lease without inspecting the property again one last time to check whether it is in the condition you expected it to be. All the letting agents care about is your signature on the tenancy agreement. If you can, try to meet the landlord as well before you sign the lease. Beware of landlords who agree to one thing one day, but change the mind and ask a higher rent the next day. If I'd done any of the above, I would not be stuck in my current situation. A deceiving letting agent, combined with a totally inflexible and uncommunicative landlord in a property that needs a lot of things fixed is a nightmare renters can do without, especially in a market where they are lots of properties to choose from. I'd never go near Haart ever again and would not recommend them to anyone.
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Commented by Fabio Capello on the 8th February 2010
So Mike, in effect what you're saying is that had the lease been healthier then haart would've been the best estate agents on the planet and vice versa had you attempted to buy a property with a problematic lease from Duncan Yeardley prior to that, dear old Duncan's name would be mud today? My point is lease lengths are not indicative of service received but of the quality of the property. However you seem to suggest the agent is to blame. So if I buy a tin of beans from Morrisons and they are of unacceptable quality I really ought to not go anywhere near Heinz as it is Morrisons fault by your measure! If I buy a Toyota Prius and the accelerator causes me to crash then I blame the garage do I? Or do I blame Toyota? See my point old Mikey boy? John Terry has erred, do we blame Terry or do we blame the mistress? Mike old chap, before you actually start slinging the mud please check the direction it should be thrown in first.
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