Romans
Customer Reviews
Reviewed by mike on 3rd February 2010
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: SZN.UZG.UZZ.UUD
Branch: Bracknell
I must admit I was shocked with Romans Bracknell. I got phone calls from different people asking the same question about our viewings! I got emailed properties way, way (way) out of my budget even though I stirctly stated what I would be willing to spend. We never saw the same agent at a viewing more than once in a row and didn't feel as if we were being treated like customers that were worth their while?!
Reviewed by Letdown on 1st February 2010
Services: Lettings (as a Landlord)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: SZD.U7Z.STU.UZD
Branch: Camberley/Bracknell
I'll try to keep this brief!
Seven months rent arears and court costs, only consolation that they are holding the initial months rent in advance and the deposit, which they then say they are taking £500 for cleaning.
We informed them we were on our way down to do some decorating, a couple of hours journey, when we got there they didn't have the keys, said the cleaners had been in and had taken them to the Bracknell office which was closed, we had to get a locksmith which they agreed to pay for. Finally got into the house late evening only to find the heating was on full blast (very warm and cosy), cleaners had been in 3 days previously!
We did our work and set the heating on low opened the loft entrance to protect property from cold weather. Cleaners still had to finish off, so we asked them to check the property after to make sure heating was on and as we had left it ,which they assured us they had.
We were informed by them last week that our property was flooded by a burst pipe in the loft, when we arrived to check the property the heating was switched off???
Could tell you more but think I have said enough!
Reviewed by PB on 16th January 2010
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S97.SUG.S7D.UMT
Romans is without doubt the worst estate agent I have ever dealt with. They do nothing for their fees.
We put our property on the market with them and they sold us the ‘open house’ concept on the basis that this would give total focus on our property. We worked very hard to get the house looking immaculate and despite the terrible weather we apparently had 5 viewings. I heard nothing from them after the open house for 4 days, no call, no email, no feedback, nothing! Eventually I got hold of them and found out that on the day of our open house they had shown all the viewers around another property 2 doors away that wasn’t even on the market and promptly obtained an offer on that house and nothing on ours. They had told me that the owners of that property had called them up and asked if they could show the viewers around their property as it was an ideal opportunity. When I spoke to our neighbours they said they never contacted Romans and in fact it was Romans who called them and asked if they could show them around. Totally unbelievable!!
They send mailings from different branches, some asking you if you are interested in selling your property when you are already on their website! Total and utter lack of customer attention and you can never get anyone to respond when you need them. Luckily we only had an 8 week contract and were able to transfer to another agent. A terrible experience!
Reviewed by Akkas on 8th January 2010
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9Q3.JJB.ERF.9QV
An organisation which claims high levels of efficiency and customer satisfaction - it would seem that this organisation would rather leave a property empty then to accelerate a check in, so that a tenant is able to occupy the premise early.
The tenant would benefit from being housed sooner, the landlord would have his/her property rented earlier and the agency would gain from recieving there management fees earlier yet - Romans would prefer to wait the full 7 days before handing over a property as their procedures are some what inflexible.
There is certainbly no personal touch, and the commission on the +13 days for administration charges seems to be far more attractive for Romans then their need to satisfy their customers.
Maybe it is becuase so many people have and continuie to use Romans that they are able to enforce their regulations on all others - landlords and tenants, find another agency before considering Romans.
I certainly would not recommend using Romans for either buying, sellling and or renting a property. It really does seem that Romans do have one objective, and it is not to staisfy the requirements of the customer and or provide a personal service.
Reviewed by 1st_time on 16th December 2009
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9QX.JVJ.9QX.9E3
Put an offer in, accepted, but lost out to another offer. Had a rude telephone call telling me this from the Reading office, followed by an even ruder letter, which gave me the distinct impression that they viewed me as the lowest form of life. I'm a 1st time buyer with a large deposit, no chain, can move quickly or slowly depending on others - you would have thought desirable, no?? My pickyness - wanting a property with a functioning roof for example, was mocked - I should apparently go for the 1st property I viewed, irrespective of condition, price or fit to my requirements, and I should accept their recommendations on mortgages, & conveyancing (which took 6 emails to cancel!) without query. They also phone me daily, and keep emailing me details of properties I've already said I've no interest in - I don't want a bedsit / studio apartment thanks, nor do I want to move to an entirely different town to the one I'm house hunting in... In short, AVOID
Reviewed by Max on 10th December 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: JXV.JXB.JVE.9VI
Reviewed by How are these people in business? on 14th November 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: TUL.S77.SZN.UNN
Possibly the worst agents in the world? Apart from charging fees for everything possible (especially poignant was the reference fee for each of the two of us even though we were paying the one rent together!), they charged us for getting the property professionally cleaned even though we cleaned the place for 4 solid days before moving out. I could cry because they removed almost £400 of our deposit for getting a company to deep clean the place even though we left it cleaner than it was when we moved in (which involved removing cigarette butts and builders dust). The reason was (according to them) that it wasnt 'as new' as when we moved in - no because we lived there for four years!!!
We consider general dirt that we couldnt remove 'fair wear and tear' and thus feel we have been screwed over. Each and every quarterley check was perfect so if they thought we were dirty scumbags they could have let us know at some stage . Would take them to court but can't afford it after paying them so much money for the last 4 years.
Romans don't seem to be aiming for repeat business or for any word of mouth recommendations. They seem to want immediate cash but no relationship!
Reviewed by John on 10th November 2009
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: SZ7.S5N.SGM.U7U
We put our house on the market with Romans last year (Fleet branch). It was obviously a difficult time for anyone to sell back then. When we did get viewings, the agent turned up early whilst we were still in. The manager and his staff inundated us with calls, despite us telling them not to ring one of us whilst we were at work. I can't answer my phone at work, but call after call after call - staff were told to ring my partner but they didnt listen. Pressure tactics to try and lower our asking price way way below anything near what we wanted. Didnt take our opinions into acount. Eventually, we took the house off the market, waited a few months and tried again with another agent who sold it in less than a third of the time Romans had our property on the market. There are a lot of Romans boards up along the streets, but they dont have enough time to dedicate to a sale as staff must be dealing with numerous properties at once. Very poor company.
Reviewed by NOMAN_ROMAN on 7th November 2009
Services: Sales (as a Buyer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: SZN.TUZ.S57.UTU
Romans - please look around before you approach the Romans Estate Agents.
It's an irony that I've to choose a single star for them in their rating. I would personally have no stars when rating them.
They rush you into making a decision!
Once you given them a quote, they would call you with an hours time to say that the quote is not enough... Surprise surprise, the actual seller is not even informed about the price you quote!!!!
Don't go with them.. Trust me... You would go through lot of stress when you buy property from Romans.
Reviewed by Aremel on 30th October 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9U.UDT.TG9.UNT
Ridiculous fees (£117 for tenancy renewal with no change to the terms....when challenged couldn't give me an exact breakdown of the costs...they stated it was for phonecalls and printing the new agreement). Slow to get anything fixed. Will be moving out and renting through another agency before the next renewal is due.
Commented by richardbrake on the 5th November 2009
I would also be careful of the charge they make you pay in order to release information to rent another property. I left Romans to go to another property and had to pay £35.00 before they would provide the landlords reference. My references wouldnt go through otherwise so they hold you over a barrel
Reviewed by jason on 12th October 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: SLL.S9Z.UMN.U9Z
Never ever rent from Romans.
I rented a house from the Bracknell office and the following happened:
Lots of hidden cost such as a £400 contract set up fee.
When it came to moving into the property, the property was is a very dirty condition even though Romans stated that the whole property would be professionally cleaned. Which it wasn't. I checked with the cleaning conpany that did the job.
Spoke to the property manager and was told just to return it in that condition. I questioned that fact that there was still poo in the toilet, mould in the fridge, no carpets had need hoovered even through this had been a condition that we had stipulated when signing the contract etc etc etc
It was very very hard to get hold of them and it took 3 months for them to sent a cleaner out to clean the carpets.
Even the cleaner who is a contractor to Romans said he knows loads of people who have been charged for cleaning work that was never required and that evertime he reports maintence issues with properties to Romans they tell him just to leave it.
When you check into the property you get checked in by an independent check in clerk so I spoke to her when I got the keys and she told me "off the record" that Romans tell them what they can and cannot put in a report i.e mould on walls, windows etc has to be reffered to as spotting etc etc etc
Spoke to a woman at the Bracknel office and got told that i had signed a contract and that no further action would be taken so I tried to contact her boss and could not get any answer or response to my emails etc etc etc.
If you ever hear the name Romans run a mile as you will be ripped off.
---------------------------------
Admin note: Roman's employees' names removed
Reviewed by Avoid Romans on 1st October 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9T.STT.UDL.TGN
Truely Truely the worst service. I really cant understand how some people still have their jobs.
Dealing with Romans, we rented a property we saw advertised at the Lower Earley branch. We likely the property and decided to go for it, after the inital silly high fees for paper work we was in and Romans had a chunky £1800 deposit off of us.
Over the time we was there we encountered many problems with the property that we asked to be fixed but never was.
When time come to move out we moved out and left he house in a cleaner condition than we found it in. Romans decided it was going to charge us for a list of things that never needed doing.
We disputed the amount and went head to head with Romans over the disputed amount. The whole time Romans tried to blackmail us into signing a form to accept the charges just to recieve the undisputed funds. We was in constant contact with The Dispute Service who told us no dont sign. But romans would not listern.
We eventually took Romans to the TDS and the decision over the deposit was made by a 3rd party company not involved in the situation who decided we the tenants will be refunded 100% of our deposit. Romans had lost. Great..
Well so we thought.. i phoned Romans to make sure they had recieved the letter and to see when my money was to be returned to be given a blunt reply of that they wasnt going to give the undisputed amount back.
I have now spoke to ARLA and am looking to make a formal complaint about Romans Conduct and about the member of staff we was dealing with as she was extreamly rude through out the whole process.
ARLA managed to give me the MD's phone number of Romans so i have phoned and explained and left him to get it sorted before more action is taken.
I am also sorting my notes out and am looking to take this to the local press aswell as Watchdog.
Romans are truely a bad company, rude staff and bad policys. Stay well clear if you wish to live a happy life.
TBC..
Reviewed by superted187 on 30th September 2009
Services: Lettings (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9U.U7T.ULN.TGN
We viewed a property in Reading with Romans and initially decided to Let it out.
We decided not to as we were put off by Roman's various fees and charges, which we have since discovered are among the highest in the area.
Our advice - shop around.
Reviewed by Roge Romans on 12th September 2009
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: UGD.UZM.S9N.UUD
I am not at all surprised by the negative comments about Romans, they are by far the worst agent in the area. They may look good from the outside, but once you've signed on the dotted line it all goes down the drain. They use threatening tactics to pull the wool over your eyes, promise the earth and don't deliver. They are rude and arrogant and think they are always right. I have moved to another agent to sell my house which are far more pleasant.
I have read about the case many years ago in which they were taken to court for sticking For Sale signs at their own employees house to boost exposure, if they can do that, what else are they doing? Avoid at all cost!
Reviewed by oohtaboo on 8th September 2009
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9T.STU.SM7.UD7
Stay away from Romans. They use appalling tactics and are terrible liars, doing their best to speak so loud and fast on the phone so that you can't get a word in! Saw a house through them, offered full asking price..fairly sure they have not bothered informing vendor of our offer because surprise surprise they have one of their own clients lined up to buy it (with a lesser offer) and have persuaded the vendor to take house off market until said client sells his house!! Such poor advice to give their clients and a piss poor way treat me as a potentail purchaser...not to mention failing to fulfill their legal obligation to inform their client swiftly of all offers made!
I hear they are due to open an office in Caversham soon - heaven help us! Don't use Romans, use anyone else!
Reviewed by Stef on 24th August 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: S9U.U7Z.S7G.T7T
I used Romans to rent a property in 2007. The first property we viewed, we fell in love with so put down a holding deposit. However the landlord (not romans) pulled out at the last minute but Romans found us another suitable property less than 24 hours after. I found that the customer service was very good and they were always helpful. No problems with the deposit return so was very happy. However i am now looking to rent again and have contaced romans a few times regarding properties, but no one got back to me, therefore i do see that their once fantastic customer service has gone down hill.
Reviewed by Do not let romans manage your property on 19th August 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Landlord)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: UUD.UT9.SGM.TTZ
My problems started after I asked Romans to take over fully managed services of my property. They clearly have too many properties to look after per person (I have since found out they have 200+ properties per property manager) as response times were terrible, maintenance was delayed and some never actually got done so in the end I gave up on them. I also had direct contact with my tenants and checked up on Romans and discovered that messages I had been passing to them had never reached my tennants and that they had been reporting issues repeatedly and not getting any support and Romans had not communicated any of it to me to enable me to respond or resolve the issues. I have since left Romans and moved to another agent. When trying to retain my business Romans used the selling technique of telling me how bad everyone else was compared to them and picking holes in other agent's services - the cheek of it!!!! They clearly have nothing good to say about their own services so they have to bad-mouth other people to try and win business - shameful. Do not go there - you WILL be disappointed!!!!!
Reviewed by Digusting Romans Yateley! on 17th August 2009
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9M.S5N.TDT.TT7
Romans Yateley "Live auction!": These guys asked me to increase my offer 5 times using it to intice an auction / bidding war between other interested parties to get closer to asking price.
While I had the offer(s) in ( and all this bidding was going on) the house was not 'under offer' but still taking viewings and other offers!
When I eventually said this is ridiculous, give me a figure the seller will accept they came back with a price (4k under asking). I agreed to that price and as far as I was concerned the property was sold STC.
Next, they call back saying another party offered more AFTER we'd agreed the price and the seller is considering but now 'leaning towards that offer'!
I said surely that cannot be ethical as the seller had given a figure they'd accept and I had agreed to offer/pay that so it must be sold STC. They tell me that's just the way it is, and it's not them, it's the seller who made the decision not to accept what we agreed anymore as there was a bit more on the table now.
On the same call they asked again would i like to increase my offer before they put the phone down? ... as they are going to finally discuss the proposals with the seller to make a decision between me and the other party, so i do as I like the place and increase to 1k over the original asking price. (now I'm £22k over my original offer - where i was the one 'being considered and preferred'!).
Next they call and say although my offer was higher of the two (and I have no chain btw!, and nothing to sell, and money mostly ready) the seller decided to go with the other buyer on asking price! When i ask why, they say : well he was first to offer what they wanted! .. which is bullshit as I was - as I offered/agreed to what they said they'd accept! Plus when I was told they wouldn't accept what they asked me for, I raised OVER their original asking price and offered more than the other 'bidder'.
Really disgusting service. I will enjoy returning the pain by complaining to TPOS (OEA) and happily use effort and/or finances to do so.
Reviewed by What has the Romans ever done for us? on 16th August 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: EJE.9QB.J3R.9QI
I'd rather live in my own sick than deal with these money grabbing ******** again. I'm in the middle of writing an official complaint to the Office of fair trading due to their underhand tactics. They want £41 for anything that makes them get off their arse and reach for the printer, they don't return deposits when they say they do and lie like it's a nice qualification to have. Seriously, I wish the big letting search engines had a filter on what estate agents you could include because I would certainly not have Romans in my searches.
Reviewed by Rob on 6th August 2009
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: SUD.TNG.UMZ.UNL
Absolutely terrible. Excuse after excuse IF they answer the phone. The best/worst one was when selling my second home they tried to sell the home I was in! No response, had to go directly to the solictor to get it fixed. Extremely rude and all their mistakes were either blamed on a different department or even on me. Inept. I'm amazed they are still in business. At my office I said I was having issues with an estate agent and 9 different people instantly said "Romans?". The lesson I have learnt is to ask around beforehand as if I had I would not have gone near them. Avoid!!!
Reviewed by Clean house for nothing on 28th July 2009
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9M.U7L.UM9.UND
I used Romans Bracknell to try to sell our property, in the contracted term we had very little viewing, the ones we did have, we were told the people could afford, but often the buyer would state on viewing they were only thinking upto a price nearly 90 K under our asking price. So many time they booked a viewing and would know on the door to tell us they had just found somewhere or needed to cancel urgently due to a problem. We did get offers but way below the asking price, which Romans were comfortable with, and we reduced by 40K too! I had lots of Romans staff around showing property that had never seen it before and only 2 persons appeared to "try" and sell it during a viewing. I would not use again
Reviewed by stripeyrache on 24th June 2009
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: UZD.ULT.UGN.U79
This specifically relates to Romans in Bracknell. They continue to advertise properties for ages after they've had offers accepted or even been sold, they don't mention anywhere that it is Sold STC like other agents in the area do. When looking to buy I phoned up about three properties all of which I was told were gone.
Although they took all of my details they didn't contact me about new instructions. When we did see a house that we really liked we put in an offer. In the end the vendor went with another offer over ours, Romans didn't think to call us and let us know. When my partner eventually called and spoke to the branch manager, he was bluntly (and rather rudely!) told that "you obviously didn't offer enough money, did you?". We had offered the asking price.
Reviewed by TOpcat on 15th June 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: WAH.A1Y.ASP.3BW
Reviewed by UNHAPPY CAMPER on 28th May 2009
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9QF.EJV.EIV.9IB
Was on with them for months and couldn't sell, kept saying drop the price drop the price and was then rude when i picked the keys up to give it to another agent. To top it all off left my front door unlcoked. STEER CLEAR.
Reviewed by tasha4340 on 11th May 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9FJ.JRF.JXB.9VB
My first dealings with Romans was when I informed the estate agents that I would be vacating my rented property. 3 weeks later I was advised that I needed to be at the property at a certain time as they had a viewing and did't have keys to get in. I spent the whole morning cleaning the house whilst trying to occupy my 5 month old son and when the time came no one turned up nor did anyone have the corteusy to ring and let me know that the viewing was taking place. This happened once again the day before I was due to move out needless to say no one turned up yet again. I was then advised in a letter to be at the property on the 26th may at 12pm to do the check out and that if I didn't attend I would be charged. Again nobody turned up. I then rung Romans the following day to find out what was happening and was told that they don't work on a sunday so that was the reason for no one showing up. After checking their records I was told that the letter did indeed say the 26th but was not offered an apology. This all may seem like little things but Roman's certainly didn't do their jobs properly and could have dealt with the situation alot better.
I found that they were very poor comunicators which sureley shouldn't be the case in their field of bussiness and they show absolutley no remorse when things go wrong. I will never use Romans again and strongly advise anyone else to think otherwise before seeking advice, letting or buying from Romans. They're supposed to be the top dogs but service is v.v.v poor.
Reviewed by Baggy on 7th May 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Landlord)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: SMG.UTN.SUT.TDG
There's no real point to go over the details - so many people here seem to have had the same experience with this crowd over and over again.
They don't care about you. They don't care about your property and they don't care about your tenant (or what kind of tenant you have). They just want your money.
Please - take a wide berth and find someone else that doesn't have a wallpaper roll long list of people who have complaints about their service.
....and be careful of who you go to...there's some others in this area that are no better than Romans, especially when it comes to property letting.
Reviewed by another_romans_victim on 22nd April 2009
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: UZ7.SMT.TGT.UTM
This review is for the Sandhurst branch (I should think it'll be all the same for others).
They have been bugging me for months trying to get me to go with them but their 2% +VAT fees were way too high. They were in no mood to reduce their fees (which I can understand in the current climate), and there was no chance in the world I would pay that amount either. Anyway further negotiations resulted in no conclusion so I decided to approach another agent which were far more pleasant (unlike Romans arrogant attitude) and were happy to negotiate a good fee, until Romans found out about it and somehow interveaned with the other agent resulting in my agreed fee to be dropped.
I have heard bad things about Romans from people who have used them before (all they want is your money) which is why I was'nt keen on them in the first place, now I can fully understand what a bunch of cowboys they are, just because then can't get my business they trying other ways to ruin it for me.
I recommend to other not to use them, just because there're big in business does'nt mean there the best, the smaller outlets are much better customer focused so I'm sticking with them instead.
I will never touch Romans again even if they are the cheapest.
They don't even deserve a rating of 1 star, if I could give them zero then I would.
Reviewed by Orlando on 14th April 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9M.UGL.SDG.T7D
After leaving University I have rented a number of properties through numerous agents and Romans were by far the worst of them all.
During my time in the property managed by Romans my deposit had numerous deductions taken from it without any notification whatsoever, moreover after paying in excess of £100 for administrative costs involved with a lease renewal in which the only amendment to the document was to the dates, I was almost immediately served a s.21 notice to vacate the property. My request for a landlord reference was followed by further administrative costs involved with the writing of the same.
It has been 3 months since I vacated the property and the balance of my deposit has still not been returned. This is contrary to their promise to return all deposits within 21 days. My attempts to speak to their accounts department have been futile as my emails and telephone calls have not been answered.
They are by far the worst of all agents I have dealt with and I strongly urge anyone considering using them to look elsewhere.
Reviewed by Little miss sunshine on 6th April 2009
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9N.TTD.SU7.UNL
If you would like someone to be rude and obnoxious to you over the phone I would recommend phoning Romans! I don't think any of them know what good customer service is.
Reviewed by Raju on 18th March 2009
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: UZG.UTZ.SM9.UGZ
Very unethical company, did not remove the property off the market when accepting our offer (for over 6 weeks) now they tell me they have a better offer.... Seemed dubios from the start and just kept us hanging.
Commented by Brucetta on the 18th March 2009
sounds familiar! They did exactly the same to me.
Reviewed by VG on 17th March 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: WHH.WPS.31P.3BK
Reviewed by jenb on 20th February 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Landlord)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: UT7.UM9.UDG.UGU
WHERE DO I START!!! This estate agent prioritises making money for Romans over looking after the customer and their property.
I used them for 18months before transferring to Village Properties who have been EXCELLENT.
I have had to seek compensation twice from Romans for (1) not complying their their agreement, and (2) carrying out substandard maintenance. Let me clarify....
The first tenant we got in the property was recommended by Romans as the 'best option' out of a list of tenants. They gave him keys to our property before the deposit had cleared [against their terms] and subsequently the deposit cheque bounced. The tenant then did not pay rent for 12 months and there was nothing we could do to get them out, until we finally took it to court (had to pay for this ourselves, despite it being Romans' fault). So it cost us 12 months rent + GBP5000 court fees to get him out of the property (although court said he had to pay he just disappeared into thin air and has never paid us). Romans were absolutely useless throughout the process and to be honest, they really didn't care about our situation as it wasn't making them any money.
The next tenant they got in paid 12 months up front - GREAT, I thought, thinking this one would be trouble free. However, our neighbours said there were all sorts of activities going on in the property. Romans are supposed to do property checks every 6 months, but they didn't do this and at the end of the tenancy, we were told the property was in good order. We then flew back to UK and went to stay in our property for xmas, only to open the door and see the house i a COMPLETE STATE.... I'm talking blood on walls; our brand news carpets absolutely ruined (didn't even get clean after professional cleaning), our security fence at the back of the property hacked down and much more. We were devastated - particularly as Romans had told us the property was in good condition!! They actually put it back on the market like this - no wonder it hadn't been snapped up straight away: they'd actually told us to reduce the rental price saying that the market was just quieter!!! NOT quieter, just that people looking around would have thought it was a squat - certainly not the state a 4 bed detached property at GBP1350/month should be in!
We spent our family xmas visit to UK, getting the property straight again; and got Romans to fix the fence at the back. We were back in Sydney by the time they fixed the fenced and when we got the confirmation from Romans that it was completed, I asked them was it in as good order as it was in the beginning. 'Yes' they said. B ut with previous experiences I still had trouble trusting them, so I got a friend to go to the house and check it out. The next day I get a phone call from our friend saying the job was diabolical - they'd used the wrong size fences poles; different wood and - wait for it - CHICKEN WIRE to fill in the fence!! He sent me photos and I was gobsmacked - it looked like a 5 year old had done it (actually I'm sure my son would have done a better job). They hadn't even concreted in the poles, so they wobbled around - hardly secure!
Romans promised to get it fixed again. That was 18months ago and they still haven't done it. So now I'm having to pay for it myself. ANOTHER cost for me because of Romans' incompetence.
My advice: STAY WELL AWAY FROM ROMANS, READING & TILEHURST - they're too big to care about the individual; they only care about their money.
Who would I recommend? Village Properties of Tilehurst - an absolute DREAM agent in stark contrast to Romans.
NB: having spoken to friends about Romans Estate Agents, I've since found out that I'm not alone - in fact not one of my friends has heard anything positive about them (on the lettings side at least). So please do watch out and look for an agent that will care for your property as if it's their own.
Reviewed by KateJS on 16th February 2009
Services: Lettings (as a Landlord)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9QE.9EJ.9XQ.9V3
My tenant mistakenly sent his notice to Romans in Tilehurst instead of to me (I only had them for tenant-finding). Not only did they not phone me to tell me that they had received it, but when challenged about it they lied about the date it came, to try to conceal the fact that they had been sitting on it for 10 days. And they had told my tenants that they had to switch elec/gas to a particular supplier, with no reference to me! I suspect that they are getting backhanders for this - can't think why else they'd do it.
Commented by EC on the 4th June 2009
Hmm sounds the same as us!! they were charging us from two different electric companies!!
Reviewed by Brucetta on 9th December 2008
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: SZN.TUD.S5T.U79
Useless! No communication, unhelpful and many staff rude, obviously they dont need sales! Would never consider buying from again.
Reviewed by happyhousehunter on 11th October 2008
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: 9QE.9JI.EBQ.9QB
Delighted with the sandhurst office, sold my house in a very tough market by offering the right advise on price and sale by open house which in all my years of buying and selling hadnever been offered before. Will use them again.
Commented by Concerned Romans Customer on the 26th November 2008
Looks like another review for Romans that is too good to be true (probably because the Agent has done it themselves... again).
Commented by Never again Romans customer on the 20th February 2009
I agree with Concerned Romans Customer - VERY gard to believe this is genuine review. They are horrendous.
Commented by razor on the 3rd March 2009
A Romans agent wrote that review. They are awful.
Commented by One of the many Romans has let down on the 20th March 2009
"sold my house in a very tough market" -- as if a real customer would have written that. That's estate agent speak. I agree with the other commenters: def a Romans agent typing here. HOW SAD. Shame they spend their time doing this rather than actually looking after their customers. Romans are truly AWFUL. Stay well away!
Commented by A Real Estate Agent on the 20th April 2009
Ha Ha, Google the coded IP Address of Happy House Hunter & you get a terrible review of Richard Worth that then compliments Romans. Great Stuff Mr Romans member of staff !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reviewed by cubicle2 on 29th September 2008
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: S9T.STM.TNM.U7M
I sold two properties now through Romans Estate Agents in Fleet and found the service extemely helpful. Jonathan in particular was a great help throughout my sales and will be recommending them.
Reviewed by Lorraine on 28th September 2008
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: UMG.T77.SMG.UTT
Fab! We have used Roman's twice, when buying and selling our first house and buying our current house. The guys there are all so helpful and can't do enough for you, they didn't push us to make decisions, they only showed us houses that were applicable to us and matched our top 5 criteria. We also used the conveyancing, as first time buyers this was a wise choice! We had courtesy calls on a weekly basis and were kept in the loop at all levels of the sale. Would definitly recommend and use them again!!!
Commented by daxcat on the 18th January 2009
Romans, not pushy? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!
Commented by jenb on the 20th February 2009
Can't believe this review would be about Romans in Reading or Tilehurst as they are ABSOLUTELY USELESS and caused me a LOT of pain: which Romans office did you deal with?
Reviewed by Neil on 28th September 2008
Services: Sales (as a Buyer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: UZD.SGG.UTZ.UDN
I brought my first property using Romans and I was very impressed with the whole service. I also used their conveyancing service which I found excellent. At every stage of the process I received email and text updates and I felt confident that they were following up for me. The sale completed very quickly thanks to dealing with professional people at every stage. I would highly recommend them.
Reviewed by sarah on 25th September 2008
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: 93Q.JB3.9VB.9B3
I have bought and sold several houses over the last few years and have been more than happy with romans, i will use them in the future , and will continue to reccomend them to others.
Reviewed by Adam on 4th September 2008
Services: Sales (as a Buyer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: 9Q3.9QV.JFQ.9FQ
Had more for sale than anyone else and were very polite and helpful certainly thebest in the area we were looking
Reviewed by James on 14th July 2008
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9M.UG7.S7Z.T7L
Absolutely disgraceful tenancy charges!! We had two seperate viewings in the Reading area and on both occasions the agent, knew next to nothing about the properties! The landlord of the second property did all the work for the agent.
The real killer though was being told that we had to pay 12 days as an admin fee (tenancy cost) which on a £1,500/month property plus VAT comes in at around £700+!!!! I see no justification for this whatsoever.
When questioned, Romans said this was for references, credit checks and drawing up of the contracts - most other agencies at most charged around £100 for this. Roman's would not give us a breakdown of this cost and were unable to explain why it had a direct relationship with the rental cost.
Avoid!!!
Commented by topcat on the 15th June 2009
Agree with this comment on the charges. We had 12 days too and it comes to a lot of cash for doing checks that they happily informed me were completed by Monday lunchtime (following my signature on Saturday 3pm)! There is an outrageous fee for extending the tenancy too of over £100. In my experience this usually involves a date change and a photocopy of the previous agreement. What a swiz.
Reviewed by CB on 30th June 2008
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: TUG.UGL.STG.TUN
Romans do nothing to change the bad impression that many people have of estate agents.
They employ dubious tactics in order to win the work initially, talking up their services and being overly optimistic on pricing and selling strategy, only to recommend substantial (10%) recommendations for a price reduction within weeks of the property going on the market, and again just a few weeks later. OK, it's a difficult market at the moment, but they're supposed to be the experts so how can they get it so wrong in such a short space of time.
They fail to keep you informed of progress (or lack of!) and don't even bother to notify you for almost a month when your contact leaves the branch.
Propsective viewers are allowed to simply disappear, whereas I would expect them to keep chasing in order to maintain a good level of interest from buyers.
We are now taking our business elsewhere.
Reviewed by SD on 27th June 2008
Services: Sales (as a Buyer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: JVB.JBX.9CF.9E3
Wouldn't use them again, they seemed completely lazy and very rude.
Reviewed by PK on 26th June 2008
Services: Sales (as a Buyer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: JVB.JBX.9CF.9E3
Truly appalling, found them arrogant and unprofessional.
Commented by vizzi on the 12th February 2009
same IP address as above mmm another agent i think with too much time, try getting on the phones and selling some houses.
Reviewed by Caversham on 7th June 2008
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 3PK.AWW.AWW.3BS
Reviewed by Happyone on 18th April 2008
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: 9FR.ERJ.9VX.9BQ
Got me a buyer where other agents had failed. Price was okay.
Reviewed by Bung1e on 15th April 2008
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: S9U.S9M.SMM.UMZ
I have had my house on the market with Romans for 2 weeks within the the 1st week they wanted me to drop the price buy over £30,000, which they said was the market being really bad!!!!!! I said no since then the agent still takes people around my house and they spend no more than 5 mins in my house. I am stuck in a 15 week contract trying very hard to get out of it. Oh for the record my house is only £189,950 so as you can tell £30,000 is a hell of alot. I will tell people not to use these cowboys, I can not believe I fell for their nice so call honest attitude.
Reviewed by Loopie-Lou on 26th January 2008
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: NDD.WB5.NDI.NI8
We have had our house on the market with Romans twice - first time gave us a very good story but they were total crap. They contacted us later on and asked for another chance to market the house - we were very clear what we expected to see improve service/marketing wise from them but, surprise, surprise, it was just the same as before, if not worse!
Would not recommend them at all - zero pro-activity, no contact or updates, don't follow up on viewings and don't provide feedback. Just completely rubbish.
Reviewed by Jokes on 17th January 2008
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9DU.577.5JE.RDC
Very very unproffesional. Their skills! Well what skills! Joke, they should really try n get a job they are good at!
Reviewed by samjay on 12th January 2008
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 70C.90E.70C.RMD
We tried selling our house through the Basingstoke branch of Romans. They begged for us to give them a chance and claimed that they could sell our house within a month, that was in Oct '07. We have just given them notice to come off their books Jan'08.
Be careful, they misinform you, 5 weeks into their trap they tell you that you have to reduce your asking price. They say that they accompany all viewings, but they don't infact it is policy for the vendor to do the viewings. The staff are rude and care only about the NVQ's that they have because this makes them fantastic.
I would NEVER recommend them nor would I purchase a property through them.
They are not estate agents but useless, lazy and rude individuals who expect to do nothing for thei commission but sitting on their backsides.
Commented by AngryfromHampshire on the 28th November 2008
Glad it's not just us.
In our opinion we found the Basingstoke office rude and unprofessional too. Suspect the problem is rife from the top down.
Commented by Angrymom on the 7th August 2009
If I had an to spare right now I'd right down every complaint I've had with the Tilehurst office from lettings to sales, they're unproffesional and rude, they have no idea how to deal with real people and only care about making money. I'm planning to take my issues with them a lot further after months of stress caused by them. They're just shocking and I would advise all to avoid.
Reviewed by Paul West on 12th January 2008
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: W0I.NS5.7R0.5XB
Fantastic valuer, kept everything simple, suggested a higher price than I expected and it sold at that price to, very proactive, very refreshing having previously dealt with another firm in Bracknell starting with P which was disapointing by comparison.
Reviewed by Thanks romans on 8th January 2008
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: RM0.4U7.0DC.047
What can I say, after being on the market for months with another agent I went to Romans and sold straight away.
Commented by ShaunMD on the 17th January 2008
Agent, try and get some real reviews! If you spent more time training then you might just be good enough burgars to ethiopians!!
Commented by Lucy on the 17th January 2008
to true, scum of the industry!!!!!!!!
Reviewed by nevermore on 1st November 2007
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 45X.50C.D05.B4H
I always have to chase them and they don't reply to my emails, don't return phone calls. I'd expect a much better service for £500 admin fees that we've paid.
Reviewed by sg1974 on 7th August 2007
Services: Sales (as a Buyer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 76L.21K.76L.21K
I TRIED to buy a property using them.....
I made an offer of 98% of the asking price on a house which was "refused". Another offer of 99% was also turned down. I declined to offer the requested 100% as I was already stretching.
Months later I successfully bought another smaller house on the same street. I bumped into the owner of the first house one day and the subject of his house sale came up. Turns out that he had not received details of my offers from Romans and would have accepted 98%.
We've both instructed lawyers.
PS - This is also the company prosecuted a couple of years ago for placing "SOLD" signs outside the properties of employees and friends.
Reviewed by Not Happy on 2nd August 2007
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 4DR.M0W.WEC.00U
Shame there isn't a section called "Sales- I tried to sell a property using them" because this is exactly what I did. Had a standard 16 week contract, they produced about 6 viewings for the entire contract, one of whom was an employee of the group! After the inital 5/6 weeks were up they basically gave up, kept pusing me to reduce the price drastically and failed to actively market the property - they were only interested if someone actually walked through the door and asked to view my property.
One person wanted a second viewing, initial appoinment cancelled and romans failed to make another appointment.
Also full of excuses - market very slow, lots of properties available etc etc etc.
Would not touch them with a bargepole ever again!
Reviewed by John on 3rd July 2007
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
No
IP address: 9DM.47B.0P3.MDR
Awful.
More like a marketing company than true estate agent. Only interested in numbers and figures and building a chain. If you are on the market with a different agent they won't touch you, meaning missing out on a property that is ideal.
Don't seem to care if they upset people, as so many fall in to the trap of seeing a lot of their boards and thinking they are the best... they are the exact opposite and i have heard countless other stories about them upsetting people.
Reviewed by aj on 2nd May 2007
Services: Conveyancing
Property: Residential
Experience: Would you use the agent again?
Yes
IP address: 09L.LFY.8DC.09L
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Estate Agent Information
Romans
Romans Estate Agents Limited is a leading Berkshire estate agency offering a wide range of services.
Offices / Branches
- Basingstoke (Hampshire)
- Bracknell (Berkshire)
- Camberley (Surrey)
- Crowthorne (Berkshire)
- Farnborough (Hampshire)
- Fleet (Hampshire)
- Reading (Berkshire)
- Sandhurst (Berkshire)
- Wokingham (Berkshire)
- Yateley (Hampshire)
Services
- Sales
- Lettings
- Surveys
- Conveyancing
Commented by Freddie on the 24th November 2009
Absolutely they are nothing but sharks
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