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		<title>AllAgents - Reviews of  hurst-estate-agents</title> 
        <link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/rss/Hurst Estate Agents</link> 
        <description>Hurst Estate Agents was founded in Aylesbury in 1993 and quickly established itself as the areas leading agent. Since then they have stayed ahead of their competitors by offering a better quality of service and a larger range of services including Lettings and Property Management.</description><item>
		<title><![CDATA[3/4/2012 - MrsJones rated Hurst Estate Agents 1 star]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/hurst-estate-agents/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I used Hurst Estate Agents in High Wycombe to sell my house last year.  I wish I had found out about this website before hand.  I met with one of their sales guys and agreed for them to take on the sale (after meeting with one other agent), we agreed a fee of 1.5% + Vat to include all except EPC (which I already had).  I was sent the agent agreement for signing.  Within ½ hour of sending back the signed agreement I received a call from their floor plan people requesting my credit card details for payment – needless to say I referred them back to Hurst. Shortly afterwards I received a call by the sales guy at Hurst saying “oh, yes I forgot to mention that extra cost” to which I replied that I wasn’t happy with and would change to the other agent I met unless they could cover the floor plan cost.  I was then, very aggressively, told that as I had signed the agency agreement (only ½ hour before) I was now tied into a sole agency agreement and even if someone else sold the house I would still need to pay Hurst.  After having a very robust conversation where I told Hurst that I would not be intimidated and they had changed the contract by adding charges, they backed down.  It didn’t get any better from then on.

Within 2 weeks I received 2 offers on the house (April 2011).  To cut a long story short the “miscommunication” that I received, among other many other issues, was shocking.  I had tenants in the house and wanted to give them their 2 month notice only after the survey had been done, so “agreed” with the buyer that we would have an August completion date but if the tenant was to leave earlier then I would like to bring forward completion.  Fine, I was told.  It was only when my tenants did give notice (1 month) in late May that Hurst then told me that the completion date couldn’t come forward because the buyers were not able to get a mortgage before August.  From May to end of June (when I finally gave an ultimatum) the story as to why we couldn’t complete until August changed 3 times.  By end of June I had an empty property and was getting very concerned about the state of the sale.  I felt deep down that the buyer was probably genuine but the dishonesty and incompetence of Hurst was seriously muddying the waters.  At the end of June I gave an ultimatum to exchange contracts or I would pull out, it was then I discovered that the buyer’s father had contacted Hurst to demand that Hurst stop hassling the buyer as she was getting stressed out – quite what Hurst were doing I do not know but as this was a no chain either side sale it should not have been stressful for anyone – Hurst had made it stressful for me and, it now turned out, also for the buyer.  

We did finally exchange in July 2011 and complete in August.  I felt so angry about the service I had received from Hurst that I wanted to complain but discovered that they are not registered with the Property Ombudsman.  I wish I had known about this website then. I didn't take it further at the time as I was pregnant and didn't want to create additional stress to myself, plus they had actually delivered a sale (although very badly) so legally I wasn't in a position to challenge their fees.

I am now in the process of selling the house I live in and my experience with Hurst has discoloured my view of high street estate agents so much that I am selling this house through Housenetwork.co.uk so I can have direct contact with the buyers and eliminate the risk of cowboys increasing the stress levels.  By the way, so far my experience with housenetwork has been very good. Please save yourself the stress of moving house by avoiding Hurst Estate Agents, High Wycombe.<br />This person would not use Hurst Estate Agents again.]]></description></item><item>
		<title><![CDATA[25/2/2012 - VT rated Hurst Estate Agents 1 star]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/hurst-estate-agents/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Don't use Hurst Estate Agents!  We put an offer in on a property and were accepted.  Hurst Estate Agents then happily took a 'holding fee' from us of 400 (this was to cover a standard referencing fee - only 150 more than other agents ask!).  Hurst then used a third party company who apparently wouldn't offer an insurance service on us (something that none of my family, all of whom have rented in the past had heard of).  On this basis our holding fee was taken by Hurst and we lost the property.  My partner was able to cover the rent alone, and we were given a number of excuses including that we weren't married.  We offered a years rental up front, but Hurst were apparently unwilling to accept this.  We were told that it was the landlady who had declined our offer although with the very poor communication I doubt they ever put our offer forward.  They delayed our viewing of the property for almost two weeks and I suspect took their fictional 'holding fee' off a number of other potential prospective customers.  We found Hurst to be rude, unhelpful, uncommunicative and a total con.  Avoid them -  Hurst Estate Agents should not be allowed to continue in business.  We also found unsurprisingly that they are not a  company registered with the Property Ombudsman.<br />This person would not use Hurst Estate Agents again.]]></description></item><item>
		<title><![CDATA[9/9/2011 - Never again! rated Hurst Estate Agents 1 star]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/hurst-estate-agents/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[From day one this agent was dishonest, unreliable, rude, unfriendly and extremely unhelpful! They repeatedly failed to communicate with us as tenants or the landlord regarding issues with the property which eventually resulted in us having to contact the landlord directly. In addition, whenever i spoke to them (when i eventually got hold of somebody!), they were not very helpful and the lettings manager was often rude and patronising.

When it came to moving out, they added extra moving out fees which were not stipulated in any documentation or on their website. e.g. they wanted to charge to provide a reference for our new property. We were never made aware of this and when i called them to let them know and ask for the charge to be removed, they simply responded with 'you either pay it or we don't provide the reference and you can't move into your new home'.............is that their idea of customer service???!!!! Then, to make matters worse, the inventory clerk did not turn up for the final inventory and although they new about this, it took for me to contact THEM half an hour after they were due to turn up, just to be told 'oh yes, unfortunately the inventory clerk is no longer able to make it'!! I was then just told that it would have to be re-arranged for another time with no apology or offer of a reduction on the charge, which is 85 + VAT.........what exactly were we paying for?!

All in all, we had an extremely disappointing experience with this agent and would never use them again in the future. In fact, when we were looking to move, we purposely avoided any properties that were on their books, even if they matched our criteria!!<br />This person would not use Hurst Estate Agents again.]]></description></item><item>
		<title><![CDATA[17/2/2011 - next time i'll camp rated Hurst Estate Agents 1 star]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/hurst-estate-agents/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[
Absolute, dishonest money grabbers. They don't inform you in advance of continuing fees, or check out fees, totally unorganised, supremely unhelpful if there is a problem with the property or landlord. Threatning manner if you have the audacity to question them ... don't expect to get all of your deposit back no matter what you do, or what they don't...this is not my first rental but by far the worst, DO NOT use these people they are awful and I wouldnt go back to them if my life depended on it. 



They don't inform you in advance of continuing fees, or check out fees, totally unorganised, supremely unhelpful if there is a problem with the property or landlord. Threatening manner if you have the audacity to question them ... don't expect to get all of your deposit back no matter what you do, or what they don't... this is not my first rental but by far the worst. Do not use these people they are awful and I wouldn't go back to them if my life depended on it.<br />This person would not use Hurst Estate Agents again.]]></description></item><item>
		<title><![CDATA[19/2/2010 - debo rated Hurst Estate Agents 1 star]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/hurst-estate-agents/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[The biggest buch of cowboys I've ever delt with. Should be called Hurst second hand car sales.<br />This person would not use Hurst Estate Agents again.]]></description></item>
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