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		<title>AllAgents - Reviews of  simmons-sons</title> 
        <link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/rss/Simmons & Sons</link> 
        <description>Our philosophy is to offer a personal service at a senior level, to earn a trusted reputation for acting swiftly and accurately and to create a continuing relationship with our clients.</description><item>
		<title><![CDATA[30/11/2011 - DisappointedWithSimmons rated Simmons & Sons 1 star]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/simmons-sons/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[How this company are still in business I have no idea.  Rarely am I moved to write a bad review but sometimes a business crosses the line of incompetence by such an impressive margin, it needs to re recorded.  It seems there are a lot of people posting negative comments about this firm so my advice is to steer clear. 

I tried to rent a house through this company.  The process wasn't pleasant, they were difficult to get hold of and made me feel I was putting them out simply by inquiring.  

I did view the place and quickly made an offer which was accepted by the vendor.  I asked if I should come sign something or pay a deposit and was asked if I could do that later in the week as they were busy but was assured the place was mine and they wouldn't arrange viewings with anyone else.  A few days later, after trying to get hold of the agent, they informed me they had let the property to someone else, no apology, no explanation.  They were rude and got aggressive on the phone when I pointed out that they had accepted an offer from me.. Quite incredible.  

I was really annoyed as I quickly had to change plans in my old place and it caused some minor problems, however, I wasn't too put out - they are estate agents after all, no, it wasn't what they'd done but the way they spoke to me when I came back to them asking what had happened, a simple 'We're really sorry, these things happen' would have made thing fine with me.  I'm easy going and people make mistakes but they were just rude and really confrontational and made out it was my fault somehow.. incredible attitude.

This gets worse.  A work colleague was also renting a house via Simmons (she's not longer there thank goodness) and a few weeks after my experience, she was dropping something off at their office.  She has a baby in the back of the car and was dropping an envelope off.  She pulled into a parking space which turned out to be a 'staff parking' space, left the child and nipped in to give them the envelope - a member of Simmons staff arrives at the office and blocks her in.. My colleague apologised in that typical English way 'Terribly sorry, just dropping something off' and she received a verbal assault, she swore at her at her and really laid into her for taking her parking space!  She was only there for 2 minutes and was a customer!  She refused to shift her car until she'd been into the office for a couple of minutes then came out all surly and moved her car, my colleague was close to tears when she got back to work.  

Next up, I find another house for rent that is in the right location, again, through Simmons.  They were the only agent so I had no choice but to call them, and to be fair, being an optimist I decide that perhaps the experience so far is isolated and down to one bad apple - lets hope!  I viewed the property and said I would like to take it but politely reminded them that last time they had let me down after accepting an offer and asked if they would do this again - I was making the point in a half jokey, half serious way but wanted to make sure they weren't going to string me along and leave me homeless. They then tell me they will refuse to rent a house to me and wont pass an offer to the owner.. hardly in the Owners interest and was purely a childish response because they realised I was the one who had the neck to complain a couple of months earlier about them.  I was moved almost to laughter at this, fortunately, it's a small world and I happened to know the owners through the local network and I got in touch and put them in the picture.  They ditched Simmons and I rented the place, not through Simmons of course.

This has been my experience and I'd like to think that it's just a bad apple in Basingstoke but the mention of Simmons in a pub or local village fete will bring stories of all sorts of negative experiences people seem to have had.  I can only suggest steering clear, there are other really good alternatives and if anyone from Simmons is reading this, and I hope you are, my advice is to change jobs, dealing with the public is not your thing.<br />This person would not use Simmons & Sons again.]]></description></item><item>
		<title><![CDATA[10/9/2011 - sandra white rated Simmons & Sons 5 stars]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/simmons-sons/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[I've used the lettings department of Simmons in Basingstoke for a number of years now and I've always found them to be professional and efficient. They've just relet my property in Kempshott without any gap and with minimium fuss.

Simmons have offered me a huge amount of help over the last few years with regards to renting and maintaining my house. The service has been excellent and I would not hesitate to use them again and would recommend their services to other potential landlords.<br />This person would use Simmons & Sons again.]]></description></item><item>
		<title><![CDATA[2/9/2011 - Very unhappy rated Simmons & Sons 1 star]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/simmons-sons/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[We were ready to rent the most expensive house Simmons and Sons had at that moment. However, even though we loved the house, we were forced to withdraw our interest on the day our Agreement was meant to be signed, due to the agent's unprofessional, negligent and very rude attitude.,Â 
The agent was very unmotivated from the start. Never called us back and we had to chase her up for everything. Did not pay attention when we told her our requirements for the property, which caused unpleasant misunderstandings. Expected us to sign the Agreement without putting in essential additional clauses, and when we kept correcting her mistakes had the audacity to tell us off for having &quot;so many demands&quot;! In the end she never got it right, looked like she just did not want to do any work. She arranged for an appointment with us, so we made plans to be at the house only to find out that she changed it without even letting us know. She did not even apologised for that! We heard previous tenant say that she had maintenance issues with the house that were not fixed. When we raised the issue with the agent, she told us that &quot;the lady had personal issues&quot;. After I heard her say the same about me to a contractor! I was shocked at the arrogance this woman possessed! This was the last straw. We did not want to deal with this agent throughout our tenancy, so we pulled out, even though it meant losing a substantial deposit.<br />This person would not use Simmons & Sons again.]]></description></item><item>
		<title><![CDATA[19/7/2011 - Sue rated Simmons & Sons 1 star]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/simmons-sons/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[We used the Basingstoke branch to rent our property out whilst we lived overseas - when we moved back the property was handed back in a filthy state. 2 years later we decided to sell our property (thankfully not through Simmons) and to move into rented accommodation. Our misfortune was Simmons at the time were the only agent who had a property that met our requirements so we went with them. What a mistake that was! In the first week of moving in we reported a number of issues. We were concerned about the electrics and they sent an electrician around who advised us the electrics installed by the owner posed a fire hazard, so we asked for a full report to be carried out. Simmons refused to show us the finding saying there were a few issues but nothing to be concerned about. We went 8 months without using the shower in the main bathroom as we didn't want to risk being electrocuted!  When we asked for the floor tiles in the bathrooms to be fixed and after sending 4 people around to quote, the LL refused to repair them so Simmons did nothing. In the winter we suffered 2 burst water pipes as the LL had ran pipes into the garden without lagging them and again, Simmons did nothing to resolve the issue and we got lumbered with the water bill. The toilet leaked and they didnâ€™t repair it so we had to pay for it to be fixed. The curtains were filthy so we paid for them to be cleaned. After 8 months we'd had enough of dealing with both a useless LL and Simmons and vacated. We left the property in a cleaner state than it had been rented to us in and they had the cheek to charge us for additional cleaning of the carpets (they were 20yrs+ old, worn and stained) even after we had cleaned them and to repaint the hall after we touched up a few scuff marks! No attempt was made by Simmons to resolve faults with the property or to reimburse us. The house should never have been rented in the first place. Avoid using them!!! Absolutely useless!.<br />This person would not use Simmons & Sons again.]]></description></item><item>
		<title><![CDATA[27/4/2011 - Jen1201 rated Simmons & Sons 1 star]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/simmons-sons/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[
We used the Henley branch in our search for a property, they were utterly hopeless. Never sent us updates, weren't interested whatsoever. We had £2million to spend so not an insubstantial amount! They also fibbed about the size of a property on the details and manipulated the plans. We have considered reporting them to the ombudsman. Ben Walpole was our "supposed" agent - he was lazy, bored and not at all motivated.



We used the Henley branch in our search for a property, they were utterly hopeless. Never sent us updates, weren't interested whatsoever. We had £2million to spend so not an insubstantial amount! They also fibbed about the size of a property on the details and manipulated the plans. We have considered reporting them to the ombudsman. ******* was our "supposed" agent - he was lazy, bored and not at all motivated.

Admin note: Agent's name has been removed.<br />This person would not use Simmons & Sons again.]]></description></item><item>
		<title><![CDATA[18/9/2010 - mdmd rated Simmons & Sons 1 star]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/simmons-sons/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Awful, useless and ignorant agency, full of lie, they were not helpful at all.<br />This person would not use Simmons & Sons again.]]></description></item><item>
		<title><![CDATA[4/7/2010 - michael Bruce rated Simmons & Sons 5 stars]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/simmons-sons/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Excellent. Large number of potential purchasers shown property within very short timescale. Prompt attention to to messages.<br />This person would use Simmons & Sons again.]]></description></item><item>
		<title><![CDATA[3/7/2010 - Terry Winsor rated Simmons & Sons 5 stars]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/simmons-sons/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Ben Walpole at Henley branch of Simmons & Sons was friendly, efficient and achieved our desired selling price in a matter of days. Excellent service all round and highly recommended. <br />This person would use Simmons & Sons again.]]></description></item><item>
		<title><![CDATA[2/7/2010 - susan Daniell rated Simmons & Sons 5 stars]]></title>
		<link>http://www.allagents.co.uk/simmons-sons/</link>
		<description><![CDATA[Very proactive and moved things along quickly.<br />This person would use Simmons & Sons again.]]></description></item>
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