“AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!!...”
1 Star Review
Dec 10,2019
By:
'Vikki'
Dec 10,2019
Branch: Wallington, 77d Manor Road
Services: Sales (as a Vendor)
Sold price: £247500
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: SM6
Branch: Wallington, 77d Manor Road
Sales (as a Vendor)
Sold price: £247500
Postcode: SM6
5
people found
this helpful
AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!!
If I could give no stars I would.
If you’re serious about selling your property, use another agent!! We actually ended up opening a case with The Property Ombudsman regarding Cromwells (Wallington Branch) and was compensated for Cromwells failings. I must point out that Cromwells Wallington Branch is in no way affiliated with the other Cromwells Estate Agent branches – why? We don’t actually know. When we asked Amanda, Director at Cromwells (Wallington) her response was ‘why Cromwells Wallington is a stand-alone agent is a fact not a concern’. I only found this out because I phoned another branch to see if we could move our sale to them to progress.
In brief:
They advise their fees include floor-plan/professional photos - They used an old floor-plan (which was inaccurate) and oversaturated the photos.
We wanted to do all first viewings – They tagged a first viewing onto a 2nd viewing we couldn’t do.
Our property was left unlocked and light(s) left on following a surveyor visit.
They didn’t financially qualify our first buyer. We didn’t find out until we chased three months after accepting the offer.
We raised several complaints throughout, which were either ignored or dismissed.
We were offered an un-ethical resolution, which tried to turn around on us later down the line; saying it was our suggestion due to my husband’s profession.
They never updated us unless we chased, and when we did chase, we were accused of harassment!
They provide mis-leading, confusing information. I often had to clarify what they’d told me with the agent selling our onward property to us; Cubitt and West, who actually provided more advice and guidance to us than the agent we were paying! A lot of the time, Cubitt and West were under the same impression as us, from the updates Cromwells had given, yet we (us and Cubitt and West) had apparently misunderstood what they had told us!
N.B. We cannot recommend Cubitt and West highly enough for their services.
Cromwells attempted to turn every complaint we made, back on us. Twisting the facts and making lame excuses for their failings:
> The incorrect floor-plan – apparently, we had a corner bath in a 1-bed maisonette bathroom!
> Mitzi’s attitude – apparently this was a clash of personality and she’s fantastic.
> Lack of financial qualification – This was the buyer’s fault because he was naïve.
> The un-ethical resolution was apparently our suggestion because of my husband’s profession
> Amanda’s unprofessional, rude attitude towards me was apparently me ‘mis-understanding’ her ‘firm delivery of facts’
> The failure to reach exchange with our first buyer was apparently because we accepted a higher offer from another buyer (nothing to do with the fact that we’d attempted exchange several times and it was never going to happen) For the record, the ‘higher offer’ was £500 more; not a significant amount when you’re dealing with hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Note how Amanda's responses to other people's negative reviews on google reviews, is to ask if they've got the right office and they're not mistaking them for another branch - remember how I said they're not affiliated with other Cromwells branches, if the blame shifts to another branch, it doesn't affect them as they're stand-alone...
I also found out after instructing them, that a family member had a similar situation with them some ten years ago – how long are they going to get away with this behaviour?
What should have been a quick, easy chain; a buyer for us, our probate onward property, that was it, dragged on for 7 months! Imagine if we hadn’t chased! The Ombudsman complaint has taken a further 6 months, due to, yet again, Cromwells’ constant denial of any responsibility.
To be honest, the list goes on and on and I can’t be bothered with giving them anymore of my time, but this is the gist.
If you still choose to use them; I honestly wish you the very best of luck.
5
people found
this helpful
Was this helpful?
Yes