Macfie & Co
Glasgow, G42
1.6/5, 14 reviews
21% recommended
0% lettings valuation accuracy
50% lettings fee satisfaction



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“Until we sacked them in 2012 MacFie and Co had been ......”

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Aug 04,2013
Minithumbdown
By: 'Graham'
Aug 04,2013
26 people found
this helpful
Until we sacked them in 2012 MacFie and Co had been the factor of our city centre building since at least 1988. In those 25 years, despite an annual income of thousands of pounds from residents of our building for 'admin fees' and minor repairs no-one could locate, their most substantial work was the replacement of a front door two years ago ¢â‚¬â€œ and that was only done under duress when a series of break-ins brought in the police.

They didn't maintain the exterior of the building, had never decorated the close interior, failed to replace missing drainpipes and gutters letting water pour off roofs onto walls and spread dampness. Their management of the roof itself was woeful to say the least. When I questioned the roofers on one of their rare visits I learned that in the last 10 years they'd only been looking at one part of it - the building is on a corner - and had never maintained the other part, letting vegetation grow and slates remain unreplaced because they'd never had proper guidance from MacFie. A company making this mistake once could be forgiven, but consistently over 10 years while still billing for work that wasn't being carried out was bordering on the fraudulent. It is evidence of how little engagement MacFie have with both owners and contractors.

Gorbals Housing Association assessed the building in 2009 and noted at least £60,000 worth of repairs were required to bring it up to standard.

In short MacFie provided no service whatsoever yet were never incompetent when it came to requesting or chasing residual payments. In terms of customer service I'd say it was non-existent. They were defensive and evasive both over the phone and in correspondence, demonstrating a lack of basic customer service skills. Years of accruing payments for no work had made them indolent and self-entitled, as though their customers had no choice but to tolerate them

They got quite a shock when we showed we did have a choice and served them notice.

If you are thinking of using MacFie as your building's factor - don't unless you want your building run into the ground.

If MacFie is still your factor all of the above will be familiar to you. Do what we did. Get rid of them and replace them with a better company. Which would be any other company.
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By: Robert boland
Dec 05, 2019
The above brings back memories ,in the 90,s owned a flat in Queen's Park,one incident that stands out was one of there tenants complained to them about the smell from the flat on the same landing ,macfie rather than confront the offending tenant directly,,decided to send a copy of the complainers letter to the other letter,I was privy to all this ,as being in the same close the grapevine is palapable,upshot was the aggrieved tenant decided to challenge the complainer to a fight,only my intervention saved a rather ugly scene,,the above is not to mention there ridiculous way of operating,
By: Pauline
Oct 14, 2014
Graham, I would be extremely keen to learn of how you went about serving notice and getting a new factor who does the job they're paid to do. My building currently has Macfie as factors and they are awful to deal with. Any help on how we could get rid of them and appoint a better company would be much appreciated.
By: David
Jul 19, 2014
The Code of Conduct for Property Factors requires "property factors have clear procedures to deal with non-payment situations and take action as early as possible to prevent them from developing into a problem"

MacFie & Co failed at this task and non-payment did become a problem; one which apparently incurred your company substantial/unrecoverable arrears.

If you felt unable to sufficiently manage and maintain the property (for whatever reason), I assume you clearly stated as such and terminated the contract? Did this happen or did you continue until shown the door, knowing you were unable to provide an effective service, yet still collecting fees?

The opportunity cost of not stepping aside to let someone else more capable manage the building (and residents) is apparent in terms of both money and satisfaction - as evidently neither the tasks required, nor client expectations, have been dealt with.

The reason for NOT continuing is because a conflict of interest emerges; a factor is unable to act impartially on behalf of residents when further work may incur his company losses. The notion of persevering for years out of goodness of your hearts "to turn the situation around" appears suspect, no, I'd hasten it's lucrative to be paid to factor a property where the residents are supposedly blocking even the most basic of tasks you'd be in charge of administrating.

None of the specific points raised in the original post were addressed in a reply which appeared only as an attempt to defer blame. This substantiates the accusation of evasiveness, and smacks of contempt- presenting a subjective summary, concluding no fault on your part; then congratulating your previous clients for getting their affairs - ones which you were paid to manage - in order.

Customer handling 101 - fail; if anyone is traducing the name of their firm...it's you.
By: John Walker, Director of Macfie & Co.
May 28, 2014
Rather than explore the extensive files in relation to this particular property, it might be more straight-forward to examine the essence of the relationship between Factor and Client and how that relationship did not work in this case.

In short, it is the responsibility of collective owners to provide the Factor with sufficient instruction and funding to undertake common repairs. It is not the Factor's responsibility to undertake a major repairs project in the hope that the costs would somehow be recoverable following completion.

Within the backdrop of continual arrears in this building, it became progressively more difficult to persuade the proprietors of the block to fund even the most basic repairs. From my own experience of the property, this culture was prevalent for over twenty years, which would perhaps account for the state the building eventually fell into.

Far from electing to leave the collective owners 'in the lurch', we continued in our appointment (accruing substantial and, in some cases, irrecoverable arrears) and attempted to achieve a turn-around. This obviously proved fruitless.

While it pleases me to hear that the proprietors have finally accepted their responsibilities, I am unable to accept the blame for any of the complaints detailed within the review.

Before traducing the name of my firm on the internet, it might have been more advisable to look closer to home in terms of identifying the source of the longstanding difficulties.

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Opening Hours
Address

Macfie & Co
5 Cathkinview Road
Glasgow
City of Glasgow
G42 9EA
0141 632 5588

Performance statistics
Services Valuation Accuracy Fees Satisfaction Min Price of property reviewed Max Price of property reviewed
Lettings 0% 50% £0 £0
Review statistics
From Landlords From Tenants From Vendors From Buyers Other
0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 9
Areas covered
Services offered
  • Sales
  • Lettings
  • Block Management
  • Surveys
  • Conveyancing
  • Mortgage Advice
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“the best factors i have come across in 2023...”

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Oct 12,2023
Minithumbup
Sharon
By: 'Vincent (1-2-Let)'
Oct 12,2023
0 people found
this helpful
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“Great Service....”

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Dec 05,2021
Minithumbup
Max
By: 'F Cardle'
Dec 05,2021
0 people found
this helpful
I cannot thank Sharon, and earlier on Max, for their kind, timeous and helpful responses to getting our ceiling fixed promptly after it fell in due to water ingress from the flat above. They arranged for Colvie Joiners to do the work. Colin, Andy and ...
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“Awful...”

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Sep 12,2019
Minithumbdown
Mary
By: 'David'
Sep 12,2019
13 people found
this helpful
Absolute charlatans. I have had to sell my property in Cathcart because of these cowboys. Pillage you for money and do nothing. Please please please if anyone reads this do not touch this company with a barge poll. I would even consider not buying a ...
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“Rude and Uninterested...”

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Feb 14,2019
Minithumbdown
By: 'Angry'
Feb 14,2019
8 people found
this helpful
Spoke to Jan in relation to factoring issue. She was so rude and uninterested all she kept replying was 'hmmmmm' She repeated information that I already knew and wouldn't provide any update. Jan then began to raise her voice and wouldn't let sentences be said ...
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“Cowboys, con-artists and horrible people to deal with. I will ......”

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Aug 16,2017
Minithumbdown
John
By: 'DREW'
Aug 16,2017
15 people found
this helpful
Cowboys, con-artists and horrible people to deal with. I will be reporting this company to BBC Panorama's Rogue Traders. Taking funds for doing nothing. They are allowing a listed building within Glasgow City Centre to fall to the ground. After a whole year since I ...
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Comment on agent fees
AWFUL, CON ARTISTS. Never use them, absolute cowboys ripping people off.
Was this helpful? Yes

“One of the worst companys to deal with; I have ......”

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Aug 14,2017
Minithumbup
By: 'DISGRUNTLED'
Aug 14,2017
9 people found
this helpful
One of the worst companys to deal with; I have been waiting for months for a copy of the Minutes that were taken back in June for Hillside & Hillfoot in Houston Renfrewshire. I have been dealing with Joanne Graham whom was going to send me ...
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Comment on agent fees
BAD
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By: Gary Gemmell
Oct 31, 2021
View all comments (1)
I had to deal with these cowboys when i owned a flat in a communal block and they were a joke sending in cowboy after cowboy i eventually had to go to court when i refused to pay £50 for them supplying 10 light bulbs they never even installed them just left them in a box in the communal cupboard - terrible customer service! ...

“Absolutely awful level of service. Paying a management fee for ......”

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Nov 27,2016
Minithumbdown
By: 'The'
Nov 27,2016
9 people found
this helpful
Absolutely awful level of service. Paying a management fee for absolutely nothing. They weren't even interested when i complained to them. Total lack of respect for their customers....
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Comment on agent fees
£30 per quarter is fine if they do anything for their money. It's a rip off with MacFie because they do nothing. They struggle to reply to emails, get invoices correct or even get quotes for work required on the building.
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“I came to know about this agency through a recommendation ......”

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Jul 01,2016
Minithumbdown
By: 'Disappointed'
Jul 01,2016
9 people found
this helpful
I came to know about this agency through a recommendation from a waiter at a café who I told I was looking for a flat in Glasgow. When I visited their website I found a property I liked and so I contacted the agency and ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Never got this far...
Attached Filesnbsp;
Comment on agent fees
Never got this far...
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“The reviews here are depressingly familiar, echoing my own experience ......”

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Oct 08,2014
Minithumbdown
Graeme
By: 'Clive'
Oct 08,2014
17 people found
this helpful
The reviews here are depressingly familiar, echoing my own experience of living in a tenement building "managed" by MacFie & Co. For some years now, all attempts to get common repairs and close maintenance sorted have been stalled by MacFie's inability to gather funds and/or ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
They could have provided the service for which they are paid.
Attached Filesnbsp;
Attachments

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“I currently pay over £500 per year for building's insurance with ......”

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Sep 08,2014
Minithumbdown
By: 'Owner'
Sep 08,2014
12 people found
this helpful
I currently pay over £500 per year for building's insurance with Macfie and Co, which went up by almost £100 from the previous year, this is for a one bedroomed flat. Was that the best quote that you could find, or the one that offered the best ...
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“Until we sacked them in 2012 MacFie and Co had been ......”

Share on :
Aug 04,2013
Minithumbdown
By: 'Graham'
Aug 04,2013
26 people found
this helpful
Until we sacked them in 2012 MacFie and Co had been the factor of our city centre building since at least 1988. In those 25 years, despite an annual income of thousands of pounds from residents of our building for 'admin fees' and minor repairs no-one could locate, ...
read full review
Was this helpful? Yes
By: Robert boland
Dec 05, 2019
View all comments (4)
The above brings back memories ,in the 90,s owned a flat in Queen's Park,one incident that stands out was one of there tenants complained to them about the smell from the flat on the same landing ,macfie rather than confront the offending tenant directly,,decided to send a copy of the complainers letter to the other letter,I was privy to all this ,as being in the same close the grapevine is palapable,upshot was the aggrieved tenant decided to challenge the complainer to a fight,only my int ...

“These guys are complete cowboys, maintained our property however did ......”

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May 20,2013
Minithumbdown
By: 'Scott'
May 20,2013
15 people found
this helpful
These guys are complete cowboys, maintained our property however did not do anything for the upkeep of the building, intercom system had been broken for 10 years eventually we sacked them as paying them a mangement for them to do nothing....
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Was this helpful? Yes
By: John Walker, Director of Macfie & Co.
May 29, 2014
View all comments (1)
Given that we only managed one property in the G5 area, I suspect this refers to the property which was the subject of a more recent posting by Graham Watson, to whom I have replied. I would apply that response here. ...

“MacFie & Co are not only incompetent, they intimidate and threaten ......”

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Apr 07,2012
Minithumbdown
John
By: 'Oskar'
Apr 07,2012
24 people found
this helpful
MacFie & Co are not only incompetent, they intimidate and threaten court action, seek to charge for work that is never completed, overcharge for horrendously poor quality work that is, and enforce ridiculous maintenance schedules designed purely to line their own and their chosen contractors' pockets. ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Their job.
Attached Filesnbsp;
Was this helpful? Yes
By: John Walker, Director of Macfie & Co.
May 29, 2014
View all comments (3)
Thank you for taking the time to reply. The candour of this response is most welcome. I hope to have the opportunity of speaking with you directly with regard to any currently outstanding matters. ...

“Warning:Stay away from macfie & co unless you want to ......”

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Apr 01,2012
Minithumbdown
Joanne
By: 'Just'
Apr 01,2012
24 people found
this helpful
Warning: Stay away from macfie & co unless you want to spend a lifetime receiving overcharged bills & court threats for substandard work. Completely unprofessional and overpriced. Macfie have a handful of below par tradesmen to which they exploit fr maximum profit.... At your cost! Shop around ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
THESE PEOPLE COULDN'T DO ANYTHING TO CHANGE MY MIND AFTER ALMOST 2 DECADES OF OVERCHARGING, COURT THREATS, TERRIBLE MAINTENANCE PRACTICE, DISGUSTING PHONE MANNER, PREHISTORIC BUSINESS PRACTICES.. DISGUSTING & OUTRAGEOUS THAT THESE PEOPLE ARE STILL IN BUSINESS
Attached Filesnbsp;
Was this helpful? Yes
By: John Walker, Director of Macfie & Co.
May 29, 2014
View all comments (1)
Albeit, this entry dates from over two years ago (and perhaps tellingly coincides with a similarly-worded post), I would invite this complainant to either identify themselves on this forum or speak to me direct in order that I may provide an appropriate response. ...
No fees information available
Kindly note that legally, letting agents need to publish information about their tenancy fees, government-approved redress schemes and client money protection schemes on their website and on third party websites (on which agents are listed). For properties to lease/rent in England, agents need to keep this information up to date and precise on allAgents or specify within the property description.

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Awards won by Macfie & Co, Glasgow G42 9EA



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