As first time buyers we were sold a house that cost us £14000 in essential repairs 4 yrs after moving in. There's a massive long list of essential repairs we had to do, many worrying because the property was formerly rented. They shoulder-shrugged when I asked if they looked after other properties for the same landlord who sold our home. The sorts of problems I'm talking about are serious - they could have resulted in real injury, brain damage, or death of the tenants who occupied the property before us, but they are clever: they've made sure there's always someone else that can be blamed whilst they cover themselves against accountability. At the time, we had no leg to stand on to hold *anyone* accountable, such is the law. Yet more details have come to light in the last year or two. The person who sold us our home quit Town & Country within a year afterwards. Bad ethics in the treatment of staff and customers seems to have been the reason. Apparently, our story is not alone. Locally, the company is earning quite the legend as many buyers have gone through what we have gone through. I've since also met another employee who had the same bad opinion of the company's ethics - both in the treatment of staff and customers. In particular locals seem to notice that they have a high turnover of staff. This other ex-employee explained that she (and several other people) were offered 1 yr contracts on low pay with a promise of permanency that never seemed to materialise. Also, that employee recognised the name of our home's former owner as someone T&C have many dealing with, because he lets many properties through them. Add all these things together, there's no way they weren't complicit in his schemes, feigning ignorance to buyers and dumping them with the consequences. We were first time buyers and together they completely took us for a ride. We think the surveyor tried to help Town & Country sell houses more than he tried to advocate for our benefit. He wasn't a bad guy, but he did know we were relying solely on him for support and advice. I have to ask myself: would he have written the same report for one of his kids if they'd looked to buy the place? Never again will we trust a surveyor recommended by an estate agent. We trusted them and they took advantage of us. Everyone involved knew we were first time buyers with no trades experience and no friends or family to lean on for support. T&C has a lot of great reviews, so we were utterly shocked and horrified by our experience. Now I understand better: this branch is likely living off the good name of others, and using that good rep to get away with what they do. We've felt so betrayed, so helpless... Only now, years later, is any evidence we might have used against them coming to light. I don't think we'll ever get anyone to testify on our behalf though - one thing T&C Westbury seem to be good at, is intimidation.