Connells Estate Agents Poole Dorset. Having had the very unpleasant experience of having to purchase a property through them I feel it necessary to outline how unprofessional and untrustworthy they are. Now at this point I know what you're thinking, "Estate Agents, untrustworthy, surly not?" well I am afraid to say it is true, some of them I have met are good but these are not. Now before I rant on I would like to outline this one amazing fact that I discovered. Throughout the process of buying and selling a home you are in contact with various different professionals that have either gone to university or have a professional qualification. For example, The solicitor, surveyor, searches, the boiler man & electrician you get around to check things over, even a painter and decorator can have a professional qualification, all that is except… the estate agent! The people who price and sell the properties do so with no other qualification other than the ability to hold keys and operate a lock, some do have a qualification in the form of a driving license, which is yet more proof that they can successfully use a key! Firstly. Buying your dream home is meant to be a happy business, however Connells managed to suck all the happiness from the entire process with the efficiency of a health and safety executive an amusement park. Throughout the entire process I have felt bullied, lied to and even conned into taking a mortgage through them. I have been made to jump through hoops and held to ransom over my property. Secondly. And this is my favourite bit! After being forced to see their financial advisor and have it heavily insinuated that if we didn't get our mortgage through them we would loose the property (they were very careful with this point knowing that they can't actually say "you have to go through us or else") they then tried to charge us £400 for the privilege of setting up the mortgage. Knowing for a fact that all financial advice is free at the point of contact and mortgage brokers get paid from the provider, they are in affect getting paid twice to do the same job. I especially enjoyed the fact that it was positioned as a "Life Time Membership" for "Free" financial advice. Personally for £400 I would be in there every weekend until my £400 pound cost is covered by the amount of coffee that I would consume. Lastly. When I came to sell my flat (before all of the above happened) I invited Connells along to give them the opportunity to market my property. The lady came around in her car, "good start" I thought, she had a look around and was very nice and complementary (it was a great and unique flat), we had a chat and I told her how much equity we had in the property, she then proceed to value the property £6k under our current mortgage balance. I reiterated that that would put us in negative equity but she seemed oblivious to this fact, so I got out my pen and paper and drew her a nice diagram, this didn't seem to work so I drew her a lovely flower and said she could take it home. She then proceeded to phone me twice a week until I said we are going with someone else, and then right on the 6-month mark, she was back on the phone again. We eventually sold for £16k over her estimate. Undervaluing properties is a sure fire way of selling properties quickly and is also a sign of a struggling estate agents! So there you have it, in short only use Connells Estate Agents in Poole Dorset if you absolutely have to and don't listen to any of their twaddle!!!