“Proper cowboys!We had the misfortune of buying through Central ......”
1 Star Review
Feb 11,2015
By:
'Tom'
Feb 11,2015
Branch: London, 179 Hoe Street
Services: Sales (as a Buyer)
Sold price: £700000
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: E17
Branch: London, 179 Hoe Street
Sales (as a Buyer)
Sold price: £700000
Postcode: E17
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Proper cowboys!
We had the misfortune of buying through Central Estates recently. Unfortunately they're almost unavoidable, as they're popular with vendors in the area. Their success is perhaps in no small part due to the unscrupulous practice they employ to make sales. We ended up having to deal with them on 3 properties, as our 2 earlier purchases fell through and everything we wanted to go for was on their books.
Our first attempt was perhaps the most infuriating. James, the agent, told us the first accepted buyer was not able to get funds together and their purchase was falling through, so the property was back on the market. In addition to this he also lied to us about the original accepted asking price, adding 30K to what we can now see the property went for (on the Land Registry). We had an offer accepted, instructed a solicitor, and booked a survey only to be told a month in that the first buyers weren't having issues after all and our agreed offer wasn't valid anymore. We later heard that 'contract chasing', or accepting a number of offers simultaneously to hedge their bets on a sale, is something Central are known for!!
When we finally were in the closing stages of property no. 3 a solicitor for our buyers was being slow to put through the exchange, holding up 5 purchases in a chain. We had other estate agents up the chain lending a hand to get things rolling on Centrals sale but getting help from Central was very hard. Our vendor commented several times that they'd provided very poor service.
If you can, AVOID buying or renting through Central. If you're considering using them to sell or lease your property I urge you to reconsider, they may have the numbers but their service is poor and their business practice is deceitful.
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Thank you for your review.
As in most cases every story has two sides, the first property you offered on was remarketed due to the vendor instructing us to do so. The original buyers had issues with their mortgage and he asked us to increase the sale price due to the market conditions. The vendor does have the right to do this if he wants to, we simply advise our clients on the current demand, remember we are employed to achieve the best price we can for our client. The vendor decided to exchange with the previous buyer (once they sorted out their mortgage issues) at a lower level as he felt it was the right thing to do and he was apologetic that it did not work out for you and did offer to refund your survey fee? I have been trying to contact you to discuss this but you have not responded?
You withdrew from the second property due to an issue that the vendor had due to a legal dispute, this was not our fault as we were not aware of any issues the vendor had at the time.
The third property obviously you purchased our sales progression pushed the sale through as best as they could and to date we have never received a complaint from you, only a few reviews which you have posted.
You are obviously upset with what has happened and we are truly sorry you feel that way, I was hoping that you would take my calls so I could help you to get your costs back for the first purchase which the vendor offered at the time.
Regards
Neil Ewen