100% sales valuation accuracy
0% sales fee satisfaction
Feb 04,2012
Feb 04,2012
2
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Whether you are a buyer or a seller I recommend you think twice before deciding to work with Douglas Allen.
We're a buyer with no chain and made the first offer on a property with Douglas Allen Epping which was rejected. Which was fine as it was a first offer. We told the agent we were very keen and to keep us informed of other offers, developments on the property. Three days later we visited Douglas Allen's office as we were passing to be told the property was sold!
The agent told us they thought we'd made a final offer - absolutely not the case. I couldn't have been more clear. It transpires - as we were forced to visit the vendor to understand what had happened - that there was one other bidder (so two including us) and after their initial offer the property went to best and final offers. At this stage the vendor actually asked Douglas Allen if they'd contacted us to check if we wanted to make another offer. They never did so the best and final offer only included one buyer. How ridiculous not to contact us when the vendor himself is even reminding Douglas Allen how to do their job.
In the end we were in a situation where Douglas Allen allowed us to gazump the other buyer as they knew they'd made a mistake, but by then it was too late as the vendor had committed to another buyer. The reality on both sides is the vendor would have made more money selling to us, and Douglas Allen have now cost us the best part of £100k from incompetence (as it's looking like that's how much extra we'll be forced to pay for other suitable properties). Needless to say they're very keen to find us a property now as we're chain free and a great buyer, but we'll never do business with them again.
It's not only their Epping branch. We had a bad experience selling our flat through another one of their branches. Over promise, under deliver and complete failure to respond to calls and communicate effectively. I'd strongly recommend using a couple of agents to sell and definitely avoiding Douglas Allen, whether buying or selling!
We're a buyer with no chain and made the first offer on a property with Douglas Allen Epping which was rejected. Which was fine as it was a first offer. We told the agent we were very keen and to keep us informed of other offers, developments on the property. Three days later we visited Douglas Allen's office as we were passing to be told the property was sold!
The agent told us they thought we'd made a final offer - absolutely not the case. I couldn't have been more clear. It transpires - as we were forced to visit the vendor to understand what had happened - that there was one other bidder (so two including us) and after their initial offer the property went to best and final offers. At this stage the vendor actually asked Douglas Allen if they'd contacted us to check if we wanted to make another offer. They never did so the best and final offer only included one buyer. How ridiculous not to contact us when the vendor himself is even reminding Douglas Allen how to do their job.
In the end we were in a situation where Douglas Allen allowed us to gazump the other buyer as they knew they'd made a mistake, but by then it was too late as the vendor had committed to another buyer. The reality on both sides is the vendor would have made more money selling to us, and Douglas Allen have now cost us the best part of £100k from incompetence (as it's looking like that's how much extra we'll be forced to pay for other suitable properties). Needless to say they're very keen to find us a property now as we're chain free and a great buyer, but we'll never do business with them again.
It's not only their Epping branch. We had a bad experience selling our flat through another one of their branches. Over promise, under deliver and complete failure to respond to calls and communicate effectively. I'd strongly recommend using a couple of agents to sell and definitely avoiding Douglas Allen, whether buying or selling!
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Latest Reviews
30th Nov 2020
reviewed by 'Georgina'
10th Jan 2018
reviewed by 'Carolyn'
17th Feb 2014
reviewed by 'Lucy'
29th Jan 2014
reviewed by 'Mubasher'
4th Dec 2013
reviewed by 'Samantha'
26th Nov 2013
reviewed by 'Valerie'
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 100% | 0% | £26,000 | £450,000 |
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
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Nov 30,2020
Nov 30,2020
0
people found
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I had an estate agent who overvalued my home, bringing in the wrong viewers. It wasn't selling. They then stoped actively promoting my house and just waited for someone to call. This went on for months. I then swapped to Douglas Allen and had a ...
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Jan 10,2018
Jan 10,2018
2
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Having taken 7 months to close on a one bedroom apartment that I had empty I lost a lot of money and time. Nobody in the branch or the legal team they recommend seemed to know what they were doing. Only when I appointed a new ...
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Comment on agent fees
Not at all worth the stress.
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Feb 17,2014
Feb 17,2014
0
people found
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I spent a long and sometimes depressing eighteen months on and off to sell my property
, from February 2012 to finally moving in October 2013. I initially put it on the market with Douglas Allen, then swapped for a couple of months later on in the summer ...
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Feb 21, 2014
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(1)
Dear Lucy,
Our Epping office will be bowled over by your kind comments and so pleased they were able to help you through what can be a stressful period. Thank you ever so much for taking the time and trouble to post this review and on behalf of the Epping team, thank you for choosing to use Douglas Allen and best wishes in your new home.
Regards, Jon Holden - Managing Director, Douglas Allen ...
Jan 29,2014
Jan 29,2014
0
people found
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Had an excellent and proffessinal service from Douglas Allen. Jonjo was looking after us when he came to see our property for the first time he gave us a time frame of 12 weeks that it be sold and it was sold within that time.. We ...
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Feb 21, 2014
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(1)
Dear Mubasher,
Many thanks for taking the time to post your comments. I am delighted that we achieved such a great result for you, Jonjo and the Epping team take great pride in skillfully negotiating every Offer to achieve the best outcome for our customers.
Thank you for your custom and I wish you well in your new home.
Regards, Jon Holden - Managing Director, Douglas Allen ...
Dec 04,2013
Dec 04,2013
2
people found
this helpful
this helpful
When we decided to put our house on the market we knew that finding a buyer for our property may take some time due to the fact the house was on a main road. Despite the location Alison managed to generate a lot of interest ...
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Dec 07, 2013
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Dear Samantha,
Thank you so much for summitting your review above. Alison typifies the commitment we have at Douglas Allen to provide all our customers with the highest level of customer care and attention and she will be absolutely thrilled that you have taken the time and trouble to recognise this.
Sincere thanks for choosing Douglas Allen and I wish you much happiness in your new home.
Regards, Jon Holden - Managing Director, Douglas Allen ...
Nov 26,2013
Nov 26,2013
2
people found
this helpful
this helpful
We think the best part to help us move was the fact that the team at Douglas Allen were always there to help and advise us. We mainly dealt with Alison Smith who was excellent, but if she was not around the other team members ...
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Dec 04, 2013
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Dear Valarie,
Many thanks for summitting your kind comments about the service you received from our Epping branch of Douglas Allen, in particular Alison, Marc & Keith, I am delighted we were able to make your move as stress free as possible.
Regards, Jon Holden - Managing Director, Douglas Allen ...
Sep 27,2013
Sep 27,2013
4
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Firstly I would like to add that apart from Alison and Jonjo I also had many dealings with Marc, Hope and Maxine who were also excellent to liase with. The whole team were proffesional, courteous, supportive and most importantly honest. I felt comfortable letting them ...
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Oct 03, 2013
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Dear Jennifer,
I am sorry to hear that you had a few issues with the after sales service once our Epping office had sold your home. Our sales progressors do a lot of work 'behind the scenes' in liaising with solicitors and other parties in the chain and sometimes that can go unnoticed, nevertheless I will of course pass your comments on to Keith and use it as a basis for improvement.
Many thanks for you kind comments regarding Marc and the rest of his Epping team, it's great to hear how pleas ...
Aug 30,2013
Aug 30,2013
4
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I want to thank Marc and his team especially Alison. Between them they made this so easy for us to get our dream move. We had been on the market with one on the cheap agents in the high street because we thought we would ...
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Oct 03, 2013
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Dear Veronica,
Our company's mission statement is to "help our customers make their dream move" and it sounds as if Marc and his Epping team did just this for you!
We are very proud of the skill and hard work that goes in to maximising the price we achieve for our customers and it is kind of you to put this review on confirming this to be the case.
I wish you much happiness in your new home by the sea!
Regards,
Jon Holden
Managing Director - Douglas Allen ...
Aug 16,2013
Aug 16,2013
6
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I had to sell my elderly father's home and I live over 50 miles from where his house was. Jonjo arranged everything for me from arranging for the photographs to be taken to showing prospective buyers round. The house was for sale during the winter months ...
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Aug 04,2013
Aug 04,2013
6
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Alison has been amazing in helping us purchase our dream house. She answered all our questions and helped us along the way from showing us round for the first time to sorting out last minute insurance problems! Alison and other agents at Douglas Allen Epping ...
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Jul 13,2013
Jul 13,2013
5
people found
this helpful
this helpful
We were on the market with another agent who were nice but couldn't sell our property.
We meet with Marc and he agreed to put our home on at the same price and felt confident this was the right price. We had new photos done ...
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Jun 19,2013
Jun 19,2013
2
people found
this helpful
this helpful
The worst estate agent ever! never reply phone calls never turn up for appointments twice.even contacting managing director and appologies still failed to turn up at buying a new property and to value mine,disgusting...
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Feb 04,2012
Feb 04,2012
2
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Whether you are a buyer or a seller I recommend you think twice before deciding to work with Douglas Allen.
We're a buyer with no chain and made the first offer on a property with Douglas Allen Epping which was rejected. Which was fine as ...
read full review
read full review
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