100% sales valuation accuracy
100% sales fee satisfaction
50% lettings valuation accuracy
40% lettings fee satisfaction
Jan 10,2017
Jan 10,2017
14
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I am writing to you hoping that an email to you will have more impact to improve the estate agents market than trying to help Ocean by sending objective feedback about my customer experience. They obviously didn't care.
In June 2015, my husband & I decided to put our property on the market. We opted to work with Ocean in Bristol, although we heard about potential bad services. We met a smiley, well-dressed estate agents who sold us that they were gonna be amazing (everybody will know about our property in every branch around Bristol, they provide feedbacks after every viewing, they collaborate with us, BLA BLA BLA). They also promised us to sell our flat for between £25,000 and £50,000 more than the other quotes we had.
Although my husband and I work both in sales and knew it was a pitch sale, the speech was too attractive. We chose to move forward with Ocean Whiteladies Road. We should have known. The speech was REALLY TOO ATTRACTIVE.
Here is where the nightmare started. First, I need to say that I worked from home at that time. If you are a full-time employee or not working from home, I really don't know how you could work with Ocean. They call you 2 hours before a potential viewing to ask you if they can come. You run to tidy the house make sure it looks good, and then they call you 30 minutes after the planned viewing, which was in between cancelled! That happened 3 times for us.
In addition, for the first 7 viewings, we DID NOT GET ANY FEEDBACKS! I had to call the branch to know what was happening.
I started to worrying about the service they were offering from a seller AND buyer point of view. So I wanted to investigate further. I called the Ocean Whiteladies Branch anonymously and pretended I was a potential buyer. I asked if they had any property that matches the flat we had on the market with them. The lady on the phone replied straight to me ‘No, we don't', and continued by saying, ‘Have you been on our website? Because what I suggest is that YOU go to our website, YOU have a look if you find something that you look, and YOU call us back after to arrange a viewing'. Seriously? So what is the job of the estate agent then?
After this, I went to the branch to discuss directly with the sales manager responsible for our flat. Although I was really annoyed, I wanted to discuss calmly with him because we had a common interest, me selling our flat, him making his commission. Of course, he said that it was unacceptable and was gonna improve everything (feedback on the viewings, sales assistant answer one the phone…). He also advised us to decrease the price, reaching now the realistic price other estate agents had quoted.
It turns out that after this discussion, we still had the issues of late viewing bookings, late cancellations, and no feedbacks. CONCLUSION: They promise a dream, everything will go in flow, and you will not have to do anything to get your property, but in reality be ready to invest your time and being stressed out.
Anyway, we accepted an offer mid-July. Everything was going through until a call when we were on honeymoon in September; buyers withdrew their offer. Results: we had spent £1,600 in solicitors fees (selling our property, buying another one), lost the property we wanted to buy.
Ocean dared to ask to put the property back on the market. NO CHANCE.
We are now mid-January. A friend came to our flat this weekend and asked us, so is your flat sold then. We said of course not we don't have it on the market. He replied, ‘That's weird because I was on Rightmove yesterday. I saw your flat, sold subject to contract'. So not only, the service was absolutely miserable, but they were also using our flat to continue to advertise for this service using our flat, which is not subject to contract, and was not sold at all.
I have tried to collaborate with them because after all if they do good, I do good. I am not usually a person who will negatively complain by writing on websites because bad services can be due to one person. I believe the entire company shouldn't suffer from it. But the repetition of problems made me think that there is something that needs to be done to avoid that other people get into the same situation. It was really not enjoyable.
If someone from Ocean reads this review, I hope they will take it as a mean to improve. It is all what I wanted when I went to discuss several times with the estate agent.
In June 2015, my husband & I decided to put our property on the market. We opted to work with Ocean in Bristol, although we heard about potential bad services. We met a smiley, well-dressed estate agents who sold us that they were gonna be amazing (everybody will know about our property in every branch around Bristol, they provide feedbacks after every viewing, they collaborate with us, BLA BLA BLA). They also promised us to sell our flat for between £25,000 and £50,000 more than the other quotes we had.
Although my husband and I work both in sales and knew it was a pitch sale, the speech was too attractive. We chose to move forward with Ocean Whiteladies Road. We should have known. The speech was REALLY TOO ATTRACTIVE.
Here is where the nightmare started. First, I need to say that I worked from home at that time. If you are a full-time employee or not working from home, I really don't know how you could work with Ocean. They call you 2 hours before a potential viewing to ask you if they can come. You run to tidy the house make sure it looks good, and then they call you 30 minutes after the planned viewing, which was in between cancelled! That happened 3 times for us.
In addition, for the first 7 viewings, we DID NOT GET ANY FEEDBACKS! I had to call the branch to know what was happening.
I started to worrying about the service they were offering from a seller AND buyer point of view. So I wanted to investigate further. I called the Ocean Whiteladies Branch anonymously and pretended I was a potential buyer. I asked if they had any property that matches the flat we had on the market with them. The lady on the phone replied straight to me ‘No, we don't', and continued by saying, ‘Have you been on our website? Because what I suggest is that YOU go to our website, YOU have a look if you find something that you look, and YOU call us back after to arrange a viewing'. Seriously? So what is the job of the estate agent then?
After this, I went to the branch to discuss directly with the sales manager responsible for our flat. Although I was really annoyed, I wanted to discuss calmly with him because we had a common interest, me selling our flat, him making his commission. Of course, he said that it was unacceptable and was gonna improve everything (feedback on the viewings, sales assistant answer one the phone…). He also advised us to decrease the price, reaching now the realistic price other estate agents had quoted.
It turns out that after this discussion, we still had the issues of late viewing bookings, late cancellations, and no feedbacks. CONCLUSION: They promise a dream, everything will go in flow, and you will not have to do anything to get your property, but in reality be ready to invest your time and being stressed out.
Anyway, we accepted an offer mid-July. Everything was going through until a call when we were on honeymoon in September; buyers withdrew their offer. Results: we had spent £1,600 in solicitors fees (selling our property, buying another one), lost the property we wanted to buy.
Ocean dared to ask to put the property back on the market. NO CHANCE.
We are now mid-January. A friend came to our flat this weekend and asked us, so is your flat sold then. We said of course not we don't have it on the market. He replied, ‘That's weird because I was on Rightmove yesterday. I saw your flat, sold subject to contract'. So not only, the service was absolutely miserable, but they were also using our flat to continue to advertise for this service using our flat, which is not subject to contract, and was not sold at all.
I have tried to collaborate with them because after all if they do good, I do good. I am not usually a person who will negatively complain by writing on websites because bad services can be due to one person. I believe the entire company shouldn't suffer from it. But the repetition of problems made me think that there is something that needs to be done to avoid that other people get into the same situation. It was really not enjoyable.
If someone from Ocean reads this review, I hope they will take it as a mean to improve. It is all what I wanted when I went to discuss several times with the estate agent.
Comment on agent fees
For the service I wouldn't pay antyhing!
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Opening Hours
Address
Ocean Estate Agents
187-189 Whiteladies Road
Clifton,Bristol
North Somerset
BS8 2RY
0117 946 6007
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 100% | 100% | £0 | £0 |
| Lettings | 50% | 40% | £1,220 | £1,600 |
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Areas covered
Services offered
- Sales
- Lettings
- Block Management
- Surveys
- Conveyancing
- Mortgage Advice
- Home Builder
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Latest Properties
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Sep 22,2023
Sep 22,2023
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
If you live in a shared house, they WILL conduct viewings without giving any notice. This has happened at least 3 times in the fairly short period of time that I've been living in one of their properties, even after we emailed them about it, despite ...
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Apr 19,2023
Apr 19,2023
0
people found
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My brother just moved to Bristol and placed an offered on a property for himself being sold by Ocean.
Someone else offered on the property too that he offered on and it turned out Ocean were also selling their property for them.
Ocean of course ...
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Mar 08,2022
Mar 08,2022
0
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this helpful
It was a nice experience with ocean agency especially with William Jenkins who updated all the information on Time. Thank you for helping us....
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Jun 06,2019
Jun 06,2019
5
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I wouldn't bother listing with these people - as a cash buyer I had a terrible experience trying to view a property. Sent multiple enquiries to make viewings on Rightmove, no one bothered to reply. Then I called up, got put on hold and eventually ...
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Apr 05,2019
Apr 05,2019
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I moved from another Clifton agent to Ocean. The previous agents had suggested two unsuitable tenants; one with obviously fake references, the other not suitable for the flat. Then nothing for a month. In frustration I switched to Ocean. Manager Alun was very positive and ...
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Comment on agent fees
Typical for the area
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Jan 15,2019
Jan 15,2019
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Ocean sold me a flat where there were issues involving a deceased' estate and problems involving the lease. All of the staff at Ocean, Whiteladies were very helpful and proactive in helping the conveyancing move along as swiftly as possible.
Matt was very helpful when ...
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Jan 10,2017
Jan 10,2017
14
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I am writing to you hoping that an email to you will have more impact to improve the estate agents market than trying to help Ocean by sending objective feedback about my customer experience. They obviously didn't care.
In June 2015, my husband & I decided to ...
read full review
read full review
Comment on agent fees
For the service I wouldn't pay antyhing!
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Yes
Yes
Nov 10,2016
Nov 10,2016
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I don't even know which branch we are dealing with. After 18 months we've had about six different reps as people in the office seem to mysteriously disappear and suddenly any issues or complaints you've made get 'forgotten' about.
They will fob you off until you ...
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Comment on agent fees
Expensive for the truly awful service you get.
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Oct 13,2016
Oct 13,2016
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
All I can say is that they have an amazing team at Ocean Clifton branch.
From start to finish the sale of our flat was handled with complete professionalism everyone was so helpful.
A big thank you to Andrew Beazer in sales and to the ...
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Comment on agent fees
The Agents fees were very reasonable.
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Jul 06,2016
Jul 06,2016
3
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Made an offer on a 2 bedroom flat at Bridge Quay development based and was shown the underground parking. A week later I moved in and they kept saying they didn't know the parking slot number. A day after I move in they told me that ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Agent fees of 500 pounds. I do not know what they did to earn it since they are incompetent.Attached Filesnbsp;
Comment on agent fees
Agent fees of 500 pounds. I do not know what they did to earn it since they are incompetent.
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Jun 24,2014
Jun 24,2014
5
people found
this helpful
this helpful
While for a few years I little dispute with ocean, in the past year I found them incredibly difficult to communicate with. It is clear they have little respect for their tenants and in 15 years of renting this was the first time I had had ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
When you give your money to someone for a service you expect to be treated fairly.Attached Filesnbsp;
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May 12,2014
May 12,2014
5
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Had one viewing with Ocean for a flat, the service was nice but the flat wasn't great. That's not down to Ocean though. After a viewing with Adam we emailed back saying we weren't interested in that rental property but asked for a viewing with ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Improvements: - Turning up to viewings. - Canceling as soon as they think access to the property will be a problem (24 hour notice would be perfect or at least the evening before). - Returning phone calls.Attached Filesnbsp;
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Sep 23,2013
Sep 23,2013
10
people found
this helpful
this helpful
We used Ocean in quite a few capacities. They let out a flat or ours and we tried to buy through them whilst also using their Ocean Property Lawyers service as well. We chose to do this as our sellers were using them and we ...
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Jul 25,2013
Jul 25,2013
5
people found
this helpful
this helpful
The amount of property check is ridiculous. They came to check the property 5 times in a year, which is quite disturbing.
They're okay all along, however they totally loose respect to the current tenants in the last 2 months of the tenancy. They call to arrange ...
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Jul 02,2013
Jul 02,2013
7
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Everything was going well, the staff was friendly and helpful, we liked the flat. The problems started when we paid the holding deposit. They phoned us and told, that the landlord had already let the flat and suggested to take another flat in the same ...
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Mar 22,2012
Mar 22,2012
11
people found
this helpful
this helpful
After making a formal complaint over the misrepresentation of a property. I received a very dismissive letter from the Directors. It is clear that Ocean are not interested in providing a service for their customers. However, Ocean Homes are very happy to take your money....
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Ocean Homes need a customer services department. Due to the short sightedness of the Directors, Ocean lost the following business: Sale of property, Conveyancing and Mortgage fees.Attached Filesnbsp;
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Feb 22,2012
Feb 22,2012
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I just want to say Aidan at the whiteladies Branch was a star he has helped me increase my yields from 5% to 7%. The service is alwats friendly and helpful...
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Jul 23,2010
Jul 23,2010
3
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Excellent agency. Swift communication and good care of the flat and the tenants. Highly recommended. ...
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Jul 20,2010
Jul 20,2010
13
people found
this helpful
this helpful
We were tennants of a property being re-let by Ocean. They were rude and unprofessional, and turned up at the flat several times with prospective tennants for viewings without giving us any notice at all. On one occasion they just opened the door and walked ...
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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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