100% lettings valuation accuracy
25% lettings fee satisfaction
Jul 07,2019
Jul 07,2019
4
people found
this helpful
this helpful
If you're thinking of using HAART estate agency, then based on my experience, I would suggest you seriously think again.
I have had to wait several months before posting this feedback, whilst my complaints about the office at Lowestoft (which surprisingly has since closed) were investigated by The Property Ombudsman. Needless to say, the Ombudsman found in my favour and I have duly received £700 compensation. Persistence certainly paid off, as when I initially made the complaint, a David FLYNN who is a senior member of the Spicerhaart organisation, felt that there was no case to answer and that the company had acted correctly. Tut tut....This was from a man who was unable to comply with the fundamental policy of acknowledging a complaint within three working days!
irrespective of whether you are a buyer or seller, you may wish to verify that the negotiator to whom you may be required to entrust with the keys to your property, has undergone a Criminal Record Bureau check. I make this statement based on the fact that when I attended an Open House event, the only person present was the HAART Senior Negotiator who had free rein of the house. It later transpired that he had served a custodial sentence for the misappropriation of funds in excess of £42,000 when holding a position of trust within the banking sector. This person then went on to tell me 'porky pies' in respect of the sellers position which ultimately resulted in a protracted and very unsatisfactory transaction. HAART never confirmed or denied the fact that they were aware of this persons criminal past, but if this is indeed the calibre of person you might be inviting into your home, then I strongly suggest that you need to be on your guard.
These were my main gripes, but I also had to provide extra keys to the property I was selling, again through a different branch of HAART, when the original set was 'lost' and a failure to notify myself of the closure of the Lowestoft branch, with the file, being strangely transferred to the Wisbech office, when you would normally expect that it would be held locally or in this case, another long established Estate agency within Lowestoft that was now part of the Spicerhaart group.
It is said that a house purchase is one of the more stressful things you are liable to encounter in life. Going through HAART doubled and possibly trebled my stress levels and if I should move again, I will definitely be giving them a very wide berth.
I am still considering whether to forward my experience and findings to the Rogue Traders tv programme, as HAART have done nothing to dispel the myth that Estate agents are pariahs who promise much but deliver little. Of the five persons I had personal contact within the selling and buying process, four are no longer with HAART, which to me speaks volumes!
I have had to wait several months before posting this feedback, whilst my complaints about the office at Lowestoft (which surprisingly has since closed) were investigated by The Property Ombudsman. Needless to say, the Ombudsman found in my favour and I have duly received £700 compensation. Persistence certainly paid off, as when I initially made the complaint, a David FLYNN who is a senior member of the Spicerhaart organisation, felt that there was no case to answer and that the company had acted correctly. Tut tut....This was from a man who was unable to comply with the fundamental policy of acknowledging a complaint within three working days!
irrespective of whether you are a buyer or seller, you may wish to verify that the negotiator to whom you may be required to entrust with the keys to your property, has undergone a Criminal Record Bureau check. I make this statement based on the fact that when I attended an Open House event, the only person present was the HAART Senior Negotiator who had free rein of the house. It later transpired that he had served a custodial sentence for the misappropriation of funds in excess of £42,000 when holding a position of trust within the banking sector. This person then went on to tell me 'porky pies' in respect of the sellers position which ultimately resulted in a protracted and very unsatisfactory transaction. HAART never confirmed or denied the fact that they were aware of this persons criminal past, but if this is indeed the calibre of person you might be inviting into your home, then I strongly suggest that you need to be on your guard.
These were my main gripes, but I also had to provide extra keys to the property I was selling, again through a different branch of HAART, when the original set was 'lost' and a failure to notify myself of the closure of the Lowestoft branch, with the file, being strangely transferred to the Wisbech office, when you would normally expect that it would be held locally or in this case, another long established Estate agency within Lowestoft that was now part of the Spicerhaart group.
It is said that a house purchase is one of the more stressful things you are liable to encounter in life. Going through HAART doubled and possibly trebled my stress levels and if I should move again, I will definitely be giving them a very wide berth.
I am still considering whether to forward my experience and findings to the Rogue Traders tv programme, as HAART have done nothing to dispel the myth that Estate agents are pariahs who promise much but deliver little. Of the five persons I had personal contact within the selling and buying process, four are no longer with HAART, which to me speaks volumes!
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Aug 24, 2019
Horrible company, failed me completely, gave my numberplate and car to ex with restraining orders on him so put my family at risk, James told me to accept lower price and then pull out later on, lost my buyer with his games(even she complained) arranged a open house as two viewing booked, found out no booking were ever made, had my coffee pot at my main photo slog with car showing my reg! used his own phone so they have no clue what he was doing, now hes been sacked and they wont accept why I have refused to pay the fee, after i got the buyer to come back, get the price I needed and sell my house myself! It cost me to change my car again! so I say quite but no I have threats for court, so carry on as this will all come out. Its the fact they did so much wrong and think they have the right to full fee. GREEDY, VILE COMPANY AND AVOID. Ombudsman pretty useless as told them to pay me 550 when I pay there fee of 3300! they dont get reported for breaking my privacy rights, or breaking the code of practice or common law or care to duty and more.... yet when I rang direct they all said Haart have failed the above and they are being reported... so what does the Ombudsman do? .....
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Latest Reviews
27th Jan 2023
reviewed by 'Paul'
7th Sep 2021
reviewed by 'Michael Watson'
1st Oct 2020
reviewed by 'ina'
22nd Jul 2020
reviewed by 'Laurence'
4th Feb 2020
reviewed by 'Nicholas'
7th Jul 2019
reviewed by 'Kevin'
Opening Hours
Address
Spicerhaart
Colwyn House Sheepen Place
Colchester
Essex
CO3 3LD
01206 765 599
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lettings | 100% | 25% | £475 | £1,500 |
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Areas covered
Services offered
- Sales
- Lettings
- Block Management
- Surveys
- Conveyancing
- Mortgage Advice
- Home Builder
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Jan 27,2023
Jan 27,2023
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
After being told at the beginning how great they were and put landlords first and make sure landlords are happy blah blah blah, they just refuse to answer emails. Tenants left without paying a month, now they will not reply to any emails asking for ...
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Sep 07,2021
Sep 07,2021
1
people found
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this helpful
Avoid Avoid Avoid
From the awful woman in the fishponds office, the virtually non existent maintenance company to the false accusations of damages to which there were no refund of deposit this rental was dreadful. Door handle falls off, water comes through the ceiling, guess ...
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Oct 01,2020
Oct 01,2020
1
people found
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this helpful
Worse customer service. They take your details and no1 gets back to you. When you call, they even put the phone down. Avoid at all costs...
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Jul 22,2020
Jul 22,2020
4
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I implore you not to use Haarts letting unless you want the worst service available on the market and to incur expenses over and above the rent you receive.
In 7 years I have paid £12,000 for their full management service. This is a non existent myth.
...
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Feb 04,2020
Feb 04,2020
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Terrible customer service, constantly deliever
On none of are issues with the property and always having to reminder them how to do there job as they seem to constantly getting things wrong and wasting a lot of paper on sending us information we already know....
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Jul 07,2019
Jul 07,2019
4
people found
this helpful
this helpful
If you're thinking of using HAART estate agency, then based on my experience, I would suggest you seriously think again.
I have had to wait several months before posting this feedback, whilst my complaints about the office at Lowestoft (which surprisingly has since closed) were ...
read full review
read full review
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Aug 24, 2019
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(1)
Horrible company, failed me completely, gave my numberplate and car to ex with restraining orders on him so put my family at risk, James told me to accept lower price and then pull out later on, lost my buyer with his games(even she complained) arranged a open house as two viewing booked, found out no booking were ever made, had my coffee pot at my main photo slog with car showing my reg! used his own phone so they have no clue what he was doing, now hes been sacked and they wont accept why I ha ...
Mar 21,2017
Mar 21,2017
9
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I regret the day I ever had any contact with this company.
Every time I have to contact my agent, the person I ask to speak to isn't available and time after time, messages are not delivered with a request for a return call. And ...
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Comment on agent fees
About 2% more than other agents, but I thought I was going to get extra value in lieu.
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Dec 15,2016
Dec 15,2016
7
people found
this helpful
this helpful
In the time that we rented from Haart we were subjected to the worst customer service we ever experienced. Our requests for maintenance were systematically ignored, delayed or handled by incompetent contractors chosen by Haart.
Because of its (true) reputation for not paying their contractors ...
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Aug 23,2016
Aug 23,2016
4
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I let a flat through Felicity J Lord, part of Spicerhart. They employed a contractor to replace a hob and washing machine. I found out that both appliances were old (the washing machine was 11 years old) even though Felicity Lord said they were new and ...
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Sep 01, 2016
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(1)
Thank you for taking the time to leave such lovely feedback for Clare and Don. I will pass this onto the team for you, Thanks for choosing Miller Metcalfe. Regards, Natasha ...
Apr 11,2014
Apr 11,2014
4
people found
this helpful
this helpful
It pains me to have to spend the time writing this review but I was disgusted, continually shocked and frankly appalled at the level of ¢â‚¬Ëœservice' provided to my partner and I before, during and after our tenancy.
I will start at the beginning. We ...
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Jun 02, 2014
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(2)
Dear Melanie,
I sent a copy of the above to a number of executives at your Head office. I did receive one response, in which there is a partial apology for some of the issues, and excuses and reasons why some of the other issues occurred. In general the response demonstrated a lack of acknowledgement of the poor service inflicted upon us.
Damien ...
Feb 14,2014
Feb 14,2014
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
These people are simply the worst property managers I've come across. We spent a total of 4 weeks without hot water and eventually discovered some of the lies they had been telling us and the landlord when we got to meet the landlord at the end ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Could have done their jobs, communicated with us and not saddled us with large bills at the end of our tenancy.Attached Filesnbsp;
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Sep 21,2013
Sep 21,2013
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I advertised my property with the intention of letting it myself but was approached by Darlows. The agent who came round seemed good and said they could easily find me a tenant. I was wary so asked lots of questions including details of fees and ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
BE UPFRONT AND HONEST WITH MUCH BETTER COMMUNICATION LOCALLY. LOCAL AGENT WAS GOOD BUT AFTER THAT IT WAS DOWNHILL ALL THE WAY.Attached Filesnbsp;
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Nov 15,2012
Nov 15,2012
2
people found
this helpful
this helpful
left without heating and hot water for 3 weeks. Have informd the joke of a management team every day for the last 3 weeks have been told twice it had been fixed only to find it hadnt and they were once again just saying anything to get ...
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Oct 23,2012
Oct 23,2012
3
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I am a first time landlord and didn't realise that once the property was let by the Lincoln office it would be managed by a team in Essex. That was my mistake for not doing my research.
There was inconsistency of contact in that over ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Limited the number of people dealing with my property. Been more flexible in terms of using landlords choice of contractors. Explained how they selected their 'approved contractors'.Attached Filesnbsp;
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Jul 16,2012
Jul 16,2012
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
The incapability of Spicer Haart's (and FJL's) property management as well as their contractors is far beyond standard.
We had repair work that was due to be carried out for 5 months! Still the one issue that constitues a health & safety hazard, and has already caused ...
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