69% sales valuation accuracy
82% sales fee satisfaction
Nov 11,2019
Nov 11,2019
6
people found
this helpful
this helpful
This is my first experience in buying a house and these imbeciles have made me think it might well be the last.
Ultimately because of a catalogue of lies and incompetence, we have wasted a lot of money on a survey and that's about your lot. Booking the viewings was actually simple in all fairness and we loved the property and after a second viewing lodged a bid. There were some issues on the survey, potentially significant ones, and we needed a 3rd viewing with a builder to ascertain whether or not it would be affordable to continue with the purchase.
The best part of 6 weeks after our bid was accepted, we were contacted by HouseSimple to tell us that the property was mistakenly advertised as a freehold when it was in fact a leasehold and details would be provided. Two weeks of evasion and stalling lead us to believe there was a problem and our mortgage was evidently geared for a freehold property.
Eventually, it was established that we could buy the leasehold for £310 or pay £10 a year. When pressed on how long the lease had left the "handler" we had the misfortune to be landed with became even more vague, evasive and rude. When we asked for a 3rd viewing it was outright refused - until we paid for the searches with our solicitor.
This was an attempt to blackmail us into paying further money out only to discover that there would be a sub 50 year lease, for which we (or anyone else) would not be able to get a mortgage. I don't know who is at fault over the leasehold misinformation, whether that be the vendor or HouseSimple, but it certainly wasn't us. We STILL don't know how long is left on the lease. It has flip-flopped from being freehold, to leasehold, back to freehold with a leasehold. The explanations or lack thereof we've had have been absolutely ridiculous.
What I do know is that we've made a complaint and we will be invoicing HouseSimple for the survey. I have wasted 2 months of my life being invested in buying a house it's now no longer possible for me to buy. Our "handler" was arrogant, obnoxious and spoke to my wife like dirt because she challenged him over the misinformation we've received. He then went on to speak to our solicitor in the same manner and they (Forster Dean, who we would use again) will not be dealing with the "handler" in the future.
This has been a cataologue of incompetence from start to finish. We wanted to buy this house, we had everything in place to buy this house, but HouseSimple have now made that impossible and we've had to withdraw the bid.
I can't fault the initial buying experience, booking viewing appointments was easy and we had a bid accepted within 2 hours of the second viewing. But everything since then has been obtusely slow and then when it started to unravel it was taken out on the people who weren't at fault – us. A message for you HouseSimple – we might start to pay for things when there's evidence we will actually still be able to buy the house.
Buyers and sellers beware – they might well be well priced and their processes are simple to start off with, but I would not go near a house being dealt with by HouseSimple no matter how much I liked it. And we'll be posting a letter to the vendor to make sure they know exactly what has been going on and who has caused the sale of their house to fall through - because it isn't us.
Ultimately because of a catalogue of lies and incompetence, we have wasted a lot of money on a survey and that's about your lot. Booking the viewings was actually simple in all fairness and we loved the property and after a second viewing lodged a bid. There were some issues on the survey, potentially significant ones, and we needed a 3rd viewing with a builder to ascertain whether or not it would be affordable to continue with the purchase.
The best part of 6 weeks after our bid was accepted, we were contacted by HouseSimple to tell us that the property was mistakenly advertised as a freehold when it was in fact a leasehold and details would be provided. Two weeks of evasion and stalling lead us to believe there was a problem and our mortgage was evidently geared for a freehold property.
Eventually, it was established that we could buy the leasehold for £310 or pay £10 a year. When pressed on how long the lease had left the "handler" we had the misfortune to be landed with became even more vague, evasive and rude. When we asked for a 3rd viewing it was outright refused - until we paid for the searches with our solicitor.
This was an attempt to blackmail us into paying further money out only to discover that there would be a sub 50 year lease, for which we (or anyone else) would not be able to get a mortgage. I don't know who is at fault over the leasehold misinformation, whether that be the vendor or HouseSimple, but it certainly wasn't us. We STILL don't know how long is left on the lease. It has flip-flopped from being freehold, to leasehold, back to freehold with a leasehold. The explanations or lack thereof we've had have been absolutely ridiculous.
What I do know is that we've made a complaint and we will be invoicing HouseSimple for the survey. I have wasted 2 months of my life being invested in buying a house it's now no longer possible for me to buy. Our "handler" was arrogant, obnoxious and spoke to my wife like dirt because she challenged him over the misinformation we've received. He then went on to speak to our solicitor in the same manner and they (Forster Dean, who we would use again) will not be dealing with the "handler" in the future.
This has been a cataologue of incompetence from start to finish. We wanted to buy this house, we had everything in place to buy this house, but HouseSimple have now made that impossible and we've had to withdraw the bid.
I can't fault the initial buying experience, booking viewing appointments was easy and we had a bid accepted within 2 hours of the second viewing. But everything since then has been obtusely slow and then when it started to unravel it was taken out on the people who weren't at fault – us. A message for you HouseSimple – we might start to pay for things when there's evidence we will actually still be able to buy the house.
Buyers and sellers beware – they might well be well priced and their processes are simple to start off with, but I would not go near a house being dealt with by HouseSimple no matter how much I liked it. And we'll be posting a letter to the vendor to make sure they know exactly what has been going on and who has caused the sale of their house to fall through - because it isn't us.
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Feb 22, 2020
Your experience Is exactly like ours! They are the most incompetent group of idiots I have ever encountered. They lied to us repeatedly and wouldn't reply to emails or calls. I don't believe these 5 star reviews on here are real.
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Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 69% | 82% | £24,000 | £1,650,000 |
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 332 | 49 | 30 | 22 | 10 | 58 |
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Great idea in principle, costs are fantastic, good initial service. But... Initial house address posted incorrectly and took multiple calls/messages/emails to fix. House took 16 months to sell, even though price dropped by us 4 times over several months. Got referred to partners GoTo for ...
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May 02,2024
May 02,2024
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I understand everyone's experience will be different, but from our dealings with Strike, I would avoid like the plague.
We were buying a house through strike as that is who the sellers were using. All throughout the process communication has been very poor. Questions left ...
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Apr 19,2024
Apr 19,2024
0
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Save a lot of money! I saved at least £3k on traditional estate agents fees. That's money better spent on removals and any other part of the process...
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Mar 25,2024
Mar 25,2024
0
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Very Misleading Solicitors, £1k added on top of the original quotation.
I was happy to receive a match quotation from them when I let them know my original solicitor was quoting around £1500. It seemed like a great option when they're in house and my seller ...
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Mar 22,2024
Mar 22,2024
0
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Very helpful in sorting out hiccups for me. Thanks Isis....
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Mar 12,2024
Mar 12,2024
0
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I purchased a house through Strikes and I would like to say that in the most part I found it easy to deal with all. Isis was who I dealt wand found her friendly and helpful. If she didn’t have an answer for me ...
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Mar 08,2024
Mar 08,2024
0
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For the amount we paid, Strike really can't be beaten.
If you're prepared to roll your sleeves up and get involved in the process then the additional support they offer is incredible.
Isis Hall in particular was a legend. We had offers within 1 month but ...
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Mar 06,2024
Mar 06,2024
0
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I’m so satisfied we have purchased house trough Strike Agency.
This purchase is my 5th property and I have never seen so rapidly responsive and helpful staff. Any enquiry’s been sorted so fast no longer then 1hr time. Isis Hall looked after our ...
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Feb 23,2024
Feb 23,2024
1
people found
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This is a review for Strike, which is now part of Purplebricks, so presumably it applies to both. There were numerous issues that we faced, which I am going to put down here, so that people make an informed decision before using them, as they ...
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Feb 22,2024
Feb 22,2024
0
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Isis Hall has been extremely helpful throughout the whole process, updates and very quick in responding. She’s been great...
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Feb 20,2024
Feb 20,2024
0
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Isis was extremely helpful and assisted me throughout the process, which was rather challenging and long. She provided support and useful advice when it was needed. It was really good to have the same person dealing with the case when you can build a good ...
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Feb 19,2024
Feb 19,2024
0
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My experience with Strike was incredibly seamless. Issis and the team were exceptionally responsive, consistently keeping me updated via email with any developments. Highly recommend and I'll definitely be turning to Strike for their outstanding service....
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Feb 16,2024
Feb 16,2024
0
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Isis sales progresser was very helpful and polite.
Kept things moving quickly...
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Feb 13,2024
Feb 13,2024
0
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I had a great experience buying with Strike, the sales progressor Isis Hall was really helpful, answered all my questions very thoroughly and replied very quick to my emails, very friendly and keen to help....
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Jan 31,2024
Jan 31,2024
0
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Isis was excellent the whole way through, very prompt communication and always happy to help...
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Jan 16,2024
Jan 16,2024
0
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I was first persuaded to use Strike because of the promise of a free service - which it was completely free other than the £200 or so fee to add my property to Rightmove which was my own choice to do. I was selling a shared ...
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Jan 04,2024
Jan 04,2024
0
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Thank you to Strike for an excellent service selling my home.
A particular thank you to our negotiator Ashley and also to Isis Hall, who was always available to give advice, chase up solicitors, speak to buyers etc. Nothing was too much trouble and she ...
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Dec 01,2023
Dec 01,2023
0
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This is the second time I’ve used Strike and I wouldn’t use anyone else.
From start to finish they’ve been amazing.
In particular, my allocated manager Isis, was always one step ahead of the solicitors.
Ours was a particularly complicated sale and ...
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Nov 28,2023
Nov 28,2023
0
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Strike -selling a House
We was selling our house with Strike, they where very good with communication & kept us informed at every stage. Strike moved quickly to put our property on the market with Zoopla and I thought they were quite thorough.
Checked up on ...
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Nov 27,2023
Nov 27,2023
0
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A professional service we were updated regularly with the process...
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Nov 24,2023
Nov 24,2023
0
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Great service. Kept me updated throughout the sale process, and answered any questions I had....
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Nov 18,2023
Nov 18,2023
0
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Good website, clear interface, easy to send over initial documents.
We were assigned Isis Hall who was our mainstay agent that was really helpful when the sellers had to pull out, she kept us informed and helped us in the months after get it over ...
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Nov 10,2023
Nov 10,2023
0
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Been kept up to date all way will recommend to everyone...
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Oct 25,2023
Oct 25,2023
4
people found
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this helpful
I strongly advise steering clear of Strike!
Our experience attempting to purchase a house through them was nothing short of a nightmare. After 6 months, we were left with no choice but to withdraw from the transaction due to their complete incompetence.
What's even more disheartening ...
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Oct 17,2023
Oct 17,2023
0
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The process of purchasing our house was an extended one, spanning approximately five months. Throughout this period, Isis, our dedicated real estate agent, consistently provided us with timely updates and readily assisted us with all our inquiries. She exhibited remarkable professionalism and was instrumental in ...
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Oct 16,2023
Oct 16,2023
0
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Amazing communication and service throughout the whole sale! 100% would recommend. Isis was great at relying and chasing answers for me!...
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Oct 12,2023
Oct 12,2023
0
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Fantastic service throughout from all the team especially Isis Hall, very friendly and informative every step of the way.
A pleasure to deal with....
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Oct 10,2023
Oct 10,2023
0
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Nice smooth process throughout. Isis was very attentive and always went above and beyond. Isis - you are a credit to Strike! Thank you...
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Oct 09,2023
Oct 09,2023
0
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Isis Hall was absolutely fantastic as our sales progresser! Fantastic communicator and supportive throughout the entire process. Thank you Isis!...
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Sep 11,2023
Sep 11,2023
0
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Great service provided, Amy and Isis were very helpful and provided me with regular updates throughout....
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Leeson
Zeka
Isaac O'Connor
(3)
Casey
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Mel
Ricky
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Richard
(1)
Julie
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Vendor Fees
Our Fees£0.
We offer a fully-managed estate agency service for free. No fees, no commission, no catch.
Our fully-managed, award-winning free service includes:
A transparent experience, from start to finish
Your property seen by interested buyers
An app connecting you directly to buyers
Professional offer negotiation
Dedicated support to completion Last updated at 17/08/2022, 10:23 AM by Lea
Complaints Procedure
See complaints procedure www.strike.co.uk/legal/complaints-procedure
Last updated at 5:18 PM 10/01/2022 by
Awards won by Strike, Colchester CO1 1TG
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