Terrible Experience.....
***WITHOUT PREJUDICE***
I don’t usually go out of my way to leave a negative review for any company – but my experience here has been nothing but negative.
Having taken photos of my property, It was eventually added to their website and all the relevant marketing sites, such as Rightmove and Zoopla. This took 7-10 days longer than promised.
Within a couple of hours of going live I was called to say that there was a potential viewer. I tried to arrange this for the weekend but was told that’s not possible as the agent doesn’t show clients around over weekends as they like to finish early on a Saturday and close on a Sunday.
I requested the name of the interested party and was given a name they couldn’t pronounce and refused to provide a surname for me to note down. I’ve since been told this isn’t a standard practice. I had to call back the next day as nothing was confirmed. This time, they said nobody had ever called about the property and that I must be mistaken. Bear in mind I had a voicemail from the previous day about the potential viewing.
After many calls trying to reach McCartney again, I was told their client was no longer interested due to how long things took (he/she suddenly existed again, but now was uninterested).
After several more weeks had passed, there was a carbon copy repeat of the above. They have a viewer, won’t show them around, I try and accommodate them by suggesting a time and day, then the client vanishes again. I should point out that I had to make all the calls relating to this viewing too, so even if this was genuine – it was not communicated to me at all.
Several more weeks pass, and we have a third viewing. This time we managed to arrange it successfully – although as it was a weekend the agent wouldn’t show them the property. So, I did this myself. The couple seemed genuinely interested. A few days later we had some feedback saying that they were interested but can’t offer the full asking price.
I asked the agent to contact the interested party and say that this was okay, and that I’d be happy to hear their offer. I’d be happy to reduce the price as they were a nice family. The agent once again, vanished and to this date I’ve heard nothing back.
It's worth mentioning why I feel we had so few viewings (excluding the terrible communication). The listings for my house didn’t include a floorplan, any room sizes, or the important fact that the sale was chain-free. The agent seemed utterly shocked that I requested these be added. After several calls, only a line of text was added to one listing that finally advised it was ‘chain free’. Everything else was ignored. I'm sure McCartney will say this was relating to the asking price, but they were due to come back and discuss this at week 2 - but again, this was ignored. I have since had two more valuations, both of which were higher.
After 5-6 weeks of no communication, countless ignored messages and no callbacks I decided to ask them to remove the house from the market as I’d since spoken with other agents who couldn’t believe how badly I was being treated by MacCartney.
Upon asking for the house to be removed, I was told that it’s not possible because I’d signed a contract, and as such, I wouldn’t be allowed to market it again with anyone else for some time.
To demonstrate just how badly things were handled, MacCartney had forgotten to have me sign a contact at all. They still refused to remove the property for a few days, before finally doing so. There was no communication at all from them over this time, nor since.
So, in summery
1) Very slow with NO communication, no return of calls or replies to emails.
2) Messed up two of three viewings.
3) Omitted important details about the property on web listings.
4) Failed to reply on offers.
5) Failed to revisit the pricing after two weeks.
6) Forgot to have me sign an agreement or obtain my ID.
7) Continued to market my property once permission had been revoked.
There is much more I could add here, but I think what I have included demonstrates how badly they have handled the situation. With a little communication things could have been very different and amicable, which is a great shame.