Incredibly poor communication right from the start: would frequently wait weeks for updates, having been told that something was being taken care of, only to chase it up later to find nothing had happened. The first few weeks after being instructed, there were numerous unanswered emails with questions about the service. Turns out that the case manager we had been assigned to, Ryan Bannister, was on holiday and no one was covering for him. The firm seems to take on a huge amount of work that they don’t have capacity for but with no communication to let you know anticipated wait times. There were multiple occasions where I didn't know the correct terminology to use so instead of communication being in lay terms, I would get emails from the case manager arguing about the terminology or correcting me, but nothing in addition to that. He clearly understood me well enough to correct me, but not to respond to the emails.
Tried to call the office in the early days to get some sort of explanation as to why all emails were going unanswered. I was assured that someone would call me back but it’s been 10 months now and I’m still waiting for that phone call. Case manager couldn’t follow simple instructions, like ensure that all correspondence was sent to both myself and my ex partner who was the co-owner of the property. On occasions when he did email us both, he would often get the names wrong. The firm insists that you use their app, yet when my ex explained repeatedly that they couldn’t access it, the firm did nothing about it and continued to send emails demanding that we use it.
Several months into the case it became apparent that a deed of variation was required: this was a simple one page document stating that in the case of arrears on a rent charge associated with the property, 21 days notice would be required. That was it and for that they extorted more than £1000 in addition to the previously quoted charges.
Finally on the day of completion, I found out that our case manager was on leave and had passed the file onto a colleague. Only on the afternoon of completion does this colleague discover that documents submitted 10 months earlier were not checked at the time and there were issues preventing the sale from completing, and this only came to their attention at about 4pm on the day. I’m advised that unless I print, complete and return their form, the sale can’t progress but I was in an area with no phone signal and no access to a printer or scanner - this shouldn't have been an issue because as far as I knew all the documentation was fine. My ex had to provide another passport copy because the earlier one was deemed to be of insufficient quality. The poor buyers were waiting until at least 4.45pm not knowing whether they were even going to be given the keys to their new house or if they would be homeless for a night because of the ineptitude of the case manager. I am indescribably relieved that I was not trying to immediately complete on a property of my own as I would have without a doubt been homeless for the night.
Cannot recommend enough that people avoid this firm. It’s been an appalling experience since the very start and I’m annoyed at myself for not trusting my gut instinct early on and changing firms, even if it meant paying fees again.