Marsh & Parsons Estate Agents
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HORRENDOUS experience - please think twice before using this agency.
My partner and I had an awful experience purchasing a property through Marsh & Parsons and one I wouldn't wish on any future buyer. The agency made the entire process extremely stressful, caused unnecessary frustration and lied to us. The property was advertised as 'Share of Freehold' and we proceeded with offering over the asking price to secure the property. Once accepted, we worked extremely hard to ensure there was no delay in exchanging (as neither party had a chain). However, when all the documents started to come through, it became very apparent that we were purchasing a leasehold property and not freehold. As first time buyers, we were extremely concerned by this as we had increased our offer and stopped looking at other properties to proceed with the property. When I raised these concerns about the false advertisement of the property, I had the displeasure of speaking with branch manager John-Paul who was extremely hostile, very aggressive and shouted down the phone. In addition, our estate agent Jonathan who we had previously built a good relationship with equally became hostile and blunt. They claimed our conveyancer was a liar and our solicitors were 'banned from Marsh & Parsons' for giving false information to us. This is incomprehensible as the communication between our solicitors and the vendor's solicitors was the same message - we were purchasing a leasehold property. Marsh & Parsons kept reiterating the same message - the management company of the flat we were purchasing was in the process of purchasing the freehold and ultimately we would have a share in the freehold via the company. However, this is ridiculous to say as this 'freehold' could take one year or one hundred years to come through. We received no information about this nor that it was progressing in the background. Marsh & Parsons took no responsibility for this and eventually altered their advertisement of the property however we received no apology nor condolence for their misselling of the flat. There were various other incidents that happened in addition to the above - not receiving any communication from Marsh & Parsons once we exchanged, old furniture being left in the property post-completion (having been agreed by the vendors to be removed) and not being given the correct keys to open our front door on completion. To add further insult, I sent a formal complaint detailing our experience to the Regional Sales Director two weeks ago and was told this would be investigated. The last communication I had with him was on March 23rd and I've not heard back since. The whole experience has been terrible and we feel completely let down and missold by the agency. To put it simply, we feel like a number. I hope this review will give an insight into Marsh & Parsons and they can learn from their huge errors. We will be taking further action in the matter whilst we await a response from the Director.