As my name suggests, I practice Kung-fu (Wing Chun) and am also made out of Jam?
I also love garde...
As my name suggests, I practice Kung-fu (Wing Chun) and am also made out of Jam?
I also love gardening on my allotment, and doing other things which I'm probably not allowed to mention here. Erm, yup, that'll do for now :) see ya!
Member since:09.01.2004
Reviews:4
*All real names have been forgotten...
A couple of years ago, my girlfriend and I decided to buy our own place. We looked around, and shortly found a nice little flat. It was being sold by MANN estate agents.
The first peron we spoke to was an agent - lets call her "Helen", who was very nice, smiley and sympathetic to our situation (not big earners trying to buy our first property).
She showed us the flat and we fell in love with it, but hadn't yet found a mortgage. So they advised us to use their in-house financial advisor to help us get a mortgage and go through our personal finances - Lets call him "Lee" - This is where the trouble started...
Lee found us a mortgage and agreed it, and then it "fell through" and the mortgage lenders wouldn't lend us the money. To happen once was a blow to us, but then it happened again, and again and again. With a different lender and a different excuse every time. In the end, we had only one option, for a 90% variable rate mortgage with £3000 cashback, but we didn't have enough money to put down as a deposit, or to pay the solicitors fees, stamp duty etc... Lee *advised* us to borrow money from our parents/credit cards etc to cover this cost, which we could then pay back with the cashback.
In the end we got the flat, but upon completion our solicitor phoned us to ask for her payment. I explained that Lee had told us to use the cashback to pay the fees. She said that wasn't possible, as the lender wouldn't give us the cashback until we paid the first month's mortgage, and that although it wan't illegal for Lee to suggest this to us, it was certainly unethical! We'd already borrowed a lot from our parents and maxed out our credit card, but if we didn't pay these fees, we'd have no flat - My dad came to the rescue with his credit card again.
Another couple of things in relation to this was the manager of our local MANN branch office - let's call him "Dean" who told us that under the carpets of the flat we wanted was polished wood floor. Hmmm, that was a lie! (dangling the carrot)
He also, as a way of getting us to move along with the purchase quickly, told us the following story. The flat was owned by an eldery lady who had gone into a home, and needed to sell up to pay her way. Halfway through our transaction, when we were having problems getting a mortgage, she "died" and her family were thinking of pulling out of the sale if they didn't sell quickly. We later found out that the woman had in fact died months before, so they'd obviously played on our emotions to get a quick sale.
Lee also managed to sell us "Countrywide Assured" buildings and contents insurance, even though the buildings insurance is included in the maintanence charges for the flat - we've only just found out, 2 years later - all that money wasted :`(
And they never phone when they say they will - ever!
I'll never again use them to buy or sell a property, and advise all first time buyers to take someone who has been through this process before when viewing properties/speaking to estate agents etc... and if they are told something which seems too good to be true, like wooden flooring, ask for it in writing!!! Then at least you have proof to complain if you need to.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: 24 hour Customer Services Disadvantages: Mortgage dealings must be done during the normal working day - difficult if you cannot access a phone during the day
sharondyer 09.01.2001 ·
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Jan 15th, 2004
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