Crawley – Connells mortgage or no sale! Extreme Lying Caught Out!

Myself and my husband viewed a property and put in an offer of the asking price. We were told by Connells this was the price the seller wanted, they would not take a lower offer and were not interested in asking for a higher offer as they did not want to mess around. Connells pressured us to try to talk to their in house financial advisor to obtain a mortgage from them; we refused and were told we could “lose the house” if we did not attend. We said that we were happy with our own financial advisor. We had various phone calls with Connells that day, in which the estate agent we were dealing with (AP) said he really wanted us to get the house and wished us all the best but we HAD to attend and speak to Connells Mortgage advisor. Connells again called and confirmed that the seller was happy to accept our offer, and refuse any more viewings on the property, but we needed to attend the office to have our financial information verified. My husband was at work all week, so offered to take a day off work to attend Connells to do so. Connells said they didn’t have any appointments for a week although when they thought we would take a mortgage with them we could go in the next day or if we were in the area. I spoke to the in house financial advisor over the phone and asked for his email address so I could send over the documents needed to confirm our financial viability, so the seller could be assured of our viability to proceed with the purchase. I sent this email, and was happy that the seller would be provided with the required reassurance. Four days later the property was newly listed on Connells' website for sale, I was assured this was a formality and nothing untoward was going on. The day before we were due to attend Connells to finalise the paper work AP called to say a cousin of the seller wanted to buy the house and the seller wanted to sell to their cousin and not to us. AP specifically said he could not proceed with selling the house to us under the seller’s wishes. I was told the cousin would be attending Connells 5 days later to see if they could get a mortgage with them, if not then we could buy the property. I suspected this was a lie and asked AP if he was delaying my purchase so someone taking a mortgage with Connells could buy the property, he said “not at all”. My husband spoke to the manager of (JS) who confirmed what AP had told me adding extra details (cousin wanted the house as a buy to let). Due to the fact I suspected Connells were lying to me, with a bit of internet research I managed to find out the name and number of the seller who we contacted and confirmed Connells had LIED, their cousin was not interested in buying the property and did not exist! The seller contacted Connells the next day and spoke to JS who admitted he had lied and did not know why he lied! Although, when AP called us he said he got the property mixed up with another one! It just so happened that another offer was made 13 days after our initial formal offer, which the buyer accepted, I suspect with the full backing of Connells. I am glad we caught Connells out, and were able to confront them. I just want to warn anyone who is thinking of buying a property with Connells, be aware of their bad practices. Connells obviously give incentives to estate agents to sell Connells mortgages, and it seemed that the only way possible to buy a house Connells were selling, was to obtain a Connells mortgage. Connells are run by a mortgage company with only 15 mortgage providers available. They may be able to offer a competitive mortgage but you would be a fool to discount the numerous other mortgage deals elsewhere. Do not be bullied by Connells hard selling tactics to get the house you want as you may end up paying thousands more on top of the selling price for the privilege. We were told that the property was as good as ours and were left very disappointed. But my biggest disappointment is being deceived is such a dishonest and devious way.

Rebekah O'Neill - 19/05/2013 | report this review