Countrywide Avis 

Today we are in court facing a possession hearing. CW have totally mismanaged our tenancy but we have all our evidence. I’d advise anyone in disagreement with the firm to only communicate via email. It’s a legal record and can be used as such in court. The stress we are under is unbearable. All because of the way this firm operates.

Rented a property for 4 years through them. We wished to leave our tenancy as we had bought a house. Left property as it was handed over to us at the start of the tenancy. We were sent an email by Craig Gilbert to say they would let us know about the deposit and any deductions the landlord wished to make. And then complete radio silence. Not returning emails, Craig is always on a phone call when you ring and he the only person you are allowed to talk to. Absolute scum.

I had the misfortune of being assigned Latham Gadd as my conveyancing solicitor - a person who, to this day, I'm not convinced actually exists as he was so elusive to actually contact.

Latham regularly took a minimum of one week to reply to emails. Even if it was to check I'd signed a document in the correct place before posting - surely a one second job to open a PDF and reply yes/no.

There were times when I did not hear from Latham at all for three weeks and even four weeks on one occasion.

I began to be seriously concerned that there was a problem with my emails, that Latham was sick, or that he'd been given the sack. I called up the office regularly throughout the six month process and only successfully got a hold of him once. On other occasions, I asked for a call back and never received one.

When I brought up these communication problems with his line manager, she replied, "Well, I can ask him to reply to you but obviously I can't make him do anything." Who can then?

I asked if there was a communication policy, e.g. a minimum number of working days in which a solicitor should reply to their client. The call centre staff said this didn't exist. I asked if they thought a week was acceptable - they said no. How about a month? Also not acceptable, yet it happened with regularity with Latham Gadd.

The reason why this review is 2 stars is because Latham went on holiday at the end of the process. We were then appointed Mary Lord who had good communication and got us over the line. I was so thankful not to have Latham at the end or we'd probably still be waiting on a reply right now.

This shows Countrywide is luck of the draw. You might get someone decent, or you might get Latham. Either way, the company needs to put in place a clear communication policy and line managers ought to take responsibility for whipping their team into shape - isn't that what their role is meant to be?

Overall, disappointing and frustrating. I can't believe that professionals can ignore clients for a month despite repeated follow-ups. In no other industry would this be acceptable.

They're lucky I'm giving them one star as there's no option of a 0. Tried to get an AIP through them but their systems would be down most of the time which is not very helpful when applying for a mortgage and trying to put down an offer on a property we like. Then the gut who I tried calling and texting on his mobile phone, would then email me asking me if I had the correct number of his. The text message showed that my text we clearly read by him. And also the fact that was the number I always spoke to him on and had it saved on my phone from the very beginning !. Terrible Terrible service indeed. And all he kept on doing right from the very beginning was continuously boast about himself and how good he is and how many customers keep going back to him. Pathetic

The work they did was excellent. Really nice lads friendly. The work they did was to remove spray foam in our loft due to all the bad publicity on rip of Britain that spray foam causes & damage we would of had if we didn't remove. These young lads worked brilliantly to remove it all without any damage to the structural loft. The price was good & cheaper than other companies by a few thousand so excellent. The company office kept me up to date with everything I needed to know with good advice.

Terrible service over the phone. Made one comment and the woman laughed at me and accused me of being a liar.

Avoid these people at all costs, King and Chasemore are in the group. They lied to us have done nothing to try and sell our house and we are of the opinion that they overpriced the house at the outset so it wouldnt sell so they could then advise to drop it below market value for a quick sale, we used the Chichester branch, avoid these criminals at all costs, they made a breakup situation a lot worse, they have no care for customers and I think the reviews on here speak for themselves. shame on you.

Surveyor turned up in t.shirt, monkey boots, and jeans, did a report for equity release. Have seen a copy of the report and so much was left off the report making it totally misleading of the property. The Equity Release offered £50K less than the property is worth so the equity release fell through.
I made a complaint but Equity Release company pay the surveyor and couldn't care less saying there were a few "typo" errors in the report!!!! (I thought I was reading another property report as it it didn't reflect my property at all) I have reported the surveyor for gross in Incompetence not that it will do any good!! WARNING DON'T TOUCH Countrywide there are just a bunch of cowboys in my opinion having gone through what I have just gone though!!!!

Used a mortgage broker as FTB. Have had to chase every step along the way, says they've done something and then after a week I call Nationwide for them to tell me they're still waiting on the things my mortgage broker was supposed to have done! This happened twice! A week delay each time. Would've been quicker and cheaper to do it myself!

I have raised a formal complaint too the CEO Richard Twigg of Countrywide and Connells estate agents on two counts. He is a waste of time and does not investigate his abusive staffs conduct.

Conning Brook lakes Ashford kent new builds are flawed with defects, which connels new about after phase 1.

Such as internal drain smells.

Join the conningbrooklakes residents face book page too see what problems there are with this site. People are reselling quickly as they moved in..

Good luck trying too get anything done under warranty from Latimer by Clarion and chartways.

1. Mann Countrywide Ashford kent deliberately did not market the sale of my house too support builders harrassing and causing harm too my family over a parking dispute.

The manager Maria and assistant manager Channele authorised this malicious act.

After 6 months of becoming suspicious of not one viewing an internal investigation was done and i was awarded £300 comphensation. This does not cover the devaluation of my house in a high interest rate market climate causing price drops.

The regional manager Allun stated when i raised a complaint too him via email it went into his junk email. Liar.

One week after my complaint, they tried too book my first viewing. They are a joke.

The Ombudsman and Kent Police have been informed. I am now going too sue Country Wide for devaluing my house value.

2. Connells are marketing the sale of new builds on Conning Brook Lakes Ashford Kent
These properties have drain smells internally and defect with the windows and doors, and more problems with the houses.

Latimer by clarion and chart ways builders do not honour repairs in the 1st two years snagging list.

Please log onto conning brook lakes residential face book page too see all the problems listed by the residents.

Lots of people are reselling quickly. After phase 1 its my view Connells under miss representation should have told new buyers of the problems with these houses as they were
Known as they have a show room on the site.

This has been reported too the Ombudsman

AVOID at all costs! Countrywide and Bairstow Eve are by far the worst estate agents I've ever encountered. Misplaced rent, threatening emails saying we've breached our tenancy agreement with no evidence, taking 2.5 years to resolve a leak, and taking weeks/months to resolve any issues raised in regard to the property. Never able to get through to someone on the phone, and passed around staff members who are blunt and unhelpful. We regret moving into our property simply because of Countrywide and Bairstow Eve - avoid the Countrywide Group.

In common with most reviews here, I am disgusted with this outfit. They don't care though, and will continue to take full advantage of the environment in which they operate. Practically all agreements and statements made are merely seen as a life style choice on their behalf. The only thing they understand is taking as much as they can for the least effort. No surprise really, after all they are only estate agents at the end of the day. Fight fire with fire and force them onto the back foot wrt legal action. It's worked for me, but I care nothing for any so called credit rating.

Never use this company.

I used a mortgage adviser. Never returns your calls and always in meeting. Only helpful until you give them money and never heard from them.

I strong advise to never use them.

Common thieves and bullies. They wouldn't let me leave the tenancy agreement earlier and made me pay for the entire month even though the apartment was empty for 3 weeks and I was not using it or had access to it as I surrendered the keys back to them. All this after I was a faithful tenant to them for 10 years without any issues at all from my side.
And if you ever see the name Nayna Patel as a landlord do not rent from her, she is the worst landlord in the Midlands.

I have held a small pension with this company for over 30 years - Last year I decided to cash in my policy - The service or lack of it has been appalling - They refuse to respond to your message that you write on their web site , they state that they won't send e mails and as I reside overseas letters from them appear to get lost even though other letters from companies based in the UK arrive within a few weeks -telephone contact is well a jammed switchboard and it took me 40 minutes to get through which led to being told that my query would lead to a reply by the Pension department - of course waiting for their promised call never - finally a threat of complaint led to contact and a promise to send the necessary forma and now 4 months on still no forms and 2 further messages on the web site and no response - I suspect that a policy exists to delay as long as possible the paying out of policies - I have just recently made an official complaint and warned them that the ombudsman is next

Countrywide mortgage advisor Misha Shah is dealing with my mortgage. Mortgage valuation successfully accepted on 22nd March. It's 2nd May today. All required documents sent couple of times. All solicetor processings are done. Whole chaine is awaiting completion. We're chasing her, agents are chasing her. We hear heardly from her.

From my experience after successfull valuation we receive mortgage offer or denial within one or two weeks. Wondering if anyone else of Countrywide could look in to the issue.

Absolute shambles!! Started a BTL mortgage review in February and despite calling, emailing and texting the broker we are still no further forward and its the end of May! We paid £799 to access further products and now cant get any service from them. Please find a competent broker for your mortgage needs and not these cowboys!

I paid for the full letting service which was meant to include property visits, reports, liaison with the tenant, 24hr maintenance coverage etc. They did none of this, I had to liaise directly with the tenant to resolve maintenance issues the tenant had complained about for months. When I complained to Countrywide, they stated they could not proceed with an investigation because they had not visited the property - a key element of my complaint. Utterly useless, disreputable, and structurally dishonest as there appears to be no evidence they even attempted to comply with their contractural commitments to me, avoid at all costs.

Have been trying to change my payment details for over 4 weeks. Have called and told I do not have a policy, also told it must be with another company.
Complete online form 5 times, emailed several times and they finally sent me a new mandate 3 weeks later. Completed on same day and sent via their upload service and after nearly 5 weeks now being told unless I make a payment they will stop my life insurance which I have paid for over 18 years!
This company is useless beyond belief.
After 5 weeks still no changes, cannot complain to Ombudsman until after 8 weeks, so great once they stop my insurance!

I cannot recommend them enough! Gareth has helped us through every step and explained everything to our understanding. Thank you for everything! 5 stars!