“STEER WELL CLEAR...PLEASE!!
Hired them to sell my mum's house after she went into a care home.
Richard Evans in Burton On Trent did the valuation and I decided to deffer the payment until sold.
He told my wife and I, to our faces, that if the house didn't sell in 10 months it was 'no sale no fee'! A total lie.....YOU PAY THE FEE WHETHER IT SELLS OR NOT!!
It seems it's the conveyancy fee you don't pay if it doesn't go through to completion, as I've had no invoice off them since it all went pear shaped for the second time over a 10 month period!
If you defer the payment you have to use their preferred conveyancers and the conveyancy firm 'Premier Property Lawyers' are an absolute joke of a company. But that's for another review!!
To have purple bricks do the viewings is another £500. I paid them £500 for them to arrange ONE block viewing!!
First buyer was supposed to be a cash buyer, obviously not vetted properly by purple bricks because it turned out they wouldn't pay the price they offered. Second cash buyer strung the sale out that long I lost interest and sold through auction!
The post sales team is someone who answers the phone occasionally and may make a phone call to another party if you insist, but that's about it I'm afraid.
When I tried calling my property expert, Richard Evans for advice on re-marketing, my calls and answer phone messages I left were totally ignored!
In hindsight I made a big and expensive mistake (in time and money) by appointing these jokers.
PLEASE AVOID!”
“We booked a valuation today as there are two houses we are interested in putting an offer on and they didn't bother to show up for this. NEEDLESS TO SAY WILL NOT BE USING. Called the person several times and left voicemail and didn't even have the courtesy to call back. STAY CLEAR.”
“Terrible customer service and lack of communication. They can't deliver anything that was promised. If house is not in first couple weeks they stop responding to calls, emails and texts.
DO NOT USE THEM. DO NOT TRUST THEM.”
“No help with selling house. Lost out on a sale and all they want is £3000 fee (for what!) they are a very sneaky company just want yr money. No reply’s to emails and that includes manager. Useless stay well clear”
“I am currently purchasing a property marketed through Purplebricks. The so called 'local expert' ignores my emails, every time I speak with someone on their 'help' line they tell me a different story, 6 weeks post offer and my conveyancer still hasn't received the memorandum of sale. This means my purchase is still at least 8-12 weeks away from completion, if it ever does.
I really wouldn't ever want to deal with this agent again.”
“Don't use them as a letting agent
I use them as a letting agent, in the process of leaving them, they are changing staff constantly, they are ignorant, unprofessional and totally useless.
They ignore the tenant and the landlord, they ignore emails and phone messages.
They send out contractors who overcharge, because they are dishonest or purplebricks gets huge kickbacks?? Both ways are very bad.
If I wasn't vigilant I would have been overcharged £3,000 in one year, which is most of the yearly rental.
I wouldn't recommend these cowboys.
Perhaps it's:- you pay peanuts you get monkey's
That's why the staff really don't care.
DO NOT USE purplebricks
AVOID AT ALL COSTS”
“I strongly recommend you do not use Purplebricks. I opted for a pay later plan as under their money back guarantee which clearly states if your property does not sell within 10 months you get your money back in full. A few weeks before the 10 month deadline I received an email saying funds will be taken from my account. I simply said that I will be terminating the contract under the money back guarantee so please do not take any funds. I received an email saying they would not do so. I thought that was the end but oh no today I received an email and it looks like they are going to take over £2000 from my account only to have to refund a few days later when the contract expires. This is the sort of trend I have experienced with them from day one. Very poor communication. Don't expect to get hold of your agent within 48 hours. Also making viewings and letting you know with less than a days notice.
Go with your local estate agents as they know the area and market better than any mainly online only company. I had two viewings in 10 months although I dropped the asking price by 30%. My local estate agents have already had three viewings in four weeks. Something smells wrong here.”
“Really poor service, i was selling a property, the agent never reply's to messages , emails, and when i call its answerphone, when i finally speak its "sorry i was at the doctors" or "had to take my son to the hospital "and so on, very un professional.
Then when i went to pay the bill i was on hold for 64 mins. please avoid.
i don't know who they buy their trust pilot reviews from ?”
“Booked a viewing, then to be hassled if we were attending and to confirm by email or the booking would be cancelled. Then to be called to check our purchase position. When I advised house had had two market appraisals ready for sale, was told even if we placed an offer the vendor would go with those ready to purchase. I will never view a property though them again”
“No star more like! Generally estate agents have a very bad reputation, but purple bricks have topped it! Furthermore their customer service team for any complaints are useless and for some reason, arrogant.
No help, guidance received in trying to sell my property despite having had 5 agents involved within 12 months of instructing them! Absolute blaggers and just lip service!
The worst/ have no confidence nor any trust in them! I regret instructing them!”
“Absolutely no support whatsoever from Purple Bricks with my sale. They never responded to Rightmove enquiries or calls so all my viewings came from me posting my advert online. Do not recommend. Wouldn't even give 1 out of 10 if I could.”
“I was a tenant with Purple Bricks for 6 months. After a sudden leak from the upstairs neightbours, all they did was send painters to repaint the ceiling instead of figuring out what happened.
When I notified them after 5 months that I was moving but that the other tenant would take over the lease, there was no response. Felt forced to give formal notice for the complete apartment after 2 months of silence and after that it took 4 months and several complaints before the deposit was released. Even the owner of the property has cancelled their service as even to his calls and emails there was no response.”
“We have recently purchased a property. Right at the very start of the contact with the agent from Purple Bricks, our experience has been appalling. When the agent left Purplebricks, after the vendor had accepted the offer, we had no further contact from anyone from the agency. There was no guidance for the vendor and misinformation given to us from the agent (and vendor) regarding a completion date, vendor finances and availability of vendor’s onward purchase caused a very stressful 7 months before we were able to complete. On the final day a Purplebricks agent tried to contact us to arrange a key handover, she had the wrong phone number. When we tried to finalise the handover, the agent would not return the call. Again a stressful situation trying to get the keys. The solicitors Purplebricks recommended to the vendor were uncommunicative in the main and it appears incompetent as we experienced delays and cancelled moving dates, causing us to loose removal deposits and extend rental due to their form. Everyone we have spoken to regarding the experience we had, have said they have only heard of very bad experiences with Purplebricks. I would not even give our experience one star and certainly would never recommend them. They did not benefit ours or the vendor’s experience”
“Absolutely horrendous from day one.
Booked a valuation which no one turned up for, eventually someone turned up to the 3rd arranged valuation 3 weeks later.
They then said would be on market in days, after much chasing and changing their appalling description, it was online after 10 days.
Week of being online and zero viewings booked, in a highly desirable area.
I phoned the number on rightmove and first time it said no-one could answer the phone as all in training, second time it said appointments can only be booked online (so what about the people who don’t do apps etc?!). But if you hold long enough, about 20 seconds, over a deadly silence it then says if want to speak to someone and book a valuation press 1. Spoke to someone after a 5 minute hold (the automated message said it would be 1 minute), she said I could book through her and that there wasn’t an open house viewing, which it clearly says there is in the first line of the advert.
You get what you pay for.
Use a proper local agent not these cowboys.
Now to fight for a refund of the fee for them not providing any sort of professional service.”
“Stephen Marcroft of Purple Bricks Warrington made a lot of promises and takes a really good game - but nothing he said came true.
Lots of stuff proved untrue - but mainly his promise that if the house didn’t sell we wouldn’t pay anything.
Except after the house sale fell through we got threatening letters to pay up and he went AWOL (apparently he changed his phone but don’t know what happened to the messages his colleagues passed on)
Anyway we paid up to avoid wrecking our credit score.
Months later he did finally get back to me and promised me a refund.
That was back on Feb 3rd 2022 - and guess what still no refund.
Also the vendor of the house we were trying to buy messaged me telling me Stephen Marcroft was lying about whether he knew they’d sold the house to someone else. Something he obviously denies as that would be extremely unprofessional.”
“Absolutely abysmal company. Don’t not use. The solicitors they recommend are also completely incompetent. We have been trying to buy a 2 bed flat with no chain and we are approaching 6 month mark. Full of excuses, none of them has any idea what is going on, no communication, completely inadequate. Will be making a complete to ombudsman along with the seller regarding this faceless entity.
Example. Asked me for further compliance information 6 months after the process started before they could continue talking to me - although they had been communicating with me quite openly and never mentioned before Then in the next email 2 minutes later I’m asked how they can assist me! No mention of compliance! This type of issue has been consistent throughout my dealings with them
The amount of stress this company and their solicitors have caused me and my family is unreal. We haven’t used their solicitors thankfully but the seller has. They are appalling.”
“Awful experience. Currently holding my tenancy deposit hostage after moving out over month ago. No response to multiple requests for my deposit to be returned and the phone line for the property manager just says 'we're closed for staff training' every time I attempt to call. I've submitted a complaint, and have received no response. Disgusting service and absolutely zero communication.”
“The customer service is pretty none existent and the solicitors they recommend are absolutely atrocious. It looks like I will now have to pull out of my purchase due to delays caused by both my solicitor and the sellers solicitor, both recommended by PB. In nearly 6 months of trying to complete this house move, I have not once managed to ever speak to the solicitor. The phone is never answered, I dont even know if the firm exists tbh.
I have had to arrange my own searches as the solicitor didn't send off for them until around 4 months into the process. The amount of stress is unreal, I dont even know what I have paid for as I have been the one constantly chasing everyone etc..when I rang PB to say it is likely I will now have to pull out due to my mortgage offer expiring and the costs associated with renewing it etc...the woman on the other end said, ok thanks I'll record that on your file.
I dont think ill ever attempt to buy a property again, I have wasted 6 months, felt enormous stress and am significantly out of pocket. This firm and their band of cowboy law firms ought to be utterly ashamed.”
