24th Jun 2024 (19 weeks ago)
I'm not surprised that Whitakers are highly rated because their customer service is spot on.
We viewed a property that required a lot of work, and we were lucky enough to have Angie show us around. Angie was fantastic; she left us to it and answered any questions we had. I loved the property and believed I could turn that house into a home.
As first-time buyers, we wanted to view the property again. Since the house wasn't cheap, we wanted to ensure we could afford the renovation costs. We booked a second viewing. At this point, nothing could have deterred me from putting in an offer, not even advice from family and friends. During our second viewing, the agent spent the first five minutes talking about their personal life and circumstances. When she finished, she reminded us that we had only 10 minutes left. Throughout the viewing, she followed us into every room, continuously reminding us of the time limit (I've never known any estate agents in Hull to have a 15-minute viewing limit and to remind us every minute). This created such a poor experience as we couldn't fully examine the property. We felt under pressure. The agent also mentioned that she disliked when buyers took their time and that previous buyers would linger. Then her husband called to remind her that she had only two minutes left, so we had to wrap things up. The reason for the 15-minute limit was that they needed time to get to their next viewing. The agent also complained about fuel costs and staff expenses, which seemed irrelevant to our viewing.
My partner's father took the day off work to see the house but got stuck in traffic (Hull A63 was closed, causing gridlock). It took him 1 hour and 15 minutes to arrive, and when he did, we were told to book another viewing. There were many ways to handle the situation better: the husband could have gone to the next viewing while the agent stayed with us, they could have given us an extra five minutes for my partner’s father, or they could have left us the keys since the house was vacant.
The people who showed us around were Mr. & Mrs. Whitakers. This experience ultimately deterred me from making an offer. If I could contact the vendor directly, I certainly would. If you were short-staffed, it would have been better to cancel my viewing and rebook it for a different date.
Overall, I've had no problems with the staff, and I think they are absolutely brilliant (hence the two stars and not one). However, the owners should practice what they preach. You wouldn't expect your employees to deliver such a service, so why should you? Whitakers did call us to apologise and to book another viewing; however, this has left a bad taste in our mouths. The staff shouldn't be apologising; it should be the owners.... Read more