Tops Estate Agents, goes into administration

SamIAm_3-2

clobber wrote: »

I wonder how much you have to spend for them to be polite. We looked at a few last year in the 250-350K price range and they were unfailingly rude to us too, despite the fact we are chain free with a big deposit and a pre-arranged mortgage.

I'm not going to bother again until they learn some manners, so i may be in rented for a loooooong time...

That's actually well beyond our price range, so they're probably just rude all the time and it's got nothing to do with how much we've got to spend.

In all seriousness we found two really good EAs at kfh and bushells. They both patiently showed us 30+ properties each, gradually bringing our FTB expectations down to realistic levels. And they were happy all the time. I really regret that they place we bought in the end wasn't from either of them.

Not that I recommend either company - I think it's hit and miss as to the quality of the EA no matter which company you go to.

vab_2

Lucky three of the four directors saw this coming and managed to bag themselves new jobs! A fortunate position to be in. What about the other 25 full time staff who have mortgages to pay and nil in their bank account on pay day.

vab_2

I met one of the former Tops employees today. She showed me around a house on a private development today and mentioned she was a former employee. She seened quite upbeat about the whole situation. She had thought about making a change in her future career and the decision ironically was made for her this week. Still wishing to stay in property sales, which she loves, she will have to claim and wait up to five weeks for the rest of her pay, her redundency pay and one months notice. Best wishes to her and the others.

gringo69

The comment made about 3 of the 4 directors I also found very interesting when I read about it. I believe two of them went to companies that Tops recently sold - very interesting!
I am now finding estate agents are capitalising on my vunerability of Tops Ceasing trading. I am HIP exempt as have continually marketed since September 2007. As I have acted desperate to get on elsewhere quickly to avoid a HIP, we have been told by our local estate agent we must pay upfront nearly £200 non refundable but will be deducted off fees if they acheive a sale, however we lose it if we take it off the market or sell with someone else. They have also said they must now charge a higher commission as they have had to put their prices up so they don't fail as Tops did. But then if they go into administration I will surely not get my upfront fee back so might as well get a HIP anyway.
Ultimately I am suffering financial loss due to Tops ceasing trading

gringo69

Not that anybody is reading this forum anymore but I have suddenly seen my property that was on with Tops Dereham on Rightmove being sold by Sapey and Co in Norwich without my permission.
Sapey and Co have bought Tops Dereham's property register ans say all existing Tops contracts are still valid.
I understand Parsons have took over Tops Reepham. Parsons kindly notified me of that .
I still have no official word that Tops is gone and Begbies and Traynor have ignored all correspondence.

chitchatkitkat

The truth on tops......

They went into administration In Jan, but before then they stopped paying people in December! That was the last pay day! Then chose to go bust on pay day as did property shop the year before. What jokers. Staffs fuel cards stopped working so when they went to pay for petrol they were declined and then when they paid themselves and tried to claim back expenses then they were not allowed.

The biggest joke of all is that the next day after Tops closed two of the directors opened up a new Estate Agents. They had more money to do this.

They started closing offices months before and had their phone lines re-directed to other offices to gvive the appearance they were still running in full swing.

I was told by a member of staff they used to spend money on loads of rubbish employees and nonsense things that no one in their right mind would pay for. It cost them at one point ove £17k PA for a company to answer the telephones when they werent answered in 3 rings! No wonder they closed-a chimp could do a better job.

They would have sold their property register to whoever the highest bidder was so..Moving House in Norwich would have paid them something. My advice would be to take your property off of the market and then re-list with another agent who you are happy with.

Anyone selling their house in the office would know what I mean when I say this, but good job they closed. No customer serivce.....The manager from that office was so unprofessional and rude and he just shouts at people. Once when i went into the office he was having a go at someone on the phone and then stormed off accross the office in a rage. He was rude to me once and I compalined, but he must have picked the letter up first and called me up to argue about what i had said rather than dealing with it.

I used to think they were a good company, but were only good when the market was good. after then it was inevetable they were going to sink and im glad. (not pleased for all of the employees who lost their jobs and were conned out of money)

chitchatkitkat

clobber wrote: »

I wonder how much you have to spend for them to be polite. We looked at a few last year in the 250-350K price range and they were unfailingly rude to us too, despite the fact we are chain free with a big deposit and a pre-arranged mortgage.

I'm not going to bother again until they learn some manners, so i may be in rented for a loooooong time...

I used to be an estate agent and im not rude. its people like you (with no chains) that make a quick sale and as long as you werent very fussy then i would help! its good to be in rented at a time like this, be pleased!

chitchatkitkat

lilminx1 wrote: »

The brilliant part of this is that Tops have not informed the people who have their houses on the market that they have gone into administration. So we have a very pretty For Sale sign in our garden, but even if someone were interested in buying, the number is not contactable. Were they ever going to let us know, I wonder?

they didnt even tell their staff, they are too busy running off with as much money as they can x

Pssst

Cannon_Fodder wrote: »

One of East Anglia's biggest estate agents has gone into administration as the housing slump continues.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7857121.stm

although their website still says (http://www.tops-property.co.uk/)

"TOPS is Norwich's most successful estate agent, selling twice as many homes as any other.[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]We can currently show you details of over 500 properties in the area."[/FONT]



Including several commercial offices coming onto the market, unexpectedly?

Oh dear,how sad,never mind.....I'll bet the owners didnt lose out. All they are doing is ditching the clowns now the party is over.