No Estate Agents are open!

James_N

It's a Bank Holiday weekend. Yet all out local agents are closed and have been since 1630 Friday. It's impossible to see houses, get information or even book for NEXT weekend. Some of them don't even have effective answering machines and as for emailing them - they seem to have an email address just for show, because you never get a response.

If you phone in the week - always tricky from work, they want to call you back - always tricky when at work - and then pathetically offer you a mid-morning mid-week appointment. They appear surprised that one should want a Saturday viewing (family house, family view, family decision) or an evening viewing. We had a viewing on Saturday where the agent turned up and basically said they could only give us 10 minutes because they were late! Stuff that. I am not taking 10 minutes over the most expensive purchase I have ever made when I booked this 2 weeks ago! Get more staff if you can't cover the demand.

Estate Agencies in the UK are truly awful and seem locked in a down direction. Expensive, poor service, rude and ineffective.

googler

'Local' to where?

It's probably impossible to find a bank that's open as well. What other businesses are likely to be closed this weekend?

James_N

googler wrote: »

'Local' to where?

It's probably impossible to find a bank that's open as well. What other businesses are likely to be closed this weekend?

I can bank online!

No large shops will be closed today!

System

Bank closed = bank holiday.

Ref estate agents being closed. Use this to your advantage. No doubt you will have seen so many estate agents with 0845 type numbers. So make a list of all those you intend using and use the saynoto0845 website to find their regional numbers so that tomorrow, even if you have to hold on, you are using your free minutes or whatever you do.

If you can't find their names via saynoto0845, then google estate agents in.......whatever town and scroll through their adverts, that way you can often find their regional numbers.

Running_Horse

I suspect all the houses you are desperate to see this very minute will still be there on Tuesday morning at 9 o'clock.

Even sellers are allowed a bank holiday break from obsessive tidying and toadying for strangers.

Snowdrop22_2

Estate agents, like job agents are mostly parasites taking money and not providing any added benefits. Every time another one goes bust it's happy days!

mb73

Are other people not allowed to actually have a Bank Holiday off then?

Never used to be able to do any of these things on Sundays, Bank Hols or for half the day on Wednesdays. I'm only in my 30's but I do remember those days!

googler

OP - what line of work are you in, that you're able to take the bank holiday as a holiday....?

carolinosourus

Foxtons in Chiswick are open today! Though I think it depends very much on where you are in the country, big chains will most likely be open (in London anyway) but smaller, local business will probably be shut, remember that when you're on a break from work ie national holiday, most other people will be too.

mb73: I'm only 23 but grew up in a small village where everything would close early on a Wednesday afternoon

googler

James_N wrote: »

I can bank online!

No large shops will be closed today!

You can look at the agents' websites and property portals, too.....

tek-monkey

mb73 wrote: »

Are other people not allowed to actually have a Bank Holiday off then?

Never used to be able to do any of these things on Sundays, Bank Hols or for half the day on Wednesdays. I'm only in my 30's but I do remember those days!

Same here, I remember learning to drive on Sainsburys car park because they didn't open Sundays. Give them a break, its a public holiday so let them have time off.

As it is they are usually available longer than most other professions, I viewed one place at 9am and another at 8pm when I was hunting! In fact I found most of them very polite and accomodating, which was a suprise from what you read.

Now my problem is that my solicitor isn't available today, how dare they! They've not been available since friday afternoon, damn parasites doing nothing but leeching money and adding no value. And banks, don't they know I work? And don't get me started on the local butcher, I work 9-5 so can't get there when he's open, why won't he work more hours or employ more staff? :rolleyes: