SYH4free (sell your house for free) scam or real?

rabb5it

This is a discussion forum Andy & it is a useful way to pull people together sharing information that is in their interest.


I believe maninthestreet has a valid point, why would a buyer pay 2% for finding property they can find themselves or use their own agent.


It has been compulsory since October 2009 for an agent to be registered with either the Property Ombudsman tpos.co.uk or the Surveyors Ombudsman surveyors-ombudsman.org.uk. syh4free is registered with neither and is therefore trading illegally.


The ‘Valuations Manager’ is Peter Stevens, and although he apparently works freelance, he has a syh4free business card. So who is he working for & who is he managing?


There are several ads on the London Gumtree regarding Selling & Buying (Google syh4free). All the ads were posted by Michael Rolls 07761951571 michael.rolls@syh4free.com. You will see that his immediate need is an English lesson.


After investigation I would say to anyone starting to research this company, avoid syh4free.

googler

Taking the £150k example from a few posts back, even if you allow a generous 2.5% conventional selling fee including all legals, etc (around £3750) that still leaves you a potential selling range of between

£138,750 - £150,000

to STILL be better off than using these property companies..... who, on the face of it, won't offer any more than £135,000, possibly less.

binnybin

Thanks googler, what is unclear is that my house is on the market for £215K, dodgy syh4free surveyor valued at £236K, offer came in at £220K = profit £5K plus agents commision etc.
Too good to be true? probably, thats why i was researching, hope this thread deters other people from going anywhere near this company.

devondale

we have been approached by this firm and they have made a decent offer, they have even give us the buyer's solicitors name, but my gut feeling is this is a scam. we were going to ask the same question if our solicitor could hold our 1% until everything was completed, but after reading all these messages i think we have got the message.

binnybin

Thanks devondale i'm glad this thread has been helpful to you, this is what these forums should be about achieving. happy new year.

devondale

just had phone call from the guy at syh4free asking if our deal was still going through. we told him everthing would go ahead but our solicitor would be holding 1% untill everything was finalised. after a short pause he said he understood as LOTS of his clients say that to him, but as this is a UNIQUE way of doing business they hold all funds to protect the buyer and the seller, if we pull out then we lose our money and vice versa. i don't think we will be hearing from him again. we are just glad we found this forum and that people take heed from reading all these posts.
:T

devondale

thanks binnybin, if it wasn't for your curiosity about this website alot of us may have been took in by there smooth talking sales people. happy new year to you to.

100mel

I was referred to this thread and am grateful for all the info as I've been inundated with calls from this company - always from a withheld number and nothing in writing - really quite aggressive - ringing and saying that I had agreed for a valuation which I haven't and did I want to sell my house - yes or no. Not quite the approach I think from a proper property professional.........I just want to stop them ringing me continually

g_attrill

100mel wrote: »

I was referred to this thread and am grateful for all the info as I've been inundated with calls from this company - always from a withheld number and nothing in writing - really quite aggressive - ringing and saying that I had agreed for a valuation which I haven't and did I want to sell my house - yes or no. Not quite the approach I think from a proper property professional.........I just want to stop them ringing me continually

Have you actually asked them to not ever call you again, or just said you aren't interested in their services? Might be worth sending a notice via. email that you do not ever want to use their service and that any further contact will be regarded as harassment and you will contact the police and Trading Standards. They might not be fazed by this though!

On a practical note, if you have BT then call their malicious calls bureau on 0800 661 441 and they should offer you Choose to Refuse free for a month or two, then you can block the calls even from a withheld number. It will probably be important to state that it's not just an unwanted marketing call, but continual harassment from a specific company, otherwise they will refer you to the TPS. Register with the TPS anyway if you haven't, although I doubt they screen their numbers with them.

100mel

Actually they are ringing my mobile - just had another call from them. Also they have sent me an information pack in the post which seems rather light on actual information and legal detail! I have told them to stop calling repeatedly but they don't hear the word No - as you say think it is time to mention Trading Standards on next occasion - that'll be early evening at a guess