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

Minnymouse_2

It is the least we can do to try and help others get their money back - there but for the Grace of God Go any of Us....!

lincroft1710

It is the least we can do to try and help others get their money back

You may eventually get the company closed down but there won't be any money left to refund dissatisfied customers

sceptical_seller

I too sent this firm money on friday and only thought of using this site to see if anyone knows them.Did your sale proceed?

ILW

sceptical_seller wrote: »

I too sent this firm money on friday and only thought of using this site to see if anyone knows them.Did your sale proceed?

As you have been advised on your other thread, if you can, cancel your payment NOW. It is a scam.

A_Helping_Hand

Hi all,

I wish this site had been set up when I was originally contacted by “syh4f”. When they contacted us, my wife and I were in a vulnerable state, my wife was being treated for cancer, and I had just been made redundant after 26 years with the same company and our house had been on the market for nearly two years. We were still wary enough though to try and find out any information good or bad on them, at that time there was nothing.

We were initially contacted by a person called Jamie Helyer. He was in telesales, and was very good at what he did, he was able to answer all our questions and alleviate any fears we had. Shortly after a pack was sent to us, this contained documents showing “multi agency agreement, terms of business, and a buyer’s code of practice” All of which seemed legitimate. We signed these and sent them back. At the same time we were told that the valuations manager Leslie Paterson would arrange an appointment to visit our house. A date was duly made but he did not show up. We contacted Jamie who seemed upset and flustered; he said he would find out from his manager what had happened. Later the manager Simon Lewis phoned us and said that the potential buyer had pulled out because he needed to arrange funding and that it would be after Christmas before we heard anything.

We were contacted again in early January by Simon Lewis to say the buyer was still interested, and that he wanted to send the valuer to our house. We told him that we would be going away for a break, so we arranged for a friend to be in the house and let the valuations manager in. Our friend later told us that the valuer stayed no longer than ten minutes and suggested that we should be able to get more money for the house because one of the smallest rooms could be shown as a double room!

All the time we were away Simon Lewis kept in touch with us, at one point saying that we had two people interested in the house. We eventually sold the house while we were away and the paper work was actually faxed to us. I paid the 1% fee over the phone using a credit card.

My wife and I were so happy. Later on the phone I even said to Simon that with my wife’s cancer and my redundancy we needed some good news, he was so pleasant to talk to, he even said if I know of anyone else who was selling their house be sure to pass on their details.

We realised something was wrong when we returned from our trip. The first thing was that the original paper work we had sent to “syh4f” had been returned to us with “Not known at this address” “Return to Sender”. I then contacted my solicitor to see if they had been contacted by “syh4f” and of course they had not. I then tried to contact “syh4f” by phone, Simon Lewis was always unavailable! The phone would be answered by a person called “Michael Rolls” who would answer by saying “Wot” and be very offish. Finally I resorted to giving a false name which eventually got me to Simon Lewis. He was not happy after I gave my true identity. He just casually said that their legal department were dealing with it and it wasn’t his problem.

My wife and I went through the whole plethora of emotions regarding what has happened to us and how these people have taken advantage of us as well as many others.
I am in complete agreement with others in this forum that the more of us who contact the various agencies the better that we might be able to get these people rounded up and put away for a very long time. With that in mind I have listed below all the information I have so far gained regarding my case in the hope that it will help others.

It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway :
“STAY AWAY FROM SELLYOURHOUSE4FREE”

Sellyourhouse4free Details:

Addresses Used by Sellyourhouse4free:
Sell Your House 4 Free Limited, Dalton House, 60 Windsor Avenue, London, SW19 2RR.

Sell Your House 4 Free Limited, 50 Broadway, St. James Park, London, SW1H 0RG.

Company Registration number: 07028395

Listed as a Limited Company: 24th September 2009

“syh4f” Merchant ID: 2100320350.

They use a company called “Elavon” (0845 8500195) based in Ireland but with a global reach these people handle the processing for merchants credit cards. “syh4f” merchant ID. Is 2100320350.

Known People Involved:
Jamie Helyer Telesales Negotiator 0845 4670310 [EMAIL="jamie.heyler@syh4free.com"]jamie.heyler@syh4free.com[/EMAIL]

Michael Rolls Answers phone
David Shaw Answers phone
Lea Roberts Answers phone

Simon Lewis Sales Negotiator Office 0845 2691573 [EMAIL="simon.lewis@syh4free.com"]simon.lewis@syh4free.com[/EMAIL]

Leslie Paterson Valuations Manager
Office 0845 4670310 0845 4670310 Mobile 07901 853903 Fax 0845 4670320

Mustafapha Yilmaz Legal Department 08454 670350 [EMAIL="legals@syh4free.com"]legals@syh4free.com[/EMAIL]

Conrad Haynes Head of Accounts 0845 467 0340 [EMAIL="accounts@syh4free.com"]accounts@syh4free.com[/EMAIL]

Secretary
Deryk, George Hillier. Appointed: 24th September 2009. Nationality: Unknown. No of Appointments: 2. Address: 5 Gardenfields, Duncan Road, Tadworth, Surrey, KT20 6DR.

Director
Mohammed Ramzan. Appointed: 15th January 2010. Date of birth: 22nd September 1976. Nationality: British. No of Appointments: 2. Address: Dalton House, 60 Windsor Avenue, London, SW19 2RR. Country/State of Residence: United Kingdom.

Director
Deryk George Hillier. Appointed: 24th September 2009. Date of birth: 12th April 1930. Resigned: 4th January 2010. Nationality: British. No of Appointments: 4. Address: 5 Gardenfields, Duncan Road, Tadworth, Surrey, KT20 6DR.

Agencies to contact:

Office of Fair Trading 0845 722 4499

Consumer Direct 0845 4040506

Companies House 0870 3333636 (Deals with Limited Companies)
Informed us that “syh4f” was listed with them as of 24th September 2009. We also got a “Current Appointments Report” which showed a Secretary and two Directors, see above.

Insolvency Service 0845 6029848
They gave us the company registration number: 702 83 95

Local Trading standards for the area where the company is trading from 0208 8717720
Informed by these people that Trading Standards is involved in investigating “syh4f”.

Watchdog [EMAIL="watchdog@bbc.co.uk"]watchdog@bbc.co.uk[/EMAIL]

Police
The police informed me that due to the fact that the Office of Fair Trading has the “Powers of Prosecution” They did not need to follow up my enquiry. But they also added that if the Office of Fair Trading did not pursue my enquiry, then the police would investigate.

Bank
As I parted with money which has been fraudulently taken from me, my bank is conducting their own investigation.

maninthestreet

Oh dear, this is bad. Have you had any further communication with anyone from
SYH4FREE? I note your posting indicates that Deryk Hillier, mentioned previoiusly in this thread, has resigned as director as of 4th January.

100mel

I am so sorry to read this - really hope that they can get shut down . I had the pleasure of constant calls from Michael Rolls who would probably give used car salesmen a bad name. Only managed to stop the calls by returning his aggression and cutting the call. Trading standards is probably the best bet but unless people have paid on credit card or are able to stop cheques then I fear that money may be lost. This is a scam

If you have paid on credit card you can get refund under Section 75 . If paid by debit card try your bank as it should be classed as fraud and they should refund although knowing banks you may have to fight for this - if they don't - make it a complaint and go to FOS

The way this thread has grown means that more people are finding out and reporting this mob and which will hopefully put an end to this scam

maninthestreet

I'm waiting for someone from SYH4FREE to come on here and tried to defend themselves. Perhaps we'll get Les Patterson himself :

msowen

Just received an offer letter today from syh4free, have been talking to them for the last 2 weeks. I was currently making arrangements with my bank to make the 1% payment requested. Then did some last minute research and came across this thread - glad I did now.

I thought this was too good to be true - should have listened to my initial instincts. Especially when the "supposed" offer was 8 grand more then the property was advertised at in the local estate agents - something 10 mins worth of research by a potential buyer would have found out.

Does anyone know of a legit sale?

maninthestreet

msowen wrote: »

Just received an offer letter today from syh4free, have been talking to them for the last 2 weeks. I was currently making arrangements with my bank to make the 1% payment requested. Then did some last minute research and came across this thread - glad I did now.

I thought this was too good to be true - should have listened to my initial instincts. Especially when the "supposed" offer was 8 grand more then the property was advertised at in the local estate agents - something 10 mins worth of research by a potential buyer would have found out.

Does anyone know of a legit sale?

No evidence yet that anyone has successfully sold their house using SYH4FREE and got their 1% back. Surely the alarm bells went off in your head when the buyer made an offer 8K more than your asking price, especially since they have to pay SYH4FREE another 2K for the privilege of buying it???