Countrywide Conveyancing/HSBC - avoid like the plague if you want to complete

PZH

Richard_Webster wrote: »

You don't give notice on your rented until after exchange of contracts has actually happened.

Never rely on some vague predicted date guessed at by an estate agent. It hasn't happened until it happens. It won't happen until HSBC's lawyer says they are satisifed and there may a longish delay before that happens. Only when they tell your solicitor they are satisfied AND your solicitor has exchanged ocntarcts do you give notice on your rented.

I totally agree with regards giving notice to the landlord

However, reading through the comments on here, some people have been in a situation where Contracts have been exchanged and a Completion Date set BUT then the completion has fallen through or moved back?

xjenp89x

My partner and I are FTB's and yet another couple who have been made victims of HSBC/CW scheme.
We agreed an offer on the house we are buying on 26th January 2012, so it's coming up to 3 months and my solicitor is only now managing to satisfy the extensive requirements for pre exchange. However, we have sent our complaint to the financial ombudsman now, as HSBC refused to compensate us for not giving us correct information regarding this new policy. We were told by our mortage advisor that there should be no extra cost from our solicitors. We are using a firm that wasn't in the panel but were also told that there would be less work for our solicitor and therefore, the £192 should be deducted from our legal fees.......load of rubbish and actually the complete opposite!! We have had to pay the £192 to CW and an extra £240 to our solicitor on top of the £740 we already owe him, as there is so much extra work.
As a lot of you know, it is such an infuriating process and I am now waiting for the ombudsman to investigate further. We are hoping to be in our home soon but are not holding our breaths!!

jonas123

I advise everyone experiencing a delay due to Countrywide to make a complaint to HSBC in writing or online. I did so a few weeks ago, and got a bog standard reply - however, I finally completed after months of stress last Friday, and have had a mysterious £192 credited to my account - I think it may be the fee that I paid for having to use Countrywide - worth a shot.

In terms of hurrying Countrywide up, like most have said, it's pretty hard to do. Your best bet is to have a good solicitor who is happy to hold on their phonelines all day (mine wasn't and refused to call them unless I gave him an extra £250!!!). My tactic involved phoning HSBC about 3 times a day - the key being to not let them 'escalate it' by sending Countrywide an email as this never worked. You have to speak to a supervisor and say you need to complete by x and your solicitor won't get through to Countrywide. If you're lucky, the superviser will call through to Countrywide and see what's going on (and let them know of your intended completion date). If you're unlucky, they'll say that their new policy is to not phone Countrywide as it blocks up their phone lines!!! Unbelievable

Richard_Webster

However, reading through the comments on here, some people have been in a situation where Contracts have been exchanged and a Completion Date set BUT then the completion has fallen through or moved back?

If Countrywide hadn't said they were ready then buyer's solicitors were at fault in exchanging.

If Countrywide had said they were ready then Countrywide were at fault if completion didn't happen, therefore source of very serious legitimate complaint to HSBC, quite apart from all the general complaints about how long it all took.

larry1981

Hi all

I am in the same boat with HSBC and the seller's solicitors refusing to provide an undertaking as Seagull Kev, and have started a new post about it here in the main thread.

Please take a look and help us out if you can, there must be a way around this? I can't post links yet...:(

MrBR

So I raised a formal complain using the online service and I received an email advising I would get call from someone in complaints on the 25th April, did I? Of course not! Then after calling the call center, I then get told that HSBC process the request over 8 weeks.

shadia253

SuzieSue wrote: »

That is disgusting. After your sale goes through, you need to complain to the regulating bodies that this estate agent is a member of about their behaviour.

We've had the same thing - however, both EA & HSBC made us use countrywide.... we are 8 weeks and counting.... and EA putting pressure on us daily, but CW are extremely difficult to deal with & EA keeps threatening to put house back on market.

Not too sure what we can do as we're pushing CW as much as we can.

MrBR

After further complaining, I have managed to exchange today and confirmed a completion date of the 11th of May.

Missfruiti

An update since my post on the 18th April 12.

After replying to the 3 pages of useless questions within 24 hours we have been playing the waiting game with Countrywide. Our estate agent has been contacting them daily for updates (and depending on who in the call centre they speak to, they are actually getting some information!) Countywide told the estate agent on the 25th April that they had reviewed the answers received and would issue something to our buyers solicitor within 24 hours. 5 working days have since passed and have the solicitors received anything? NO.

The same promises are made by Countrywide everyday and still nothing. Our buyer has made formal complaints to HSBC but it doesnt seem to make any difference.

The wait (and saga) continues.

hotpot1000

Further to my post 13/4, Countrywide gave us 16/4 for a move date which i agreed then they wouldnt respond to my conveyancers, then HouseNetwork my EA managed to chase them and was offered 19/4, I agreed and we couldnt get any response from CW.

We then suddenly exchanged 17/4 to complete 24/4.
On the moving day I got confirmation from my conveyancers that I had the money and 30mins later I had to ring my buyer who had heard nothing from CW, I told her we had completed.

CW never responded to phonecalls, emails, faxed letters from my conveyancer. The only one who was able to progress the sale was my rep at my EA, she would chase them mercilessly for which i am grateful.