Countrywide Surveying Services hard to contact?

Countess823

Our house buyers [FTB] are using Countrywide Surveying Services (CSS) for the home buyers report – their mortgage offer is already in place, and the searches and conveyancing are well underway with a reputable law firm. We're hopeful we can be moving in approx. six weeks – but the timetable is slipping fast.

On Wednesday (June 17), I had a call from a Derby area code, but I don't normally answer unknown numbers on my personal mobile in case they're spam callers. I listened to the voicemail – it was from CSS asking if I could call back to arrange an appointment for a surveyor to visit, which I did immediately.

However, the number I was asked to call back on required a passcode, but I didn't have one for CSS, so had to hang up. I tried the number CSS called me off, which rang and rang, with a recorded message every so often informing me that CSS was 'experiencing exceptionally high call volumes'. I decided to hold, thinking it would only be a few minutes. I left my handset on speakerphone next to my laptop ringing for 20 minutes, but it remained unanswered. I Googled for an alternative number, but then found the horrendous reviews about CSS on Google and Trust pilot. It would appear our buyers have not carried due diligence on CSS... I called our estate agent and was advised to email CSS. 

I've not heard anything from CSS on Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Mon or today. Our buyers had called our estate agent on Fri to ask whether the survey had been booked in, but when informed of the situation, the buyers vowed to chase. This was repeated on Mon.

Has anyone else experienced such apparently poor customer service from CSS? Any advice on what to do please? CSS has no presence on social media – apart from LinkedIn, but there's no means to make contact, apart from making a comment beneath a post, which nobody seems to respond to... 

Thanks in anticipation.