For the last eight months I have been trying to sell my house through Main & Main estate agents. I know this isn’t the best time to sell, but needs must. Now, even though the housing market is pretty repressed at the moment, you’d still expect viewings – where the perspective buyers would plead poverty, say they didn’t like the house or just generally waste your time. Yet in those eight months I have had just two viewings.

TWO viewings.

Both of these viewings however, led to offers. This may seem like a very high strike rate, especially when the second viewing actually offered before the viewing. Sadly, both offers turned out to be time-wasters. The first of which waited for a few days before the exchange date to reveal their position of timewasters, costing me several hundred pounds in solicitor’s fees, mortgage fees and search fees on another property.

The second viewing was just a timewaster full stop and he didn’t even seem to know how the whole house buying process worked, making an offer, admitting he didn’t have any money until September and, only then, viewing the house.

Class.

Even the viewing itself was messed up. I stayed home for the viewing, only for nobody to show up. I phoned Main and Main to complain about it and they said they’d look into it. It seems the guy viewing the house had also phoned Main & Main to say he was running late, but Main & Main had no idea what he was on about as they didn’t even know there was a viewing. This despite the fact that they were the ones who arranged it!

Martin Main no less phoned me to ask if I had a viewing at 11:30. He’s asking me? I informed him that no, I hadn’t, it was 11:00am. He informed me that the chap was running late.

What a disorganised way to run an estate agents.

With this second viewing proving a complete waste of time, I had to make the executive decision to put my house up for rent. I decided to use Bridgfords for this because, even though they’re more expensive, they seemed more professional. Sure enough, within a week of Bridgfords listing my property for rent they have arranged five viewings. Not bad. Every viewing they arrange results in me getting a text message conforming the details, and the time and date of the viewing. Main & Main take note.

Now, the fun part comes in Main & Main throwing their hat into the ring for lettings too. They said that I should let them put the house up for rent exclusively for a month and, if they didn’t let it by then, I could use another agent as well. I had no intention of doing this as they’d been fairly useless up until this point; still, I thought I’d use them ‘as well’ as it couldn’t hurt. They said if I dropped the signed terms and conditions into them they’d have the property online for rent within 20 minutes.

Sounds good eh? I dropped the signed Ts&Cs in on Saturday May 14th, where the woman in the office put down her sandwich long enough to say they’d ‘fax it over to the correct office for Monday morning’… hardly 20 minutes.

Then, Monday came and went and still no house for rent online. I checked again Thursday, some FIVE days after I’d handed over the signed Ts&Cs and still there was no property online. At this point Bridgfords were preparing for their third and fourth viewings simultaneously.

Now, Saturday, a full week later I have heard from Main & Main. They have put the house up for rent and in just seven days. God made the heavens and the earth in that time (if you believe that tosh) yet Main & Main can only manage to list a house on a website.

I’m so glad I didn’t use them exclusively. Main and Main over promised and under delivered on their services, taking a week to do what they said would be done in 20 minutes. In that time Bridgfords has arranged five viewings. You get what you pay for I guess.

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