I was initially interested in purchasing a property marketed by H&H Daventry, and was advised that selling my own home with H&H would help motivate them to progress my purchase... This gave me some initial red flags, but I decided regardless to give their Northampton branch the opportunity to market my property.
The property I was hoping to buy had clearly been presented with professional photography, and I was told they had outsourced a pro photographer, so I expected a comparable standard for my own home. Unfortunately, the reality was very different.
The photos taken of my property were extremely poor quality. They were shot by the Northampton sales manager on a basic camera phone, with poor angles throughout and questionable choices in the final selection of images. For example, the living room, one of the largest and most appealing spaces in the house, was not included at all. No apparent editing or enhancement had been applied, which was particularly noticeable given the dull, dark conditions on the day.
The images were nowhere near a professional standard, and I declined to have the listing go live as a result. Additionally, a “For Sale” sign was placed outside my property without my consent, which I would have declined due to privacy concerns.
My partner happens to be a professional property photographer, and he fully agreed that the images were completely unsuitable for marketing a home.
Given that I would potentially have been paying close to £5k in fees, I found it unacceptable that such a fundamental aspect of the service was handled so poorly and cheaply.
After this, I also got several junk letters in the post, asking if I was interested in selling with them.
Overall, I was left with the impression that the Northampton branch made assumptions about me as a solo female seller in my early 30s, and perhaps thought they could take advantage of me. They did not apply the level of care, effort, or professionalism I would expect.
Based on my experience, I absolutely would not recommend their services, and I decided not to purchase the original house either, which I notice has now been taken off the market as unsold.
H&H lost me as a buyer, seller and permanent customer, and also the potential to have made around £10k!
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Founded in 1888, Howkins and Harrison is an established firm of property advisers committed to helping clients in the residential, commercial and rural sectors. Offices in Rugby, Northampton, Daventry, Atherstone, Towcester, Lutterworth, Ashby de la Zouch, Henley-in-Arden and London.
