Dowen Surveyors & Estate Agents Reviews 44

Absolutely dreadful service! Rang this morning spoke to an absolute delight told her I’d like to view 2 properties in adjoining streets cash buyers told her the dates I was available to view giving times over several days to be told no can’t do them! If you’re selling you’re house with them in Roker I’d suggest taking your own viewings I’ve never known an estate agent work for them selves and not the sellers they are Charing a fortune for the pleasure!

My wife and I used Dowen Estate Agents as we were initially very impressed with the manager who came out to give us a quote and what her organisation could offer us. We therefore decided to go with them to sell our home.

This however was a huge mistake. During a period of 6.5 weeks the interaction between the staff and myself was nearly non-existent, and it was very difficult for us to know why we were getting absolutely nowhere in selling our home. There had been one viewing booked during this period but this was cancelled one day prior to the viewing and although I requested feedback on why this happened, received no response.

I challenged the manager in her office about the little progress being made and she stated that she was not aware that there had been little or no contact between her staff and myself, which clearly indicates that she has no idea how to manage her staff. Her other response was that there are 2 reasons a home does not sell, the price and location. I responded that it was their own valuation of our home that we were selling at and the write up on the various online websites advertising our home stated that the location was in a wonderful position for local amenities and schools.

I eventually terminated our contract with them and would 100% NOT recommend anyone using this organisation to sell their home.

Alison at the Sedgefield branch has been more than helpful with everything that was needed. She has gone above and beyond to ensure I was moved in on the date that was needed and even came out on her day off for the key handover! Couldn’t ask for anymore! Thank you!

We dealt with Katie at Sedgefield branch , cannot fault her for her professionalism thought out the process , thank you & when we do decide to sell we will definitely be using Dowens

Great experience Dawn has been so helpful and professional to help with the sale of our house. Fab service.

Not even worthy of one star. What can I say. Given a 4.15pm appointment to view a house for rent. Another couple turned up who had the same appointment time. 4.30 no show from Dowdens. Phoned them to be told someone was on the way. 4.50 no show, phoned Dowdens again to be told by a very rude, ignorant, bad tempered member of staff that they had no properties to rent in Sedgwick Close, Hartlepool why are you there? She asked. Dowdens YOU made the appointment for us, YOU lied when telling us someone was on the way. We stood there like four fools waiting for you to show up. Embarrassing and upsetting. You Dowdens are a complete unprofessional, uncaring, incompetent waste of space. Never again will I have anything to do with your sham, joke, waste of a business. No apology just out fault. Your staff need a good jolt to make them professional, customer friendly and intelligent. You are a complete and utter waste of time.

I’d just like to give recognition to Jean pool from Sunderland branch. From the first enquiry I made , to her showing me the property and making everything at ease with her efficient communication skills and fast response to my enquires.
She is an asset to downens and I highly recommend her. Nothing is too much trouble for her and she is always friendly .

Not even deserving of 1 star. Totally unprofessional and incompetent approach to managing someone else’s property. If you want the house you’ve worked so hard for to be allowed to be destroyed and kept like what can only be described as Steptoe and Sons cesspit, have dowen manage it. Can’t put into words the absolute turmoil this company has put me and my family through. Run a mile. Totally and utterly disgusted by what was once a good company, will shout from the rooftops for anyone and everyone to steer clear, do yourself a favour and use absolutely anyone else.

Happy with the speed in which I was accepted on the letting of 5 Boston Street but unhappy after been told I was getting keys only to be put back 3 weeks due to electrical work needing doing and been let down twice. In the end I eventually moved in and am happy with the house apart from been left with a bathroom light that stays on still waiting for fixing

Very easy to communicate with, very efficient and polite. 5 star rating, I would definitely recommend to anyone buying, selling or renting, they helped me find a great new tenant
Special mention to Ashleigh & Anya who where very helpful throughout.
Alan

I was buying from a distance as I was relocating with work and found these guys less than helpful. I ended up purchasing a property through Dowen but if I was ever looking to sell I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole.
They were completely inflexible with viewings, incredibly miserable when you called them, they use old fashioned unbranded Word documents for letters and sales contracts and overall I felt like an inconvenience for wanting to purchase a property from them… it was just a poor experience and I expected a little better for the 21st century.
To top it all off the house I purchased through them was vacant and had assisted viewings, the house always smelt of air freshener apart from moving in day when I discovered all the carpets were full of animal urine. Yeah…Dowen in Sedgefield are not really the agent for me I am afraid.

Dowen conducted a property valuation at the request of a property developer for a part exchange. Surprisingly, they appraised the property at a lower value and even handed me their business card during the evaluation. To add to that, a few days later, they conveniently dropped a flyer through my letterbox. Ethical considerations? Not their top priority!

Excellent service from Alison . Friendly efficient manner.
Very organised and our move went smoothly.
We liked the fact that follow up telephone calls were made to double check our satisfaction and any issues resolved .

Absolutely disgusted with the lies I have experienced with this company in Durham. Basically saw a house that I wanted to purchase with Mus son as joint venture. Dowen advertised the house as Freehold and it had hidden unknown owner Leasehold. The lady dealing with Mortgage tried to persuade my son to proceed with Insurance on lease and down played it all. When we dig deeper the Leasehold was a real issue and this issue should have been mentioned ashen I decided to purchase the property. Dowen have stonewalled me and sent a random email saying property fallen through. Also the solicitors that work with them are now trying to get extra fees for doing basically nothing Thus has really put me off moving to Durham and left me staying at a friend house as lost everything. These people just don't care about your housing.

Angela Earley

I do not have the perfect word to describe your excellence, it’s up notch
Jean pool has been a wonderful person, she responds to her emails promptly. She made sure we were satisfied 👍🏻 Mr & Mrs Obikwelu appreciate you jean pool

The are great..was satisfied with their services.. most especially jean pool she is such a nice woman .

Had a viewing with Dowens I showed interest in the property to rent and was advised I would be emailed an application form. This was 3 weeks ago with no application form even though I had chased them for it and still nothing would not recommend at all like to pick and chose who they want to deal with

Staff were polite until we got a buyer for our house and then it felt like they were suddenly 'team buyer' and disregarded what was best for us as sellers when it came to negotiations, I think this was because buyers wanted to complete earlier than we did and Dowens just want their commission asap. Also found the call handlers to be quite patronising at times. Wouldn't recommend from a Sellers' perspective.

Facilitated (and currently continue to) fraudulent sale of land, offered with a property in Eldon (Bishop Auckland office) a significant part of the plot was not registered with HM Land registry.
On informing Dowen of our legal concern, the agent chose to ignore the facts and continue to market the property without adjustment to the Ad.
The individual agent was rude and unprofessional during the call and dismissed our concerns, which were raised by our solicitor during a boundary/title check.
I'd steer clear of Dowen Estate Agents.

I just wanted to commend one of your agents, Lynne Cumiskey. I met with her this morning to view 2 rental properties. Every contact up until this point was via phone and email and all of those showed Lynne to be very knowledgeable in her field of expertise. She set out exactly what she was going to do and completed everything in impeccable time.
The viewing this morning was no different. Lynne has such a wonderful attitude to her work and her/your customers and has easily been the best agent I have dealt with over the last month or so whilst I have been looking for property. There was no awkwardness, as I have found with majority of company representatives recently, and she answered all of my queries questions without hesitation.
She incorporates her sense of humour into her work in the most appropriate ways possible and this is heart warming and very endearing and certainly put me at ease after the debacles over the last few weeks of property searching!
Overall I think Lynne did a fantastic job for me and I have now started the process of renting as a result, no hard sell, no pressure, just a very nice and personable lady who clearly knows and understands the property market.

An absolute asset!

👏🏼