Anthony Athanasiou's complaint (3 months ago) about Symonds and Sampson's negotiation practice appears unfounded and may indicate lack of understanding of the conveyancing process: 1. Estate agents are legally obliged to pass all offers to vendors and it is the vendor not the agent who decides which offer to accept. 2. A property remains on the market and open to better offers unless/until a buyer evidences their commitment and ability to purchase. For example, they might pay for a survey and local authority searches and/or make a substantial reservation deposit to the vendor's solicitors to be held in trust until completion of the sale. If you did any of these things before your offer was rejected for a better one you have cause for complaint: If not, it sounds as if Symonds and Sampson did their job correctly and offered you the chance to match/exceed a higher offer but you could or would not do so.

I had really bad experience with their lettings at the end of the Tenancy.

Appointed as negotiators for Dorset Council against a few hoteliers promised 2 years previously, compensation for loss of income, (october 2019 to february 2020), Symonds and Sampson proved to be outside of their comfort zone. They took over 6 months to recommend an offer to Dorset Council, but then, Council may have contributed to those unnecessary delays. The financial turmoil caused by covid lockdown and these long delays caused some outrage among the affected hoteliers and it seems natural to blame the people conducting the negotiations for this. We understand fees charged to Council may possibly have exceeded the grand total of compensation payable to the 15 hoteliers and if true, that also would seem rather unfair. Strangely, Council also paid the negotiator acting for the hoteliers - but that's Council for you. I gather Symonds and Sampson are fairly good estate agents otherwise but compensation negotiations with Dorset Council may be a challenge too far.

Avoid this agency. We rented through them for nearly five years, and our experience has been consistently disappointing. When we first moved into the property, it was advertised as having been “professionally cleaned,” but the reality was far from it — the home was dirty and grubby, to the point that we had to pay for a cleaner ourselves. Routine inspections were poorly managed; we would receive emails with scheduled dates, only for no one to show up, or for the visits to be repeatedly rescheduled. When our washing machine broke, it took over eight weeks to get a replacement. Repairs were generally slow — for example, we waited over a year for a replacement garage door fob after the engineer sent by the agency accidentally broke the original one. Despite his apology and promise to order a new one, the quote was apparently never approved. To make matters worse, we were charged for that same fob when we eventually moved out. We also had ongoing issues with damp and mould that were never properly resolved. At one point, part of the living room ceiling collapsed, narrowly missing my wife. The repair took months and was clearly done as cheaply as possible, with little concern for appearance or quality. When the landlord decided to sell, we were told by Homefinders that we were among their best tenants — we had never missed a payment, maintained the property well, and even improved it. They encouraged us to rent another property through them. We found a suitable home, paid a £450 holding deposit, and went through the referencing process, only to fail due to an old credit issue related to a dispute with a car dealer. Despite explaining the situation, Homefinders kept our deposit, ignored our calls, and when we finally reached someone, the lettings manager simply told us we should “consider renting through a different agency.” After five years of loyalty, reliability, and respect as tenants, we were treated with complete disregard. I would strongly advise others to avoid renting through this agency.

I have had a very disappointing experience with this letting agency. They were consistently obstructive and unhelpful throughout the process. Despite my genuine interest and readiness to proceed, they refused to pass on my offer to the landlord. Their role should be to facilitate communication between tenants and landlords, not to act as a barrier. This lack of transparency and professionalism reflects poorly on the agency and makes me question their commitment to acting in the best interests of both tenants and landlords. I would strongly advise others to proceed with caution when dealing with them

I Was given a date and time for viewing , got there 4mins to the viewing time, their agent wasnt at the property yet, I and my family waited for 20mins , still didn’t get a call nor a text to say they were running late and atleast apologized, called their office , the lady I spoke to , kept telling me her colleague was closed by, and that she would be there in few mins, few mins turned to 20minutes, still didn’t show up. I was there with both my babies, one infant and one toddler and husband. Just wasted our time. I would have really appreciated if I got a call or text, but yet you guys left us there, and it was a rainy day. I’m disappointed and not pleased .

Very poor experience dealing with this agency. I contacted them with a polite and professional enquiry about a vacant commercial unit. The reply from Jan Merriott was blunt — simply stating the property was under offer, with no greeting or proper engagement. I followed up to express that I’d still be interested if the current deal fell through, and his second reply was sarcastic and dismissive: “OK, I’ll let you know if it falls through.” Maybe he was having a bad day, but that doesn’t excuse treating potential customers with such an arrogant and unprofessional attitude. That kind of reply really killed my mood — it left me feeling dismissed and disrespected for no reason. I expected much better from someone working in commercial real estate. Based on this experience, I wouldn’t recommend dealing with this agency at all.

Tenancy nightmare – dishonest landlord and poor agency support. I strongly advise caution before renting from Homefinders Swindon or landlord …

Been over a year since we notified symonds and Sampson about our damp & mould. It's resulted in throwing away possessions, doctors & hospital trips with my 4 year old son even a GP letter to state my sons health us due to the damp conditions being ignored. It's cost us hundreds of pounds and for symonds and Sampson to turn around and say we're not using a fan in put bathroom when it doesn't work. Really truing to pur off doing jobs and pushing the blame. If all it came down to a fan being turned on we would have clearly done it for my sons health. Our windows are open and the fan is on but two times they came round it was off and its suddenly all our fault.

Me and my partner were looking to move back to dorset, emailed them from my email and her email a month and a half to 2 months ago with no reply, emailed again yesterday to find they have given the property to someone else, very unprofessional to leave peoples emails unread for months! Just because we are younger people looking for a home makes no difference!