Me and my boyfriend bought our first house through Oulsnam Redditch. It was an awful and very frustrating experience. To be completely honest, the initial contact and Kirsty who did our viewing was excellent, punctual and very helpful. After we put in our offer for the property, sadly this all changed. From there on, there was little to no communication, and what communication we did have was unclear. Due to a hold-up in the process, we were pressured by Oulsnam to get a survey done on the house to "show our commitment" to the vendors. When our solicitor found this out, she went mad as this was a very sneaky move by Oulsnam. Both me and my boyfriend have both felt very misled in the whole process, and reasons why mortgages were delayed were not communicated, leaving us and the vendor in the dark! After we got our mortgage approved, we made a new offer to the vendors as the bank were not willing to lend us what Oulsnam had said the property was worth. Again, this was not handled professionally as I was made to feel extremely guilty. We eventually met in the middle after what I can describe as weeks of playing "chicken". In the months following, our solicitor had continually tried to contact Oulsnam, and received next to no effort or contact from them. I received a phone call in mid August out of the blue saying that exchange and completion could happen in the following few days. When relaying this to my solicitor, she said this would be impossible and was again annoyed that Oulsnam had not contacted her to liaise this. In what should be the most exciting time of your life in buying your first house, Oulsnam has made it completely miserable and stressful. Communication is key, and a bit of empathy and not backing people into corners would go a long way!