I purchased a property thru Foxtons (previously called YHD) a while ago and it was a nightmare.
Here is the story: I was attracted to Foxtons website because they only ask for 2% commission, so I thought the seller would pass the savings to the buyer. I saw a property I liked, went to visit the property. The seller handed me the flyer about the property, and on there, it clearly stated the square footage of the property. After that, I did some research and the price was good for the square footage they listed. So I decided to put a bid on it, the bid was accepted, then we signed the contract. Foxtons also offers finacial services, so we decided to do our mortgage with them also. Then, my nightmare begins.
The Foxtons didn't send any appraiser over till a month after contract was signed, during that month, there were tons of excuses such as seller was not reachable, etc (which all were not true when I verified with the seller). Finally, the appraiser was done, foxton financial person called and told me the appraised price came bk much lower than the bidding price, so I can't get the loan. I asked for a copy of the appraisor and found the sqaure footage listed on the report is only 2/3 of what was advertised.
I contacted the seller's lawyer asking to backout the contract, he refused saying that if we backout, the 10% deposit would be forfeited. So, I decided to call Foxtons 800 number, the rep said, well, u saw the property, if u like it, what's the big fuss about how big it is. I said the footage affects the price of the place and I'm not willing to pay for the square footage that didn't even exist. The foxtons rep then said, well, if you don't buy the place now, don't you think you should compensate the seller since her property was taken out of market for a month now?
I couldn't believe what I heard and asked to speak with a manager, she told me there's no manager. I argued with her for a while, basically she was telling me that the square footage on the flyer is an 'honest' mistake and I shouldn't rely on the flyer in the first place. Arguing with her was going no where, so I hung up.
I then contacted Fox news and they were very interested in my story.
In a few hours, Fox had made Foxtons agree to lower the selling price to appraised price. Later, I found out that Fox had put a hidden camera on a Foxton agent, during the setup interview between the Foxton agent and the seller, the agent told the seller that 'all agents inflat the square footage', and that's ok since at the bottom of their flyer, there's disclaimer in tiny font saying that they are 'not responsible for the accuracy of the information'. My story was aired on Fox later on, afterward, many buyers had come forward with similar stories.
During my buying process with Foxtons, not only did they lie about footage to rip me off, but they also had very poor communication and offered no service to customers. They had someone called 'closing coordinator' who supposed to help out after bidding was accepted, I called that person many times during the crisis, she was never there and never responded to my phone calls. Their financial services were horrible as well, most of the time were no response at all or delay the process by many months. The closing for us took almost eight months while properties here usually only take 3-4 months to close.
In summary, Foxtons is a terrible company that rips buyer off, and if you think you can save money by buying properties from them, then you are very wrong, you only get nightmares and lose lots money and time.
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