I’d like to read your views and experiences of/with timewasters and windowshoppers please. This will be a good way for you to release a bit of stress and tension as well. Please don’t name names – but feel free to tell us your views and stories.
If you are reading this blog in full, then everyone else reading it can assume you are serious about exchanging your property. This a paid members only site – so you can be sure that all others advertising are also serious about exchanging their property.
The problem mainly occurs on sites that are free. We get it on our other sites. So what is this problem? The problem is timewasters. Timewasters and window shoppers. They come in lots of different forms as well.
As a company we often wonder why people register but never put an advert up. They must be the windowshoppers.
So who are the timewasters? People who view your property but are then never seen or heard from again? People who reply to your ads and then disappear?
Vent your frustration here.
(+9 rating, 5 votes)
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6 Responses to “Exchanging your property & dealing with the proverbial window shopper”
Belgian Bunny
1 year ago
When we were looking for an exchange the last time…early 2007 we found our dream house. everything about it was perfect, location style and garden. we did all the viewing… completed all the paperwork…. booked the removals…..took the kids around the new school and booked them out of their existing school….. sold some of our furnature (house was a little smaller) had a clearout and packed….Everything was going smoothly we had measured up at the new place…they came and measured up at our place….you get the idea, a dream exchange even the 2 H/A’s were moving quickly!!!4 days before we were due to move we got a text message from the other people saying ” we have changed our minds please dont contact us again”.. NO explaination at all I did try calling them but they refused to answer the phone I even went round there and they called the police saying I was harrasing them!!! (I only went round once, rang the doorbell ONCE then left and they never even answered the door!)
We later found out that they had a habit of doing this and had done it to 5 other people on the cche site and then 4 other people after us. As far as I know they still live there…Well I have to be honest, As far as I am concerened they can stick their house where the son dont shine!!!
We almost lost our kids school places in one of the best schools in the area over that as well as incurring loads of fees (removals etc) and having to buy new furnature to replace that which we sold.
Because the way mutual exchanges are structured we were not able to sue them for the costs we incurred (cost us around £1000 in total) The rules for mutual exchanges clearly state that any party to an exchange is allowed to change their mind AT ANY POINT DURING THE PROCESS EVEN ON THE DAY OF THE EXCHANGE….I think this is wrong…..There should be a cut off point like there is when you buy a house so that if anything like that happens the person changing their minds would be liable for the innocent parties costs.
Well thats my rant done…NEXT!!
joyceannett
1 year ago
I think it’s dreadful the way some people are allowed to behave about an exchange! I have read belgian bunny’s comment and think it is so unfair that the people in question are allowed to do this.
As for myself …. we haven’t got anywhere near as far as that. But we did have someone a few weeks ago who was definately interested in our bungalow. They had the type of house that we were wanting … and their h/a were quite happy to do the adaptions I needed doing as soon as we exchanged. It was in the exact area we have been after for nearly three years! She said she had googled my area and knew whereabouts we lived and really wanted our bungalow especially where we lived as it was so near her family…. and she had to be close to them because of her ill health! Then all of a sudden I got a text message saying that she couldn’t talk on the phone as she had a migrain but they were now not interested in our bungalow??? She said it was because her husband had a police friend and he said it wasn’t a safe area to move into! So I checked about my area myself and it turned out that it’s a very low crime area! I just can’t understand it when some people find it neccessary to lie!!!! Then there are those that you reply to their adverts …. for them to ignore you and not bother replying! Don’t you just love those kind of people?
Clare
1 year ago
I had a similar experience a couple of years ago. Everything had been agreed, house inspections had been done, and paperwork was in.
The woman I was exchanging with came round with a friend to have the house measured for new carpets and when she left everything was fine.
2 hours later I got an email saying that I’d lied about the area, that the house was in a state and that she was pulling out of the exchange! This was about 2 weeks before we were due to do the move and everything was packed.
I don’t understand why she would say that especially after having visited the house on several occasions and I was totally honest about everything-I mean you have to be and hope that the other person is honest too otherwise you jump out of a frying pan into a fire!
Anyway, long story short if she hadn’t changed her mind I wouldn’t have found another swap in a nicer area and better suited to my needs. So sometimes things like that happen for a reason.
(And as an aside, she’s still in the same house looking for an exchange 2 years later, and I’m looking for my 3rd swap on these sites as my family circumstances change-2 kids at Uni in different cities!!)
carol
1 year ago
at the moment all im getting is people saying they are interested(i will say not on this site but others) and then they disapear and u cant get hold of them,or u get people asking for the postcode and then u dont hear anything. Or the one ive had recently is a guy 3 years ago rings me and asks about my house,tells me he is interested then i get a phonecall saying they have changed their mind and are staying,now i would of believed that if the same guy hadnt emailed me 3 times since then asking me where my house is and would i be interested in theirs only for him to disapear again. i get frustrated when people judge the area without looking first, yes i am on an estate but im actually in a culdisac away from the road and it is quiet,when u look on google maps it shows parts of the pen mill train station and trading estate,that isnt even part of where i live and the houses there are seperated from us and are private. I wish people would come and look before judgeing an area.the only reason i want to move is so that we are closer to my partners children and its looking like that wont happen anytime soon
yvefinn
1 year ago
When I was looking for an exchange a couple of years ago I had someone who said they were seriously interested in our place..in all honesty they were getting a far superior house to what they had in a sought after area…unlike the area we were prepared to move too.
Then a few weeks later they changed their mind..thankfully we had not got to submitting the paperwork.
It was a blessing in disguise really I got a swap to where I am now..I actually swapped with someone who intially said they were not interested in my area but changed their mind..so it can work both ways.
The person who let me down came back 3 weeks before I was moving & asked if I would be interested in going ahead swapping with them, when I told them I was on the verge of moving they had the cheek to say it wasnt what I had originally wanted & thiers was a better option for me..needless they were told where to go.
I truly believe ‘whats for you wont go by you’ & although I was stressed at the time I am glad that swap fell through.
I also agree there should be a cut off as to when people can change their minds..say when the paperwork is submitted.
I am now looking to swap again as recent health problems means I need to be closer to a main hospital.
good luck to all that is looking
maria morgan
1 year ago
I know people change their minds and circumstances change. However we went for an exchange and was refused by the council until I had actually given birth to my 3rd child as they said for 3 months we would be under occupying. The house was perfect, the lady really wanted my area. Mine being a new property didn’t need any work, unlike hers which needed alot of work. Even so it would have been ideal for us. The lady promised she would wait for me to have the baby as my area was what she wanted. In the 3 months remaning of my pregnancy she changed her mind 3 times, 2 weeks before my due date i got a text saying she had already exchanged and moved right out of the area. This was 4 years ago, imagine my suprise when i bumped into her at the nursery i take my son to! So shes back in my area! I still just can’t make sense of it and i’m still looking for a 4 bed in my area. ( They don’t come up very often, and people don’t tend to want to downsize, I’m finding like me people need bigger not smaller).
Local authorities really need to get involved here and help people out, its not just a house they are dealing with, it’s peoples lives. it unsettles children and causes stress and hardship, financial and emotional.
We want stricter guide lines, cut off dates, and penalties/fines for thease people who think its ok to just do as they please.
It would be really good to get stories like this together, and give them to local authorities/government bodies.
So how about it……
shall we just moan and accept it, or do we stand a chance of making a real difference in peoples lives.