Angie

I hope you dont mind me dropping you a note about Anthony but just thought you should know he’s been sensational in dealing with us – I phoned last Thursday to say we have a property we wish to let out and by last night not only had it up and advertised but had taken a couple round for viewing and sorted out their application over the phone this morning

We’re just really happy that our letting has been handled professionally and speedily so far and has left us with a very positive reflection of both Anthony and Thornley Groves. As a result we’re very happy to continue with the process knowing it is being handled expertly

Just thought you should know so if you wouldn’t mind passing on our regards to him it’d be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Kind regards,
____________________________________
 
Ian Davenport
Executive
Audit UKI
 
Ernst & Young LLP
100, Barbirolli Sq. Manchester, M2 3EY. 
  
                                                

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From: Katrina Davis
Sent: 07 August 2009 15:43
To: Michael Groves
Subject: Customer service

Dear Mr Groves,

I wanted to drop you an e-mail to say how impressed we were with the service we received from Lauren in the Altrincham rentals office.

We had to find somewhere to rent and move in to at very short notice and the service we got from Lauren was excellent. She was great to deal with, really helpful and extremely organised. Please do pass on our thanks again to her, we’re very happy with our rental property on Park Rd.  

Kind regards,

Katrina
Katrina Davis
Davis Communications

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From: Jon Lillis
Reply-To: Jon Lillis
Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 10:42:32 +0100
To: Jason Watkin <Jason.Watkin@thornleygroves.co.uk>
Cc: Andrew Seldon <Andrew.Seldon@thornleygroves.co.uk>
Subject: Rhiannon Thomas

Dear Jason / Andrew,

I have just signed up to rent one of your properties and wanted to drop you a note directly around my experiences to date with Thornley Groves.

At the begining of the month I came to Thornley Groves to look for a new apartment. I have just left a contract with another letting agency that was very poorly managed, to the extent myself and my partner were flooded out of our apartment due to numerous failed repair attempts. Due to an extremely frustrating and stressful experience with our previous letting agency I was reluctant to entertain letting through an agency again – I felt my only options were to rush ahead with looking to buy a property or to go to the private letting market.

In the end I did decide to visit a number of letting agency (around 8 – 10), with Rhiannon Thomas picking up our file at Thornley Groves. I am sure you appreciate that when renting through an agency, the professionalism and efficiency of the agency is just as important as the property itself.

When viewing properties it is a very unreasonable expectation that a letting manager should be able to answer every possible question about a property when put on the spot. I fully appreciate the number of properties and fluid nature of the business makes this extremely difficult. However, I do not expect letting agents to attempt to hard sell or bluff their way through questions.

Rhiannon was the only agent we visited that had a genuine response to every question we asked. In the rare event Rhiannon did not have the information to hand – for example a question that was not on the information pack, the response was always ‘I am very sorry I do not have this to hand, but I will find out and get back to you’. In each case Rhiannon promptly followed up with a direct phone call with the information to hand. This professional approach really does demonstrate a degree of integrity and respect for clients that it clearly lacking with the vast number of your competitors. Rhiannon did not attempt to hard sell us an apartment once, all the apartments we were taken to view matched exactly our requirements.

In addition to providing professional and informative information, Rhiannon really went above and beyond to cater for our immediate personal circumstances; in the sense we were essentially without a place to live and were on tight timelines to locate a suitable apartment. Rhiannon put a great deal of effort into arranging viewings for us that fit into our schedules with work and sorting out flood damage at our previous apartment.

I am very much looking forward to moving into our new apartment and have the confidence that if any issues do arise, they will be competently dealt with. Rhiannon has given us a level of confidence we did not find at any other agency in Manchester, to the extent that I will be looking to expand my relationship with Thornley Groves when I look to buy over the next year.

I would very much appreciate if you would take my comments as an input into your performance review process – Rhiannon was single handedly responsible for our decision in renting with Thornley Groves.

Kind Regards,

Jon Lillis

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From: James, Caroline
Sent: 30 June 2009 15:10
To: Christopher Bond

Dear Chris,

I would like to thank you and your team in Sale for making the selling of my house both pain free and hassle free.

Everyone I spoke to and dealt with was friendly, helpful and professional. I really appreciated the personal touch and never once felt like I was just another client. I really got the sense that you put yourselves in the shoes of the person selling the house and therefore understand their needs. 

It was great being kept up to date with information on who was going to view the property and their feedback. The house sold really quickly but I have no doubt that these communications would have continued had the house not sold quite as quickly.

I also believe the house sold so quickly because of the advice you gave me  prior to deciding to put the property on the market and the work done by yourselves to sell the property once it was on the market.

I also really appreciated the advice and information on other “things” related to selling the house and being able to pick up the phone and say…..can you recommend…..? You referred me to the solicitors, Rothwell Evans who were also excellent.

I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending you to anyone thinking about selling or renting their property.

Thank you once again,

Caroline James

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From: <colin jefferson
Date:    May 2009
To:        Jason Watkin

Having approached numerous Estate Agents, prior to the introduction of HIPS, we chose an Agent whose valuation was in the mid-range of the valuations received and put our 4-bedroomed house on the market. At this stage, we hadn’t approached Thornley Groves. Later in the year, we lived to regret not having approached TG at this stage.

The agents we had considered ‘offered the earth’ in terms of their marketing strategy. Whilst initial ‘viewings’ were numerous, we only had one potential interested party, but they wished to offer considerably less than the asking price. As the Summer months approached and we entered the School Holiday period, the interest of the Agents began to tail off – so much so that we had to do most of the ‘running’, chasing Agents for up-to-date information, showing prospective purchasers around the house, trying to persuade them to take photographs which demonstrated the potential of the house. Due to a lack of feedback over a two month period, as well as some confusion over appointments for prospective purchasers, feeble excuses given regarding communication, we decided to take on another Agent under a joint Agency agreement.

Again, their marketing ploy promised the earth and they attempted to demonstrate their ‘success rate’. As it turned out, they were even worse than the previous agents. It wasn’t long before we began hunting for another Agent which is where Thornley Groves came into the picture. We shared the concerns that we had had with previous Agents and felt totally reassured that this wouldn’t happen with TG. It is important to say that we never felt let down by Thornley Groves at any stage of the process – from their initial marketing to the final sale of the house.

At each stage, members of the TG team treated us with great respect and humility. Whenever we raised an issue, it was dealt with in a friendly, encouraging and understanding manner which made us feel that we had engaged Agents where we, the customer, really mattered and not the sales figures or personal bonuses.

Regular reviews of marketing strategy, presentation of the house through the brochure, press and internet took place as well as discussing current market conditions. TG proved to be very proactive. Initiatives were suggested, negotiated and agreed upon in an effort to sell the property in a market-place where prices were falling. No stone was left unturned to promote the property and encourage prospective buyers to view the property. A wide variety of people viewed the house, but with increasing higher expectations for significantly less money. It took one telephone call from TG to change our personal direction. We wanted to sell our house, relocate to another area of the country whilst still renting a property in the South Manchester area pending our retirement. It was suggested that we looked in the area we wished to relocate to with a view to putting in offers that were relative to the reduction being suggested by possible purchasers of our own property. This had instant success as our offers were accepted and we agreed to sell to someone who had been tracking our property for at least twelve months.

We found the staff in both the Sale and Altrincham offices efficient, knowledgeable, helpful, supportive, proactive and encouraging throughout the whole process. We will be forever indebted to their professionalism.

May I at this point thank both Chris Bond and yourself for your patience, understanding and encouragement throughout the whole process. We are forever indebted to you both and TG.

Colin

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To: Jason Watkin
Sent: Mon May 11 21:34:44 2009
Subject: Mr Christopher Bond

Dear Mr Watkin

Having sold our house through your Sale office just recently, my husband and I wish to thank Chris Bond for the very professional manner in which he dealt with our sale. In a difficult climate, our property was on the market for over 18 months.

Because of the professionalism that Chris showed, we decided that we would continue with Thornley Groves sole agency agreement as we did not believe that any other agent could have done a better job. We are pleased that we have now completed and would like to thank him in particular.  

The manner in which Chris dealt with what became a very difficult situation in the end was nothing less than excellent.

Kind regards 

Karen Butler JP

Sean Butler

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Sent: Fri Apr 03 14:23:04 2009
Subject: Amy Connelly

Dear Andrew,

We are recent tenants at Vicus Apartments in Manchester, having found this property through Thornley Groves. We would like to pass on our appreciation of Amy Connelly, with whom we have recently dealt with. Amy has been very helpful throughout the process, maintaining regular contact when viewing properties, and subsequent to placing an offer. She is also very knowledgeable, capable of answering an array of queries in respect of the letting process, the property, and the city. Having only recently moved to Manchester, this proved invaluable.

Amy’s attitude to her clients is noteworthy. Given the motivation, Our experience of estate agents to date has been tainted by their transparent desire to ‘clinch’ a deal. Presumably, this is a motivation for all of your staff, however, we felt that the advice given by Amy was honest and sound, and also that the properties selected for our viewing were representative of our stated preferences.

We will have no hesitation in recommending Amy, and Thornley Groves to our colleagues, friends, and family. She is an asset to your business and we would be grateful if you would pass on our gratitude.

Kind regards

Ben Dickinson and Zoe Wanley

XXX Vicus

73 Liverpool Road

Manchester

M3 4AQ

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From:marcia.berkin@
Sent: 17 February 2009 20:48
To: Michael Groves
Cc: Stuart Howe
Subject: Thank you
 

Dear Mr Watkin

The purpose of this letter is to advise you of the superb representation by two of your number in particular. 

Following a several month stay in hospital Christopher Bond was superb support and help and, under the circumstances, I don’t know how he kept his patience with me!!!  Due to my now impaired vision and balance he arranged assisted viewings which proved to be such a relief to me ad probably a better sales tool to Thornley Groves!!!

As Chris’s schedule became increasingly more hectic, I liaised with Carolyne Nicol who, also proved to be a consummate professional and incredibly patient with me.  She, as a female, established a wonderful rapport almost feeling like a friend. 

The support, guidance and steadying assurances of these two operatives within your organisation has quite literally probably kept me alive.  Their reassurances have kept my natural anxiety at bay. 

I should like to thank Thornley Groves for their sterling work during the lengthy sales period.  And, by Thornley Groves, I do mean Christopher and Carolyne. They were my sole contact and damned good they were.  Their work can only be commended to the highest level. 

Thank you again for the professional and caring help afforded to me by the company as a whole.  I look forward to conducting my life via Thornley Groves again.  Perhaps not waiting another ten years as I did this last time. 

Yours sincerely

B F NORRIS (MS)

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Sent: 26 February 2009 16:04
To: Michael Groves
Subject: Lauren Hamilton 

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