01618723897

got ripped off by S.J.A dont use them .

Call call call and call again then call again. Outstanding invoice needs paying, medical emergency, hospital appointment to be changed are just a few of the excuses & reasons to be put through to me. TPS seems to exclude this company as they dont work to the rule book at all. Go AWAY not interested in anything your offering or selling.

You will get a call from either a man with a Liverpool accent or from
a Asian man. Just put the phone down

I have just agreed with the Valuation Office to reduce a rating assessment on a property in Beverley. SJ Associates are 'acting' for a neighbouring occupier on a similar property and took an up front fee at a reported c. £800. They submitted the appeal, it has been programmed for discussions although have made no attempt whatsoever to make initial contact with the Valuation Office and the deadline to conclude discussions has now expired.

No rate payer should ever consider S J Associates for providing a ligitimate professional service based on what information is written about them. Never pay up front and research any company offering similar services

They have two "surveyors". John Gowland and Jason Reading, Gowland is RICS surveyor but Reading is not.
They must work on a bonus scheme as they are obviously ignoring and withdrawing appeals at the drop of a hatu

From what you have stated, and as a RICS surveyor.
It would appear that certain "surveyors" are simply not complying with the Rules of Conduct, Ethics and Professional Practice code set by the RICS.
RICS can be contacted at their London address for more clarification

I was just having a survey done by S J Associates and was just about to £695+vat when I saw this website. Instantly kicked him out, thank you for saving me from this obvious scam!

I've agreed to them to them to get my rates cheeper but after it was to late to realise they put my property down as £16,000 rateable value!
My property is £8,000 half the amount they said it was!
IS THIS FAURD? Im unshore.
After asking this fact with them they gave me the most horrific abuse down the phone ive ever had!!!! telling me how thick I am and having no idea what i'm on about, I Have to pay them £834 or I will be made bankurpt!
What the hell have I done to deserve this?
What should I do?

This lot are notorious.

Do not pay them, let them threaten to take you to Court and the Court will see through them. They can Ask a specialist to run through the SJ ASSOCIATES  contract as they do not always operate by it and procedural error can be cited for a breach of contract. The procedural stages in their contract are also negligent and amateurish in its approach but the lay person including SJ Associates will possibly be none the wiser as they are not rating specialists

Expect to receive abuse from an in-house 'legal low life' Jason Stapleton who is lacking in intelect and thinks he can bully his way to making you pay up but realistically, he is out of his depth in background knowledge for his role. He threatens to bankrupt but does not seem to know the difference between a lack of ability to pay and a refusal to pay. Bankrupcy does not apply to the latter. He will even try to go 'off subject' to redirect the conversation. DO NOT PAY IF YOU HAVE BEEN CAUGHT OUT ALREADY AND YOU DO NOT GET THE 'PROMISED' OUTCOME. In addition, if your case has been scheduled for a discussion period with the Valuation Office when an appeal has been programmed, there will be a target date they need to conform to. Find out from the VOA what they have actually done to negotiate your case with the VOA. They often simply lodged an appeal but done nothing more

SJ do occasionally outsource to one man band RICS surveyors, some of which have possibly lost their way in a recession. It is not the RICS surveyor who sets the instruction up in the first instance and I would suspect would generally advise the client against appealing if they had been involved in the initial sales pitch, assuming they are working within their code of ethics.

Keep this topic rolling everyone as this company needs extinguishing for good. Maybe the earlier person who knows the director's personal Manchester address should re-post it so everyone can pay her a visit

These people are deffinatly running a scam they are trying to obtain payment by deception BEWARE

Very tacky and aggressive and i'm sure trading standards will be investigating shortly.

They're at it again. Told them we'd had their sort ring before, and that we'd actually contacted the VOA ourselves to appeal, which was unsuccessful. Apparently they can overturn this!!!!
Told her we weren't interested.

I had these people in to see me a couple of months back. All seemed ok and I signed. They did not turn up for the survey even though I came to work especially. Before they rang to rebook, no apologies for the no show, I found out that next door but one to me had had the same thing and the appeal failed. I asked them to confirm what they would be doing differently in order to secure a reduction.Then the shouting started. All kinds of threats were made and in the end I put the phone down.A letter has now arrived (5 weeks later) demanding payment of £695+ vat. I will not be paying because I was mis-sold this service. The unit next door but one is the same size, same RV, and the same property. They have not done a survey so I am just sitting tight and keeping an eye on these posts. They have rung my mobile a lot but I never answer calls from unknown numbers so we have not resumed out shouting match.

Unfortunately we paid them £695 plus VAT and were definitely promised a refund if no reduction in our RV was forthcoming, the guy was an ex Valuation Officer and knew what he was talking about (apparently) he returned and carried out the survey.  It took almost 12 months for a conclusion to be drawn and surprise, surprise no reduction for us.   I contacted SJ Associates and reminded them of their salesman's no win no fee claim and they denied it and so did the salesman.  Regrettably we were duped!

They employ one ex valuation officer, John Gowland, has he resorted to visiting clients now? Usually the "surveyors" are simply salesmen. If this is the case by him informing you that you will get a huge reduction when there is no way you will, he is severely breaching the code of conduct set out by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. I will bring this matter to the attention of my colleagues at the Royal Institute shortly

I have just had the most traumatic experience with these animals, they totally ruined my day with all the abuse and threats from the finance department. Arrantly his name is Paul Harrison.
A total scam and I have spent the afternoon with the Police reporting harassment from s.j associates.
I was lied to about not having to pay a penny then I was told if I want to cancel I have to pay 2.5% etc.
I told him you are scamming me and his reply yes I am what you gonna do about it!
I swear to god if they were local to me I would go give them a visit.
They are all a scam, I was told by a fellow garage owner that do not hand over any money no matter what it is all a scam, unbelievable amount of Abuse I have received today,the last call I had from this c-nt was half an hour ago this time he rang from his office number and was being polite and was asking what do you want to do about what I spoke to you about earlier, shall I send you a cancellation invoice I told him after todays incident and speaking to the police I do not want anything to do with your company, he carried on then said I cant be bothered I am just going to cancel everything. I bloody hope so! everybody please report to trading standards and watch dog please!

BY THE WAY I WAS TOLD ABOUT THIS SITE BY DAGENHAM POLICE

Also just reported them to Manchester trading standards, they are well aware of this company allready have my case reference number to hand, people step up and get rid of bad people like s.j scam artist.
please ring 0161 234 1555 and the right thing getting rid of scum.

No they don't. They stand up for their own profits. They scam small business owners into paying up £100s for them to get a reduction in the business rates. Then you hear nothing at all until eventualy a letter appears telling you the valuation appeal was not successful. I just had a call from their telesales telling me we had overpaid £3000 in business rates. Note, not we might have overpaid, we definitely had. This is 6 months after they sent the letter telling us the appeal we paid for was unsuccessful. When I said I'd love to meet their representative as we'd already engaged them, the sales guy hung up. I'm now pursuing an appeal with the VOA myself and it'll cost me nothing. Stands more chance of success too. If these guys call, hang up.

I completely completely disagree this company a j associates is one if the better run firm of surveyors in the country, I,v had three properties that have all had decent reductions, it is a throw of a dice to a certain degree, were all business men and woman and we take chances to progress for success it just doesn't always work out,very efficient company.very satisfied and will continue to have them on board

I actually beg to differ, as I've had two successful reductions in rv, on two separate occasions, with two different properties over a 2 year period, I was referred to s j associates from a friend who again had a decent reduction in rv, I've dealt with the company for a a while and although its an out an out fast track service, but think about the thousands and thousands of applications being processed every day, millions in fact, so it's bound to take time, it's not as clear cut as one might think as  a friend of mine has appealed  and it really is quite complex. So complex he got himself an increase in rv, so I firmly firmly believe this company knows exactly shat there doing.run fairly efficient, in house, all the attributes that a decent company needs to have, I have never personally dealt with the hierarchy, but I,be never had to as all has been good so far in my dealings with them. So to all possible suitors to this company I would firmly give them a try as all is not what it seems with this very negative comments on here.dint be fooled