I currently live in the UK and own a property in Canmore, Alberta. I had requested my property be appraised by Accumark Appraisals Ltd and was communicating with Rolanda.
After arranging the viewing date between my tenants and Accumark but hearing nothing for a week after the date had passed, I took it upon myself to reach out to Accumark asking for an update. Rolanda then replied saying they'd completed the enquiry, this reply email also included an invoice. They suggested paying via e-transfer or sending them my card details. Rolanda also stated that we would set up a phone call to discuss the results. Up to this point, other than the weeks delay and me having to chase the results, nothing had struck me as terribly out of place and I was happy to proceed.
However, due to being overseas, I have requested a zoom (video) call instead of phone call (long distance charges would have applied) as our means of communication. They asked if I had time in the afternoon of the next day, to which I said yes and sent my 12-5pm GMT timeslot (I did specify it was UK time). I quickly realized that this was 5am-10am for them and they had specifically requested an afternoon timeslot, so I sent a follow up email 3 minutes later offering 4 other dates/times to choose from as a substitute these included options on Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Monday with time slots that work for the Albertan time zone.
Rolanda replied simply with, "Confirmed".
I have then had to clarify again immediately which times she was confirming, and then again two days later when I, once again, never heard anything back.
She then replies telling me she had sent a zoom invitation the day prior and it was me that didn't connect with her at 'the agreed upon 2pm'. There was never a 2pm MST time slot offered in my emails.
I have had to question once again which specific time she meant as there was no agreed upon time frame for this. I also did not receive any zoom invitations by email over the time I was in communication with her. I did however, once again, send a list of availability for myself that fit in with her working hours over the NEXT 4 days (Tues-Fri).
She then replied saying she had intended for the confirmation to be for the 2pm timeslot (once again which never existed) and reminded me about the invoice while refusing to set up another appointment over zoom. She said all my inquiries could now be addressed by email and it appeared to me as a type of reprimand or punishment for 'missing' the appointment that I had never agreed to. I then said I would be more comfortable setting up the zoom call as initially agreed so I could confirm to whom I was speaking prior to sending quite a large amount of money or my credit card info as I wasn't feeling heard and at this point had concerns of potentially being scammed seeing as they never overtly answered any of the questions I posed them throughout the email chain.
Rolanda has then stated that due to me expressing skepticism in their services (eg. asking for reassurance and answers) they are going to be deleting all my files/information and state I will need to start the appraisal process over again with a new firm.
I found this extremely unprofessional as she was seemingly unable to simply read my emails properly to just set up an appointment or address my concerns. There was not even a prior warning about cancelling/deleting my file and the first I heard about this was after she had already done so and there was nothing else I could do to resolve the situation.
Due to this I am now a month behind placing my property on the market, and being based in the UK this is extremely disruptive and difficult to deal with. I would not recommend using Accumark Appraisals to anyone as it may risk the speed with which you can sell your home, your questions may never be answered properly/fully, and I still cannot guarantee they did not attempt to scam me.
I have not found any reviews online, nor does it seem their website has been updated since 2010, so I wanted to advise on my experience with them for anyone who may be thinking about becoming a client in future. read more