Thank you Shell for the stress and anxiety you have caused!

This page is to illustrate what I consider to be the bullying of a normal individual by a multinational.   I stand to lose a large chunk of money on a house purchase, currently around £40,000 due to non co-operation by the Vendor, Shell International Limited, Shell Centre, London, SE1 7NA, United Kingdom.

Yes, I may have been a bit naive, but I don't buy houses everyday, as I'm sure many of you don't. I just wanted a little bit of assistance from the vendor.

Background:
Shell International put a house up for auction.  I have been looking on and off of auction sites for some time.  I saw the house but was unable to make the auction.  It was slightly over what I wanted to spend, but I kept my eye on it.  Following the auction, I noticed the property had not sold.  I downloaded the legal documents, and yes, I saw it might have some seasonal structural defects caused by trees, but this was a house I wanted for my family (wife and 2yr old son) and I.  Perfect location, perfect size, everything was right.  I'd accept the problems, cause they can be fixed.

The Offer Process:
On the Tuesday following the auction, I put in an offer below the auction guide (which was £400,000), of £385k.  I was told that should the offer be accepted, could I come in and exchange contracts.  I said yes I was in a position to do this.  The response was that the vendor wanted to wait until 5PM Friday to see if they had any better offers, and that I was to submit an official offer.  On the telephone the auction house told me my offer wasn't the best.

As Friday came round I still hadn't decided what to do, should I increase or stick.  With 5 minutes to go, I stuck with my original £385k.