Rant About Estate Agent

quinnie123ie

Hi All,

I just want to vent a bit of fury at the way i heave been treated by a certain estate agent. (Mod - please let me know if i can name and shame).

I am interested in a property and have been traing to view it, but the EA was not returning calls. Eventually i got to view and made an offer, but in the meantime he convinced me to go and view another in the area last night which imo was overpriced, but wanted to meet him also to discuss the property i am interested and show him i am serious about buying.

I agreed to meet him @ 7pm and was there 5 mins early. there was no sign of him by 7:15 and his phone was off. I left a voicemail and went home.

I got a call from him this morning after calling his office and expressing how p155ed off i was, and his responses were "my phone is never switched off"; "i only got your message this morning, sure i cant control how mobile phone companies work" (Bullsh1t); "I have a fantastic attitude", (When i told him he had a terrible one).

To be honest, what is stopping me maybe sending a letter to the house owners i am interested in viewing and requesting that they change estate agents ask i am in a position to buy and am interested in their property but will not deal with this EA? Or does anyone else have any ideas on how i can go about removing this particular EA from my house hunting experience?

Oh, i googled the addrress of the property that i am interested in and found a business registered to that address, so i called them and explained if they wish to do business with me to change EA, but if not good luck with the sale of their house.

housetypeb

I'm in the the same boat as you. I am in the market for a house,went to look at one that has been on the market for a while- it had gone sale agreed to a young couple at 30k lower than asking but they had to pull out because they couldn't get a mortgage-rang back to arrange a second viewing so I could check a few things.
Said I was interested,cash buyer ready to go.
Well that was a week and a half ago and I am still waiting for a call back about the second viewing.
On the bright side, the price is falling by the day and if I make an offer now it will be even lower than the lowball offer I had intended to make.
Plenty of houses out there to chose from.

ravendude

Don't get me started...... absolute vermin they are, and thats the majority, - its not a minority that are.
Put in an offer a while back and no response after a couple of weeks and couple of deadlines. Not even a call out of courtesy to say they hadn't heard back etc.

I'm seriously thinking of putting an offer directly into the vendor's letterbox and seeing what happens.
Has anyone else ever done this BTW? - would love to hear what happened

ongarboy

OP,

If you really want this property, I think doing what you suggested could jeopardise your chances of securing the property. For all you know, the vendors could have an established good business or even personal relationship with the EA and they may not welcome a stranger telling them which EA they should use and could eliminate you as a potential buyer.

This EA pissed you off. Contact the IAVI or whatever body that governs his right to practice to formally air your grievance. Trying to damage his reputation through attempts of public domain naming and shaming and also trying to interfere with the actions of other clients who avail of his services could land you in a lot of legal trouble. Do you have categorical proof that the mobile network where he was present at the time of the phone call was not down?

He was a no show - it happens. He didn't apologise - poor customer service. Are you being a little extreme using your energy in finding ways to remove him as EA for this sale? Sounds more like a personal grudge then an attempt to address a case of poor but not necessarily appalling customer service. We've all heard a lot worse than this. In the meantime for all you know, another dozen interested parties could be progressing towards a purchase of the house with him while you're wasting time on an ill conceived blacklisting vendetta.

If you really want this house, engage with the EA again and try not to cut off your nose to spite your face. You can still air your grievance formally as advised above if you feel you were justifably mal-treated.

quinnie123ie

Ongarboy, you make a valid point, as p1ssed off as i was when i came off the call, i have cooled down alot now and am not going to worry about whether or not he gets back to me, and i am not going to drag his name through the dirt either... i may however make a complaint as you suggested, but will i really get anywhere? i doubt it... so i am going to leave it for now, as i said, i have contacted the owners directly, it is up to them if they want to negotiate... the EA firm know i bid close to the asking price for a another house in the area priced around the same so i have a feeling they will get back to me...

P.S. the point about the mobile network being up or down is irrelevant, he should have at the very least txt'd or called as soon as possible as it was for him to do so... its just good manners...

Zamboni

ongarboy wrote: »

OP,

If you really want this property, I think doing what you suggested could jeopardise your chances of securing the property. For all you know, the vendors could have an established good business or even personal relationship with the EA and they may not welcome a stranger telling them which EA they should use and could eliminate you as a potential buyer.

This EA pissed you off. Contact the IAVI or whatever body that governs his right to practice to formally air your grievance. Trying to damage his reputation through attempts of public domain naming and shaming and also trying to interfere with the actions of other clients who avail of his services could land you in a lot of legal trouble. Do you have categorical proof that the mobile network where he was present at the time of the phone call was not down?

He was a no show - it happens. He didn't apologise - poor customer service. Are you being a little extreme using your energy in finding ways to remove him as EA for this sale? Sounds more like a personal grudge then an attempt to address a case of poor but not necessarily appalling customer service. We've all heard a lot worse than this. In the meantime for all you know, another dozen interested parties could be progressing towards a purchase of the house with him while you're wasting time on an ill conceived blacklisting vendetta.

If you really want this house, engage with the EA again and try not to cut off your nose to spite your face. You can still air your grievance formally as advised above if you feel you were justifably mal-treated.

Seriously?
The EA is a scumbag.
I have utter contempt for people who would leave potential customers like idiots waiting outside a premises/property and not have the courtesy or manners to contact in advance or if an area of poor coverage, to contact the customer as soon as possible and apologise.
He does not deserve to be a part of the purchase and I hope the OP manages to get the house directly from the vendors or through another EA.

zyndacyclone

Related problem:
House nearby listed in EA ad. Very interested, cash buyer. Went to look at it and noticed certain aspects of EA description just downright false. Wrote EA to query them, EA said 'house under offer'.

Had a pal of mine of the opposite gender ring them and ask the same thing, it was not 'under offer'.

In short, EA gave a false description in ad and would rather reject a sale than admit something so obvious any survey will pick it up anyway.

I don't understand EA in Ireland, but if you hire one, I say CHECK EVERY POSSIBLE OFFER they get.

Victor

quinnie123ie wrote: »

I just want to vent a bit of fury at the way i heave been treated by a certain estate agent. (Mod - please let me know if i can name and shame).

Please don't. We have no way of verifying your comments.

leonidas83

Victor wrote: »

Please don't. We have no way of verifying your comments.

This thread is a bit of a joke and should be locked, so we have an individual who is unhappy with an EA with no credible information etc to back it, then others calling EA'S vermin, etc. FFS their not all the same, people in here need to cop on

BostonB

If the EA is not interested in contacting you about the property it suggests to me either they having some interest in not selling it to you. As at this point they are just bad, or its a deliberate policy.

As such I think the chance of the EA selling it to you is slim. So I don't think you are going to lose much by going directly to the owner, if you can find them.

Unless its your dream house, which is unlikely there probably plenty of other choice out there. I wouldn't be in a rush to buy something at the moment, in a falling market.

Bricriu

I have had the same sort of negative experience with Estate Agents (EA) not ringing back when I leave messages on their answering machines, etc. Worst of all is e-mailing them - you're more or less guaranteed not to receive an answer.

IF VENDORS KNEW HOW BADLY ESTATE AGENTS TREAT POTENTIAL BUYERS, THEY WOULD BE FURIOUS, AND WOULD BE ON THE 'SELLITYOURSELF' SITES WITHOUT DELAY.

I know potential buyers who, frustrated by idiot Estate Agents, have left a letter in the vendors post-box, explaining in a restrained fashion that the EA is not communicating with them (buyers), and requesting to view the house without ES being involved, and it has worked.

Re selling a house, I myself, frustrated at EA performance when selling a house for me (he asked too high a price), did research on house prices locally, got rid of EA, and sold it myself by setting a realistic price, doing good advertising and spending a few bob on the advertising (photos, etc.). I saved a packet by not having to pay an EA a fee when house was sold, but also didn't have to listen to his childish spoofing, rubbish and lies.

Zamboni

leonidas83 wrote: »

This thread is a bit of a joke and should be locked, so we have an individual who is unhappy with an EA with no credible information etc to back it

A lot of threads on this forum are people from all angles discussing a whole variety of problems that arise.
For the most part, we have to take them on face value and assume that a person would not bother posting a falsified story for the craic.
Unless, they are trolling which can generally be identified.

BryanF

Bricriu wrote: »

Re selling a house, I myself, frustrated at EA performance when selling a house for me (he asked too high a price), did research on house prices locally, got rid of EA, and sold it myself by setting a realistic price, doing good advertising and spending a few bob on the advertising (photos, etc.). I saved a packet by not having to pay an EA a fee when house was sold, but also didn't have to listen to his childish spoofing, rubbish and lies.

I'm not familiar with this route, what are the pitfalls to just selling your house without an EA. lets presume you still deal with a Solictor for regulatory contracts...

leonidas83

Zamboni wrote: »

A lot of threads on this forum are people from all angles discussing a whole variety of problems that arise.
For the most part, we have to take them on face value and assume that a person would not bother posting a falsified story for the craic.
Unless, they are trolling which can generally be identified.

How? are you aware of some specific criteria that moderators use to determine whether someone is trolling or not, not everyone is obvious when trolling and may have an agenda.

Anyways, all I see here is a couple of people having a bitch and a moan about auctioneers, basically jumping on the bandwagon and painting them all with the same brush. Nothing new really, same rehashed BS that their all vermin etc. Anybody with any ounce of common sense knows their are good & bad companies in every line of business

Zamboni

leonidas83 wrote: »

How? are you aware of some specific criteria that moderators use to determine whether someone is trolling or not, not everyone is obvious when trolling and may have an agenda.

Anyways, all I see here is a couple of people having a bitch and a moan about auctioneers, basically jumping on the bandwagon and painting them all with the same brush. Nothing new really, same rehashed BS that their all vermin etc. Anybody with any ounce of common sense knows their are good & bad companies in every line of business

You are being way too sensitive and my guess is that you work in the sector.

quinnie123ie

leonidas83 wrote: »

How? are you aware of some specific criteria that moderators use to determine whether someone is trolling or not, not everyone is obvious when trolling and may have an agenda.

Anyways, all I see here is a couple of people having a bitch and a moan about auctioneers, basically jumping on the bandwagon and painting them all with the same brush. Nothing new really, same rehashed BS that their all vermin etc. Anybody with any ounce of common sense knows their are good & bad companies in every line of business

If you look @ my opening post you will see that i was referring to one particular EA, not the whole sector... and I am not surprised it has got people talking either as a lot, (NOT ALL) of them seem to be acting out of sorts, lets face it at the end of the day they are just sales men who want to earn as much commission as possible, and some will go to any lengths, even dishonest lengths to do just that!!
Zamboni is on the ball isn't he, you work in the EA business?

leonidas83

quinnie123ie wrote: »

If you look @ my opening post you will see that i was referring to one particular EA, not the whole sector... and I am not surprised it has got people talking either as a lot, (NOT ALL) of them seem to be acting out of sorts, lets face it at the end of the day they are just sales men who want to earn as much commission as possible, and some will go to any lengths, even dishonest lengths to do just that!!
Zamboni is on the ball isn't he, you work in the EA business?

Firstly,no i dont work in the sector and secondly dont comment on lines of work that u have no experience of working in. You wouldnt have a clue what goes into becoming an auctioneer and my guess is that you probably dont have a clue about very much.
When you come on here and bang on and on about one particularly bad auctioneer, it reflects on the sector as a whole and allows other muppets to give their own uneducated and often misinformed view of the market

Snakeblood

leonidas83 wrote: »

Firstly,no i dont work in the sector and secondly dont comment on lines of work that u have no experience of working in. You wouldnt have a clue what goes into becoming an auctioneer and my guess is that you probably dont have a clue about very much.
When you come on here and bang on and on about one particularly bad auctioneer, it reflects on the sector as a whole and allows other muppets to give their own uneducated and often misinformed view of the market

How do you know what it's like if you aren't in the sector?

housetypeb

leonidas83 wrote: »

Firstly,no i dont work in the sector and secondly dont comment on lines of work that u have no experience of working in. You wouldnt have a clue what goes into becoming an auctioneer and my guess is that you probably dont have a clue about very much.
When you come on here and bang on and on about one particularly bad auctioneer, it reflects on the sector as a whole and allows other muppets to give their own uneducated and often misinformed view of the market

We are able to recognise bad salesmanship when we see it,and are free to comment on it.
Btw -do you see the irony of calling us muppets for complaining about EA'S?

ravendude

leonidas83 wrote: »

Firstly,no i dont work in the sector and secondly dont comment on lines of work that u have no experience of working in. You wouldnt have a clue what goes into becoming an auctioneer and my guess is that you probably dont have a clue about very much.
When you come on here and bang on and on about one particularly bad auctioneer, it reflects on the sector as a whole and allows other muppets to give their own uneducated and often misinformed view of the market

Nonsense, this forum and plenty of others are awash with people expressing a very dim view of estate agents based on their dealings with them.
They're certainly not a misundertood "profession" (a word I use in the loosest of definitions).
Personally I've dealt with several, and they've varied from incompetent to downright underhand and rude. There are loads of people out there that share this experience, - it's not an undeserved stereotype.

The auctioneering "profession" brings this rotten reputation on itself.

quinnie123ie

leonidas83 wrote: »

Firstly,no i dont work in the sector and secondly dont comment on lines of work that u have no experience of working in. You wouldnt have a clue what goes into becoming an auctioneer and my guess is that you probably dont have a clue about very much.
When you come on here and bang on and on about one particularly bad auctioneer, it reflects on the sector as a whole and allows other muppets to give their own uneducated and often misinformed view of the market

If you dont work in the sector, i only have one question for you....

Who put the sand in your Vasoline?

leonidas83

quinnie123ie wrote: »

If you dont work in the sector, i only have one question for you....

Who put the sand in your Vasoline?

Because im sick of people coming on here talking rubbish about things they havent a clue about, whatever his name above thinks he has an indepth knowlege of the property market because he has sold and bought a couple of properties. Give me a break, he doesnt have a clue, you have to college for years before you can become an auctioneer nowadays and alot of them would have other qualifications such as surveying etc.

This forum has some good aspects to it and some good dicussions but threads like this are a joke. The arrogance and contempt alot of people like ye who deal with auctioneers has alot to do with why ye dont get anywhere. The old 'its a recession, you should be glad im even chatting to you' attitude wears a bit thin after a while

Snakeblood

leonidas83 wrote: »

Because im sick of people coming on here talking rubbish about things they havent a clue about, whatever his name above thinks he has an indepth knowlege of the property market because he has sold and bought a couple of properties. Give me a break, he doesnt have a clue, you have to college for years before you can become an auctioneer nowadays and alot of them would have other qualifications such as surveying etc.

This forum has some good aspects to it and some good dicussions but threads like this are a joke. The arrogance and contempt alot of people like who deal with auctioneers has alot to do with why ye dont get anywhere. The old 'its a recession, you should be glad im even chatting to you' attitude wears a bit thin after a while

Oh right, so you are in the sector, you were just lying.


N.B. Not that estate agents or auctioneers typically lie all the time.

BostonB

leonidas83 wrote: »

Because im sick of people coming on here talking rubbish about things they havent a clue about, whatever his name above thinks he has an indepth knowlege of the property market because he has sold and bought a couple of properties. Give me a break, he doesnt have a clue, you have to college for years before you can become an auctioneer nowadays and alot of them would have other qualifications such as surveying etc.

This forum has some good aspects to it and some good dicussions but threads like this are a joke. The arrogance and contempt alot of people like ye who deal with auctioneers has alot to do with why ye dont get anywhere. The old 'its a recession, you should be glad im even chatting to you' attitude wears a bit thin after a while

Not returning calls, and not turning up on time is pretty basic stuff. if they can't do that they are inept. Simple as. Its not rocket science. Why would you even defend that.

leonidas83

Snakeblood wrote: »

Oh right, so you are in the sector, you were just lying.


N.B. Not that estate agents or auctioneers typically lie all the time.

No i wasnt lying, i dont work in the sector, get your facts right before you come in here talking more drivel

Bricriu

Re: Selling house without EA

There are two steps to selling a house: (1) advertising it well, and finding a buyer, AND (2) the legal work.

You can do Step 1 yourself, i.e. you don't need to employ the clowns called Estate Agents, most of whom charge exhorbitant fees for doing very little, usually with great inefficiency. So you can do Step 1 yourself, and save a packet.

Step 2 is usually done by a solicitor, but seemingly, if you're prepared to do the research yourself, you can do it yourself and save another packet.

Empower yourself and you don't need these elites!

leonidas83

BostonB wrote: »

Not returning calls, and not turning up on time is pretty basic stuff. if they can't do that they are inept. Simple as. Its not rocket science. Why would you even defend that.

Your hearing one side of the story in here all the time, ye dont know the full stories in alot of these cases so you should think twice about what your posting.

Esoteric_

leonidas83 wrote: »

Your hearing one side of the story in here all the time, ye dont know the full stories in alot of these cases so you should think twice about what your posting.

Yeah, his girlfriend could have gone into labour in his car, on the way to the viewing, at which point he rushed her to hospital where there was no reception in the waiting rooms.

God, have some compassion!

BostonB

leonidas83 wrote: »

Your hearing one side of the story in here all the time, ye dont know the full stories in alot of these cases so you should think twice about what your posting.

How did you think forums worked.

If the OP story is not true then he actually made up a story to rant about EA's. Which isn't credible as he could have made something up far less mundane than someone not returning calls and misdirecting a buyer. Also there would be few similar stories of shared experience. So all things considered, the OP story is more credible than your suggestion.

Zamboni

leonidas83 wrote: »

Your hearing one side of the story in here all the time, ye dont know the full stories in alot of these cases so you should think twice about what your posting.

You do know that boards is an open public forum and auctioneers and estate agents can post too?
If they want to put up their side of the story they can.

Snakeblood

leonidas83 wrote: »

No i wasnt lying, i dont work in the sector, get your facts right before you come in here talking more drivel

'The old 'its a recession, you should be glad im even chatting to you' attitude wears a bit thin after a while'

So people are chatting to you as if you should be grateful because it's a recession, and you're finding it wears a bit thin, and you know what the sector is like despite not working in it.

Nah, dude, you need to get your story straight, and stop criticising people for having crappy experiences with crappy auctioneers and crappy estate agents. People don't suddenly decide to find a property forum and bitch about their bad experiences because it gives them a jolly.


Relate how positive it is if you like. Tell us your good experience as a customer then.