estate agents are useless

Wig

Running_Horse wrote: »

Blimey, your gargantuan first post is growing as we speak. In the time it took to format and post all that, you could have phoned several local agents and asked about houses with off road parking.

And the ones in my town would have told me they can't tell me which ones do and don't because they "don't know them all by heart". :rolleyes:

Running_Horse wrote: »

Quoted in full, because I can.:D

Knock yourself out, quote them all if you like.

Running_Horse

Do you have a phobia about pouncing? It's just you mention it twice. Also your two lists of demands are different to each other. I only mention it because you are quite vociferous about what you want people to know what you want.

princessamy86

How could you possibly expect EAs to memorise every single scrap of info about every single property which passes through their hands? Also, is it not generally obvious by the external picture whether or not there is parking?

If they can do this but there is no notice in the shop saying they can do this, ask them why they don't tell the customer they are able and willing to do it. And read the rest of this post to see what else they should be doing.

Ummm, what exactly would the notice say? I can help you if you will let me? I am able and willing to help you just as long as you don't get overly offended by me offering to help you?

Wig

Running_Horse wrote: »

Do you have a phobia about pouncing? It's just you mention it twice. Also your two lists of demands are different to each other. I only mention it because you are quite vociferous about what you want people to know what you want.

I don't have two lists of demands. I have an opinion on what EAs should be doing.

Mr_Stew

I don't have two lists of demands. I have an opinion on what EAs should be doing.

It's coz of people like you we can never get any decent people to work in the service industry in this country, any intelligent person refuses to deal with the public.

You complain Estate Agents "pounce" on you, even though you know exactly what you want. If they didn't "pounce" you would complain they are too slow.

As someone else suggested, go for a walk or a pub lunch, relax and start this search again another day. We all have bad days and you are clearly having one today.

Good luck with your search....

Wig

princessamy86 wrote: »

How could you possibly expect EAs to memorise every single scrap of info about every single property which passes through their hands? Also, is it not generally obvious by the external picture whether or not there is parking?

I wouldn't, and I never said that I did expect that. But I would expect them to be able to do what the EA in the other town did and be able to ask the computer on the desk infront of them to filter on my criteria and provide a 'thumbnail' print out of all matching properties.

Ummm, what exactly would the notice say? I can help you if you will let me? I am able and willing to help you just as long as you don't get overly offended by me offering to help you?

I'm surprised you don't have the sense to work it out for yourself.

The notice would simply be one of the A4 display cards to read:

We can print you a personalised brochure of all our properties to match your search criteria - please ask for this service. We can search on the following:
Price
Freehold/leasehold
Detached/Semi-det/terraced/end terrace/flat
Bedrooms
Off road parking/garage/or potential for
Double glazing
Gas Central Heating
Garden/Large garden
Bathroom upstairs

and continue to list anymore that you wish to offer the client to be able to select. You could provide a "please take one" short form for the client to quickly and easily complete (ticking the relevant fields on the form) and hand to the assistant for him/her to enter into the computer and print out the results.

princessamy86

You could go on forever though with endless variations!

Debt_Free_Chick

princessamy86 wrote: »

You could go on forever though with endless variations!

Yes - for me it's an AGA, but you NEVER see this on the EA's summary of a property :mad: :mad: :mad:

Wig

princessamy86 wrote: »

You could go on forever though with endless variations!

You are providing a basic service for the majority of your buyers. It would be up to you to decide how detailed to allow your search service to be. But there are some, such as those I listed which anyone with a bit of common sense would realise are essential to offer.

If you are an EA I can't believe that you don't see the importance of allowing the buyers to ask for a list of properties that meet their basic needs.

Not being able to tell them which properties have off road parking or good potential of such is ridiculous.

princessamy86

I can tell people which ones have off road parking, it's actually printed on our brochures. I also know a large majority of our properties "off by heart" but we don't have a massive stock and I have a good memory . My point was that it's impossible to have a finite number of options to search from as everyone is looking for something different. I always ask people (when they are willing to be helped!) what they would like, then take them to the wall, show them properties which may fit the bill, and explain what there is in their price range.

I can print lists of properties (with thumbnails), but it's difficult with the system we use to print a specific list, not really the individual EAs fault, more down to the powers that be that decided to use that system in the first place. The things I can narrow down are house type, number of bedrooms, price and area. This gives people a smaller selection to work from and then if they need more info they can ask, if I don't know, I will find out. It's not a perfect system, but what is?