OMG! BBC Whistleblower - Estate Agents

mandi

burbs wrote:

I sell my cars at fair prices, never said i over inflated them! Im in a business where there is so much competition that i cannot afford to price myself out of the market. I sell cars cheaper and quicker, rather than more expensive and slower.

I said that there are occasions when my staff allow people to think that there are others interested in the vehicle. I tell people the facts when it comes to the quality of the vehicle, the history of the vehicle and any finance they may want.

If im selling my house for £180,000 and my agent rang me with an offer of £140,000 then i would tell him no chance. That is your choice, he is trying his luck, people in every business do it.

We are going round in circles here. I never said what he did was right. I said that im sure that this Whistleblower program could have found a "better" example of a bad estate agent. He was not, IN MY OPINION, the worst estate agent you could meet.

Thanks Burbs,

But EAs do get silly offers on any property, but I for one, was not a member of staff, that told potential buyers that someone else was interested in the property they were buying, unlike your staff and I quote, allow people to " think" there are other people interested.. Sorry to pick faults, I just think that As well as garage owners, some EAs get bad press too, .. as tonight as shown.. and we dont deserve it... No offence ok.. :j

burbs_2

mandi wrote:

Thanks Burbs,

But EAs do get silly offers on any property, but I for one, was not a member of staff, that told potential buyers that someone else was interested in the property they were buying, unlike your staff and I quote, allow people to " think" there are other people interested.. Sorry to pick faults, I just think that As well as garage owners, some EAs get bad press too, .. as tonight as shown.. and we dont deserve it... No offence ok.. :j

No offence taken. I take load of stick as a young car dealer but if letting people think that there are others interested in the same vehicle that they are interested in is the worse that myself and my staff do then im happy with that to be honest.

There are dealers that i know personally who would quite happily sell cars that are death traps whilst telling the buyer that they are buying a beauty.

Most people in business are there to make the most out of every situation, salesmen being the biggest culprits for it, its not a bad thing, its a way of life. Others, such as youself, play by the book at all times. Good on you.

The show was an eyeopener for me as i didnt know what goes on in the world of the estate agent. I just feel as though they didnt do as bad as i was expecting them to do. I know what the guy did was morally wrong but it wasnt as bad as i expected.

Anyway im signing off now as i have to open up in the morning at 8 so as i can continue to entice the general public with my lovely vehicles. LOL

wisbech_lad

Actually - there is often a case for taking the 1000 quid not the 5000 quid, and making it up on volume/ turnover.

I sell my product through agents, and am quick to blacklist the ones that are not ethical. If they can rip off the customer, they are just as likely to rip off the principal/ vendor...

terrierlady

same old story, what we all suspected has been proven to be true, HOWEVER there are some agents that are straight talking and dealing people, both men and women, they work long hours, get paid well, (be it on commission) get to drive company cars i.e dustbins with expired mots, etc. Two sides to every coin.
I wonder if there is a trade or profession that is totally straight?

F_T_Buyer

F_T_Buyer wrote:

It should be posted up on the Net tomorrrow. I'll bump this thread and post a link when it is done!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4826444.stm

You can click on video to watch the program again.

stanmoresaver

stanmoresaver wrote:

I maybe going out alone on a limb here but this type of programme make my blood boil.

I do not condone lazy, shoddy and bad practice amongst any profession, but the simple aim of these programmes are to be sensasionalistic, and get the highest viewing figures in order and to sell the advertising space at the maximum price if on a commercial network, or compete with them to justify the licence fee if on the beeb!

The bi-product is to reduce consumer confidence in any trade or profession which tars the professional and honest members of that industry and encourages scepticism of the whole industry, whether it be E/A's, Financial Advisers, Mortgage Brokers, Plumbers etc.

As you can guess, I won't be watching and adding to their ratings.


:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Well i did- there wasn't any footy on!

So what did it teach us?????????????????????????

burbs wrote:

No offence taken. I take load of stick as a young car dealer but if letting people think that there are others interested in the same vehicle that they are interested in is the worse that myself and my staff do then im happy with that to be honest.

There are dealers that i know personally who would quite happily sell cars that are death traps whilst telling the buyer that they are buying a beauty.

Most people in business are there to make the most out of every situation, salesmen being the biggest culprits for it, its not a bad thing, its a way of life. Others, such as youself, play by the book at all times. Good on you.

The show was an eyeopener for me as i didnt know what goes on in the world of the estate agent. I just feel as though they didnt do as bad as i was expecting them to do. I know what the guy did was morally wrong but it wasnt as bad as i expected.

Anyway im signing off now as i have to open up in the morning at 8 so as i can continue to entice the general public with my lovely vehicles. LOL

Good on you!

terrierlady wrote:

I wonder if there is a trade or profession that is totally straight?

Sad but true! it's the way of the world. Not saying thats right!

Foxtons have a sales culture- like Allied Dunbar and most of the Financial Services DSF's in the 90. Until regulation, which is enevitable- Use it or don't, it's your choice

The guys who offered the fake payslips and passports were fair game though and deserve everything that he gets, but so should the client- he knew what was happening!-

However- the inclusion of this seemed to infer that all the other stuff was as wrong- which it wasn't

Longest post ever over- thank you for reading and goodnight!!

SS

(FAO-Mandi- where did you get that Avitar?????? )

herbiesjp

Doozergirl wrote:

The point of putting in fake offers is to bring the vendor's ideas back in line with reality. The EA wants to get best price for commission but feels that they have to bring down the vendor's expectations so that when they do get that sensible offer, it's more likely to be accepted. In a warped way, it is working in the vendor's interest and it gets everyone the best scenario - agent sells, vendor sells, buyer buys

The point here is the the agnet has overvalued to get the instruction in the first place. So the agent has already raised the vendors expection.

If he wants to be upfront, he could say sorry overpriced, lets reduce the price. If they do that then will they not get real lower offers coming in?

herbiesjp

Bun wrote:

Nothing else about being encouraged to lie on mortgage applications etc.

No? Maybe you missed the bit where the client does not actually work and he puts down a £50k plus salary as well as getting a P60 and payslips to go with it

herbiesjp

stanmoresaver wrote:

I maybe going out alone on a limb here but this type of programme make my blood boil.

I do not condone lazy, shoddy and bad practice amongst any profession, but the simple aim of these programmes are to be sensasionalistic, and get the highest viewing figures in order and to sell the advertising space at the maximum price if on a commercial network, or compete with them to justify the licence fee if on the beeb!

The bi-product is to reduce consumer confidence in any trade or profession which tars the professional and honest members of that industry and encourages scepticism of the whole industry, whether it be E/A's, Financial Advisers, Mortgage Brokers, Plumbers etc.

As you can guess, I won't be watching and adding to their ratings.


:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

I didn't want to, but I did watch it.

The reason being I wanted to see what slant they put on the programme.

I agree totally that they are sensationalistic and will not give the whole picture of what happened i.e. they did not show any valuations being done, any speaking to vendors when negotiating what price to put on a property etc

I also think they stuck on Barry, as bad as he was - he caught out the BBC reporter so they were giving him a bit more exposure!

Bun

Sorry, not clear - I did say 'anything else' so did include that. I meant working people being encouraged to bump up earnings/take on mortgages they couldn't afford etc. ie something that may happen every day rather than in the context of making up somebody's entire work history/id.
Not quite as sensational as the bits they showed, but still illegal and bad practice.