OMG! BBC Whistleblower - Estate Agents

sm9ai

Bloody good program.

Foxtons, what scum, conning people out of money, forcing them to spend more than they want/need. I hope they become bankrupt from this.

nmiah786

herbiesjp wrote:

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!

Loved the bit when he says "Which Paper Love"!!! And the reporter is trying to play it cool!! :rotfl:

mr218

i find this defence of barry inexplicable. he was a smarmy lying and cheating git. first he lied then he lied about lying. of course he will look bad. i agree that he is probably quite stereotypical as far as estate agents go. why is there this underlying weariness and expectation that they should cheat. it is so taken for granted that they have to indulge in these practices. is it because it is like the wild west out there and there is no regulation or transparency.

foxtons and the financial services alexander hall were the worst with their so called show of professionalism and integrity. what they did was legally and morally wrong. just because people want to get the best possible price for their house and maybe greedy is not a reason to dupe them.

maybe it is because we have such low expectations of them. we expect to be manipulated and cheated and be forced to overpay and guess what they deliver. this programme was an hour long and they tried to cram in a lot of stuff. next some of you will be saying that hte forging was not right but they did nothing wrong.

this programme just confirmed my experiences and what i already suspected was happenning. i am just shocked by how blasethey are and how blatantly they do it. when we were doing our second house purchase a few months ago, we had the same mysterious second buyer crop up. in the end i had seen close to 50 properties and was fairly convinced in my mind that the price i finally setteled on was a reasonable one for the property i was buying.sure the estate agent was thoroughly manipulative and covered every cliche in the book including finding a new buyer after they accepted our offer. but once we decided not to budge they came crawling back. but it put such a wedge between us and i could not trust a word they said hence.

silvercar

Two agents in the area I want to live. One puts houses on at realistic prices and generally gives the impression of being honest. The other always puts houses on at madly inflated prices and then gets the vendors to reduce them to more realistic levels.

I was in this second agent's office listening to one of the negotiators persuading a vendor to reduce the price, he came off the phone and announced (to a room containing at least 3 potential clients) "Got him squirming now, exactly where I want him, he's really sh1tting himself", it was the gleeful voice that made me get up and walk out rather than his actions.

I crossed the road and went to the other agent. "Tell me the price that will get me an offer sooner rather than later" He did and I did, within 1 day! Over 5k commission just for being honest and pleasant.

The bad news is that the house I want is on with an agent I can't stand has a reputation for dodgy dealing, has really got little experience of selling houses in the area I want to buy and is a two-faced conman - but he has sole agency on the house I want.

silvercar

Just had an email from homesonview website. All the houses in my price range from one particular agent have been reduced - obviously "cut price hour" in the office last night. Do you think they picked up the idea from the programme?

Cristy

Bun wrote:

There was much of putting in fake offers, but nothing about not passing on genuine ones etc.

What about Foxtons not passing on an offer in its entirety and then coming back with the full extent of the original offer so that the vendor would really appreciate it and accept it more readily! :eek:

John_M_Business

Milky_Mocha wrote:

What's the hot coffee technique? Please share :-)

You give someone a coffee in a hot plastic cup... two things happen:
Firstly they feel subliminally indebted to you for receiving the coffee, and are therefore more likely to commit. Secondly, they have a coffee that they can't really drink for at least 10 minutes or more, but feel that they ought to drink, therefore you have a more captive audience.

Another one... dropping pens... if you as a salesperson drop a pen, and the 'buyer' picks it up for you, it means that you're dominant in the relationship and they are willing to serve you and your requirements.

They're rather old techniques, but still surprisingly effective. There are loads more...

John_M_Business

I'm really sorry, but some of the defence of lying to the general public on this thread is shameful.
"I've got a family to feed"
"I'm just managing their expectations"
"What's wrong with creating an false offer"
"The customer bought it, they signed it... it was what they wanted"
"There's just a few rotten apples"
"I've lied, but really not as badly as others..."
etc.

It is up to all people in business to be responsible, mature and behave with integrity.

The most enlightening discussion was when she handed her notice in... the manager saying that acutally it was in the interests of everyone concerned that they did these things, then when realising this tack wasn't working, she gave the 'pressures of the job and targets' argument, and, when this failed, she gave the most cringeworthy one... the 'Islington is worse than us' - oh dear! Time to get that CV up to scratch...

I dealt with three agents in London when selling my flat, and all three employed very obvious manipulation techniques... and I saw a few who I didn't appoint because I thought THEY were dubious too (including Foxtons).

The truth is that everyone has looked at Foxtons and it's success and said 'we need to be like that'... and they are all a-changing. It's happening in London first, but will soon spread! ...

richgirl

Some estate agents come across as very arrogant on top of being crooked.

NastyMatt

In all walks of life (especially where there is a lot of money to be made) you will come across individuals/companies that will stop at nothing to make the £££.

Foxtons reminded me of MSB - a recruiting company back in 1996 (ish) the onwer bought Crystal Palace FC - they were a bunch of wide boys prepared to do anything to make money. They couldn't fail to make money as they were riding the crest of a wave, their service was fine if you were earning them money as soon as there were any hitches with contracts they were no where to be seen.

Of course they went bust and the owner lost his £20m fortune. As no doubt will happen to Foxtons/Alexander Hall.

But these companies only exist because "we" (the customer) use them. If we did not they would never exist. I'd imagine everyone who is on this forum is here for the same reason(s) and are wise or getting wise to these charlatans - be that Foxtons or MSB or what ever the next "money hungry get rich quick" company that comes along is.

You only need to experience one of these types of companies to recognise the next one!