OMG! BBC Whistleblower - Estate Agents

Regmir

Just watched Whistleblower in BBC.
It seems one can get away with anything in this country!!
A fake passport??
Forge signatures,
The bottom line for me is that I wouldn't deal with Foxtons anymore ever!!

robwend

i think they call it "fit hitting the shan":D

Doozergirl

AndrewSmith wrote:

That said, surprised or not, I agree that the conduct is deplorable and is exactly the reason I set up on my own 2 years ago so that I am away from that kind of 'sales target' enviroment.

I think any agency where they work as individuals rather than as a team should set alarm bells ringing IMO. How can anyone have your best interests at heart, especially as a vendor, if there's no internal communication

Doozergirl

Cristy wrote:

I sat gobsmacked through the whole thing. No offence Doozer, but I thought your friend was the worst. The whole making light of illegal practice, not looking at you in the eyes while he's talking and then DENYING straight faced the things he had said and even that he took the journalist's camera bag... I do wish him out of that job, in fact that whole line of work, sad to hear he is not actually being suspended for this.

Cristy, he's just an agent that I've had dealings with. Some recent. I don't know if he'll be at work tomorrow, but I can't see how encouraging vendors (in however a duplicitous manner) to drop their asking prices in a tough market is going to get him suspended.

The best form of defence is denial (if you're not on camera!). Not the clever choice - I did feel a bit sorry for the lettings manager at Foxtons when she gave her reasons.

AndrewSmith

Couldnt agree more Doozergirl. (to your post of 10:14pm)

A certain amount of competition within a branch is healthy however the whole 'name and shame' culture of performance figures etc is the fastest way to increase your staff turnover and lower morale.

A note about the guy faking the payslips etc: The client is just as guilty for going along with it. After all, he could have just walked out the door and said 'no thanks', however I am in no way defending such practices. Dispicable and I look forward to him eating bread and water for the next 10 years !!!

Andy

Bun

Barry was definitely our favourite! And I think was the one most of us can relate to. While the programme obviously had to show the extremes of what goes on (fake passports/forging), I did think that the problems that the majority of people on the receiving end of shoddy estate agents suffer was largely glossed over. There was much of putting in fake offers, but nothing about not passing on genuine ones etc. Nothing else about being encouraged to lie on mortgage applications etc. It shouldn't happen, but few of us are going to come across many of these tactics I would have thought.
I also felt little sympathy for the Foxtons vendors who after all were just having their own greed for extortionate prices used against them. Overpaying is partly the choice of the buyers. In percentage terms the overpayment of the american couple of 30k on a 490k property was nothing compared to the underselling of the elderly gents flat to the developer. And how many people would have a second survey done in order to pay more money?

CharleneUK

As usual I miss all the good stuff! Anyone know when it's going to be shown again?

burbs_2

Doozergirl wrote:

Did everyone like my friend Barry? :rotfl:

Somehow, I still think he'll be at work tomorrow morning. I'm interested to hear what other people think as there were no surprises there for me.

If im honest i dont think Barry did anything absolutly out of order. What he did was a bit underhand and he shouldnt have done it but at the end of the day he is in a business where he has to try and keep his bosses happy in a very competitive business. If what they showed was the worst he had done then im sure there are other agents they should concentrate on.

burbs_2

CharleneUK wrote:

As usual I miss all the good stuff! Anyone know when it's going to be shown again?

Have you got Telewest digital? If so it will be on Teleport.

Doozergirl

Bun wrote:

I also felt little sympathy for the Foxtons vendors who after all were just having their own greed for extortionate prices used against them. Overpaying is partly the choice of the buyers. In percentage terms the overpayment of the american couple of 30k on a 490k property was nothing compared to the underselling of the elderly gents flat to the developer. And how many people would have a second survey done in order to pay more money?

I couldn't agree more. A little more research on all sides would weed out rogue agents quite quickly. There's no excuse for misleading and basically stealing from the elderly though - how do those people sleep at night?