Very Rude Estate Agent

m0t

My girlfriend found a house she liked the look of and booked a viewing for 6 o'clock, the house was supposed to be around 15 minutes away from where we live.

Unfortunately there had been an accident at the roundabout that we had to pass through to get there which resulted in us looking like we were going to be late. The estate agent hadn't given us an out of hours contact number so we couldnt call and let him know.

We had a phonecall about 5 minutes after we were supposed to be there from the estate agent and we apologised profusely, according to the sat nav we were less than 5 minutes away. He then gave my girlfriend a lecture on always leaving enough time to get to appointments, told us we had 5 minutes and then hung up.

A couple of minutes later we had moved about 3 car lengths forward so phoned the guy up and told him we were still stuck at the same spot and the traffic was horrendous so it looked like we were going to be a further 5 minutes or so (about 10-15 minutes late in the end). He was very rude to my girlfriend at which point I told her to tell him we wouldn't be coming.

I can appreciate it must be frustrating for the estate agent but if I were trying to sell someone a house I wouldn't insult them for something that is outside of their control, its not like the market is currently flooded with people with the ability to buy a house.

BitterAndTwisted

You're quite right. It's a buyer's market right now. I think your girlfriend should pay a visit to their office, preferably on Saturday morning when they're at their most busy and remonstrate with him in a very, very loud voice.

And then go and find a decently-mannered agent to buy through

m0t

I should add that the house is 5 minutes from their branch and I didn't exactly enjoy my 70 minute drive around the roads of S.E London.

tbs624

Let the vendor know that they have a plonker for an EA

G_M

tbs624 wrote: »

Let the vendor know that they have a plonker for an EA

AND that you are FTBs with nothing to sell, cash no mortgage to get, and think their house was ideal - but will now be looking for somewhere else as you wouldn't dream of doing business via that agent uder any circumstances.

m0t

Still absolutely fuming about this, I just can't believe that someone trying to sell such an expensive item would be so rude. It was a fairly big chain place as well.

jennyjelly

Name and shame!

centretap

m0t wrote: »

It was a fairly big chain place as well.

I was about to ask if this was the boss of a one branch agency or something bigger.

As it's a chain I'd be inclined to do a bit of Google searching to find out where head office is and who is the managing director, or company chairman. I'd then write a detailed letter of complaint directly to the head man/woman.

Buy_It_Now

m0t wrote: »

told us we had 5 minutes and then hung up.

The thing is, the EAs get loads of time wasters, especially the "first Time buyers". Most of the time the guy just wants to impress his girlfriend by taking her to view a few properties, to show off and look like he is loaded. But when it comes to the crunch, he WON'T GET A MORTGAGE.

ultrarunner

I would just move on to be honest.

m0t

Buy_It_Now wrote: »

The thing is, the EAs get loads of time wasters, especially the "first Time buyers". Most of the time the guy just wants to impress his girlfriend by taking her to view a few properties, to show off and look like he is loaded. But when it comes to the crunch, he WON'T GET A MORTGAGE.

I take that point but would say that the estate agent doesn't know that from talking to you on the phone and should therefore hedge his bets and behave himself. His first response to a slight delay should not be to give someone a lecture on timekeeping.