Estate Agent complaint help please

jezster

We have engaged a estate agent approx 4 weeks ago.
We said at the time of signing the contract, that we had chosen them for being helpful & that even though we would have to pay a fixed price to them when the house sells. We wanted a agent that did the viewings ( some other companies charge no fixed fee/or a % for selling, but you have to do your own viewings, hence why we did not go that route)
We asked the agent to be at our property before the viewing time so we could go out. We have now had 3 different viewers turn up at the house & the agent has arrived 10- 15 minutes later. We have just had it happen again today & my wife is fuming over it, as I rang them a week ago & asked them again to do the viewings & to be here before the viewer.
We also put our house on at a agreed price of £120000 & the estate agent told us that our brochures flew out of their office, but it was taking them 3 phone calls to try to get viewers to view properties.
We had originally been told by the estate agent to guide price our property at £100,000 to £120,000 to get interested buyers, but I had told them that we could not accept £100,000 & we felt that buyers would come & think they could buy it for £100,000 this has happened twice now..
I have rang the estate agent & told them we are not happy & want to complain, they have told us to write to their office.
We have now had two potential buyers who thought we had dropped the asking price at it's lowest of £100,000 to which I have had to tell them sorry we are looking for somewhere in between the £100,000 to £120,000.
I wish we had never signed up to them, I have a illness & need to get into a bungalow which they know & this is causing me distress & has upset my wife.
I know it's a bit long winded but we have never sold a house before & put all our trust in the estate agent.
What recourse do we have?
thank you

G_M

You need to read the contract you signed with them.

1) what does it say about viewings?

2) what period does the contract last for (usually a minimum of 8, or 12, or 16 weeks etc)

3) What does it say you must do to give notice?

Finally, start by being friendly, then get gradually firmer:

* go in to the EA and ask to speak to the manager - try to get a commitment for better service in future
* follow up that meeting with a friendly letter thanking him and listing whatever was agreed - so there is a record in writing
* Look up their complaints procedure - it may be online, or in the paperwork they gave you. If not, ask for it
*write to Head Office - if it's a chain
* write to their professioanl body - if they are members of one, eg NAEA
* sue

jezster

The contracts say nothing about viewings but the agent that came to our house said that they get any agents from their office to come & look through the house so they know what to tell customers & that they would be doing the viewings, we said that is one of the reasons for using you.
They have sent two different viewers with our permission to look without the agent, but my wife did not like this & I only said yes due to one of the agents was unwell.
today after the viewers had arrived, they had a trainee who has not looked around our house turn up late, my wife told him to leave as we had already let the viewers in, after they approached the house & were informed the agent had not got here, the agents had not even had the courtesy to let us know he would be late:(

Fire_Fox

Write to the manager of the agency quoting the contract and expressing your concerns about the unprofessional service. If it's not in the contract they don't have to do viewings so you should have insisted it was included, you will struggle to prove a verbal assurance. If you signed the contract at home you have a cooling off period whereby you can cancel under the Distance Selling Regs but it's less than four weeks, poor service is covered under the Supply of Goods and Services Act I think.

jezster

I will speak to the branch manager on Monday & see what happens, if I don't get satisfaction I will get in touch with their head office & see what they say.
Thank you for all the replies:beer:

Fire_Fox

You should be writing not speaking, you need to start a paper trail in case you need to take this further.

jezster

Fire_Fox wrote: »

You should be writing not speaking, you need to start a paper trail in case you need to take this further.

thank you for your advice, you are correct.
This time I will get everything in writing, I am getting really fed up with putting my trust in companies to do what they say verbally & then not doing it.
We were supposed to have a meeting after 4 weeks according to the estate agent, to discuss how things were going, that has not happened either, & I find at times when I return calls to speak to them, I get told the people I need to speak to are not in the office & they will be given a message to call me again, I hear nothing?
My contract is 16 weeks.
They seemed to be really nice & attentive to get my business & now I feel let down.

Fire_Fox

Do you take notes every time you speak to someone on the telephone - the full name of that person, the date and rough time? People are slightly more likely to do what they say when they know you have taken their name. Also ask when the person will be back in the office or call every hour all day until they get sick to death of you. Letters are better tho.

ILW

They may have decided that it will not sell at £120,000 so are not prepared to waste much time on it.

jezster

ILW wrote: »

They may have decided that it will not sell at £120,000 so are not prepared to waste much time on it.

They & five other agents valued the house at £120,000 its in a nice area in a quiet lane, the one over the road which is 3 bedroom semi just sold for £148,000 ours is the same, but two bedrooms, as we had the bathroom put upstairs..

jezster

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Do you take notes every time you speak to someone on the telephone - the full name of that person, the date and rough time? People are slightly more likely to do what they say when they know you have taken their name. Also ask when the person will be back in the office or call every hour all day until they get sick to death of you. Letters are better tho.

I am definitely going to in the future. I think I have been too trusting of people & their word.