Estate agent lying & saying viewings unavailable...why?!

GirlWonder

Hi all,

Has anyone else come across this? We are absolutely mystified and left unable to trust the agent... But needing to rent in the area and so few available to rent!

I'll number what insane efforts we've gone to to attempt to rent this house!

1. I emailed. A week later it was still not answered.

2. I rang. Call unanswered and message unreturned.

3. I rang another day. Polite sounding girl said that viewings could only be done during office hours Monday to Friday. 9am-5pm.

4. I couldn't believe it. Partner rang again. Once again they stated no viewings were available. We stated that we had not come across this before, were they certain? In that case we could not do business.

5. We got owners details from land registry. Wrote a polite letter apologising for the direct contact and explaining that the agent could not offer a viewing unless we took time off work. We asked if they had a second agent we could approach and hoped they found this feedback useful as they are paying this agent to act for them...we just wanted a viewing!!

6. The owner contacted the agent after reading our letter and we received an email from agent (finally) stating that they did do weekend viewings all along (liars) and could arrange one for Saturday.

7. When we rang to arrange a viewing for Saturday they once again stated they didn't do weekend viewings... Until we read their email back to them where they'd told us (and the property owner) that they did!!!!!

Seriously, has anyone come across this? What's in it for the agent to behave in this way?

They're not the only agent to be abysmal in Chester... We've never come across estate agents who make it so hard to spend money before!!! We were actually looking to buy but after calling eight agents last week I was unable to make a single viewing (agents don't ever do the viewings, the vendors do them all in Chester... And owners were all away or busy!!!) agents didnt even have keys for if owners are away. disgraceful. We have had a few viewings but none if those were ok.

So while we plod on trying to buy we need to rent...and that's proving just as awful. I've lived in three counties and never come across a lack of effort across the board before.

joolesw1972

We had the same problem (not in Chester) with one agent in the area, they had houses on their website in the area we wanted but refused to do viewings after 5.30pm and none at weekends! But they want you to be working! Didn't return phone calls etc.
We did view one house with them, the built in fire looked unsafe, the wallpaper had cat scratches in it and the carpets needed cleaning, he just shrugged his shoulders and said he'd told the owner! We found a house through another agent. But it concerns me that we are looking to buy in the next year or so and they sell a lot of property in this area and we may have to deal with them again

anselld

GirlWonder wrote: »

needing to rent in the area and so few available to rent!

They probably have a queue of people willing to view during their normal working hours so don't need to put themselves out to meet your preference of viewing times.

Also remember you are not their customer, the vendor / landlord is. (not that most EA are renowned for their dedication to customer service anyway!)

WellKnownSid

GirlWonder wrote: »

I've lived in three counties and never come across a lack of effort across the board before.

Try renting/buying outside of the UK - then you'll get to see what actual poor customer service is like, as opposed to mild inconvenience.

Guest101

WellKnownSid wrote: »

Try renting/buying outside of the UK - then you'll get to see what actual poor customer service is like, as opposed to mild inconvenience.

Bit unfair comment. Some places take customer service very seriously, other places the cultural norms are so different, that what is normal to local people may seem rude/obstructive to brits.

dodger1

GirlWonder wrote: »

7. When we rang to arrange a viewing for Saturday they once again stated they didn't do weekend viewings... Until we read their email back to them where they'd told us (and the property owner) that they did!!!!!

And what was the result of telling them about their email?

Apart from that, in all honestly If I needed the property badly enough I would have taken time off work to do the viewing and get the place I needed or wanted. Yes terrible customer service but sometimes you just have to get on with it.

GirlWonder

anselld wrote: »

They probably have a queue of people willing to view during their normal working hours so don't need to put themselves out to meet your preference of viewing times.

Also remember you are not their customer, the vendor / landlord is. (not that most EA are renowned for their dedication to customer service anyway!)

I see where you're coming from...although this is in the most desirable area in the city, houses sell in a matter of weeks and yet this has remained untenanted for months!

As you say they are meant to be working for the vendor, I would expect them to actually do some work. We've never come across agents that don't offer evening or weekend viewings, especially when we sometimes have to travel over a two hour journey...

But as you say they're under no obligation to work hard or make themselves available.

GirlWonder

joolesw1972 wrote: »

We had the same problem (not in Chester) with one agent in the area, they had houses on their website in the area we wanted but refused to do viewings after 5.30pm and none at weekends! But they want you to be working! Didn't return phone calls etc.
We did view one house with them, the built in fire looked unsafe, the wallpaper had cat scratches in it and the carpets needed cleaning, he just shrugged his shoulders and said he'd told the owner! We found a house through another agent. But it concerns me that we are looking to buy in the next year or so and they sell a lot of property in this area and we may have to deal with them again

We feel the same way as you... Can we trust them if they are already being dishonest. We already don't consider houses that agent is selling... there's no wonder estate agents get such a bad rep is it! The Internet does most of the marketing these days... I don't understand what some of them do for their money.

Luckily our agent in Northampton was great when we sold.

GirlWonder

dodger1 wrote: »

And what was the result of telling them about their email?

Apart from that, in all honestly If I needed the property badly enough I would have taken time off work to do the viewing and get the place I needed or wanted. Yes terrible customer service but sometimes you just have to get on with it.

A lot of awkward sounding mumbling n their part, then said we must have misunderstood (the now three occasions they told us) and that they of course do offer weekend viewings. Liars lol. They only did their job when we contacted owner direct!

We now have a viewing on Saturday when I'll be sizing up whether we can trust this agent before signing a binding legal agreement with them. If the house looks like it does online we'll definitely rent despite it being £1200 a month!!! Yikes!

moromir

What are the opening times on their website?

If they're 9 - 5.30 then they are doing a special one off to accomodate you and noone had told the girl on the telephone.

I presume you work a 9 - 5 job, how would you feel about being asked to trek back in to work during your evening?

reehsetin

GirlWonder wrote: »

7. When we rang to arrange a viewing for Saturday they once again stated they didn't do weekend viewings... Until we read their email back to them where they'd told us (and the property owner) that they did!!!!!

Did you tell the owner about this also?
I'd be fuming :mad: