Estate Agent, poor service - has anyone contested paying when its poor service?

kd99

I'm sorry this is a bit long: I'm unsure under sale of goods and services act, (service seemingly just applying to telephone contracts) if this qualifies, and would really welcome forum advice, Many thanks. The long story...

We signed up for £399+vat in advance, and 0.25% on completion. Estate agent promised
Free market valuation without obligation
Well got that wrong, I had to give him the accurate figure
High quality colour professional brochures, with floor plans, for all properties
one photo of his board outside, i took all internal photos, his floor plan had wrong measurements, when pointed this out, floor plan disappeared never to be seen again. I wrote description too, his was a paragraph knocked up by a 5-year old.
Accompanied viewings if required
one viewing, sold on 3rd day coz buyer knew someone living in same street. we did subsequent viewing for him
Advertising on Rightmove, Zoopla, our own website and many others
only his and rightmove, no others
Regular advertising in local papers and publications
!
Constant marketing of your property by telephone, mail-outs, email & text messaging
none seen!
Regular progress reports and feedback on viewings
one viewing, as he knew the buyer, and he was a cash buyer, he advised accepting and taking off of market and that was it.
[FONT=&quot]Effective follow through of your sale to successful completion
[/FONT]JUNE 2013 accepted offer. Little communication, even when we were run ragged and stressed that the sale was so slow. [FONT=&quot]We even got to the point of pinning a notice on the car park wall, by his car park spot, as he works from an office, not a shop.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
OCTOBER 11 The monies from the buyer finally arrive and completion of sale is done. Like a ferret up a trouser leg, his bill turns up at our solicitor's office, at 11:45. No message from him to say it was sold. Today, his first communication, he's chasing his balance and saying 'according to contract signed on [/FONT][FONT=&quot] 0.1% per day on the outstanding balance from and including the days after completion..'

[/FONT]

dsavvy83

what did it say in the T's and C's that they will do for the money you spent?
And from the day you signed the contract how many weeks did it take to complete a sale? So we know from what you have written we have June-October to complete.

Did you get many viewings?

I am trying to get to the point was the money you paid reflected in the service you got? possibly you should write a letter of complaint to the owner of hte business and allow him about 15 days to respond. write down what you would expect him to do? discount?

also seek advice from Financial Ombudsman Services see what they say?

cattie

Look, your house sold, & quickly by the sound of it, so what are you complaining about?

Rightmove is THE site to be on & you admit your house was on it. If the house sold quickly how on earth is ea to do regular advertisments & marketing? I could understand somebody moaning if their house hadn't sold, but your house has sold & it seems you got a pretty good deal with the ea's fees too.

halibut2209

3 days to sell? Sounds fine to me!

jacques_chirac

Once the house is SSTC the estate agent is just a middle man, far easier to go direct to the other party/ their solicitor.

Did you want the EA to continue to market the property, and did you tell him this? If not, I fail to see your complaint.

bris

Sold the house in 3 days and now you want to complain, they didn't exactly have a chance to do anything different now did they.

Pay up, just because someone local bought it doesn't give you the right to try and get out of paying the fees.

hollydays

.. What you you mean you had to give him the accurate figure..

jacques_chirac

hollydays wrote: »

.. What you you mean you had to give him the accurate figure..

I was wondering this too - is there such a thing as an accurate EA valuation, surely it is subjective?

pinkshoes

If it sold in 3 days then other than putting it on Rightmove, there wasn't enough time to do anything else!

Pay up!

maninthestreet

£399+vat and a further 0.25% on completion sounds cheap for an EA - how much did your property actually sell for?