Pelase help me!!!! Foxtons are scammers

moneysaver2013_2

Dear Money Saving Experts,

Please can you help me!
I am facing some issues with Foxtons at the moment, and was wondering if you can assist me.

Please see below email thread from foxtons and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks in advance,

Buyer


…………………………………………………………………

Dear Mr Michael Brown, CEO of Foxtons.

RE: Property xxxxx

I am writing to inform about an undeserved demand forcommission by your company.

This must stop and be resolved IMMEDIATELY.

After looking on the internet across numerous websites I sawthis property advertised, via several agents including a local one.

I approached Foxtons, Viewed the property and suggested anoffer price to your representative.

She flat out refused my offer would be considered, it wasjust "Much Much Too Low, I can't take it to the seller" (Her ownwords).

So I found a local agent who provided a much better service,did not make me feel like a beggar, and considered my offer seriously by takingit to the landlord.

After some negotiation, the seller, via my alternative agentcame to an agreement.

Please explain now why Foxtons is demanding a fee from thelandlord when they flat out refused the sale and refused to take my business.

I do not feel Foxtons in any way shape or form contributedto the sale of this property. Had it not been for the alternative partiesinvolvement, THERE WOULD BE NO DEAL.



Furthermore, I did not like the treatment I received fromyour representative, and would need to be in a life or death situation toconsider using your company for any buy or sale again (I WOULD ALWAYS SEEK ANALTERNATIVE).

Please remove any demand of any claim of sale from mylandlord instantly, you have no claim and your assistance did not contribute tothe sale.

I will expect to hear from your offices first thing Mondaywith your comments.



Best Wishes,

Buyer


*P.S* - If this is not resolved QUICKLY there are manychannels to proceed down, including over 9,000 twitter followers, watch dog,trading standards/FCA and the good old thread on the money saving expertwebsite, informing the buying public of your practices.





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On Mon, Nov 25, 2013 at 1:01 PM, Karl Daly wrote:

Dear Buyer

I refer to your emails in respect of the above propertywhich you addressed to Michael Brown and Nic Budden.

I note that the Area Director for the office in question hasconfirmed that he will investigate your complaint upon his return to the officetomorrow.

It would help his investigation if you could clarify myunderstanding of the facts of this matter. It is clear that you accept that Foxtons brought the property to yourattention and during your viewing you discussed making a low offer of£105,000. You were told that this wasunlikely to be accepted but that it would of course be put to the owner. As a result you instructed the agent not toput forward the offer. As I understandit you have now put forward an offer of £120,000 through another agent. Is this correct?

As you may be aware, the law involving an agent’s right toclaim a commission fee is fairly well established. If it can be established that if Foxtons’brought your attention to the property /sale then Foxtons will be entitled toits fees. Further, if you offer throughanother agent after the relevant introduction has already been made, then youmay be potentially exposing the seller to a double commission liability, whichin turn may well have a bearing on the seller’s decision to sell to you or not.

I would be grateful to hear your thoughts on the above, inparticular if I have made any factual mistakes in the above scenario. I will naturally pass your reply onto ChrisConstantinou.

Kind regards

Karl Daly



............................................................................



Hi Mr Daly,

Thanks for your email.

I do not believe that is a factual statement at all,

The caveat being that One) Foxtons was not the soleintroducer, I found the property on the internet, and Two) foxtons refused totake my offer to the seller. Therefore as far as i am concerned, refusing thebusiness.

I made a list of problems with your statement: they are:



Point 1) Foxtons was not the sole introducer to theproperty, I discovered it on the internet. and via numerous agents.

Point 2) Foxtons refused to take my offer to the seller andI was informed it was too low to be considered (Therefore refusing thebusiness).

Point 3) Foxtons played no role and had no involvement inany introduction between myself and the seller, this introduction was made byanother party. - a party i had to discover independently of Foxtons (!!!!!fused to consider my offer seriously)

Point 4) Foxtons, when given my offer to introduce, refusedto make an introduction. and now is claiming they are an introducer (whatbasis)

Point 5) Foxtons is now claiming introduction fee's eventhough no introduction was made

Point 6) Foxtons was not involved in any price negotiationsor any change of offer, and my financial matters are my own business subject todata protection.

Point 7) Foxtons is simply attempting to extort money theyhave no claim to. making no effort, and doing no work.



Now the problem is that this sale may not happen if Foxtonsis demanding fee's they have no claim to.

Neither myself nor the seller is prepared to form out over5% of the property price to a company who has done nothing to earn or deserve it.but if this sale does fall through (highly possible with your continueddemands) I will have to take the matter to the internets and maybe even thecourts.

As a large business, i would expert better of Foxtons thenwhat is basically foul play and the demand of money that isn't owed or isn'tearned.

I understand this is a legally binding statement, and may beused in evidence should legality ensue.

Please let me know your thoughts and under which laws youclaim you are owed money, because my research shows me none, making this claimunlawful.



Best Wishes,

Buyer



................................................

SternMusik

a) You might want to remove the address, your name and the agent's name from your post.

b) People are unlikely to read through your email communications. What is your question/problem?

c) It appears you are the prospective buyer of the property. You have no contract with the estate agent. Any dispute with regards to EA fees is the seller's problem not yours.

ViolaLass

SternMusik wrote: »

c) It appears you are the prospective buyer of the property. You have no contract with the estate agent. Any dispute with regards to EA fees is the seller's problem not yours.

Agreed. I don't see what the 'demand for commission' has to do with you.

donfanatico

SternMusik wrote: »

a) You might want to remove the address, your name and the agent's name from your post.

good advice

SternMusik wrote: »

b) People are unlikely to read through your email communications. What is your question/problem?

her problem appears to be that the seller will not continue on the basis that both, foxtons and the other agent which in fact introduced want a fee

SternMusik wrote: »

c) It appears you are the prospective buyer of the property. You have no contract with the estate agent. Any dispute with regards to EA fees is the seller's problem not yours.

Same as above plus the seller might not want to proceed if they have to pay 2 fees

donfanatico

moneysaver2013, have they replied to your last email?

nidO

ViolaLass wrote: »

Agreed. I don't see what the 'demand for commission' has to do with you.

This does become relevant if the seller is now in a position where he won't sell the property to the buyer if both agents involved are claiming commission, because the issue seems to come down to the OP's word against Foxtons'.
The OP says she made the same offer through Foxtons and they refused to take the offer to the seller (in which case Foxtons cannot lay claim to the commission) whereas Foxtons are saying that they told her the offer was low but would take it to the seller but the buyer then instructed them not to, and she then made a higher offer through another agent (in which case Foxtons are fully entitled to claim their commission).

So while the issue is for the seller to sort out as they're the ones contracting both agents, the seller "sorting it out" is likely to just be to refuse to sell the property to the buyer, as the issue at hand is a conversation between the buyer and Foxtons.

SternMusik

donfanatico wrote: »

her problem appears to be that the seller will not continue on the basis that both, foxtons and the other agent which in fact introduced want a fee

In which case she needs to negotiate with the seller. She has no contract with the agent.

Also I believe that in the case of multiple agencies marketing a property there is normally a procedure in place by which the agents work out who gets the commission (or part of it) in the case of a buyer contacting several agents for the same property.

donfanatico

nidO wrote: »

whereas Foxtons are saying that they told her the offer was low but would take it to the seller but the buyer then instructed them not to, and she then made a higher offer through another agent (in which case Foxtons are fully entitled to claim their commission).

Really? wow

So I walk into an estate agents and make an offer without viewing a property purely by seeing something in their window. The agent tells me that the offer is too low but they are willing (and legally obliged to do so) to take the offer to the vendor but then I say ok maybe do not bother.

How does that entitle the agent to a fee?

ViolaLass

Isn't 5% a bit high anyway? Wonder why the seller agreed to it.

kingstreet

The issue here is the wording of the contracts the vendor has with his/her agents.

I assume the OP has seen neither?

G_M

One can only assume it was a sole agency agreement- we don't know.

Use of the word 'landlord' is confusing-I read this as a tenancy issue....

If OP is a prospective purchaser, it is for the seller to review their contract with Foxtons and resolve. Buyer has no contract with Foxtons.