Paying for a terrible estate agent

teflon

This is mostly a rant, but if anyone has any helpful suggestions about if I've got any recourse, then I'd be happy to hear it!

When I put our flat on the market, we had a bunch of estate agents round, and didn't go with the highest valuation, but rather the one which seemed the most professional - and then managed to negotiate them down to 1.5%. I think I got a good deal out of them, and they've been easy to work with and I don't think our buyer's had any complaints about them either.

The place we're in the process of buying was for sale by tender. You might have read about this practice - they advertise "we'll sell your house for £150+VAT" - which is true, that's what the seller pays, but then the buyer pays a non-negotiable 2% "introduction fee". Oh, and there's the added stress of getting 10 minutes to view it and then putting in a sealed bid.

I'm a bit grumpy about having to pay the fee, but because they've got such an attractive offer for sellers, most of the decent properties in the area are on with that agent. Hobson's choice.

The problem is that the guy we're dealing with at the seller's agency is a muppet. His emails are barely coherent English, and he answers direct questions with vague platitudes which is (we think) what he thinks we want to hear. When our chain got stuck and we weren't getting any decent information out of him, we tried going to the branch manager, and got an email written in text speak.

Now, the seller's estate agent is obviously working in the interests of the seller. But we're the ones paying them an eye-watering amount of money. Do we have any consumer rights here whatsoever? The seller gets to see the complaints policy; we get nothing. It's a weird arrangement.

I'm not normally one to suffer bad service, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to what I can reasonably expect them to do to make things right. Any ideas?

anselld

You will find the contract states something like "fee is not for any service to buyer" or something like that. So that is what you should expect. In any case, enquiries leading up to exchange should be done via solicitors.

Your choice is to pay the fee or back out and buy something else with a different [STRIKE]shark[/STRIKE] agent.

chris_m

This is starting to become more common - what is needed (but probably won't happen) is for any potential buyers to watch out for that clause "fee is not for any service to buyer", walk away AND TELL THE SELLER WHY.

Any agent (or, indeed, any other type of company)who expects someone to pay them whilst not committing to providing any form of service whatsoever to the person paying needs driving out of business.

AdrianC

Either buy a different place, or accept that the fee is part of the purchase price.

googler

teflon wrote: »

This is mostly a rant.....

The problem is that the guy we're dealing with at the seller's agency is a muppet. His emails are barely coherent English, and he answers direct questions with vague platitudes which is (we think) what he thinks we want to hear.

>>>>> This is the trouble with a multi-cultural city - many of those you encounter are from different cultures, and have different approaches to 'customer service'. I'd suggest you have little or no recourse for this, and I'm also assuming you're in London.

Now, the seller's estate agent is obviously working in the interests of the seller. But we're the ones paying them an eye-watering amount of money. Do we have any consumer rights here whatsoever? The seller gets to see the complaints policy; we get nothing. It's a weird arrangement.

I'm not normally one to suffer bad service, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to what I can reasonably expect them to do to make things right. Any ideas?

Walk away and, as previous posters suggest, let the seller and their agent know exactly why you are doing this.

teflon

I think I was perhaps hoping for some slightly more sympathetic responses. I guess I'm the mug here...

anselld wrote: »

You will find the contract states something like "fee is not for any service to buyer" or something like that. So that is what you should expect.

It didn't - at least, not what I've signed. The agreement (which was part of the tender document) says "I/ we understand that an introduction fee of 2% + VAT of the contracted sale price or £2,000.00 + VAT (whichever is greater) will be payable if I/we purchase this property at any time," then goes on to detail how and when the money should be paid. There is no mention of what service will be provided or otherwise.

A local MP is campaigning about this kind of practice, but her complaint is about double-charging, and nothing about the consumer rights of the party who's paying the bill.

chris_m wrote: »

This is starting to become more common - what is needed (but probably won't happen) is for any potential buyers to watch out for that clause "fee is not for any service to buyer", walk away AND TELL THE SELLER WHY.

I agree entirely that it's what should happen, but if we were to pull out of the purchase, then another buyer would be right there in our place. The seller is already contracted to selling through this agent, so isn't in a position to do anything about it. And, as I mentioned, because it's such an attractive proposition to other sellers, quite a lot of decent properties in the area are on sale with that agent.

We're too far down the line to pull out now - we're days away from exchanging (or at least, that's what our agent keeps telling us despite it not being entirely true). Besides, we've had two purchases fall through already, and have spent a vast amount of time and money on not buying a house. I'd really rather not throw more away.

googler wrote: »

This is the trouble with a multi-cultural city - many of those you encounter are from different cultures, and have different approaches to 'customer service'. I'd suggest you have little or no recourse for this, and I'm also assuming you're in London.

Yes, we're in London. The estate agent we're dealing with - and his boss - are both Londoners too. Perhaps an A-Level in English isn't a prerequisite to becoming an estate agent.

AdrianC

teflon wrote: »

I think I was perhaps hoping for some slightly more sympathetic responses. I guess I'm the mug here...

Not at all. Just view the fee as part of the purchase price of the property. Whether 98% goes to the vendor and 2% straight from you to the agent doesn't make any difference compared to whether 100% goes to the vendor who then pays 2% to the agent, does it? The only time it makes a difference is if you end up paying 102% - but, since you go on to say...

The agreement (which was part of the tender document)

...so you must've known the score before offering.

says "I/ we understand that an introduction fee of 2% + VAT of the contracted sale price or £2,000.00 + VAT (whichever is greater) will be payable if I/we purchase this property at any time," then goes on to detail how and when the money should be paid. There is no mention of what service will be provided or otherwise.

So it's an introduction fee, for introducing you to the place. You've been introduced by them, so they have provided the service. Was that service worth 2%? Well, you placed an offer, knowing the fee was payable, so you must've found the introduction and fee acceptable... They promise you no more nor less than that.

I don't think that the competence of the agency's staff is necessarily directly related to their pricing model, although it may well give an indication as to why they feel such a route-to-market necessary.