Scammers - Mann Countrywide?

shocker1616

My mother has had her house up for sale for the last 8 months with these estate agents and has nothing but problems and she has just told me their fees which seem rediculous.

Some background information:
They initially valuated the property well above its value, it was only when my mother questioned it they thought otherwise.
They've made appointments and not turned up, so she has to show the potential buyers around herself.
They 'sold' the house to an african couple who eventually turned out to be scammers and have no UK residency, they realised this after we went through solicitors, they then covered themselves be stating the buyers had 'pulled out'.
They sold the house to another lady and lied to us for weeks before telling us the truth about her pulling out.
They take roughly one to two weeks to change the board outside our property when the circumstances change.
The list goes on, it's early in the morning so i can't remember everything.


It appears my mother has their 'superior service' and i can't find any information on what this actually is, does anyone know?

They are charging my mother £4,000 to sell her house in Portsmouth and the average price is around 1,700 from other estate agents before VAT.

The problem is she signed the agreement ignorantly in the beginning and they have taken FULL advantage of her. Should i argue their incompetence and rediculous fees and instruct my solicitor not to pay them? or should i tell them i'm only paying them what other estate agents are charging?

Are these fees linked to this 'superior service' which from my experience no one has any clue what is?


All responces widely welcome.
Thanks

Running_Horse

In what way have they taken advantage of her?

Have they sold the house yet?

If yes, your mother has no grounds not to pay the fees. If no, then no fee is payable anyway. Get your mother to check the terms of the contract, and consider moving to a different agent if she is unhappy.

Sadly, some of the things you mentioned are just part of the way the house selling process is structured at the moment. No agent can promise to make things hassle-free.

We found Mann & Co to be pricey, but very good (got us full asking price on day one). A price we were willing to pay after being let down by a cheaper agent the year before. No doubt others would disagree.

Doozergirl

Countrywide are expensive but you agree to their fees when you sign the contract. It's up to you to know what you will be paying.

If you are going to renegotiate the fees based on something that they have done wrong, then it should be done at the time - perhaps even before you have found your buyer.

You can't really just wait for the bill and then get angry You're either unhappy with the service and deal with it at the time - either to allow them to rectify the situation, compensate you, or you simply terminate your contract with them the benefit of 'no sale, no fee'. Or you don't like the size of the bill when it arrives - you should have known roughly what it was going to be at the start and shopped around.

molit

Hi, Have pm'd you - I personally dont think the superior service gives you much more - you get on rightmove, and people show intreested viewers round your house. Think superior means a bigger photo in the portsmouth news, and a few other adverts - not owrth it tbh, if the estate agents are doign their job properly