OLA - house buying company - very misleading

vmehta108

Hello Guys,

I am selling my flat and got this letter in post. Seems very misleading. Letter is from someone called Ola and the letter says (photo attached) that "I am a local girl in your area interested to buy your flat", with only a mobile number to call which basically creates an impression that letter is from an individual looking to buy a property.

I called this number from from a private line so as not to give out my number, only to find out that is actually a company called Ola and operating on a similar model like British homebuyers etc, but under the guise of presenting as an individual and not being upfront and transparent.

Also to make it look legit, the letter seems like handwritten but it's actually printed and doesn't have a letterhead or address so you can't actually complain to ombudsman because they may simply refuse and say it's not from us although the mobile number connects to their main switchboard.

 

They are deliberately using the name Ola so you can't guess whether it's an individual or a company, please be careful before you get any such letters or before you call them. 

When I called them, they said they will get someone to call back and the standard nonsense talk. I complained that "why are you not being honest, and this was misleading" to which the other guys replied that "that's your opinion" and just hung up on me. So much for a local girl looking to buy my property 😜

Just wanted to caution everybody that these house buying companies are now using new innovative ways to make people call them and then sign you up for various stuff for which I don't need to go in details. 

Stay safe, remain vigilant.

Ha e a nice day!

eddddy

I guess they're either cruising the streets looking for 'For Sale' boards, or working out addresses from EA or Rightmove listings.


They mention your EA - if you want you could give a copy of the letter to your EA, in case they want to warn their other clients of the scam. Just in case the scammers have worked their way though a list of all properties listed by that EA (as well as targeting other EAs).

AdrianC

I don't see the issue here. There's certainly no scam.

It's obviously not from a real person, an individual looking for a home... because they'd simply contact the EA.

B'sides, look at the wording...
"...if for any reason your house does not sell in the time frame you wish, I would love to buy your property.
I can complete within a time frame to suit you and will guarantee not to let you down if we agree a sale."

Apart from the letter saying "house" when it's actually a flat, no normal individual looking for a home would write that. Of course it's a company.

vmehta108

AdrianC said:

I don't see the issue here. There's certainly no scam.

It's obviously not from a real person, an individual looking for a home... because they'd simply contact the EA.

B'sides, look at the wording...
"...if for any reason your house does not sell in the time frame you wish, I would love to buy your property.
I can complete within a time frame to suit you and will guarantee not to let you down if we agree a sale."

Apart from the letter saying "house" when it's actually a flat, no normal individual looking for a home would write that. Of course it's a company.

I never mentioned it as a scam, I only mentioned that it was very misleading.

Now for someone like you, who is experienced, would immediately spot the difference and know its a company, but I believe for those who are little more innocent or first time sellers might not realise it. There are many threads here from people who called these house buying companies without realising they got signed up for some locked in contract or a back to back sale was drawn up and many other such tactics.

Basically all I was trying to do is warn and save time for those people who don't want to go with such house buying companies, who otherwise might be mislead by such letters. It's just a heads-up that a new name has been floating in the town.

AdrianC

vmehta108 said:

AdrianC said:

I don't see the issue here. There's certainly no scam.

It's obviously not from a real person, an individual looking for a home... because they'd simply contact the EA.

B'sides, look at the wording...
"...if for any reason your house does not sell in the time frame you wish, I would love to buy your property.
I can complete within a time frame to suit you and will guarantee not to let you down if we agree a sale."

Apart from the letter saying "house" when it's actually a flat, no normal individual looking for a home would write that. Of course it's a company.

I never mentioned it as a scam, I only mentioned that it was very misleading.

You didn't, but @eddddy used that very word.

There are many threads here from people who called these house buying companies without realising they got signed up for some locked in contract or a back to back sale was drawn up and many other such tactics.

That simply doesn't happen from just phoning a number, then realising it's a company... It has to go a LOT further than anybody would before realising the situation.

steve866

AdrianC said:

I don't see the issue here. There's certainly no scam.

It's obviously not from a real person, an individual looking for a home... because they'd simply contact the EA.

B'sides, look at the wording...
"...if for any reason your house does not sell in the time frame you wish, I would love to buy your property.
I can complete within a time frame to suit you and will guarantee not to let you down if we agree a sale."

Apart from the letter saying "house" when it's actually a flat, no normal individual looking for a home would write that. Of course it's a company.

For what purpose as the company tried to make it look hand written and used the wording ‘I am a local girl’ etc? The company must at least attempting to fool people into thinking it’s an individual or why would they bother?

eddddy

AdrianC said:

I never mentioned it as a scam, I only mentioned that it was very misleading.

You didn't, but @eddddy used that very word.

Eh???

What the house buying company is doing is almost certainly illegal. They're breaking consumer protection laws.

We're not living in the Wild West - the law doesn't allow companies to make misleading claims and tell lies to consumers.

It's not a defence to say "It doesn't matter that we were lying to consumers, because they'll eventually phone us and find out we were lying".


And the Cambridge Dictionary definition of a scam is:

 an illegal plan for making money, especially one that involves tricking people

So "scam" seems to be the perfect description in this case.

JuanBallOfWimbledon

AdrianC said:

I don't see the issue here. There's certainly no scam.

It's obviously not from a real person, an individual looking for a home... because they'd simply contact the EA.

B'sides, look at the wording...
"...if for any reason your house does not sell in the time frame you wish, I would love to buy your property.
I can complete within a time frame to suit you and will guarantee not to let you down if we agree a sale."

Apart from the letter saying "house" when it's actually a flat, no normal individual looking for a home would write that. Of course it's a company.

As someone whose job revolves around investigating fraud, if I received this, my personal opinion would be that it was written with the intention to deceive. It would indeed become clear once you called the number, however once unscrupulous companies have the elderly, vulnerable, desperate or naive on the phone, it’s all too easy to sweet talk and manipulate them. If there was no dishonest intent, I would imagine the letter would be on headed paper, written professionally, and not framed as coming from ‘a local girl’, nor written in such an ambiguous font.

Davesnave

The business is attempting to engage with people who would never intend to deal with a house buying company and luring them by deception. While the majority will rapidly disengage once they realise they've been duped, there will be a vulnerable minority who won't, because the frame of reference, once set, is hard for these individuals to ignore, or they're too timid to protest.

It's a wonderful weeding-out tool for the greasy people who wish to take advantage of others' misfortunes and vulnerabilities.

Davesnave

I would have thanked the OP's first post as well, had they not signed off with that ubiquitous "Stay safe" which has been doing the rounds for 18 months. I've never used it myself.  It's a valediction which implies there are good reasons to feel unsafe and therefore of value to certain fear mongers in our midst.

Language and its use are rarely neutral. Even the most noble of us of us may slip into modes of writing which carry subliminal messages, unless we do indeed "remain vigilant!"

AdrianC

eddddy said:

AdrianC said:

I never mentioned it as a scam, I only mentioned that it was very misleading.

You didn't, but @eddddy used that very word.

Eh???

What the house buying company is doing is almost certainly illegal. They're breaking consumer protection laws.

Which ones?