Help with disputing Estate Agent's final bill

su51_2

Just that as per title really.  So poor was the service l received from EAs that l asked my solicitor not to pay them automatically and l would deal with their invoice.
Despite several blunders on their part and complaints from me during their marketing of my property ,nobody ever got back to me ,let alone acknowledge my concern(s) so as predicted their non receipt of payment on completion day did the trick and brought the area manager himself out the woodwork and he called me.
l explained why l'd asked solicitor not to pay directly as extremely unhappy with their service and told him the long catalogue of issues during their marketing of my property and l didn't simply want them to get payment in full on the day and get away without so much as an acknowledgement or even just one of many promised call backs.

Far from being apologetic ( l'd have been more inclined to just pay the bill if he had) he was quite aggressive and stroppy and just had an excuse (some ridiculous) for everything l raised.
Some of my many complaints were quite serious, not just minor things which l will bore you with dear reader at a later stage if  so required to be able help me,  but we're talking leaving my house unsecured/unalarmed for weeks to name one.  After a very unsatisfactory phone call in which he didn't uphold even one of my complaints and angrily stated they earned every penny of that invoice and l had to pay it, he hung up.
I then got a phonecall from area office , a much pleasanter ( not saying much but hey ) lady but she kept repeating 'are you going to pay it though?' she wasn't there to apologise for the complete lack of communication and incompetence either it seemed. she finished with a 'concerned' comment that l needed to be careful as l didn't want end up with a debt?
I didn't commit and said l hadn't even seen the invoice yet and that area manager had told me my solicitor would have it and l would get it off solicitor and then get back to them.
Turns out solicitor didn't have a copy so l emailed EAs back, told them this and asked for a copy of their invoice from themselves directly please.
Instead what came was a  'We assume this account has been overlooked.....' reply, stating the full amount and methods of payment and pay within 3 working days or alternatively, please advise us of any genuine reason why payment is being withheld (so the 15 min ranted list at the area manager doesn't count as advising them it seems, nor telling the nice lady my issues and that l'd not even seen the invoice to pay or otherwise as yet)  The reply finished with please give this matter your most urgent attention as this Invoice has now well exceeded our normal credit terms.  (I'm not sure l'd even entered credit terms with them tbh??? can anybody correct me or otherwise please) .

So what now ,do l reply that l'm disputing the invoice because l don't feel l got the level of service promised and list the problems , all l wanted at least was an apology acknowledgement and at best maybe a hundred pounds or so off their bill (£2250) Actually there is a stealth addition to that bill and l was assured at property by area manager during his pitch that the most it would cost would be just shy of 2k and no more inc. vat. l definitely double/treble checked that with him. But £250 has been added on for the digital marketing video. Other people have complained about this in reviews about them, so l want dispute that also. It's on their t&c's which l signed but is rather ambiguous and verbally he certainly hid it from view.

Should l make them an offer of Full and Final or Without Prejudice (or whichever one it is ?) of £1750 , l would be prepared to pay up to £1800 ( as that's a hundred or so off what l thought and was told it would be )  Also what would happen if l just pay that amount now and then we can argue about rest later then it doesn't look like l'm just trying get away with paying full stop. l would feel better if l paid a large chunk off it because l do feel l should pay them something ,I'm not disputing that but don't know the significance legally of doing that, good or bad.

Finally can l send them a Data Request as the area manager was obviously reading from a print out or on the screen of who l spoke to and when and summary of what was discussed in the calls and l would like a copy of that as would be very useful documenting my complaint in order of events etc.

Thank you so much anyone has got this far.

diego_94

Have you gone through the estate agents documented complaints procedure? Did you do any of this when your house was on the market with them?

SpiderLegs

What level of service were you promised?

if it was ‘we will find you a buyer for your house’ and that is what they did well then you are going to struggle.

nicknameless

Your desired outcome = an apology and maybe a £100 off?

Just pay the bill.  Should have escalated this earlier on.

user1977

Have any of their failings actually caused you a loss? Leaving the property insecure may be poor service, but if nothing actually happened...

su51_2

diego_94 said:

Have you gone through the estate agents documented complaints procedure? Did you do any of this when your house was on the market with them?

They apparently don't have one, it just says contact the manager which l have several times or tried to and never got back to me. the only thing that made them sit up and actually get someone in charge to contact me was when they didn't get their money automatically on completion day. i asked several times over the months to speak to the area manager to discuss how unhappy i was with the service and things that were happening, either he wasn't passed the messages or he didn't bother.  

su51_2

user1977 said:

Have any of their failings actually caused you a loss? Leaving the property insecure may be poor service, but if nothing actually happened...

Yes there was coffee spilled on a new carpet in the hall and lounge which had to be cleaned, only the EAs and the viewer had been in and neither me or my hubby ever carry take away coffees anywhere and no one else had a key. EAs denied it and they were professional etc and would never carry one into a house nor let the viewer do so blah blah ,but it definitely appeared in an empty room with a new carpet a trail from one door to another when we  went in after a viewing.  
Also one incident resulted in a potential very interested buyer on a second viewing pulling out when the EA agreed with them they could smell a serious rising damp issue inside the gable end wall.  There was none and the house had two surveys, first buyer pulled out for personal reasons second one bought it, both had full surveys ,both passed satisfactorily ,no damp whatsoever. At this time the first satisfactory survey had been done. Every month house was for sale cost me obviously in Council Tax, ins, standing utility charges etc etc.
When they put my house as Sold STC against my wishes after an offer was made it meant all the many interested requests for viewing dried up as obv. that put them off.  Eight weeks later that party pulled out so l lost eight weeks of viewings and there'd been a lot so there is no doubt in my mind that again cost me by delaying the process.
The extra £250 for the video was another extra cost and down to their dishonesty quite frankly in hiding it which other reviewers have documented.

su51_2

nicknameless said:

Your desired outcome = an apology and maybe a £100 off?

Just pay the bill.  Should have escalated this earlier on.

I did , l contacted them after every problem from the first one onwards and repeatedly told them l wanted to speak to the area manager who came to the house originally to tell him that things hadnt been as promised in our first meeting . He didn't get back to me however many times l chased up.   

dil1976

What documented paper trail do you have of ever raising these issues with your EA? Because right now unless you have any it n seems you have decided you don't want to pay full price and just using these reasons to barter the price down.

TripleH

The extra council tax is part of selling houses unfortunately.

The coffee spill whilst it is on your carpet, unless your buyers actually took a specific amount off (and itemised it) emphasising spilt coffee or you had to pay to have it professionally cleaned then again you appear to have not suffered  a quantifiable loss (these would be your buyer's loss) although you may not get all the cleaning cost back.

canaldumidi

Telephone ranting is pointless. If you want to pursue the complaint and non-payment, then

1) do it in writing

2) list each error/failure by them concisely (your OP is far too long - use bullet points with one brief sentence each.

Have you checked their website for their complaints procedure? Have you followed it?

You've mentioned an 'area manager' and 'area office' - is there also a national Head Office?

Have you checked which ombudsman scheme they belong to

* The Property Ombudsman
* Property Redress Scheme

an have you read the relevat ombudsman's Code of Conduct to compare against their actions?