Help with disputing Estate Agent's final bill

brianposter

aoleks said:

brianposter said:

aoleks said:

did not raise these issues when you should’ve

Apparently the OP did raise the issues and has their telephone bill to prove so.

I would be inclined to claim £250 for the non-professiona service, and one would need to look closely at the SSTC issue to decide whether anyone was at fault

a telephone bill doesn't prove anything. I can hang up after 1 ring, conversation never took place or I can simply call to ask about the weather and an update on the sale. what do you have in writing? nothing...

you can't claim £250 for non-professional services.

Just try disputing a telephone bill in court - it is evidence, not proof, that a court expects. And a failure to provide a professional service can very probably be translated into a financial loss.

Incidentally, the last time I was in court the judgement actually said that we had not claimed sufficient compensation.  .

TheJP

brianposter said:

aoleks said:

brianposter said:

aoleks said:

did not raise these issues when you should’ve

Apparently the OP did raise the issues and has their telephone bill to prove so.

I would be inclined to claim £250 for the non-professiona service, and one would need to look closely at the SSTC issue to decide whether anyone was at fault

a telephone bill doesn't prove anything. I can hang up after 1 ring, conversation never took place or I can simply call to ask about the weather and an update on the sale. what do you have in writing? nothing...

you can't claim £250 for non-professional services.

Just try disputing a telephone bill in court - it is evidence, not proof, that a court expects. And a failure to provide a professional service can very probably be translated into a financial loss.

Incidentally, the last time I was in court the judgement actually said that we had not claimed sufficient compensation.  .

The call log isn't evidence that they raised a dispute, that will be logged on the solicitors system if they did. You also have to be pretty silly not to raise a dispute in writing.

The OP instructed the EA to sell the house, the EA sold the house yet the OP wants to reduce their bill by £100 out of spite. I have a feeling this could be a 'pie in the face' moment for the OP. The OP has completed the sale so they cant even claim back the cost of getting the carpet professionally cleaned for the coffee-gate incident. 

Unless the EAs actions resulted in the OP being out of pocket for cleaning the carpet or having to reduce the price of the house then their is no compensation claim/financial loss.

Jenni_D

aoleks said:

brianposter said:

aoleks said:

did not raise these issues when you should’ve

Apparently the OP did raise the issues and has their telephone bill to prove so.

I would be inclined to claim £250 for the non-professiona service, and one would need to look closely at the SSTC issue to decide whether anyone was at fault

a telephone bill doesn't prove anything. I can hang up after 1 ring,

A call which doesn't connect doesn't appear on a phone bill.  

Thrugelmir

Jenni_D said:

aoleks said:

brianposter said:

aoleks said:

did not raise these issues when you should’ve

Apparently the OP did raise the issues and has their telephone bill to prove so.

I would be inclined to claim £250 for the non-professiona service, and one would need to look closely at the SSTC issue to decide whether anyone was at fault

a telephone bill doesn't prove anything. I can hang up after 1 ring,

A call which doesn't connect doesn't appear on a phone bill.  

Perhaps the EA's themselves maintain a log of calls made on their internal systems. 

BikingBud

There are some on here that will have you believe you have to accept poor service without scope for complaint or recompense. If that were the case why have various organisations got independent review processes and ombudsmen schemes?

Have look on the CAB site:

The buyer or seller has lost money because of the estate agent

The buyer or seller may think they have lost money because:-

• the buyer’s deposit was not returned to them by the estate agent, if the sale fell through
• the buyer’s deposit, kept by the estate agent, was not passed onto the seller on completion
• the seller believes that their property was sold for less money than it was worth and this was the estate agent’s fault.

If you think that you have lost money because of the estate agent, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.

and seek specialist advice.

TheJP

BikingBud said:

There are some on here that will have you believe you have to accept poor service without scope for complaint or recompense. If that were the case why have various organisations got independent review processes and ombudsmen schemes?

Have look on the CAB site:

The buyer or seller has lost money because of the estate agent

The buyer or seller may think they have lost money because:-

• the buyer’s deposit was not returned to them by the estate agent, if the sale fell through
• the buyer’s deposit, kept by the estate agent, was not passed onto the seller on completion
• the seller believes that their property was sold for less money than it was worth and this was the estate agent’s fault.

If you think that you have lost money because of the estate agent, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by email, click on nearest CAB.

and seek specialist advice.

But they didn't lose money though! They asked EA to sell house, EA sold house bill due. The client nit picks on certain things. EA sues client, the client regrets not paying bill.

canaldumidi

BikingBud said:

There are some on here that will have you believe you have to accept poor service without scope for complaint

The buyer or seller has lost money because of the estate agent

The buyer or seller may think they have lost money because:-

• the buyer’s deposit was not returned to them by the estate agent, if the sale fell through
• the buyer’s deposit, kept by the estate agent, was not passed onto the seller on completion
• the seller believes that their property was sold for less money than it was worth and this was the estate agent’s fault.

None of the above apply in this case, and OP has not indicated any other way in which they 'lost money'.

As for accepting poor service, OP has been directed to the ombudsman's Code of Conduct, which is there precisely to prevent poor service.

TBagpuss

canaldumidi said:

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?

This.

Make a formal, written complaint.

Based on what you have said, I'd focus on the spilled coffee and the misleading information - the issue about the smell is difficult to prove and also they could argue that it was true, and/ or that it would be bas salesmanship to argue with a potential buyer. 

You can also explicitly state that you telephoned on [dates] raising concerns and were promised call backs which didn't happen, so you have been trying to resolve the issue but they have failed to respond. 

and be explicit about what you want - e.g that you want the £250 removed from the bill for the video  as you were not told of this surcharge (or that you want the bill reduced to £2,000 in line with the assurances given to you y the manager, as appropriate)  and that you feel that a £100 discount would be appropriate for the poor service.

Include a request for a response within a specific timescale - 7 -10 days would be reasonable.

Keep a copy of the letter or e-mail. 

HopeAndDriftWood

TBagpuss said:

canaldumidi said:

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?

This.

Make a formal, written complaint.

Based on what you have said, I'd focus on the spilled coffee and the misleading information - the issue about the smell is difficult to prove and also they could argue that it was true, and/ or that it would be bas salesmanship to argue with a potential buyer. 

You can also explicitly state that you telephoned on [dates] raising concerns and were promised call backs which didn't happen, so you have been trying to resolve the issue but they have failed to respond. 

and be explicit about what you want - e.g that you want the £250 removed from the bill for the video  as you were not told of this surcharge (or that you want the bill reduced to £2,000 in line with the assurances given to you y the manager, as appropriate)  and that you feel that a £100 discount would be appropriate for the poor service.

Include a request for a response within a specific timescale - 7 -10 days would be reasonable.

Keep a copy of the letter or e-mail. 

For what it's worth; we were advised to complain about our estate agent too - they wasted 12 weeks on a buyer that they'd failed to properly check had the funds to go through with the purchase, dismissed all of our concerns about progress, and then eventually admitted that they'd worked with his Dad and therefore didn't put him through the usual process of seeing proof of funds etc. 

Then when we found another buyer, they failed to keep us up-to-date with comms from our seller, which caused a lot of issues and only came to light when they accidentally forwarded us their email chain. 

Our solicitor recommended that we pay them as part of the transaction to stop the debt becoming due, and then complained in writing and asked for a partial refund. It's on my to-do list. I have no idea if we're likely to have any success, but we're going to give it a go. This is basically the same as we've been told to include. 

[Deleted User]

if you want copies of call recordings (if they have them, most big agents probably do) and files notes then send a Subject Access Request 
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/right-of-access/