Yopa

DaveW007

Hi

I'm looking to sell my house and decided on using Yopa. I bought the house through them so to me this seemed the right choice!

After the estate agent viewed my property, I was advised of the value and told that there would be no problem in selling it as it is is a prime location.

The advert was written up and I was asked to check for errors etc and once I was happy told to click the live button and then the contract would start. There were a number of errors with the advert such as room sizes incorrect. This I pointed out to the agent and without my knowledge or authorisation the advert went live.

I have had a couple of viewings so far with people coming on the off chance as they have been unable to book viewings through Yopa. I have also received several emails from their conveyancers and each time have phoned and each time being on hold for minutes before an answering machine asks for a message to be left. Sadly, none of my messages have been responded to.

I have advised Yopa that I am not happy with their service and have instructed them that I wish to cancel my contract. They have said there will be a charge of £999.00 which I have disputed as their sales paperwork which was left clearly says you won't pay a penny until your house is sold.

Where do I stand with this as it clearly was Yopa who made my advertisement live without my knowledge or authorisation. I was never given or sent any terms or conditions and so far, they have failed to delivery what they promised.

RHemmings

One option is to make a formal complaint through Yopa's own complaints system. And, then if/when it isn't resolved, to complain through The Property Ombudsman Scheme. https://www.yopa.co.uk/complaints/ 

I'm not saying this is the only or even best way of handling the situation. Just that it's one way forward. 

There will also be wording in your contract with Yopa as to what happens if you end the relationship early. What does it say? 

The T&Cs on Yopa's site (https://www.yopa.co.uk/nsnf/terms-and-conditions/) seem ... very biased towards Yopa. E.g. they say that if they receive feedback that the price is a house is too high, then Yopa has the right to cancel the agreement (reasonable, I think), but that cancellation fees may apply (what? They unilaterally cancel the agreement and the seller has to pay cancellation fees?)

Back on topic, see section 6.4 about being charged for services if you withdraw. (These T&Cs are specific to No Sale No Fee.) 

If you are saying that they are incompetent, then I would think that going through TPOS would be one strategy. 

DaveW007

RHemmings said:

One option is to make a formal complaint through Yopa's own complaints system. And, then if/when it isn't resolved, to complain through The Property Ombudsman Scheme. https://www.yopa.co.uk/complaints/ 

I'm not saying this is the only or even best way of handling the situation. Just that it's one way forward. 

There will also be wording in your contract with Yopa as to what happens if you end the relationship early. What does it say? 

I was never given a contract or terms and conditions. The estate agent left me with 6-7 glossy A4 pages saying how wonderful Yopa are!

RHemmings

DaveW007 said:

RHemmings said:

One option is to make a formal complaint through Yopa's own complaints system. And, then if/when it isn't resolved, to complain through The Property Ombudsman Scheme. https://www.yopa.co.uk/complaints/ 

I'm not saying this is the only or even best way of handling the situation. Just that it's one way forward. 

There will also be wording in your contract with Yopa as to what happens if you end the relationship early. What does it say? 

I was never given a contract or terms and conditions. The estate agent left me with 6-7 glossy A4 pages saying how wonderful Yopa are!

I edited my post. There are T&Cs online, as per my link. They seem quite biased towards Yopa, e.g. that they can decide that the property is overpriced, cancel the agreement, and charge the customer a cancellation fee. 

propertyrental

14 days cooling off period if contract signed remotely or in your home (not at Yopa's office)?

But I have to say, choose a cheap agent / marketing company and get a cheap service with strings attached.....

DaveW007

propertyrental said:

14 days cooling off period if contract signed remotely or in your home (not at Yopa's office)?

But I have to say, choose a cheap agent / marketing company and get a cheap service with strings attached.....

I was told that this would only come into force once I click the "live" button which I did not do. It was Yopa themselves who did this.

Jemma01

I'm confused by this, 

The advert was written up and I was asked to check for errors etc and once I was happy told to click the live button and then the contract would start. There were a number of errors with the advert such as room sizes incorrect. This I pointed out to the agent and without my knowledge or authorisation the advert went live.

It went live without you clicking to confirm you are happy?

Can you record evidence that the phone lines are creating a problem, like ringing the number or trying to arrange a viewing on the website and seeing what happens? You'll need this to complain.

Good luck, sounds like they're from hell

RHemmings

DaveW007 said:

propertyrental said:

14 days cooling off period if contract signed remotely or in your home (not at Yopa's office)?

But I have to say, choose a cheap agent / marketing company and get a cheap service with strings attached.....

I was told that this would only come into force once I click the "live" button which I did not do. It was Yopa themselves who did this.

This would be a major fault in Yopa's systems if it was possible for this to happen. Given that clicking the button results in accepting a legal agreement, I would expect (note: 'expect') that Yopa would make a record of the signing, including the IP address from which the button was clicked. If they have data saying that the button was clicked, right or wrong, it might be quite tough to fight that. And, if you have had people viewing and the relationship has progressed for some time, it might be claimed that you have accepted Yopa's contract through those actions. 

If I was you, I would fight this based on not receiving a satisfactory level of service, meaning that Yopa have not upheld their side of the contract. But, to the ombudsman, not a court of law. 

eddddy

This all sounds complicated...

DaveW007 said:

I was never given or sent any terms or conditions...

Did you book your property valuation through the Yopa website? If so, it looks like you ticked the box shown below to accept the t&cs (which are behind a link)...





Looking at Yopa's T&Cs... they read to me like this...

• You instructed Yopa to write up an advert... That instruction was the point at which you agreed to enter into a contract with Yopa

• The T&Cs don't seem to explicitly say they must wait for your approval before it is listed on the market. (In fact, they seem to put the onus on you to tell them about errors before they decide to list it.)

DaveW007 said:

The advert was written up and I was asked to check for errors etc and once I was happy told to click the live button and then the contract would start. 

• There's no mention of clicking a live button in the t&cs. And did the  rep definitely say "contract period" starts when you click the button, as opposed to "(16 week) listing period" starting?

Overall, it sounds like the Yopa t&cs confirm that you owe the fee - but you're saying that the Yopa representative misled you when they visited you.

If the Yopa rep misled you, in theory, that would be your argument against paying. But then it boils down to you saying "The rep said x, y and z", and the rep replying "No I didn't".

DaveW007

Having gone through Yopa’s complaints process they took over a month rather than their quoted 7-10 working days! They referred me to the Property Ombudsman who took over 7 months to respond!

The TPO stated they were critical at the time Yopa took to investigate my complaint and Yopa told the TPO, “Yopa say that whilst you did not click the ‘live’ button yourself to commence marketing, you did receive an email stating that your advert changes were being checked over and following this, the changes would be made live.”

Changes were not made though, Yopa simply deleted the incorrect information.

The TPO have closed their file and advised me to seek other redress!

Yopa are now chasing me for £999 for marketing which I simply do not have.

 What advice or help could somebody give me as I’m at my wits end,

eddddy

DaveW007 said:

The TPO have closed their file and advised me to seek other redress!

Yopa are now chasing me for £999 for marketing which I simply do not have.

 What advice or help could somebody give me as I’m at my wits end,

If you want, you can carry on refusing to pay, and see if Yopa take you to court.

If they do, you can defend the claim in court - i.e. Yopa will explain to the court why they believe you owe £999, and you can explain to the court why you believe you don't. And the court will decide who they agree with.


But to be honest, if you didn't win with TPO, I think it's even less likely that you'll win in court. TPO is more biased towards consumers than the courts are.