we are selling our house at the moment, yesterday we had a viewing arranged at 2.30 pm and when it got to 3.15 pm with no show i rang the branch. the young estate agent told me he had rung my bell 3 times, i had been in all day !! turns out he was a next door and they was out !! i did see a guy next door but presummed he was for them. anyway they rearranged the viewing for today but now they potetial buyers have cancelled (properly cus they dont want to be mucked around ) i am going to complain to their area manager ,have already complained to the branch as its just not good enough do you think i am over reacting ? joboox
Well, everyone makes a mistake---nobody died or were injured.If the people were that keen on viewing your property they would have accepted it was a genuine mistake on the Agents part and moved on. You will encounter far more worse things than this to really hack you off in the world of buying and selling property. Mel.
how can it be a genuine mistake if they cant read numbers correctly, sorry but this to me is incompentence on their part. your not an estate agent yourself are you melboy ?
The point is that the EA is supposed to show your home as if he / she is the owner and they are supposed to know it inside out. If they don't even know which house it is then it's pretty unforgivable.
What I have learned from the whole painful experience of selling our house is that it pays to remind the agent who is boss. Many of them are not very bright and they seem to forget who the client is in the whole process. I would give them hell but then any excuse to let rip at an estate agent.
BUT nobody forces you into the EA's office C P to use their services. Sure, mention to them that this type of basic error is not acceptable but like I said if the viewing people were any reasonable type of people they would have proceeded anyway with a revised viewing date.
If one of my guy's made this mistake I would be pretty upset and they would get a talking to. That would be the end of it as no material harm has been done! (you mention that the appointment was rescheduled). Complaining to an area manager is pretty strong!
"The greatest trick the Devil played, was convincing us all that he did not exist"
I think complaining to the branch is enough personally. Contacting the area branch manager seems a bit over the top, and as Melboy says - if the people were that keen, they'd rearrange a viewing. I would mention to the Estate Agent that they should've phoned you though - presumably the EA had a mobile phone with him.
I agree with Mel, obviously it's annoying and you need to make it clear you're hacked off, and maybe even that you don't want to deal with this particular staff member again - but what's the point of taking the complaint further? What good would it do? It's hardly a sackable offence and if that is the only thing the EA does wrong, be very thankful
If the 'buyers' had really been interested they would have rescheduled. They were seemingly timewasters, immy will be able to tell you all about them
You think thats bad! I was trying to get into a house to show a prospective tenant when some guy comes to the door and asks what I'm trying to do! What are you doing in MY house i said...turns out I was at the wrong house!!!..that'll teach me to buy those bl**dy redrow boxes, they ALL look the same!
To err is human and all that. Admittedly it was a really horrible mistake (did he not even have a photo on the brochure with him??!!). If the buyers were that keen on your property, they'd have come back. In fact, how come THEY never spotted the mistake?!?! You expect buyers to do a drive-by before booking a viewing so presumably they knew what house to look at.
Why not ask for an assurance that the deadhead won't be dealing with your property at all in future and get them to knock a bit off the commission, say £100, by way of compensation?
With a view to the marketing of the house, maybe a lesson can be learned. If the buying public and even an EA can't work out which one is for sale, maybe you need a (more prominent) For Sale sign??
yes, it's annoying - it drive's you crazy to clean a house to view and wait on tenderhooks - but it's just a simple mistake. And, to be honest, if my experience is anything to go by, it's just the thin end of the house selling wedge. I've had one in 4 viewers not show up - mainly with me doing the viewing but also with the ea sat waiting like a lemon. I know in your case it was the ea's mistake but as someone else says, where were the viewers too - how were they meeting the ea apart from at the house?! sounds like they might not have turned up either
don't go ott with the agent and jeopardise the relationship
IMHO I always reckon it's best to keep EAs on your side. Complaining to their boss isn't going to encourage them to actively and willingly push your property. Having worked a number of EAs years ago, even 'just' as a Saturday girl who did viewings, if a vendor pixxxes you off, revenge is sweet.
Originally posted by clingfilm pants: What I have learned from the whole painful experience of selling our house is that it pays to remind the agent who is boss. Many of them are not very bright and they seem to forget who the client is in the whole process. I would give them hell but then any excuse to let rip at an estate agent.
Well as one of those diabolical estate agents you speak of, I can only apologise for my inferior intelligence. If only I could be like you, oh lord and master....
Llama The only way we lack intelligence is we do the job in the first place. There are plenty of jobs out there where you work far less hours, have the week end off, get paid substantially more for a poorer quality service, rip people off legally and then are able to boast about the good reputation of your industry! They are called lawyers, stockbrokers, dentists,politicians,bankers,plumbers,electricians etc... etc... So stupid I am.stupid that I am not doing one of these jobs! Earning more money and taking the moral high ground
"The greatest trick the Devil played, was convincing us all that he did not exist"
A little pet hate of mine is 'generalisations', or painting all with the same brush. I had a great estate agent when I was moving house a few years ago, she worked damn hard, she was always around, she got a feel for the sort of house I was after and, after a few 'almost rights' and a gazump, she finally found me the perfect house.
Some people are complete neanderthals who aren't worth the air they breath, some are decent people worth their weight in gold. Both are in every profession.
Sounds like if you have already complained to the branch, it isn't worth taking any further. IMHO, I would simply say, 'look this isn't good enough, if you had been in my position, you would have been a little hacked off, so can you please make sure it doesn't happen again, or I will have to go elsewhere'. If they do make any more blundering mistakes then take it to the branch manager, but the BM is not going to take it too seriously when it is just one offence, then if something else happens and you complain again you will be labelled 'one of them!'
but, if something else happens and you go to the BM with both instances, you have a bit more weight to your complaint and they will take you seriously.
Why everyone can't be nice helpful people with an ounce of common sense and a few braincells, I will never understand.
"Of course I don't look busy, I did it right the first time."
hi all i was only annoyed about that paticular guy i never said anything about other estate agents i never complained to the area manager guy in the end even though it was there other branch that suggested it, i guess i was just having a bad day !!! anyway its not just that is various other things, i not a serial complainer or anything i know there are some good guys out there, i feel like im getting slammed now for ever mentioning it hey whatever lol
I think Nell has the key to this – you need to look at it from the buyer's point of view. They decided to view the house, presumably on the basis of the leaflet from the EA, or from printing out the web page, and actually believed they were buying next door! Even the EA thought so as well. So what caused the confusion?
Do you have a ‘for sale’ board up and a photo (of the front of the house) on the details?
Well as one of those diabolical estate agents you speak of, I can only apologise for my inferior intelligence. If only I could be like you, oh lord and master....
