To be surprised this estate agent wasn’t sacked?

I’m surprised they told you anything other than it’s been investigated and dealt with
it’s a massive no discussing and divulging the details with you

honestly it wouldn’t make the slightest difference but of difference to you if he was sacked or not it won’t change anything

if I saw it I would blame the estate agent not they home owner as the EA obviously took the pictures

I hope you replied in the face book group surely the bad publicity is enough

all I’d be interested I would be a discount rather than sackings

Yeah fucking hilarious. I worked with estate agents as a conveyancing solicitor and though some I became friendly with an explained the transaction process to, so they knew when their commission was due, others I just wouldn’t bother with. Some were so appallingly rude and one made our client cry unfairly by putting pressure on them. I’d only ever dealt with estate agents through buying and selling property myself before.

@Onetimeusername1 I'd never buy a house marketed by that agency. I'm very petty that way. I'd make sure EVERYONE I knew was aware too - and the full story.

Reviews would be dropped everywhere I could possibly think of. I've found this technique to be effective. Had a nightmare experience with builders - they were very much acting like they were doing me a massive favour by accepting the huge project I had (loft conversion with large dormer).

I lost my patience, cancelled them and left a 1 star Google review - a simple factual overview of my experience with them. Both myself and my partner ended up having to block the owner as he harassed us to take it down (in voicemails and texts). He threatened legal action. I kept it up - funnily enough legal action never happened (this was a year ago) as everything in my review was true and I had emails/texts to prove it.

I don’t think he should be sacked, but reprimanded and placed on final written warning.

Young people make errors of judgement, in the workplace, if as an employer we immediately sack everyone who does a practical joke in the workplace that backfires it would be legally unreasonable, especially if it was his first offence, it’s a learning opportunity not a sacking offence.

I would assume “junior colleague” who hasn’t been sacked means the owner’s teenage child. Because surely no adult could do something like that as a joke and keep their job after. I would take my business elsewhere and ask for a refund if you have paid for the photos or listing. EAs are sometimes a bit slippery anyway, so if this idiocy can slip through their net, what else are they not being professional about?

Everyone saying go nuclear; cancel the contract and leave a one star review, what happens when the house the OP wants to buy is marketed with the same EA? This, I think, is one of the reasons EAs throw their weight around, they are the gatekeepers.

But the pp is completely correct. The OP has every right to complain and absolutely should, but the EA has no right to disclose what has happened to the employee as that would be a breach of the employees confidentiality. It's completely standard practice to advise appropriate measures have been taken but not disclose the outcome when a customer complaint is made - it's two separate processes, a customer complaint and internal HR processes.

That being said OP I would not be happy at all and would expect a huge apology, gogw and to be released from contract or a huge discount if you decide to stay with them

After bitter experiences nothing surprises me anymore as far as Estate Agents are concerned. I would terminate the contract immediately and make sure you have it in writing that they are not eligible for any fees going forward. I certainly wouldn’t trust them with my house keys and viewings.

I would not tar them all with the same brush, but one EA encounter was a real eye opener!

I viewed a flat (then a rental) with an apparently very nice, chatty EA who told me his father was a vicar. (!). As stated in the blurb, as they have to by law, the flat was owned by another employee of that agency.

I soon put in an offer, a little less than asking, but not much.
Same EA told me that they’d accept it - if I could exchange contracts within 24 hours.
Of course I couldn’t - I’d never heard of such a thing!

But he told me it wasn’t unusual.

I thought it very weird, but shrugged it off - until about 3 months later, when I thought I’d check the sold price.

I had offered around £220k.
It had sold for around £180k.

Evidently it had sold to either a mate or family member, plus the sold price would have reduced by ££££ the amount of capital gains tax payable, since the flat had for several years been a rental.

I hope you have changed agents. Maybe they'll take it more seriously if they loose comission. I would probably also give them a bad review and say why.

I'd leave them a 1star review on Facebook, Google maps and trust pilot and explain the reason. That will make them take notice.

Whether the business choose to terminate employment is up to them. I'm sure they could terminate employment for gross misconduct, but they clearly don't want to.

I wouldn't want to deal with them any further however. If I were tied in I would be specifically requesting that the individual concerned had no dealings with my property going forward as the relationship of trust has broken down as a result of their actions and would be expecting an apology.

I'd demand to end the contract and do reviews everywhere I could think of.

Oh my gosh, that’s sickening. How awful.

Some of us have standards and would never find this a funny story.

I do wonder if the house visibly belonged to a religious family if this could be classed as a hate crime. I’m not saying this is relevant, I’m just musing.

You do have low standards.

Re ‘professionalism’ I was shocked when Dsis in the US was selling her house, to hear how much commission they charge. But estate agents there have to hold specific qualifications, and from all I’ve heard, do a great deal more for their money.

More than once in the U.K. I’ve enquired about a flat for sale - how long is the lease? ‘Ooh, sorry, I don’t know - I’ll have to ask…’.

Clueless about something so basic, and as for the all too frequent poor SPAG in the blurbs….

Hit them where it hurts - commission. Take your business elsewhere.

Say it all you like, but it isn’t.

If you make a complaint in Tesco or whatever, you don’t get to know what happens to the employee, you submit your complaint, the manager deals with it, and whatever goes on internally, goes on internally.

I’m sorry but pubically 🤣🤣

Agree with others - discount fee/ sack / you walk. There must be a consequence.

You only pay a fee to an EA if they sell your house and the sale goes through. Given the unprofessionalism already demonstrated by the OP’s agent, I doubt they’d sell the property, so demanding a fee reduction or cancellation may well be pointless..

I’d certainly ditch them and go elsewhere. And if they tried to hold me to
any contract, I’d ask them how they’d like to see this story in the papers.

I don't have low standards at all, just realistic

My assesment is based on knowing the industry.

It is unregulated, there are minimal barriers to entry. Its really all about sell sell sell.

Expecting them to be professional is fine, but don't be too surprised when they are not.

It's every bit her business.

It was her lounge pictured and I believe it was probably a criminal offence if she chose to pursue it.

That person's "joke" has linked her home and her with it with the viewing of pornography.