AIBU to be pissed off with my estate agent?

[Chickoletta]

House has been on the market for a month and we've had several viewings. When we went through the procedure for viewings, the manager told me that he would do viewings whenever possible or it would be someone else from the branch. I asked if I could do them myself but he was adamant that this was not a good idea. He told me that he would leave a brief note on the kitchen table after the viewing then ring the next day with full feedback. Sounds great.

In reality, we had 3 viewings arranged for last week while we were away on holiday, Mon, Weds and Fri. I heard nothing from them at all, so rang on the Weds to be told by a stroppy 20 yr old that if they had anything to say, they'd ring us. Thought this was a bit rude but bit my tongue. Friday's viewers sounded really keen so when I hadn't heard anything by Sat about Weds or Fri viewing I rang the office - phone went to answerphone 3 times despite being office hours. Rang again on Monday and the manager answered the second time. When I told him that I was wondering how the viewings had gone, he said, 'Yes, we thought that might be why you were calling' implying that they'd been screening my calls.

Whilst I do understand that I am rather keen (time is short on the house we want to buy), I don't think I'm unreasonable to a) want feedback and b) expect them to answer the bloody phone to me when I will hopefully be shelling out thousands in commission.

I would appreciate the advice of anyone with more experience in this than me - is this normal? Would I be better doing my own viewings when possible? Should I be considering a new estate agent?

Why would you give them til Christmas if you're time short on the new place? You don't owe them anything 1% is not really a bargain these days and sometimes you get what you paid for. We paid 2% recently when we moved but we had a packed out open day of viewings and sold within 1 week at a price which was £15k more than identical places have sold round here. In fact after us 2 other flats went on the market for the same price as us with 2 other different agents, 2 months later they're both still on rightmove and have been reduced several times and still not sold. One is now on for £145k and it started at £165k! If it's urgent then maybe consider a higher commission agent because sometimes you get what you pay for.

I wouldn't wait till Christmas to give them notice. They sound shit! 'Only 1%'? This is why this entire industry needs far more regulation. And block your number when you ring. They're attitude is appalling.

It really depends on where you live if 1% is a good commission or not, where I am its not unusual to come across 0.50%. Maybe take your property off and relaunch with a new agent come the new year then you will get the new launch impact as apposed to your house just hanging around. Have a read of your contact and see what it says.

Don't give them until Christmas if you're short on time because you could lose the property you want. Christmas is several weeks away, the slow-down hasn't started yet.

Newspaper advertising is pointless. Some of the properties have been sold by the time the papers go to print. Everyone uses Rightmove and Zoopla.

Our last agents were slow at giving feedback but only because the people who had viewed the house wouldn't answer their phone!! There was always the problem too of people who (and I have been guilty of this!) haven't anything specific they didn't like about the house it just didn't feel right!

I agree with other posters - you need to change your agent.

Thanks everyone for your feedback - it seems pretty unanimous that I need to sack these rude sods and find better agents.

I doubt they're screening the calls. It went to answerphone, so they could see that you'd called (ours gives you a list of the numbers) but if you didn't leave a message then they'd assume it was non-urgent and not phone back.

It does depend though. We put our house on at this time of year, and within a week property prices started to fall, and fell steadily over the time we were on the market. We had very little interest until after Christmas, despite being in a very desirable area, and I'd say that about half the potential viewings at this time of the year pulled out.

But the estate agents did keep us very well informed. We'd get around 2 phone calls a week to say what the situation was. They worked really hard for us, and without exaggerating, we wouldn't have got this property we're now in without them.

Do they know you're on a short schedule, because they may be thinking after Christmas you're liable to get a better offer rather than shift it quick before Christmas which are different marketing strategies.

"At 1% commission they don't give a monkeys about selling your house."

"I think part of your problem is likely to be the commission agreed as others have said"

I'm constantly surprised that people still buy this myth that you need to pay EAs huge amounts or your house won't sell. 1% is a common rate of commision. Anyone paying more than 1.5% without getting something pretty special (such as the open day and marketing push described by PP) got stung.

1. On a 200K house 1% is 2k- that means a very healthy profit if the house sells within a few months. It's way more than the on-line competition.
2. It's unlikely that anyone actually selling your house sees a massive direct benefit whether you pay 1% or 2%. The person who gets the money is the owner.
3. Most EAs are limited by supply of buyers and houses, not time available to return calls. All EAs have very busy and very quiet periods. Turning over quickly and getting more houses on sale is the key to profitability. What most EAs want is a motivated seller who will make the house presentable and price realistically.

The point I was trying to make is that if the OP has got mates rates, no matter what the percentage is, the agent has less incentive to sell that house over another where they're getting a higher fee.

If they’re like this with you, it makes you wonder whether they’re picking up calls from buyers...

I'd use purple bricks... actually like their advert - woman falls into the cream cake... quite amusing.

Otherwise all estate agents are useless overpaid plonkers IMO.

I'm inclined to agree, creampastry!

The house is on the market for £320k so even at 1% it's a significant amount of money for them. It's towards the pricier end of the houses they tend to market.

Going to do some ringing around today and see what other agents can offer.

Not sure about giving them until Christmas. If you're not happy with the service, you need to strike while the iron is hot and use what's just happened as a reason to ditch them and then you're not stuck with any awkward clauses which might cause a problem if you then went with an online agent?

Give them until Xmas and they can argue that you didn't complain and they're due commission if anyone that viewed with them buys it etc.

Go in now and say you're disgusted with the service, no feedback, calls screened, rude communication and you want out or you'll complain - cut them out now.

I've followed all of your advice and have spoken to a different agent today and arranged for them to come round tomorrow. This is an independent, local company and I feel sure that I will get better service. They've also agreed to match the other company's fee even though they usually charge 1.75%, which is great. Thanks everyone.