To be surprised this estate agent wasn’t sacked?

[Easack]

We listed our house with the biggest estate agent in our area (also with the best reviews/reputation).

We approved the photos to be used and description to be added to the usual portals such as RightMove.

Shortly after it went live, a friend told me it had been posted on our town’s community Facebook page. On one of the living room photos, the TV on the wall had been edited to include a couple having sex.

I immediately called the estate agent who got back to me shortly after, apologised and said they’d remove the photo and instigated a full investigation.

They contacted me today and said they had identified it was a junior colleague who did this ‘as a joke’ and that they’d been reprimanded. They confirmed they’ve kept their job.

I am perplexed by this. Surely that is a sackable offence?

Terminate contract before any viewing takes place

These people have keys to your home! The idiot who created the photo could be hosting viewers

Having a tv on a wall is more grim than a picture of two people having sex.

Stupid response

There is another thread running, an independent Estate Agent took a photo a
family had on the wall of their deceased baby and posted it on her family FB page captioned “it’s dead”. And now this!

I know you are not stating this as truth, how could you, but could there be a suggestion that there might be a level of moral deficiency in this industry. I know that is a huge generalisation and there are bad characters in all professions but….!

Yes this. I'd definitely pubically call them out. It's all pubically played out online so no way to deny it. See how what a hilarious laugh it is when they ate they are the subject.

I'd be asking what their fee reduction will be for the damage to the market reputation of your house

Estate agents are among the most corrupt and despised "professions" if you can call them that. I would not trust any of them as far as I could throw them. They are robber barons.

A relative of mine had a series of issues against them with her rental flat. When she threatened to go to their regulator (pointing out they could be fined or even struck off) they quickly backed off.

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.

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.

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.

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..

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

I’m sorry but pubically 🤣🤣

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.

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

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….

You do have low standards.

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.

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

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

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

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 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.

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.