Frustration at EA's inflexibility for viewings

[cazzabazza]

Feeling immensely frustrated at one particular estate agent's inflexibility for a viewing. A property we love went on the market yesterday. I called up the same morning asking for a viewing. I've just been told they can only do 3.50pm on Saturday and that's it. This is because the agent's diary is full and can't do any other times. Unfortunately we can't do that late in the afternoon as we need to collect kids from babysitter and we live far out of the area. They were totaly unhelpful in trying to find a solution for us to view the property.
I wonder if the vendor knows that the estate agent's diary is so full that they can't offer any other viewing times? And why would they list a property if they had no space in their diary to conduct viewings over weekend after it was listed?
We really don't want to miss out on this property just because their agent can only offer one viewing slot. What options do we have? Can we approach the vendor directly and ask for a viewing? We will be in the area anyway so just wondering if it's worth knocking on their door? Don't really know what is acceptable or not, and don't want to step on anyone's toes, but I can't imagine a vendor would want to miss out on viewings just because an agent's diary is too full.

Can you ask agent 1) is there another agent who can show you 2) would the vendors mind showing you themselves

if the answer to both is no then I'd be inclined to ask the vendors directly - BUT give them some notice, ie put a note through door explaining about the agent and saying "would you mind if we view sometime this morning, we are in the area, my mobile is xxx"

This is frustrating - we called to arrange a viewing and were told it wouldn't be possible at all, we are travelling 4 hours but there was no one from the EA available. And they added that they don't work after 2 on a Saturday. Wtaf??!!

Let the vendor know - they are paying the ea so they can give them a rocket!

In our case, the property has been on the market for a LONG time and does seem overpriced but we thought we'd have a look to form an opinion. Well no wonder it's not selling if no one can bloody well look! I did wonder if the vendor was aware tbh

I feel your pain. This has happened to us so many times we have lost count. In fact when we did manage to secure a viewing time with an EA they failed to show up twice. And once they went to next appointment because we were 4 minutes late ( could not find house as it was on one of those wierd housing estates with looping roads). So appalled by the sheer effort involved in getting in to see properties that when we put our own house on the market with went with an online EA. They open all day Sat AND Sunday and until 8pm weekdays. Hence we never turned a potential buyer away for viewing. Much less stressful. Plus an EA showing us around could never answer any of our questions.

I showed our viewer round, the EA asked very last minute if I was able to, and it sold only 3hrs after being on the market. Either you want to sell or you don't, right?! Gah

We had to wait over 24 hours to see a property that had come on the market mid week. We've only looked at four properties, but I soon found out if you want a weekend viewing you need to book by Thursday morning at the latest. Can one of you look tomorrow, with a view to making an immediate appointment to go back Monday if it's a possibility. Even if someone makes an offer in the meantime, chances are the vendors will hang on making a decision if they have a second viewing planned. We found it takes a while to negotiate, it took a week on our sale before we gave in on a reduced price, and then a week on our purchase.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one feeling this frustration! It just feels like because it's such a seller's market and properties are in such high demand (well in London and Surrey anyway) that the EA's don't care if they don't get maximum exposure on a property as they will sell it easily anyway with minimum effort!
As it turns out, we drove past the property and it was a bit of a trek to the station from there, plus one of its plus points was that it overlooks an expanse of green space although I have a strong feeling it might get developed on in the future, so maybe not so keen anyway.
We'll see if it's still on the market next weekend and try to view it (that's if we don't get our offer accepted on another lovely property this week - going to best and final offers, but that's another story - eek!).