Has anyone had the balls to formally complain to estate agent?

[Tortington]

Have just sacked the estate agent.

they never answer the phone.
the dedicated person to deal with my enquiry never answers her phone, isnt in -will ring me back - never does.

they fucked up contact details and ttold prospective buyers that they didn't have a key - when they did - they couodnt gain entry - fuck knows why ...the door sticks a bit....its not the krypton factor.

the admin woman had the audacity to try to argue with me - when i tried to complain about not being contacted regarding them not gaining entry - and putting on system {unable to gain entry}

anyway am much pissed off - they charge a fee to withdraw - which i didn't fully take on board as i instructed them the day after my mothers funeral and i haven't done this before.

so i resent paying this money when they are complete effing wankers.

i know there is a estate agent ombudsman.

i have asked for a copy of their complaints policy and customer care policy ( if they have one)

what advice have you?

How can they charge you a fee to withdraw usually its 2 weeks writing then you cant out it on the market with another estate agency for 2 weeks

I would complain we have just had the same problem I was hoping to be back home by now but the Estate Agents were rubbish

I have had appalling treatment from them but never complained. I thought (please someone say if I am wrong) that estate agents were not accountable to anybody. They are not professionals, not qualified and the business is totally unregulated. I think there are certain basic laws they have to abide by, but no proper regulation.

In your case, although they have treated you like shit, it doesn't look like they will have broken their contract with you. If I were you, I would try to get out of paying the fee due to the issues you have described. Kick up a fuss and see/write to the manager. But you are reliant on their "goodwill".

My only advice is good luck, they are total cheating bastards and the government needs to sort them out because they are screwing people over up and down the country every day.

ok - i have nothing to lose i suppoe - thank you

The NAEA has a complaints procedure if they are members. Is the fee in lieu of notice ?

no - its just a fee.

will complain muchly.

Is the fee the percentage they take at the end?How long have you signed up for?You can sack them I have done it BUT if someone they originally showed round eventually buys it you have to pay!Be careful they are b**ds

No - wish we had though. We put in an offer on a house earlier this year - it was right at the start of our house hunting when we were both quite naive to the ways of some estate agents. We had our offer accepted, but after that the estate agent went very quiet. For several days they didn't answer our calls, were 'going to ring back' but didn't etc, and we received a very odd email from the estate agent dealing with us telling us the vendor lived in Australia and it was hard to get hold of him, hence the hold up. Eventually, after about a week of this, my DH sent a stroppy email asking what was going on and the agent emailed back to tell us the vendor has accepted a higher offer. Nice of them to tell us. We since found out - off the record, from another estate agent - that the higher offer came from the owner of the estate agency! He had priced the house way too low to begin with because the vendor had been in Oz for years and had no clue about the ridiculous price he could have got in London these days (we did think it was very reasonable!) ...and then he'd come in with a 'better offer' (still a bargain). The estate agent never had any intention of letting the house go to us, but wanted to make it look like he was dealing fairly with the sale of the property and not breaking any code of conduct, or pssibly the law (dunno?). Anyway, we didn't complain officially at the time because we wanted to crack on with house hunting and not wallow in our disappointment. Wish we had complained though, looking back. It was a very shark-ish thing to do. bastard.

I think you should complain. Not enough people do.

Very few Estate Agents are regulated by the Ombudsman, it isn't mandatory , but that may change.
If they are regulated then just the threat of reporting them would be enough to ensure they don't collect the fee, if they're not (and from their practices it sounds as if they're not) I would try your luck with a strong letter of complaint to Manager/MD, they sound shocking!

LoveAngel, that's shocking!

Loveangel, I would still report them, that is terrible.

we complained to the ombudsman and won our case.
They won't take the case until you have complained in writing to the estate agents themselves, and you either don't get a response or it's unsatisfactory.
Sometimes just the threat of the ombudsman is enough to get them to change position.
Good luck!

Have complained about one.
Couldn't go to ombudsman they weren't members (they lied)
Trading standards were helpful but ultimately we lost out financially big time.

definately complain. The way the estate agents treated you is totally out of order.

I am in estate agency and always talk to my clients. if i cant speak to them when they call because i am on the other line, out doing viewings etc, i ALWAYS call them back the same day,even if i am in the office until 8pm doing it, if we have been very busy that day.

As for saying they couldnt get into the house... sounds a poor excuse to me .. dont get me wrong, i have some houses that are bastards to get into and lock up again, but i just persevere and eventually get it unlocked/locked

If i were you, i would tell them you have contacted the local papers who are interested in your story. estate agents would NOT want bad press in a local paper as that would be very bad for business

Good luck...... if you have no luck let me know and i will have a rethink for you