Estate agent being cheeky, am I wrong?
Discussion
I asked my EA friend this question.
Whilst it's only a sample size of one, he said they would send up a follow up letter or 2, but not take it much further, as they could spend the same time more effectively getting another client sale, rather than chasing up an old bill that may or may not be paid.
(YMMV)
Whilst it's only a sample size of one, he said they would send up a follow up letter or 2, but not take it much further, as they could spend the same time more effectively getting another client sale, rather than chasing up an old bill that may or may not be paid.
(YMMV)
bad company said:
You can enter into a verbal contract. Mind you the op said he hasn’t.
Not quite, I suppose I did enter into a verbal contract as we discussed that I give them selling fees of 1%+vat, he also said that we could leave at any time. What he didn't say was the leaving costs which is my issue, if he had I would have gone with another agent on a no-sell no-fee basis. I don't know whether it was due to incompetence or less than perfect transparency.I am now minded to just pay up even though I think their business practices are absolutely awful, events like this just make me think the whole estate agent game is full of chancers.
cb31 said:
bad company said:
You can enter into a verbal contract. Mind you the op said he hasn’t.
Not quite, I suppose I did enter into a verbal contract as we discussed that I give them selling fees of 1%+vat, he also said that we could leave at any time. What he didn't say was the leaving costs which is my issue, if he had I would have gone with another agent on a no-sell no-fee basis. I don't know whether it was due to incompetence or less than perfect transparency.I am now minded to just pay up even though I think their business practices are absolutely awful, events like this just make me think the whole estate agent game is full of chancers.
mcflurry said:
I asked my EA friend this question.
Whilst it's only a sample size of one, he said they would send up a follow up letter or 2, but not take it much further, as they could spend the same time more effectively getting another client sale, rather than chasing up an old bill that may or may not be paid.
(YMMV)
You're probably not wrong there, unless it's a big national EA with a dedicated team for this type of thing. Getting any of the staff in the small EAs to do anything that doesn't earn them commission is near impossible.Whilst it's only a sample size of one, he said they would send up a follow up letter or 2, but not take it much further, as they could spend the same time more effectively getting another client sale, rather than chasing up an old bill that may or may not be paid.
(YMMV)
cb31 said:
bad company said:
You can enter into a verbal contract. Mind you the op said he hasn’t.
Not quite, I suppose I did enter into a verbal contract as we discussed that I give them selling fees of 1%+vat, he also said that we could leave at any time. What he didn't say was the leaving costs which is my issue, if he had I would have gone with another agent on a no-sell no-fee basis. I don't know whether it was due to incompetence or less than perfect transparency.I am now minded to just pay up even though I think their business practices are absolutely awful, events like this just make me think the whole estate agent game is full of chancers.
I wouldn’t pay them.
Do not pay them!
You agreed to selling fees when they sold your property. They did not sell.
You did not agree to marketing fees so they cannot charge you.
You did not sign a contract.
You did not see a contract.
You gave them their required 2 weeks notice.
All the talk above about verbal contracts is just that - talk. The only way that could be resolved would be a court hearing and they will not risk that for many of the reasons that others have posted above.
Do not pay!
You agreed to selling fees when they sold your property. They did not sell.
You did not agree to marketing fees so they cannot charge you.
You did not sign a contract.
You did not see a contract.
You gave them their required 2 weeks notice.
All the talk above about verbal contracts is just that - talk. The only way that could be resolved would be a court hearing and they will not risk that for many of the reasons that others have posted above.
Do not pay!
Ah this reminds me of the good old days, my first job in the family firm.. an estate agency in a mining town or two..
This being 2001 things were tough.. clients had two contacts to choose from either 2% inclusive adds or 1.25% and £35 per add. Most went for the cheaper option.
This worked welll until we closed an office and terminated the contract on quite a few houses that were never going to sell in that market.
Their were a few screams of outrage when the advertising bills were hitting the doormat. Still contract was contract and most were collected....
This being 2001 things were tough.. clients had two contacts to choose from either 2% inclusive adds or 1.25% and £35 per add. Most went for the cheaper option.
This worked welll until we closed an office and terminated the contract on quite a few houses that were never going to sell in that market.
Their were a few screams of outrage when the advertising bills were hitting the doormat. Still contract was contract and most were collected....
bad company said:
I’m struggling to understand why to op came on here for advice and when almost all of us rightly said no need to pay it looks like he’s going to.
exactly. Also as others have said its part of their membership of the property ombudsman that they have a written contract signed by their clients.
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