I Just Encountered A Rude Cock-Face Letting Agent
03 Apr 2009
Urgh, I fucking hate rude people with a passion, especially people that are rude unnecessarily. Admittedly, rude letting/estate agents irk me just that little bit more than the average punk. They are notoriously hated by default, so they should make extra effort to be normal beings. I recently encountered a total shithead from a local letting agent that I’ve been dealing with- he certainly was making no effort at all to break free from the stereotype of being a shadey knobjockey.
So, while I was looking for tenants for a vacant property, I took full advantage of most avenues to generate leads from prospective tenants. I used Gumtree, Facebook, Rightmove and a local letting agent. I setup a rat race- resource which generates the best deal at the quickest pace…WINS.
In the last 2 years I haven’t had to rely on letting agents because the cheaper alternatives usually produce results quicker. However, it’s safe and harmless to have agents on the case, just in case the other avenues don’t pull through.
I made it clear to the letting agent that I’m not solely relying on them to fill the property. I don’t like fucking people around, so I’m straight up. If the agents don’t want to put as much time and effort into my property as they would with landlords that are totally dedicated to them, that’s their own provocative, and I expect that kind of practise. My point being, I made it extremely clear that if the agent finds an interested tenant, they shouldn’t act like its a done deal because I could have other better offers in the pipeline.
So what happens? I get a phonecall from one of the agents…
Hey Landlord,
It’s Agent-A. We’ve found a tenant for you. She’s willing to pay £XXX.XX. That’s £25 below the asking price. And our fee is £400. Shall we go ahead with it?
Hey,
Thanks for letting me know.
I have a few viewings tonight and tomorrow, so can you please not confirm anything just yet? I’ll let you know tomorrow after my other viewings. Obviously I’ll go with the proposition which is best suited to me. I’m sure you understand.
Yup, totally understand. That’s cool.
The next morning
Hey landlord,
It’s Agent-B, you spoke to my colleague, Agent-A yesterday.That tenant Agent-A told you about is still interested. We’ve already taken her sign up fee, and she’s coming down later to sign all the contracts and pay in hard cash the deposit and first month’s rent.
Errr…wait, what? I told Agent-A not to arrange or confirm anything just yet, because I had other viewings arranged. I made it clear I’m going to go with the deal which suits me best by the end of the day. So why have you arranged everything? I’ve been straight up, and I made it clear not to confirm anything.
I don’t see what your problem is. We have found you a tenant, she is ready to pay. She’s coming down all the way from BLAHBLAH, and I don’t want to waste her time. What am I meant to tell her?
My problem is that you did exactly what i told you not to do. Look, I made it clear that I was taking viewings. So why have you given her false hope? I told Agent-A to wait one day until I get all the viewings out of the way. So why have you told the woman to come down to pay her money? Tell the woman exactly what I’ve told you, to wait 1 day for confirmation. Can’t she wait that long?
Just give me a call at the end of the day and let me know your decision.
For some reason the cock thought I was being unreasonable, and I was in the wrong. He was being extremely rude and aggressive. NO WAY would I EVER use that agent, even if I don’t find a better deal than what they’re offering. He was basically trying to push me into using their services. I hope he realises that being a complete aggressive cock isn’t going to get him business or earn him commission.
Agent-A, the agent I’ve been dealing with, has admittedly been a pretty decent guy so far. But Agent-B, his colleague, was a total wanker. When I next speak to Agent-A, I’m going to explain how his colleague is a total dickface, and that he basically lost him the deal. He didn’t actually lose him the deal, because I had already found tenants via Gumtree, and it didn’t cost me a penny (that’s a whole other story which I’ll write about shortly). But they didn’t need to know that. All they need to know is that Agent-B is a rude twat, and they’re not getting my money because of him.
have you had a bad experience with a letting agent? Say your piece…
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Talk / 5 Comments left so far
The thing is, I agree, customers should be treated as if they're always right. But in reality, a lot of the times customers aren't in the right. And I can accept that. However, in this case, I don't think I was in the wrong at all.
What frustrated me was that I was completely open with them, it's not like I suddenly delayed the transaction. I told them not to commit.
I guess as soon as they as sensed that they may not earn any money it upset them, hence the aggression. Booooo!!
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I've noticed that a lot of estate agents are now advertising for Landlords to market their propertiues with them because they are not selling. Unfortunately, this means that a lot of people are going to get shafted by companies with no experience of lettings trying to make a fast buck to compensate for their lack of ability to sell anything, and I mean lack of ability to sell. Many agents, be they lettings or estate, have lived off the fact that the market was booming for many years and have lost the ability to actually sell their services as opposed to just move properties. I just hope that with all these 'amateur landlords' and 'chancer' agents getting in on the game it does not give the professional landlord a bad name. It just seems that I am being legislated to hell and back whilst people who can't sell are renting without thought for their responsibilities as landlords, and sod all seems to be done about it.
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If estate agents are at the bottom of the human chain, residential landlords are the zinc coating on that chain (sustaining their like and also occupying the same position in society!).
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Classic situation mind...I am sure they will still steal the poor girl's deposit. Arseholes.
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Please leave a comment
I initially started this website because I wanted to document my every step from property idiot to property landlord,
in hope that people would find my site and help me along the way. I literally didn't have a clue about being a landlord
when I started this website.
Rule 1: The customer is ALWAYS right.
Rule 2: When customer is wrong refer to rule 1
Some people plainly deserve a good shagging with a pineapple in an attempt to modify their attitude to business - however I think that using a perfectly good pineapple on a shyster letting agent would be unfair on the pineapple!
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