hiccups

(it is lengthy but neccessary to protray the severity of the issue) My fiancé and I recently completed the 2nd Appointment with HDB for the purchase of an EM. Based on our understanding, the seller of the flat, an ex-neighbor of agent, had engaged him to sell their flat. We, the buyers, were not represented by any agent. By our 3rd meeting, we have concluded the purchase and went on to sign the commission form (currently we do not have a copy of form). The agent had never disclosed to us that he was acting as our agent. We were under the impression that he was the seller’s agent because they had engaged him and there was no presence of a 2nd agent. We were worried that there may be a conflict of interest during the transaction where the agent is accepting commission from both parties but is bias in his dealings. Nonetheless, we understood that certain agents do not like to co-broke so we did not insist for the representation of an agent of our choice and agreed to pay the agent 1% commission from the sale price of the EM. In additional, we needed to purchase flat as we are settling in June 2008. However, to our surprise, during our 1st appointment, the agent declared to the HDB Officer that he is representing the buyer (us) and that the seller’s agent has yet to arrive for the appointment. Till this day, we do know and have not seen the alleged seller’s agent. There were a couple of incidents during the negotiation of requests from the seller where the agent had come across bias, impolite and callous to us. If the agent had named himself to be acting as the buyers’ agent, he should not have display any form of preferential treatment to the seller because his favoritism is a clear indication that his entitlement to the commission is not valid. Although we do not have a copy of form, we are positive that the commission, stated in the form, is to be made payable to the agent. However, we were not able to recall if the form bore the ERA logo. He had asked for 1% of the sale price and an additional 7% GST of the 1% commission as his commission. We had appealed for the waiver of the 7% GST, for which, he was very insistent that the payment has to include both parts 1] 1% commission from the sale price and 2] the additional 7% GST. There was no mention of an official ERA invoice at all or the fact that ERA has a share of the 1% commission paid to the agent. In fact, we were specifically instructed to write a cheque payable to him (The agent) for the full amount of 1% commission and the 7% GST. As we are first time buyers, we were not aware of many procedures & policies governed by HDB & ERA. Acting as our agent, he has the responsibility to keep us informed of all administrative procedures which should have been carried out and followed through. It should not be the case of hide-and-seek whereby the agent, out of his convenience and lack of integrity, try to deceive his clients because of their ignorance. From the beginning, we were suspicious of the agent because of the ways he dealt with several matters but we did not pursue the matter because we took the seller’s plight into considerations and decided not to bring about any inconvenience to the whole transaction. We were asked to be sympathetic, for which was our stumbling block and had allowed the agent’s malpractice and irresponsibility, on several occasions, to go unquestioned. On the day of the 1st Appointment, the agent had agreed to waive the 7% GST upon request from my prospective father-in-law. Again, the agent made no mention of 1] the official invoice 2] the fact that the cheque should be made payable to ERA. As such, the agent would not have the rights to demand for the full amount of the 1% commission and 7% GST payable to him. Following which, the agent forgot the proceedings that led to his agreement of the waiver of the 7% GST. In his impression, he made an agreement with my prospective father-in-law to waive the valuation report fees. Where in actual fact, it was discussed and concluded during a discussion held between the agent and me before the signing of the OTP. Prior to our 2nd appointment, the agent contacted us regarding the payment of his commission. We negotiated for a 50% payout first as we were cash strapped (due to the house renovation). Of which, he had kindly agreed to our request and allowed us to make the payment at a later date. It was only through conversations with friends, who have also recently purchased their own homes, were we informed that we were hoodwinked by the agent on several counts. After conducting an initial investigation (conversations with ERA representatives & lawyers), we realized that, one of the discrepancies was with regards to the official invoice. We should have received an official invoice from ERA, which would be mailed or handed personally to the sellers/buyers by their respective agents. In additional, the cheque should be made payable to ERA and not the agent. After which, ERA will promptly pay their agents their due commission earned. Instead of lodging an official complaint to ERA, IEA and CASE, we have decided to allow the agent to make amendments after much deliberation as we understand the consequences which the agent might have to bear and we have no wish to create any trouble for the agent. Therefore, we decided to request for the official invoice from the agent after we have concluded our investigations and have collected sufficient information. Coincidentally, the agent sent a text message to my fiancé requesting for his remaining 50% of the commission. We proceed to submit our request for the invoice through the agent, by text message from my fiancé’s mobile number. Our text message contained only the request of the invoice and with no mention to other issue. However when asked, he replied with 8-page text messages in 3 parts. In our honest opinion, it was aggressive and disturbing. Basically, the agent was trying to voice his displease with our decision. It is had to explain without including the text messages in this post. In reply to his enquiries, I replied as follows: “we do not seem to understand what you are driving at though. We were informed by (ERA that) we are suppose to have received the official invoice either by mail or through our agent personally. Hence, it should not be an extra task on your part or irrational expectation but a requirement as it is a normal and routine administrative procedure stipulated by ERA policy.” The agent had attempted to reach my fiancé on his mobile but as my fiancé was unavailable, he had asked the agent to speak to me directly. The phone call was made to me shortly after. I informed the agent of our joint decision to push for the official invoice from ERA. When questioned by the agent regarding our intentions for the request, we informed him that we wanted proper documentation and more importantly, the official invoice is our entitlement as an ERA client. As such, he should not be resistant and hesitant to provide us with it. We told The agent that we could not find any reason why we should not have the official invoice when ERA representatives have advised us to obtain it. It does not seem wise to go against an advice given by ERA, the company the agent is representing. Also, he should have no reasons to go against the policies stated by ERA. In the midst of the discussion, the agent mentioned that he will file the request but at the same time, we are to pay him the remaining 50% of his commission the next day. Of which, I firmly objected to the agent’s request and informed him that we want to receive the invoice first before making any further payment. When questioned if he had misinformed us at any point, he insisted that he had followed the right procedures from the start. The agent had denied the chance given to him to admit that there had been a discrepancy with regards to the payment of the commission. The conversation ended with the agent’s agreement to file the request the next day. After the conversation, the agent sent another impolite text message to my mobile number, with the impression that the mobile number belongs to my fiancé even though the agent had been informed that it was my mobile number: The agent, again, tried to dissuade us by playing another game. He sent a text message to my fiancé: “… I hereby offer u an option, u will hv 2 pay $XXXX upon ERA official receipt, but if u can accept my personal receipt, I m willing 2 gv u a 10% discount, let me know ur decision. tks” My fiancé replied to the agent that we will honor the amount stated in the ERA official invoice. After which, the agent sent us a text message with the request to meet us: “Ok, ur decision is 100% respected & will b followed exactly, it is considered done, issue settled. b4 that, any chance to meet up with u & XXXXX 4 half an hour to clear myself regarding your purchase since I believe there might b some misunderstanding, I would apologize if I hv done something bad 2 u, or else, I hope my reputation to b restored, tks” We agreed to meet him because we believed that every one deserved a 2nd chance. Throughout the discussion, we gave the agent many opportunities to offer us his explanations for the discrepancies in the transaction. We told him that it is for his responsibility as our agent to tell us his mistakes and not that of his buyers. However, he maintained that he had not committed any mistake or violated any ERA policies. He went on to describe & elaborated on the steps that we have taken from day one till the signing of the 2nd Appointment. At the end of it, he was still insistent that there had been no discrepancies. The agent confidently said that the transaction was “done perfectly”. There was no mention of the violation he had made with regards to the issue pertaining to the payable commission and the official invoice. Knowing that we were heading nowhere, we requested to end the discussion and informed the agent that the matter will be handled to ERA. The agent asked for us to reveal to him the discrepancies so that he could explain if necessary or learnt from it. My fiancé asked the agent once more if he genuinely felt that he had not committed any mistakes when handling this transaction. Without any hesitation, the agent replied that he was certain that he had not handled the transaction, at any stage, wrongly. I asked the agent if he had submitted the request and without hesitation, he replied that he had done so, which we were to find out later that he had not submitted our request for the invoice at all. We had serious thoughts about walking away from this discussion because it was obvious that the agent had no intentions of admitting to the discrepancies or the sincerity to settle the issues with us. After much consideration to the consequences that may transpire on the agent if we have decided to contact ERA, we agreed to notify the agent of the discrepancy pertaining to the issue of the official invoice and the payable commission. When we asked him who should the cheque be made payable to, the agent promptly replied that it should be made payable to him. We asked him if he was “sure” that the cheque should be made payable to him or ERA, he hesitated and admitted that it should be ERA. We asked the agent for the reason of the collection of the 7% GST when he had displayed, on all occasion, that he was not going to declare our transaction to ERA. To which, The agent replied that he has not decided if he was going to declare the transaction and neither has he decided when he was going to do the filing. Hence, the agent intended to collect the 7% GST upfront just in case he was going to do the filing. However, we informed the agent that through our text messages and conversations over the phone, he had always resisted the request for the invoice. We reinforced our claim earlier that he had been very reluctant and at times came across impolite when we had asked for the invoice. It was only after we stood firmly on our decision and insisted on the official invoice did he give in to our request. Hence, it is obvious that the agent never intended to declare this transaction to ERA. We told him that based on his decision to not declare the transaction; the agent had no right to demand the 7% GST from the payable commission to him because it is not his entitlement. Of which he admitted and apologized for. Upon further probing, he also divulged that we are not the first case that he had handled in this manner. The agent requested for this matter to be settled privately and asked for the conditions to be done so. Since we had never wanted to pursue this matter with ERA, out of goodwill, we told him to accept the 50% of the commission which we had paid him and as far as we were concerned, the case is closed and we will talk about it anymore. To which, the agent agreed. We went an extra mile by giving him our assurance that we will not lodge a complaint with ERA. The agent commented that with this settlement, he will not proceed to file the request for the official invoice. That statement was a contradiction to an earlier statement which he had made. He told us that this was a good learning and that he will not do it again. We thanked him for the learning process which he had also put us through. We were happy with the outcome of the settlement even though it meant that we had condoned a misdeed. However, we have always believed in a peaceful settlement for all issues. Our happiness was short-lived because we received yet another one of the agent’s disturbing text messages. We have agreed the night before that we will no longer contact each other and that the case is closed. However, the agent had decided to ignore our agreement and proceed to send a text message which we had perceived as a threat. We do not understand the objective behind the agent’s intent to send such a disturbing text message to us. Regardless, it was a clear signal to us that we should not condone or show tolerance to his misdemeanors any further. We have decided that since the agent has no regard for the agreement made between both parties, we feel that we should report this matter to the appropriate authorities since the agent has, on several occasions, displayed his insincerity and lack of professionalism as an agent. At this point, we did not reveal to him that we are fully aware that he is not entitled to the entire 1% commission because ERA has a share in his commission. It was disheartening to know that he did not have the moral integrity to inform us or have the honesty to volunteer the information even if he had claimed that he wanted to be sincere and humble. Despite the agent’s claim that he had submitted our request; we are well aware that the agent would not be able to submit the request for the official invoice because we had no sign any official commission form. Throughout this transaction, the agent has showed that he is not equipped with the right ethnics to act as a responsible agent and he is not committed to providing the best service to his client. In addition, the agent has shown us his inability to be truthful. We believed that if do not bring this matter to light, there may be others who may go through the same anguish as we had. We wasted much time and resources unearthing these discrepancies. All of which, could be avoided if the transaction was handled professionally.