Bad Experience With Agent And Agency

[zirhk3355 1]

erh .. take a look at the petrol companies here ....

Haha, you are right, and petrol companies are not the only ones who operate like a cart*l...oops!

But ultimately the difference is: as buyer, I have final say on which house I will buy and how much and as seller, I have final say on which buyer I want to sell to and how much.

Yes, very true. As long as we remember this, we would not be swayed by unscrupulous agents who just want to close, close, close.

Or to put it more bluntly, if you are being swayed, then there is no one else to blame but...??

[achilles 0]

As a buyer/seller, i see an agent as someone who will for a fee, manage all paperworks and arrange viewing appointments and answering questions on property/housing legalities, housing area (eg) amenities, procs and cons of area etc and dealing with the seller/buyer etc.

But ultimately the difference is: as buyer, I have final say on which house I will buy and how much and as seller, I have final say on which buyer I want to sell to and how much.

Perhaps my first experience with an agent with non-existance service, thus the strong sentiments.

If you did read in detail my first post, my agent is a first-timer with no experience whatsoever (this was not disclosed to us), thus all the above services mentioned ie managing paper work, answering questions on legalities, dealing with seller etc was not performed.

Yes, ultimately as clients, we have the final say.

As you said, the agent is someone who works for a fee, so if you had chosen to buy the house, and there was NO WORK DONE by agent, will you still pay him the fee if you have a choice? If you signed a commission agreement, its likely you dont have a choice. If you hire an employee but the employee did not turn up for work 70% of the time, probably there's a clause in the employment contract to protect your interest like a termination clause/ pro-rated pay based on worked days.

The commission agreements I came across, there are only clauses which protects the agent's interest but nothing about the client's interest. The contract is unfair and biased. (Maybe its just the ones I came across. I'm not sure if any agencies may have different practices) Basically, once signed, even if NO WORK DONE, you're still liable for commission. And if the deal did not go through, you stand to pay both agents 3% commission, all for NO WORK DONE.

The issue here is: If you are paying a fee, don't you deserve to know what you are paying for? And shouldn't the commission agreement indicate the scope of work , such that if breech of contract by agent, your interests would be safe-guarded? Yes, I did firmly request for scope of work to be included, but repeatedly turned down such that I didnt even sign any agreement.

Technically, I could avoid paying for NO SERVICE, but I still did pay. So it was never about the commission being too high. Having a documented scope of work tied to the commission amount allows people to know what they are paying the fee for and of course when you know what is NORMAL service, you'll know BETTER/GOOD service when you see it and you can pay more for it in appreciation.

[vampree 0]

Hi Archilles,

Unfortunately this is life .. all contracts I know are skewed towards the service provider ... the smaller the fine prints, the more it is skewed ... and the more wary we need to be ...

I'm out of touch with the ins-outs of HDB agents' contracts but when I was selling my place, I told the agent that I will only sell at my price and if this price is not met, no commission. In the end, I sold at lower price but it was a win-win in that I agreed to a lower price and my agent took a cut off her commission to broker the deal.

A contract, service or not, is a legal binding document and very often (unless a very compelling reason) is one that binds 2 parties to an agreement. It's unfortunate you had a novice agent but on hindsight perhaps you should have known he/she is a novice along the way and/or had raise the 'alarm' to agent's agency about the lack of service/experience etc. Then the agency would have had to act to redress this shortcoming ... and in the end, if you wish to bring up a case against not paying the comm and/or paying less comm, you will stand a chance at any legal hearings.

I understand at any tribunals, very often the person is asked if the the other party is given notice of his/her lack of action (goods or service etc), and if you have had made any attempts to rectify the situation. This will help to prove that you have made a conscious effort but the other party had rebuff and/or not atempted to improve.

But when it comes to service (or non-tangible items), it is even harder. What is great service to you might be minimal to me right ?

Just to share (though not housing related) .. I bought car that is 'advertised - in perfect pristine condition ..etc". I asked to send the car for pre-evaluation which I paid before buying. I paid the deposit they asked and even stated "subject to pre-evaluation" and when the report came back with a report that requires "immediate attention" and an estimated cost of $8,000, the fun begins with regards to the deposit to be refunded. They threaten me with legal repercussions ...

To cut a long story short, i read up on small-claims tribunal, some legal/advertising articles and check with a legal friend of mine ... recorded down all conversations, made notes on the activities/calls exchanged and also some attempts to compromise ...They change my salesguy to his 'pai-kia' manager to deal with him and in the end, I just said "ok - see you at the small-claims tribunals". Within a week, the "pia-kia" manager came to him and said "His manager said this and that and we will agree to my terms" ... it's funny in that throughout this episode, I have asked to see the boss and was rejected.

Solution - we split the repair bill 50%. I'm still a little sore but glad the whole episode is behind me ... take it as a lesson learnt and treasure my car a little more

Anyway, sorry to hear about yr horrendous experiences. What's done cannot be undone and take it as a painful but valuable experience. Glad you shared so that others might learn.

Throw this episode out of the window and move on the next trecherous one of dealing with renovation IDs and/or contractors !

[vampree 0]

we would not be swayed by unscrupulous agents who just want to close, close, close.

or to put it more bluntly, if you are being swayed, then there is no one else to blame but...??

yes and no la .. some agents can be very

i had one who was being led by the nose by 'potential' buyer and in turn he led me on a wild goose chase too sadly i led another agent on the same wild goose chase too ..

(1) Ms Potential says will buy my place at my price

(2) Happy agent tell me

(3) Happy me tell new house agent

(4) Happy new house agent agree price with seller

then ...

(1) Ms Potential disappears and backs out

(2) Embarrass agent tell me

(3) Angry me agent

(4) Pai-seh me update new house agent

sigh ... my reputation goes down the drain ...

But to be honest, most time we, as consumers, rely on the sales-person (or agents) to advise us on the pros and cons ... maybe we are trusting in that we expect them to be professional ni their conduct and provides what is best for us ... but in the end, I guess we need to be a little more diligent in doing some ground-work and know as much as them ...

Put myself in an agent's shoes, I will be pissed the black-sheeps in my industry is 'screwing' my rice-bowl. Some buyers/sellers can at times be more than a handful .. pay $x wld demand more than $x worht of service.

But I feel that if one chooses to be in the service line and be successful, one needs that little bit more tolerance, tact and experience in handling pple.

[MeToo 0]

One of friends quotes, who got repeatedly bad experiences with housing agents...

"99% of agents are out for your money, only 1% are honest and they are now out of business"

[JCase 0]

Wt an unpleasant experience. Glad it all worked out well for you. 3% comm? Wow, when I sold my place at Sin Ming Ave back in '04 the comm was 1.5%.

I now think twice about upgrading from a 5RM to to a EM/EA to prevent the hassle of having to deal with agents. Most are alright but some are absolute parasites just out to make a quick buck. I'm lucky that I have good friends who are lawyers that provide free advise and I alwys run agency 'paperwork' by them before i sign anything.

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